Add to the risks of riding motorcycles

I been riding now for over 45 years and have heard or had mates with some very strange accidents on their bikes and didn't want to high jack the other thread on the India dangers, I will start in what had happen to a close mate of mine and his wife.

One day my mate Kevin and his wife were out on his Harley Wide Glide minding their own business they were just about to pass a truck that was parked on the side of the road when all of a sudden a rope was flung over the load and Kevin who was a truck driver seen the rope coming over as he was along side and he said it was like slow motion and bad timing the rope had rapped itself around Kev's handle bars as he was passing and there was nothing he could do, the bike came to a sudden full lock and instant lock up a big spit off and a big crash.
My mate Kevin ended up with a broken left leg and arm and his wife only suffered minor injuries, the truck driver was in shock in what he had caused and charged by the police, the Harley came out better than my mate did but lucky the truck driver was fully insured and my mate got a big pay out from it.
Just a freak accident that was 25 years ago now and my mate Kevin was killed in a work accident 2 years later using a crane truck he drove for 5 years in his council job working on his own delivering concrete main water pipes, the boom swung around and pinned him against the side of the truck at 4:30 am and it was 7 am when someone walking their dog that found him with the truck still running and the crane still pinning him.

Anyway what has others in counted from freak accidents while on their bikes or with someone else.

Ashley

That truck strap was indeed a case of horrible timing. I've also had one of those. Got a spike strip pulled out across the highway while I was doing the legal limit of 100kph. Cop was trying to get an armed robber coming from opposite direction and thought he'd missed me. In the few seconds it took me to realize what had just happened, the Bonneville did not go out of control and no handling issues were noted as slowed and pulled onto shoulder. By time I'd stepped off bike both tires fully flat.

Been telling this story for a few yrs now and have never had anyone mention they've heard of it happening to anyone else before.

Friends of mine got tyre spiked a few years ago caught in the middle of a car chase, the cop throwing it out was a bit slow missed the bad guys and got my friends car instead all 4 tyres slowly blew, just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but the good thing the police arranged a tow truck and replaced all 4 with new tyres all covered by the police dept.

I friend of mine had a tree (a big ‘un) fall on him whilst riding his Harley. Sounds funny I know, but it caused quite some damage and some soft tissue injuries that took a long time to heal.

The term 'safe' probably means 'a situation or condition when the risks are minimised to level which is tolerable to all stakeholders'. Road racing is safe - Riding on public roads is not.

Fast Eddie said:

I friend of mine had a tree (a big ‘un) fall on him whilst riding his Harley. Sounds funny I know, but it caused quite some damage and some soft tissue injuries that took a long time to heal.

Click to expand...

If you think a tree is bad ,how about this for coincidences, the wife is driving home up the M20 motorway and gets caught in a major traffic jam 500 yards from a road bridge, the concrete bridge has been hit by a crane and its collapsed across the motorway. Under the bridge is an aqaintance of mine on his bike (the only casualty), its shown on national TV. He recovers well and is one of the few survivors of the workforce of AMC Norton. His replacement bike has just been nicked along with his tools and riding gear ,how lucky can you be !.

Nothing is safe , that not news ! .. in the grand scheme of things we only here for a short time ... live life have some fun , end of story .... lots of weird shit can happen ,should waste no time worrying ‘bout lightning strike .... full tilt fun/enjoyment is way to go ....

ashman said:

One day my mate Kevin and his wife were out on his Harley Wide Glide minding their own business they were just about to pass a truck that was parked on the side of the road when all of a sudden a rope was flung over the load
Ashley

Click to expand...

The same thing happened to me in London, was passing a truck when a rope came over the top and wrapped round my neck, I got the bike stopped just as the rope went tight, I have always thought that another yard and I would have been hung.

Thing is, I was more than a little annoyed and shot round the other side of the truck shouting about the guys parentage etc, only to be greeted by the biggest chap on the planet, who hadn't a clue why this grubby little dispatch rider was shouting obscenities at him, luckily he got the gist before he killed me.

So size does matter, eh ... happy no one got hurt ... still not afraid of rope ...

acotrel said:

The term 'safe' probably means 'a situation or condition when the risks are minimised to level which is tolerable to all stakeholders'. Road racing is safe - Riding on public roads is not.

Click to expand...

Well Al that's your way of thinking as I am always safe on the road it all depends how you think a head all the time and keeping your eye on everything that is happening around you and I get to ride every day not once in a while when you can a ford it, anything on 2 wheels can be dangerous whether on the road, track or in the dirt, myself just love being on 2 wheels, day or night and accept the ricks I take.

Ashley

I don't have anything to exciting bar riding off the 200 foot cliff on a RM250D once.

Once I was on a countryside motorway on my 78 CBX sitting on 130k or so, there was a long straight and then it curved off to climb a long hill.
I am coming into that sweeping corner and notice a family size pizza box in an outer lane a truck coming up to it........ It was a little slow motion but I was slower........... The truck wind lifted this piano size box into the air and I ended up head butting it like a hat brim, I actually had to pull it off my helmet... Keep you eyes peeled, don't stare at things or you might interact with them.

Around this same era of 1985 I went out with this young lady, an animal lover and still is to this day.
I was in NZ last week and having lunch with an old mate who reminded me of this 'episode.
We had done our boilermaker apprenticeships together and ran a engineering workshop (1985)
I lived at the southern end of the city but could take a rural route to get to the workshop, basically a straight ish country road that had a cross road every few kms.

I used to wear my leather jacket with a Belstaff over the top being winter.
Animal lover GF had a cat that was probably 100 years old and made odd noises being so old, its inner workings were somewhat faulty also, I was not that fond of it and perhaps it knew that.

So I am riding to work enjoying the country road and at every one of those cross road stops the pong of country seemed higher than normal.
I get to work and my mate as above says something like, yikes, what is that smell.
That hideous cat had taken some form of unnatural poop in my Belstaff which had then turned into a $hit sandwich between it and my leather jacket.
It took a long time to get the smell out and am sure that cat knew all about it.

I really like cats and dogs .... very nice photo , is it very recent ? ... a true to life funny story , cats have lots of interesting ways ....

Craig said:

Nothing is safe , that not news ! .. in the grand scheme of things we only here for a short time ... live life have some fun , end of story .... lots of weird shit can happen ,should waste no time worrying ‘bout lightning strike .... full tilt fun/enjoyment is way to go ....

Click to expand...

'Safe' is about tolerating risks. When you get out of bed in the morning, you might die during the day even if you do nothing hazardous. But the risks are minimised and tolerable, so you are safe. When you race regularly, you usually know when something is dangerous - so you avoid sticking your neck out. Riding on public roads however, is a lottery. To be killed when road-racing, you need to be very unlucky. Nobody goes at it like a bull at a gate.

Craig said:

I really like cats and dogs .... very nice photo , is it very recent ? ... a true to life funny story , cats have lots of interesting ways ....

Click to expand...

Craig, that pic is probably 35 years old, I am a little grey haired old man now.

I think the moral of that story was hang your bike gear up, not leave it on the floor.

Speaking of other nutty happenings, back in the 1990's not only were Reebok runners hip but pricey at the best part of $100 a pair.
Who knows why but one day at the end of work I had a pair with me riding in my work boots so with no bag elected to tie them to the seat via the laces.

I leave work and the bike (bevel 900) seemed a little more cold blooded than normal and a little sluggish but it seemed to come right.
On arriving home the cause of said lack of power was revealed......one Reebok has managed to end up jammed between the rear shock absorber and tyre/tire and had all but caught on fire and reduced to a sorry state.
#
In 1984 or 5 I bought a few bikes in Los Angeles, including a T140 Bonneville and a 1979 HD Sportster.
The Sportster had those dual mufflers and some bracket behind them had fractured but 'repaired with a turn buckle type rod, something I had meant to get around to looking at.
One day after coming off the motorway/freeway and on a side street, I give it a bit of stick from an intersection, maybe I got to 2nd gear and all hell broke loose, not only a drastic increase in noise but the rear of the bike was trying to break some record for a catapult launch to overtake the front end.

The turn bucket repair had departed company and the muffler pivoted down from its one mount so the header end dug into the road.
If something needs fixing do it sooner than later, that might have been even more interesting if it had happened a couple of minutes earlier on the motorway.

All it takes to end up on your head, is for the rear chain to break and lock the rear wheel. I wrote off a crash helmet that way. I was accelerating out of a street corner and had hold of the handle bars and they threw me onto my head.

Its dangerous out there A man but we have to soldier on until we die in our sleep.

Back when I was a globe trotting Boilermaker one port of call was here in the picture, Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea where the second largest copper mine in the World was located... It shut down in 1989 mid revolution.

This pic must be from around 1982, I remember sitting on the frame sticking out the front (110' at the highest point) doing a job, probably with no harness and thinking I better not fall off (aged 22) it might be dangerous.
I didn't fall off.



Just as this un exploded bomb (1983iirc) didn't blow me up.

ashman said:

I been riding now for over 45 years and have heard or had mates with some very strange accidents on their bikes and didn't want to high jack the other thread on the India dangers.
Ashley

Click to expand...

Ash, I missed that, nothing wrong with India and the curry with a cold Kingfisher is good too.

On a more solemn note, I can't remember the year, perhaps 1979....... I was at a party hosted by a work mate.. At some point I was talking with one of his mates (who was looking to buy a first bike) There was a 250 cc rule in place for newbies (I had started on a Kawasaki 250 S1B) and this guy (Peter) really wanted a bigger bike, I seem to remember suggesting work your way up from a 250 .... He bought a Triumph 650 and was dead three weeks later.

I was not allowed a road bike as a total newbie so raced my RM 125 from 1976 to 1977 before getting that first road bike, the MX probably saved my life many times as riding the bike itself was second nature by then.

I remember my Mother saying bikes were just a phase or something like that.................

Getting old and gray now, but I'm sure I'll outgrow it too.

jbruney said:

Getting old and gray now, but I'm sure I'll outgrow it too.

Click to expand...

I will never out grow it, its in my blood till the day I am no longer here, I have had some close calls as well some time off with injuries, mostly left knee (3 bike accidents) and after 45 years I have only had my first broken bone about 7 years a go when my Norton spat me off in a slow speed crash and while recovering I upgraded the faulty front brake what was the cause of my accident, 6 weeks recovering and I couldn't get back on the bike quick enough, so I have been very lucky but a lot of my mates haven't and still suffer from their injuries and a few have had some very strange accidents from no fault of their own, have also lost a few of my mates in the 45 years but they are always in my memories.

Ashley