how long have you been riding and have you ever had a serious crash(es)?

[agypsy]

hello folks,

since i got into my accident a couple of days ago (see my post "went down yesterday...") i've been wondering how many other experienced rider's have had a motorcycle accident. i've been riding for 25 years and this is my first serious crash and part of me thinks it was bound to happen at some point. there have been some really close calls though. i've known many people who've had some bad crashes and when i've told people that i've never been in one, i think to myself, will i be able to cheat it forever?

what are the stats for experienced riders going down?
what are the odds? are they against us?
do you think it's inevitable?

so please share your experience and knowledge or opinions which would be really appreciated. when was your first crash and how long had you been riding when it happened. or maybe you haven't ever had a crash. i'm not talking about racing or track days, i'm talking about the street.

thanks

[markjenn]

Not counting youthful exuberance crashes (I probably had five or six in the first six-months I rode, but I was riding a Honda CB350 in all sorts of weird situations), I've probably gone down in street riding perhaps 3 or 4 times in nearly 40 years of riding. Never seriously injured though - just a broken hand here and a bruised rib there. And never hit a car. I pick and choose where I go fast pretty carefully and I don't ride aggressively in traffic at all - it's strictly survival instincts and keeping a buffer in urban traffic situations - I ride close to the speed limit and get there when I get there.

I can live with crashing every 10-15 years or so and I think it would be tough to ride 15K+ miles every year in any kind of reasonably sporting way and not run this sort of risk. I wear the gear, am a wimp in traffic, avoid riding at night and in bad weather, keep the bike mechanically sound, and try to listen to that little guy on my shoulder who occasionally chimes in with the words "Ah Mark, you're going awfully fast and you're a long ways from medical help - is the risk/reward here really worth it?". So far, so good, but I never kid myself that I couldn't kill or seriously injure myself if the cards break wrong.

- Mark

[varmint]

got a little chainsaw powered scooter when i was seven/ used to chase the cows around. so over thirty years. but really only the last ten or so on the street.

accidents are inevitable. all you can do is wear proper gear and not dwell on it. get back on the bike soon as you can.

[johnnydanger]

Personally I think it's inevitable that you'll have at least one motorcycle accident or mishap during a lifetime of riding. Probably more. The same goes for bicycling, driving a car, etc.

I feel that I've gotten off pretty light considering how many miles I've done. I've been riding for 6.5 years, have ridden all around europe, the U.S., and New Zealand, have rung in somewhere around 130,000 miles in that time, and haven't had anything more than a sprained ankle and lots of money spent on cosmetic damage to show for it.

Of all my accidents, I'd say all of them barring one was preventable. They've all been my fault except that one and even that one wouldn't have happened if I'd been extra extra cautious.

My worst was a dingbat wheelie accident on a new bike (sprained ankle and $1k worth of damage). Then I had a more expensive accident on a rented bike in Europe: brand new CBR1100XX, new tires with zero-miles, torrential downpour, hairpin off of autobahn, big white paint arrow... Ugh. There was so much water and reflection on the road I couldn't even see the paint arrow (mid-hairpin) until I picked myself up after sliding down the road and looked back to see what the hell happened.

The one that was truly an accident was the result of an erratic driver. Car in front at light, she goes when the light turns green. I open up a 2 car gap and roll out into the intersection, look both ways quickly to make sure nobody is going to blow the light or free turn into me, look back straight and the lady is DEAD stopped just on the other side of the cross walk because a car is backing out of an angled spot nearly half a block up the street!!! I grab the brakes pronto in an attempt to stop from my slow 15-20mph and of course I'm right on the fricking cross walk paint strip. Lock up the front and it washes out and that's that. I just kissed the bumper of the car and the only damage done was dings in my bard end and new frame sliders on my K12R! Awesome. I probably could have stopped if I wasn't on the paint stripe, but who knows.

Anyways, it sounds like your crash really handed it to you. Sorry to hear it. Get well quick.

[Trex]

Been riding since 1968. Yes, serious crashes. My body can foretell rain by 24 hours.

[pmc847]

Been riding since 1965, had my first street accident Sept 04. A tractor turned into us and he had no insurance. I broke my leg and had to have a ti rod inserted. Jane broke her ankle and had a plate and screws installed. Laid up 6 weeks.

Philip
"It's a great bike but I can make it better, then blow it up and then make it better again".

04 R1100S BCR # 195
03 R1100S BCR #44 R.I.P. new home with 'onekiwi'
1150 cc cylinders
12:1 SJBMW pistons
BMW 36 mm intake valves
Ported and polished heads (just a little)
'07 R1200R cams
TBs bored +3 mm
Throttle bodies matched to rubber mounts matched to heads
SJBMW Exhaust Accelerator Kit (modified)
Exhaust pipe welds ground down
Laser Exhaust
Laser 2 spark Chip
InDuct
SJ PowerFilter
K's 3.5 bar regulator
Ohlins
Sargant Seat
Spiegler SS Brake Lines
LED tail/stop light and turn signals
Aux Fuel Tank (6.8 gallons total)

"The world is too dangerous to live in-not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who sit and let it happen." (Albert Einstein)

[BMathison]

Like it has been already said - "don't dwell on it". That may be a little hard right now, but you have to move on past it.

The most important thing that should come out of the whole incident, is a lesson. You really need to analyze it and learn from it. Otherwise that experience in life was wasted.

And yes I have crashed many times. Been riding since '68 and have crashed enough times that I don't remember how many times any more. (it's just easier that way)

[throttlemeister]

Score's on 3 for me.

First one was a matter of a teenager with too much testosterone and the idea accidents only happen to other people. Other than a acute sense of reality and dent in my ego, no damage to me. Bike was totaled though.

Second was a freak crash that shook me up real bad, as I didn't know what happened and why I crashed. I still don't. Result was compound fractures in my left arm and left leg. Minor damage to the bike.

Third time I was t-boned by cute girl that just got her license. Fortunately at slow speed, so nothing really major. Though sitting with a swelling the size of a football just below your hip is hard and painful. Minor damage to the bike.

This all happened in the first 3 years of me having my license. I now ride for 20 years and having covered over 500,000 miles in that time without any problems.

[signit98]

...had a few... worst injury was a broken collar bone... dirt biking, of all... I have created some carnage on the street (including totaling a 3 months old Laverda) but street hop-offs I have managed to just get rid of some unwanted flesh...

Overall, I think that the odds are against you, the longer you ride... had a close call last year... all depends on how you ride as well...

[Kiriath]

Been riding for two years, 60.000 km total, and just had my first serious crash, I didnt get badly hurt, but a little MORE bad luck and I could easily be in the hospital or dead right now.

I think if you ride carefully, without pushing it, and stays observant its pretty much completely avoidable. Of course you have a problem if your front brakes jams or something like that, but then again, carefull attention and service to the bike should even fix those.

So all in all, I think crashing is avoidable. But hey, if we rode like that, what fun would it be?

Personally I see riding as gambling, taking calculatet risks, constantly evaluating cost vs benefit. And then just making sure never to go busto (kill yourself).

[tim22]

Started riding on the road at about 20 years ago at about age 24 (ridden/raced off road since the age of 8). Sometime during the first year on the road, or maybe the second, on my 1985 Suzuki GS700 I met up with a group who used to ride every week from downtown Ann Arbor, MI to a spot in the country. The ride out was pretty fast, but the ride back was even faster. Most of us were on sport bikes, but we were all riding over our heads to some extent or another. So I was trying to follow the leader my first time out and didn't know where in the hell I was going. I was trying to round a curve, but had to "stand it up" and ran off the road. Luckily, I ended up going through a gravel parking lot and came to a stop right before I would have hit this country store.

Fast forward to later that summer or maybe it was the next summer. Every week for seven straight weeks somebody in our group crashed--broken hand, broken ribs, I can't remember all the injuries. Then, finally, it was my turn. I went off the road into a ditch and punctured my hand. It wasn't bad and I was able to retrieve my bike out of the swamp and ride home with pretty much just a bent handlebar.

Then finally it REALLY happened. Some time a few weeks later, we were on the ride back home at the same stupidly-fast, over-our-head pace as usual. I was third in the group and around the bend I saw dust in the air and lights reflecting into the sky. I knew there must have been a crash. As I rounded the corner an oncoming car passed with a crunched front end and hood. I knew somebody had been hit and I knew it was not the driver's (of the car) fault. Then I saw a helmet rolling by and finally the mangled body and the bike. The guy, Kelvin, had just joined up with a few weeks before. He had a wife, but no children. I knew immediately he was dead and I just parked my bike and laid down on the shoulder of the road looking up into the night sky.

My self and the leader of this group quit riding for about a week or two, until I met another guy who told me about road racing. I didn't know JUST ANYBODY could get into racing! So I looked into it and got started. I continued road racing for about four years until it became just too expensive for me.

But I learned that if you want to go fast the street just isn't the place (duh!). I believe I have more common sense and restraint than most--even since I was much younger. But I also feel I am lucky to have made it pretty much unscathed through those couple of years and also know it could just as easily have been me who was hit by that car--turns out Kelvin drifted into the oncoming lane because he was going too fast as we were all.

Back to answering the question, other than that crash mentioned in my story, I haven't had any other significant crashes on the street (I think I've fallen two other times--back then--from rounding city corners too fast--once with a new tire). A concussion a few years ago and a broken ankle a few years before that (from racing MX), but no problems on the street for a long time!

Tim

[agypsy]

wow! thanks for everyone sharing their experiences. like i said this was my first one so it's like my cherry was popped in a morbid kind of way.

i figured i'd ask the pelican community because i can see there are a lot of experienced rider's that come on this forum. i respect everyone's opinions here and think it's a good place to gauge certain things from a well rounded group of riders from all over the world.

i agree with most people here that if you ride all the time, the chances of getting into a nasty spill are increased and especially if you're doing spirited riding. you can take it for granted wearing the right gear but it becomes a habit to wear it all. and i didn't think when i put on my gear that day that i was going to crash. it hasn't scared me to ride but made me curious how everyone's luck was compared to mine...

[Jeff Williams]

For me time ssssslows dowwwwn, then its quick,pain, blackout,wakeup, start cussing because i messed up the bike.
This has happened a few times,memoral experiences to be shared and remembered at quiet moments.
jeff

[signit98]

Dang, Jeff... we had such a nice quiet moment for lunch... shoulda told me!

[Corky]

Dirt and street riding for 30 + years.
Many off's on dirtbikes but only one memorable on the street which was an over backwards wheelie that learned me the ATTGATT lesson.

I think most seasoned riders choose to ride BMW's
show more riding wisdom generally speaking...........

[PFFOG]

35 years 150-175K miles on 2 wheels. Low side in the grass 2 up in 1977, we rode the bike 120 miles home. Learned to LOOK where you want to go!!!

Once at the track with help from another rider, that one was trailered home and Insurance company took it By-by. Learned that complacency, and lack of situational awareness can bite you on the race track too. No serious injury, except ego, in either event.

[Flatbutt1]

40 years starting in the dirt with the ECEA back in '67. my worst crash was during the Stumpjumper Enduro. I caught air coming over a hill and the other side was off camber,loose shale. I washed out the front, highsided and tumbled. Tweaked the forks and the frame and my back. ouchy!

[Dr. Curve]

At one time I could remember what closed head injuries are............but now I can't. Take care.

[agypsy]

Originally Posted by throttlemeister

Score's on 3 for me.
This all happened in the first 3 years of me having my license. I now ride for 20 years and having covered over 500,000 miles in that time without any problems.

hmmm...interesting stat. in your case it seems luck is on your side or maybe you got it all out of the way...

like ralf said, "all depends on how you ride as well...". but there is the "being at the wrong place at the wrong time" as well.

[wswartzwel]

Crashes happen, especially if you ride a lot... evaluate what happened.. learn from it, and get on about the business of riding again. Pay attention to the crashes of others too... always better to learn from the mistakes of others, than your own.
May take a few miles to shake off the cooties though... you may find you tense up quickly in corners similar to the one you and the bee in your helmet straightened out.

I had a couple crashes when I was young, and one nasty one about 7 years ago... all of which could have been avoided if I stayed at home and watched TV instead of riding and having fun doing activities that are risky... Take up woods/enduro riding if you want to see how often you can get back on the bike in one ride...