Puder & the rest of you with motorcycles
07-13-2002, 06:19 PM
#1
Registered
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Greenwich CT. U S of A
Posts: 1,845
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Puder & the rest of you with motorcycles
SELL EM!!!!
Once again, I have the unfortunate news that another friend has been in a serious accident. Wrong place at the wrong time.
He has lost one arm, shattered both leggs & pelvis, lost an ear & part of his skull (was wearing helmit but it ripped off) multiple internal injuries and the prognosis is 50/50 on the ultimate outcome. He was only doing 55-60 at the time.
I used to ride but one hit & I figured it was a wake up call.
Sell them guys! I never want to hear things like this again
Once again, I have the unfortunate news that another friend has been in a serious accident. Wrong place at the wrong time.
He has lost one arm, shattered both leggs & pelvis, lost an ear & part of his skull (was wearing helmit but it ripped off) multiple internal injuries and the prognosis is 50/50 on the ultimate outcome. He was only doing 55-60 at the time.
I used to ride but one hit & I figured it was a wake up call.
Sell them guys! I never want to hear things like this again
07-13-2002, 10:12 PM
#4
Registered
Join Date: Oct 2000
Posts: 36
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Sorry to hear about your friend. I road race, drag race and ride on the street. I ride an Aprilia Mille on the street and wear full racing leathers with hard pads and lots of kevlar, of corse racing boots, gloves and a top of the line helmet. It might seem like a lot, but if you are going to ride on the street you need to take all the precautions you can. It's like wearing a seat belt in a car. At first you hate it, but you get used to it. It wont prevent everything, but it greatly reduces the risk you take. Riding on the street is alot like playing the old video game "FROGGER". everyone is trying to get you. Again, I hate to hear about a brother going down. Later Joe
07-14-2002, 12:27 AM
#5
Platinum Member
Platinum Member
Bikes are in my blood. Been riding since I was seven.
I certainly hate to hear of your friend's misfortune.
I have lost 3 friends to motorcycle accidents. One was a girl I had several classes with in middle school and kissed behind the air conditioning unit on the side of her house. She was riding a small dirtbike in a field nearby. She was wearing only a bikini and flipflops. She ran into a zigzag section of trail that passed through a row of trees. The approach was blind. There was an oncoming rider in full motocross dress on a larger bike. They met at the tree row. One end of a set of handlebars ran through her temple and ended her life.
Another friend of mine was a motocross racing buddy. He was an excellent racer and usually finished top two or three in all of his races. He was a year older than I and we raced off the same trailer most of the time. He got his streetbike license when he turned 16 and immediately bought a powerful streetbike. Six days after he got his street license he was running fast through the neighborhood (80-ish) and a station wagon backed out of its driveway right in front of him. He avoided the car, but smacked a telephone pole. Closed casket.
When I was 22, and a month away from getting married, my best friend and myself, along with 3 other close friends were at a local motocross track practicing for an upcoming local "regional" race with national-qualifier points. We had all decided we were going to all go to the amateur nationals that year and race.
We were working on individual sections, watching and critiquing each other. On a set of triple jumps, we had been arguing the best approach because there was a corner immediately after it that was unbanked with only a narrow berm groove. Johnny had decided to hit the first jump much faster, but leave the top with the throttle off to keep height low. He carried more speed and as figured, much less height off the jump, but his rear shock was overheated and rebounded more than expected. This caused the rear to climb high, with the nose down. Friend Johnny never pegged the throttle to try to save the landing, but simply let go of the handlebars and dove off the front of the bike. He hit the ground in front of the bike on the flat ground. He hit knees first, breaking both of his legs, and whiplashing his head into the hardpack. He was wearing full mx gear, as were we all, but the helmet was not designed for this level of energy absorption. Johnny was declared braindead at the hospital after a helicopter ride and his heart stopped 13 hours later.
I have had more friends and acquaintances get injured on dirt, track, and street. I took a lowside slide at 110 on the back straight at Talldega Grand Prix raceway after a caliper bolt broke and lodged one of the front calipers into the rotor on an HRC-spec VFR. I've been down twice on public streets, once in race leathers, once in jeans and a ballistic jacket. I've also been more than thrice the posted freeway speed limit on secondary roads wearing jeans, Nikes, a t-shirt, race gloves and a top-notch helmet (never said I was smart). I've blown both knees, cracked ribs, had concussions, broken collarbones, broke my nose, torn neck muscles, dislocated an elbow, broken a tailbone, and been generally beaten up many times on many occasions on motorcycles of some kind or another.
I will be the first to admit that streetbike riding is a constantly-perilous undertaking at the best of times. Every car within a 1/2 mile radius is a potential attacker. Defensive driving/riding is the constant requirement.
Regardless of one's vigilant defensive stance, snap decisions, reflexes, and/or safety options will converge to stack the odds against even the best street riders. This is a truth that all riders must understand and know.
I hurt for your friend. I hurt for the families of my departed friends. I hurt for those who have lost somebody dear to them from a bike-related event.
I also appreciate the concerns of those who wish the best for riders and fear for the safety of all who choose to ride bikes.
I understand the risks. I have had many, many, many close calls that could have ended my riding days.
I still choose to ride.
For reasons only those who share my love of bikes can understand.
** I also love my children, my wife, boats, fast cars, expensive cars, half-naked women, and dogs **
Mike
I certainly hate to hear of your friend's misfortune.
I have lost 3 friends to motorcycle accidents. One was a girl I had several classes with in middle school and kissed behind the air conditioning unit on the side of her house. She was riding a small dirtbike in a field nearby. She was wearing only a bikini and flipflops. She ran into a zigzag section of trail that passed through a row of trees. The approach was blind. There was an oncoming rider in full motocross dress on a larger bike. They met at the tree row. One end of a set of handlebars ran through her temple and ended her life.
Another friend of mine was a motocross racing buddy. He was an excellent racer and usually finished top two or three in all of his races. He was a year older than I and we raced off the same trailer most of the time. He got his streetbike license when he turned 16 and immediately bought a powerful streetbike. Six days after he got his street license he was running fast through the neighborhood (80-ish) and a station wagon backed out of its driveway right in front of him. He avoided the car, but smacked a telephone pole. Closed casket.
When I was 22, and a month away from getting married, my best friend and myself, along with 3 other close friends were at a local motocross track practicing for an upcoming local "regional" race with national-qualifier points. We had all decided we were going to all go to the amateur nationals that year and race.
We were working on individual sections, watching and critiquing each other. On a set of triple jumps, we had been arguing the best approach because there was a corner immediately after it that was unbanked with only a narrow berm groove. Johnny had decided to hit the first jump much faster, but leave the top with the throttle off to keep height low. He carried more speed and as figured, much less height off the jump, but his rear shock was overheated and rebounded more than expected. This caused the rear to climb high, with the nose down. Friend Johnny never pegged the throttle to try to save the landing, but simply let go of the handlebars and dove off the front of the bike. He hit the ground in front of the bike on the flat ground. He hit knees first, breaking both of his legs, and whiplashing his head into the hardpack. He was wearing full mx gear, as were we all, but the helmet was not designed for this level of energy absorption. Johnny was declared braindead at the hospital after a helicopter ride and his heart stopped 13 hours later.
I have had more friends and acquaintances get injured on dirt, track, and street. I took a lowside slide at 110 on the back straight at Talldega Grand Prix raceway after a caliper bolt broke and lodged one of the front calipers into the rotor on an HRC-spec VFR. I've been down twice on public streets, once in race leathers, once in jeans and a ballistic jacket. I've also been more than thrice the posted freeway speed limit on secondary roads wearing jeans, Nikes, a t-shirt, race gloves and a top-notch helmet (never said I was smart). I've blown both knees, cracked ribs, had concussions, broken collarbones, broke my nose, torn neck muscles, dislocated an elbow, broken a tailbone, and been generally beaten up many times on many occasions on motorcycles of some kind or another.
I will be the first to admit that streetbike riding is a constantly-perilous undertaking at the best of times. Every car within a 1/2 mile radius is a potential attacker. Defensive driving/riding is the constant requirement.
Regardless of one's vigilant defensive stance, snap decisions, reflexes, and/or safety options will converge to stack the odds against even the best street riders. This is a truth that all riders must understand and know.
I hurt for your friend. I hurt for the families of my departed friends. I hurt for those who have lost somebody dear to them from a bike-related event.
I also appreciate the concerns of those who wish the best for riders and fear for the safety of all who choose to ride bikes.
I understand the risks. I have had many, many, many close calls that could have ended my riding days.
I still choose to ride.
For reasons only those who share my love of bikes can understand.
** I also love my children, my wife, boats, fast cars, expensive cars, half-naked women, and dogs **
Mike
07-14-2002, 01:57 AM
#6
Registered
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Palm Harbor, FL
Posts: 3,959
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
About anyone who rides, knows someone who has cashed in their chips......ALSO.....anyone who lives has know someone who has died from a heart attack or some other "natural" cause. I have been riding since I was 9 and still ride today with a wife, 2 kids, 1 dog,1 cat, 1 bird, and 2 fish......(I need a farm !). It happens and it hurts. But when you go down, at least it's with something you love , instead of a life support system for cancer or some thing. Wardey
07-14-2002, 02:07 AM
#7
Charter Member #971
Charter Member
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Shoreline, WA, US
Posts: 418
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
DJD, I am sorry to hear of the loss and my heart goes out to you and your friends family, but I too feel like mcollinstn. I am of the oopinion that if I were to stay away from everything dangerous I would never leave my house. I hope that I never experience the trauma that you and your friends family are going through, but it's something that I'm just not quite willing to give up. Thanks for the concern though, believe me it doesn't fall on deaf ears.
Les
Les
07-14-2002, 06:55 AM
#8
Member #9
Charter Member
Exactly why I keep mine on the dirt (MX Bike). The combination of speeds, other vehicles and obstacles, make road bikes very very dangerous.
__________________
Member of the Liquid Jungle
Member of the Liquid Jungle
07-15-2002, 12:47 AM
#10
speel chekk this fokker!
Charter Member
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Locust Valley, New York
Posts: 5,329
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
DJD sorry to hear abotu your friend. That really sucks. I iwhs him teh best and hope that he recovers.
As for my days on the bike, I am pretty sure they are numbered. I went down over 4th of july weekend and bruised up and some nice road rash on my legs and hands. Its fun but its just not worth it. Especially since i was driving pretty normally and just happened to hit some pavement (in a turn) that was VERY slick even though it looked fine. It kicked out the rear tire and the bike came out from under me.
time for that thing to find a new home.
As for my days on the bike, I am pretty sure they are numbered. I went down over 4th of july weekend and bruised up and some nice road rash on my legs and hands. Its fun but its just not worth it. Especially since i was driving pretty normally and just happened to hit some pavement (in a turn) that was VERY slick even though it looked fine. It kicked out the rear tire and the bike came out from under me.
time for that thing to find a new home.
__________________
Pardon me, while I whip this out!
Pardon me, while I whip this out!
