Well I got my new bike last Wednesday and on Friday myself and 5 friends went up to Scotland for a 4 day trip, the first day we just about got up to Scotland, 140 miles and I binned it. Lad in front of me read the road wrong and locked up going into a corner, I was going to get past him coming out of the corner so maybe a bit too close, I slammed on as well and locked the back wheel, hit the grass with the front wheel which dug in and spat me off. Fortunately the bike was in full working order less a snapped mirror, smashed tail fairing and some scratches to the nose and side fairing. I've bruised my ribs but all good apart from that, not even scuffed my leathers and my helmet didn't take a hit at all. Not a good start to owning the new bike but I was very lucky and they say everyone comes off at some point so at least that's out of the way.............................. for now.
Yeah I carried on, my ribs didn't hurt until the 3rd day so wasn't too bad. gonna cost me £500 to put right, already got a new mirror and tail fairing from Honda, ordered the paint and its booked into bodyshop so not the end of the world.
Can always be worse !! Very lucky. Most would of kept quiet and not said on here, very big of you to let us know, hopefully makes us think more. When we go riding her and abroad, always try and give some gap, but do close up at times, have headset so can give heads up on overtakes incase others are half sleep !.
The frustrating thing is the lad in front of me was a guy i'd never met before and after we were talking and he said "don't follow me I'm sh*t" apparently he crashes all the time ha ha. for the rest of the trip I left more room between myself and the bike in front so lesson learned I guess.
I hate riding in groups exactly because of this, was riding in a big group and half way round a bend, guy in front bangs his brakes on FFS nearly rear ended him, so don't like riding in groups unless I'm in the front, much prefer riding myself
Crashed twice (by myself) and dropped bike doing a u turn once; 1st one was on GSXR600 coming off a motorway in France at about 140 kmh into one of those nasty 50 kmh corners - saw the accident, jumped off; 2nd on a GSXR750 I got spat off the bike coming off a roundabout in damp weather - not full throttle and didn't see the oil...; 3rd on my 848 doing a u-turn, got it wrong, put my foot down into a pothole and lost balance (i'm not very tall). Oops
Hit 2 cars at 70 on a Honda superdream, was a bit broke myself, but it only cost me £12 to put the bike back on the road, the two cars had to be towed away
First ever crash mate, I passed my test last May, got an R6 and Harley, don't ask. Then a 60 plate Blade which I had about 8 months and then this one. If my mate hadn't slammed on I would have been fine, one of those things, lesson learned.
True mate, I took the invader handlebar fairing off ,top box, etc etc returned it to a standard bike, my dad straightened the foot peg, can't remember what I spent the 12 quid on. Anyway traded it in for a new Yamaha LC250, but I was only out of the hospital for a week and my scapula was still broken, the dealer was checking over the bike and went to put it up on the main stand,it was the only thing that My dad hadn't straightened and the bike nearly hit the deck. As I was trying to hide the fact that the bike had been in a crash I nearly let the cat out of the bag as I screamed in pain trying to catch it
The crash itself was my fault, was overtaking a line of 8 cars got to the car in second place, when the car at the front put its indicator on to turn right,thought I might still have a chance, she turned and my engine bar clipped her front wing which threw me into the on coming traffic sideswiped the first car then the bike and me slid up the road for 35 yards. The police later told me about the cars being towed away, that they had loads of witnesses to say I was doing in excess of 70 miles an hour and they had measured from the point of impact to where the bike ended up and agreed with them. I said not me officer I was only doing 30, got done for careless driving, got an endorsement and a £30 fine, it was 1981
They reckoned you attained 70 on a SUPERDREAM? Hells teeth, I would have appealed that conviction. Everyone who knows anything about bikes knows that the Superdream struggled to get to 55 downhill with the wind in your favour
Group riding can be good fun and safe if done properly. I used to take a group of between 20 and 30 riders to Assen for the Dutch GP every year, and one of the first things I did was on the ferry going over to Calais was brief them on the etiquette and rules of group riding and give them a crib sheet with the rules and also the route written down just in case anyone got seperated. In 30 years of doing the trip we only had one bad crash when one of the guys was playing catch up after having to go back to the services for some reason I can't remember , and he ran into the back of another vehicle caused by loss of concentration. In group riding, especially if you do it convoy style, the hardest job is tail end charley who has to watch the front and say on a Motorway plan the overtakes and change lane first and get out to protect the bikes in front as they come out. Making sure that everyone rides offset front wheel to rear wheel and the slowest riders are at the front of the convoy (again on Motorways) also means that you can run a large group quite close together but safely with good margins, and then off the Motorway, convoy rules can still apply. Tail end charley often has to ride quicker at the back as well. On open roads, general rule, again slowest riders at the front and quadruple your following distance allowing for any errors ahead, but convoy motorway rules can also be adopted on main roads, especially in Europe were the roads are wider, smoother and often less traffic.
Bloody hell. Glad you are OK and got away without much damage. I avoid riding in groups.... sometimes you just get carried away. I have 2 mates who I completely trust and everyone knows each other's riding style. We have mega riding sessions.
