New rider here, and im always expecting this will be the time i might crash. I hear there's two types of riders, One who have crashed and those who are going to crash. I only have 100 miles on me so far. But how long did it take you to crash?

 

1978, Bowling Green, Ky, Beach Bend Park. The Big Boogie (National Drags). I was on a beer run on my 76 bagger and was coming back with 4 cases of beer. A lady in a Chevy Stepside pulled out in front of me and BANG, OUCH and a hell of alot of shook up beer.

 

1993, riding a Triumph Trident. I was in a 30mph zone just about to pass a parked 125cc Suzuki, with heavy oncoming traffic, when the Suzy rider decided to attempt a U turn without looking behind him, he blocked my lane with little time for me to do anything to react but slam the brakes on. My front wheel locked and i went down on the right had side of the bike.Slid towards him and hit him at a fairly slow speed causing his bike to fall onto mine.

It turned out that he was wearing a neck brace and was unable phsically to turn his head. And he claimed he didnt see me in the mirrors.
Result was £2100 ($3570) damage to my bike, with a little gravel rash and torn clothing

The Suzuki suffered a broken gear lever, and the rider a few scuffs to the outside of his helmet as I issued instructions as to his error.

Thankfully non to speak of since then ( I cant count falling off the Buell by pulling off with the steering lock still on[:@])

Lev

 

Nearly 2 months ago , wıth my sporty , ı was on the hıghway on my way to a summer vıllage near home .

Took a right turn a lıttle fast , trıed to slow down wıth rear brake [:@]

.................................................. ..................................................

and ı let u ımagıne the rest .

Fortunately nothıng happend to me , just some scraches on left arm and leg , but the rıght bottom sıde of the tank took a lıttle hıt.

After that day ı learned that ı have to slow down before turns and not when ım makıng them .

rıde safe

 

1975 my wife and i were doubling she was 6 months pregant. a light mist on the road 90 degree curve. you can guess the rest. she never rode with me again. but mother and baby were fine.

 

Foregot exactly when but for sure it was on a dirt bike,in the late sixties. Heck it might have even been on an old Bull Taco I had when I was a youngun.
Jbrews

 

About 1971 or 72. I was cruising down a sidestreet when someone pulled out of their driveway right in front of me. I didn't hit the car but went down trying to avoid it. Road rash , broken parts and ruined paint was the result.

 

1969 - I was proceding at about 30 mph on a straight in-town road when I noticed a woman several hundred yards ahead at a cross road stopped at a stop sign on the right. She had plenty of time to go since there was no other traffic but she didn't move. I figured she saw me and was waiting until I passed. I got within about 60 feet of the cross street and then she pulled out right in front of me. I would have been OK if she had kept going, but I guess she only saw me at the last minute by the expression on her face and she stopped immediately - in the middle of the intersection! I had to dump the bike in the road and I slid within inches of her car, at which point she drove off! I picked myself up yelling, screaming, and cursing at her as she moved on down the cross street. I broke my clutch lever and rear brake lever ( 1966 Triumph TR6-C), scraped my left side, and bruised my ego bigtime. She just never saw me coming. So now in that kind of situation, I try to make eye contact, and failing that, I slow down to a snail's pace. I still get the chills when I recall that day...

Thumper26

 

I first learned to ride a bike about 23 yrs ago. My hubby bought me a little 250 to tool around with him (just round town). Over a matter of a couple of yrs I eventually moved up to 750. Never really considered myself an experienced rider by any means, didn't even particularily enjoy it, at that time. I was sooo nervous, but I could still get up to 4th gear if I had to.

Many years later, after not riding at all, hubby borrowed a bike from a very good friend of his so we could go for an afternoon ride. We were on a old hwy, not very busy and he kept pestering me to drive it. At first I refused, because I had never driven a bike this big (It was a Heritage Softail). He kept insisting that it was easy to drive and I would be able to handle it. Well, he convinced me enough to try it. I got into the drivers position and he got on behind me. After a lenghtly hesitation, I finally decided to go for it. I gave it a bit of gas and let the clutch out and we started to move. I have to admit, it seemed effortless. It was such a heavy bike but I was amazed at how easy THAT part was. Well, we went for about 10 miles, just when I was starting to relax and feel that YESSS, I can do this!... I inadvertantly hit a pothole going around a curve and lost control. Because of inexperience, I didn't know what to do and we crossed the hwy and hit the gravel shoulder. We then fell to the side and slide for quite a ways still in riding positions.

Because of the force of hitting the ground and how fast we were sliding, I was pushed up into the handlebars. My upper thigh has quite a dent in it even to this day. I think I was soooo close to actually breaking it, but luckily we came to a stop.

A little road rash and quite shook up was about all the injuries we sustained. A passerby helped us to get the bike back on it's tires and after gathering out wits we got back on (with him driving this time) and headed home. I felt sooooo bad about this whole thing. Our friend Mike, Bless him (who, by the way is the friend I have spoke of often here, I'm sad to say, was killed on his bike in 2002) was more relieved that we weren't hurt than he was concerned for his bike. We had the bike repaired (about $2000 damage).

It took years for me to even consider driving a bike again. If it weren't for hubby's support, I NEVER would have done it. I had to conquer my fear and let me tell you....THAT was no easy task. It scared the Bjesus out of me. But, after all is said and done...I did it. I now have over 45,000 kms on my own bike and wouldn't trade it for the world.

 

I didn't have any significant crashes in my old dirt bike days, mostly just loosing it riding in caliche pits. Knock on wood, I've been riding again for five years and haven't crashed. I don't believe that it's inevitable that a person will crash on a bike.

The more you ride, the less you will think about going down. Main thing is to develop excellent riding and defensive driving skills. When riding, anticipate the stupidest thing that drivers/riders around you could do then prepare for it because chances are they'll do it.

Good luck and be safe.