I posted on the what did you do for your Stryker today thread that I crashed it into a Dodge Charger today. I didnt want to entirely hijack that thread so Id post the story here.
First of all Im ok, I went down, and only have a mildly sore right elbow.
Second, my bike is (mostly) ok. Took some scrapes but I rode it home.
Ill give some brief back ground on me, I do consider myself an inexperienced rider. Last July I took the MSP course and got my license, my first ever experience riding on the road was driving my stryker home from the dealer ship in August. When I left my house this afternoon the odometer on my bike read 842 miles. So I basically got 450 miles on last fall and 400 on so far this spring.
I left my house about 5 pm and was driving to my girlfriends house. I told her I would be there sometime between 530 and 6 just before leaving my place. Its normally a 15 minute drive there but I had gave myself a window of time to ride and to me that meant take the long way.
MY riding gear consists of an HJC Half helmet, glasses, leather coat, jeans, and zipper jump boots. I used to wear plain mechanix gloves but within the past 2 weeks Ive started wearing a pair of kevlar lined pat down gloves from work for no other reason than they fit better.
I had been out riding and it was about 545 pm I was appprox 2 miles from the girlfriends house and was approaching a "T" intersection. The intersecting road went to my right. The road I was driving on was a 2 lane paved road and the speed limit was 40 mph. I would say I was driving in the 35 40 mph range approaching this intersection maybe even slower due to past experiences of cars pulling out from the intersecting road. As I got closer I saw a red car driving toward me in the oncoming lane, saw their left signal on and the car start to turn.
First thought was oh crap they are turning I cant believe they are turning. I started a hard brake and started to process my options. My break was hard enough that I heard my tires squealing and the rear of bike was starting to slide to my right. I had a quick thought to try to steer to left into oncoming lane but I wasnt able to see if there was anythin more oncoming, thought to give throttle and turn right and try to beat them onto the road on the right, The car was moving fast enought at that time that I didnt think I would beat them.
Most reasonable option to me was to ride it out and see what happened. Due to my decelleration and their forward motion I felt there was a good chance turning it into a close call. I left off brakes quickly then back on to regain straight line travel and as I was thinking holy crap Im not going to hit. The car comes to an almost dead stop across my lane.
Well I couldnt get it slowed down enough and My front tire hit their rear passenger side wheel. my bike and me went down on our right side. I would guess I was doing between 5 and 10 mph at point of impact. probably closer to 5 than 10 I just ran out of space.
I layed on the road a few seconds and realized I felt mostly ok. Stood up to all sort of yelling asking if I was ok. Checked myself out felt my sore elbow and found a small scuff on the elbow of my coat, and a dirty right pant leg. The driver of the car pulled off the road and man that lived nearby came over asked if I was ok and helped pick my bike up and push it where the car had pulled in. The woman driving the car was in a panic, asking if I was ok, I told her I was ok, but needed a minute to calm down before I blew up. After my minute we began talking and exchanged information. Turns out she lives maybe a mile from my mom and dad, rides motorcycles, and was in a motorcycle crash that I was aware of a few years back. She acknowledge she knew she Effed up, and knows to look for bikes due to riding. She also said she panicked and stopped and by the time she tried to get on the gas it was too late.
The damage to my bike I consider pretty minimal. I got a scrape on my pipes, scraped foot peg, scraped brake pedal, scraped brake lever and bar end, and right side mirror got a little messed up.
I got very lucky with minimal damage to my body and lucky with minor damage to the bike. I felt good enough that no ambulance or hospital was needed. Under PA law if none of the vehicles needed towed and noone is going to hospital theres no need to contact police. A witness said police were called but they never showed up during the 30 mins we were there. I drove the bike home.
In the end I was shaken up, thankful I had a coat on, and will probably be purchasing a full face helemet. Im disappointed that almost every other time I ride I put my go pro camera on my handle bars and record it. The one time something exciting happens I didnt and dont have a cool video to put on youtube.
There was no damage other than a black mark on her wheel, it looks like were going to work this out between ourselves without insurance companies so I have a few questions.
Will vance and Hines sell a set of black heat shields or will a full set of twin slash staggerds have to be replaced.
My bike seemed to drive fine on the way home but I think its a good Idea to get my front end/ forks checked out since thats where I hit. Can a dealership do this or do I look for a specialized mechanic?
Overall I feel really lucky that I was able to both walk and ride away from my first and hopefully only crash. Ill try to post some pics tomorrow.
First of all Im ok, I went down, and only have a mildly sore right elbow.
Second, my bike is (mostly) ok. Took some scrapes but I rode it home.
Ill give some brief back ground on me, I do consider myself an inexperienced rider. Last July I took the MSP course and got my license, my first ever experience riding on the road was driving my stryker home from the dealer ship in August. When I left my house this afternoon the odometer on my bike read 842 miles. So I basically got 450 miles on last fall and 400 on so far this spring.
I left my house about 5 pm and was driving to my girlfriends house. I told her I would be there sometime between 530 and 6 just before leaving my place. Its normally a 15 minute drive there but I had gave myself a window of time to ride and to me that meant take the long way.
MY riding gear consists of an HJC Half helmet, glasses, leather coat, jeans, and zipper jump boots. I used to wear plain mechanix gloves but within the past 2 weeks Ive started wearing a pair of kevlar lined pat down gloves from work for no other reason than they fit better.
I had been out riding and it was about 545 pm I was appprox 2 miles from the girlfriends house and was approaching a "T" intersection. The intersecting road went to my right. The road I was driving on was a 2 lane paved road and the speed limit was 40 mph. I would say I was driving in the 35 40 mph range approaching this intersection maybe even slower due to past experiences of cars pulling out from the intersecting road. As I got closer I saw a red car driving toward me in the oncoming lane, saw their left signal on and the car start to turn.
First thought was oh crap they are turning I cant believe they are turning. I started a hard brake and started to process my options. My break was hard enough that I heard my tires squealing and the rear of bike was starting to slide to my right. I had a quick thought to try to steer to left into oncoming lane but I wasnt able to see if there was anythin more oncoming, thought to give throttle and turn right and try to beat them onto the road on the right, The car was moving fast enought at that time that I didnt think I would beat them.
Most reasonable option to me was to ride it out and see what happened. Due to my decelleration and their forward motion I felt there was a good chance turning it into a close call. I left off brakes quickly then back on to regain straight line travel and as I was thinking holy crap Im not going to hit. The car comes to an almost dead stop across my lane.
Well I couldnt get it slowed down enough and My front tire hit their rear passenger side wheel. my bike and me went down on our right side. I would guess I was doing between 5 and 10 mph at point of impact. probably closer to 5 than 10 I just ran out of space.
I layed on the road a few seconds and realized I felt mostly ok. Stood up to all sort of yelling asking if I was ok. Checked myself out felt my sore elbow and found a small scuff on the elbow of my coat, and a dirty right pant leg. The driver of the car pulled off the road and man that lived nearby came over asked if I was ok and helped pick my bike up and push it where the car had pulled in. The woman driving the car was in a panic, asking if I was ok, I told her I was ok, but needed a minute to calm down before I blew up. After my minute we began talking and exchanged information. Turns out she lives maybe a mile from my mom and dad, rides motorcycles, and was in a motorcycle crash that I was aware of a few years back. She acknowledge she knew she Effed up, and knows to look for bikes due to riding. She also said she panicked and stopped and by the time she tried to get on the gas it was too late.
The damage to my bike I consider pretty minimal. I got a scrape on my pipes, scraped foot peg, scraped brake pedal, scraped brake lever and bar end, and right side mirror got a little messed up.
I got very lucky with minimal damage to my body and lucky with minor damage to the bike. I felt good enough that no ambulance or hospital was needed. Under PA law if none of the vehicles needed towed and noone is going to hospital theres no need to contact police. A witness said police were called but they never showed up during the 30 mins we were there. I drove the bike home.
In the end I was shaken up, thankful I had a coat on, and will probably be purchasing a full face helemet. Im disappointed that almost every other time I ride I put my go pro camera on my handle bars and record it. The one time something exciting happens I didnt and dont have a cool video to put on youtube.
There was no damage other than a black mark on her wheel, it looks like were going to work this out between ourselves without insurance companies so I have a few questions.
Will vance and Hines sell a set of black heat shields or will a full set of twin slash staggerds have to be replaced.
My bike seemed to drive fine on the way home but I think its a good Idea to get my front end/ forks checked out since thats where I hit. Can a dealership do this or do I look for a specialized mechanic?
Overall I feel really lucky that I was able to both walk and ride away from my first and hopefully only crash. Ill try to post some pics tomorrow.
