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I learned two things on my way to work yesterday: 1. I hate squirrels. 2. Frame sliders are the best investment ever. I was on my way to work when a kamikaze squirrel jumped out in front of me and my svs650k7. I slowed down to roughly 20mph while the squirrel posted up and stared me down. I began to swerve around him when he dashed under my front tire. I either panicked and locked the front mid swerve or slid out due to the furry/squishy bump in the road or some combination of the two. Anyway, next thing I know, I am sliding on the ground watching my bike slide next to me. It was an awful sight paired with the wretched sound of metal on concrete. I jumped up and pulled my bike out of the road. I was surprised that the horrible scrapping noises didn’t birth more damage. My rear brake took the worst of it and bent back a little, the upper corner of my fairing near the headlight was slightly rashed, the can had a little rash, and the frameslider was worn away a bit. As for me, I was wearing a full face, a* jacket, a* sp2 gloves, jeans, and some jump boots. My gear made out pretty good as well. The jacket has a slight scuff on the upper arm. The gloves took the brunt of it and I am glad I had them on. The carbon knuckles of my right ring finger and pinky went from being convex to concave and had some serious rash. Lesson learned: gently caress swerving around a squirrel. I’m keeping my line next time because either way, you still have to hose off bits.
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# ? Sep 25, 2009 21:40 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 17:50 |
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ant mouth posted:Lesson learned: gently caress swerving around a squirrel. I’m keeping my line next time because either way, you still have to hose off bits. Hahaha yea I have flattened one or two small animals on my bike. Unless it is some golden retriever sized animal I am not risking my life to save anything that jumps in front of me besides a child or something.
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# ? Sep 25, 2009 22:29 |
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I killed a squirrel on Sunday, little fucker just kept doing a zip-zap back and forth in the street. I'm not changing my line for something that small and he zipped when he should have zapped and I felt the thunk of running him over. Friend behind me said I shot him up and spun him pretty good. Yeah, dogs, deer, big animals? Swerve. Small things like squirrels and stuff, keep on trucking.
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# ? Sep 25, 2009 22:29 |
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Yup. It might suck to kill something so cute, but it's better then an off. I was somewhere in New York I think when a little chipmnk darted out from the side of the road and under my rear wheel. Little guy made a beeline for it like he was purposefully doing himself in. It happened absurdly fast, by the time I even thought about it, I felt the bump. Ah well Oh, I will say this though: loving SWERVE FOR TURTLES.
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# ? Sep 25, 2009 23:39 |
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Tsaven Nava posted:Yup. It might suck to kill something so cute, but it's better then an off. I was somewhere in New York I think when a little chipmnk darted out from the side of the road and under my rear wheel. Little guy made a beeline for it like he was purposefully doing himself in. It happened absurdly fast, by the time I even thought about it, I felt the bump. Ah well moderate that. If your combined weight you + bike is over 750lbs, or so, the turtle is hosed beyond all measure, and you're better off treating it like a board. I'm 265, and the bike is like 780 or so. And thank god, because some loving racoon jumped in front of me on the highway and it skull turned into paste. yes, I'm making the logical leap that a racoon skull is similar to a turtle.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 00:37 |
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Silver posted:I killed a squirrel on Sunday, little fucker just kept doing a zip-zap back and forth in the street. I'm not changing my line for something that small and he zipped when he should have zapped and I felt the thunk of running him over. Friend behind me said I shot him up and spun him pretty good. I had a former riding buddy of mine hit a possum at night infront of me on his 1098s. I never thought a possum could fly that high and spin that fast. I was lucky I didn't hit him either....
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 01:55 |
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TheCosmicMuffet posted:moderate that. If your combined weight you + bike is over 750lbs, or so, the turtle is hosed beyond all measure, and you're better off treating it like a board. Firstly, Me + Bike is barely over 650lbs But I would think the kinda puck-shape and smoothness of turtle shells could send your front wheel darting off in all sorts of random directions unless you happended to hit it PERFECTLY dead on. And to hit in that perfectly, you'd have to actually aim for it . . . in which case, why wouldn't you avoid it by six inches? It's not like it's going to dart left or right at the last second.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 02:29 |
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As a turtle owner this conversation is making my stomach skittish. I'd like to say my fat little friend's shell is hard enough to launch my intruder into the stratosphere given enough momentum, but confidence is low.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 03:11 |
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Yeah and turtles aren't all zip zapping and looking confused. Dodge turtles people. Hell pull over, stop, and put them off the road. I like turtles, squirrels, not so much. edit: Revenant, yeah it didn't hit my buddy, that would have made for a pretty good story though. I think he went into the other lane.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 03:13 |
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BlueBayou posted:I had a hosed up clutch lever for a while on my ninja and here is what i learned. Oh yeah, the bent lever was fine, actually helped build up strength in my left hand and with a new lever shifting is practically subconcious. Ordering it from the dealer gave me an excuse to look at some sweeeeet bikes. Oh man. On the hitting animals note, I had a little kitty run ride into my sidewall. I was like, "Noooo kitty!" Now he's a special kitty . Poor thing. I've had a few deer leer at me and a possum scare the poo poo out of me on a bridge, standard midwest fare I guess.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 03:35 |
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Shuka posted:As a turtle owner this conversation is making my stomach skittish. I'd like to say my fat little friend's shell is hard enough to launch my intruder into the stratosphere given enough momentum, but confidence is low. I own one too and while the shell may not stand up to a motorcycle + rider it certainly won't give you any traction. Dodge the little bastards if you can please, and like Silver said move them off the road.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 04:41 |
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Tsaven Nava posted:It's not like it's going to dart left or right at the last second. No, it's far more likely that it will face you head-on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LY8_3HxxWwA
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 04:59 |
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Furry, darty animals get what's coming to them, but I will always swerve for a turtle. Then I'll go back and put them off the side of the road (even if they are one of those ill tempered snappers).
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 05:50 |
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I'd dodge a turtle for the same reason I'd dodge a rock: You can, it's not gonna suddenly switch directions. When it comes to little animals, I hear that the best thing to do is aim for them, because they will get out of the way, but I just tend to hold my line/get the bike as upright as possible. If I hit them, I hit them.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 05:50 |
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Z3n posted:I'd dodge a turtle for the same reason I'd dodge a rock: You can, it's not gonna suddenly switch directions. Yeah, same principal as deer. You have no loving idea what the thing's going to do, so it's best to slow down and prepare as best you can, rather than start swerving all over and possibly making yourself crash anyway. Animal's reactions are essentially random, so you want to be in as much control as possible to compensate.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 06:13 |
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If you see a kangaroo on the side of the road, slow as down as much as you can and pull towards the side of the road. The fuckers will and do jump in front of you just as you pass.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 09:07 |
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TheCosmicMuffet posted:I'm 265, and the bike is like 780 or so. And thank god, because some loving racoon jumped in front of me on the highway and it skull turned into paste. I hit a raccoon doing about 50 last June (on a ramp between major highways in a large urban area ) with my car, and it did $3k worth of damage. I had no swerving opportunity sadly.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 14:07 |
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Shuka and TimeTrash and Bugdrvr posted:Turtles are good, move them off the road! I always do when I have the chance https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NEVJh3pfh4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUHO1LDGW3k
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 16:39 |
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Doctor Zero posted:Yeah, same principal as deer. You have no loving idea what the thing's going to do, so it's best to slow down and prepare as best you can, rather than start swerving all over and possibly making yourself crash anyway. gently caress deer. If I see one, I'm slowing to a crawl until I get past the suicidal fucker.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 18:42 |
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Today I went to an open house/demo day at a motorcycle dealer owned by a good friend. I arrived on my SV650 wearing work boots, jeans, my Fieldsheer textile jacket, armored leather gloves and an HJC full face helmet. I've been riding 5 years, with no accidents. After a bit of encouragement, I agreed to take him up on a demo ride of a new Benelli TNT 1130. I was a bit nervous riding an expensive unfamiliar bike that doesn't belong to me. I should mention that this bike was brand new, particularly the tires. I rode to the stop sign to get out of the dealership and went to make a right turn into traffic. I gently let out the clutch and rolled on the throttle, much more timidly than I would on my SV. Almost instantly the back tire spun and I was down, watching the bike slide away from me. I was going 10 mph, tops. It happened so fast I never had a chance to try to do any kind of correction. I landed on my shoulder and slid on my forearm a few feet. Traffic stopped while I angrily got up, picked the bike up, and pushed it off to the side. For damage, I scraped up the side fairing, brake lever, foot peg and a spot on the swingarm. My shoulder is really stiff and hurts a bit. The slide wore small hole in the forearm of my jacket. I'm still awash in shame. The owner didn't seem to care, telling me that's what insurance is for, and laughed off my apologies and offer to pay to repair the damage. While the tires were cold and not scrubbed in, and I may have hit some sand, I still feel like the accident was my fault and that I should have been able to avoid it. Lesson learned: be extremely careful with throttle control when turning from a stop, especially on an unfamiliar bike. Sorry, no pics. The bike doesn't belong to me, so it's not in my garage at home, and I was too shaken up and embarrassed to take any at the time.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 19:02 |
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Oh that suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucks. edit: Tsaven Nava, lollin at turtle 3 that thing was hauling assss.
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# ? Sep 26, 2009 19:52 |
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redscare posted:gently caress deer. If I see one, I'm slowing to a crawl until I get past the suicidal fucker. Abso-loving-lutely. And really, any sort of large animal on the side of the road, I loving idle past, be it deer, horses, cattle, anything. Every time I see one, I flash back to the OZYMANDIAS thread on ADV.
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# ? Sep 27, 2009 06:39 |
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I wish I could carry a gun just to pop deer when I see em. Everytime I see one on my bike my heart skips a beat. Don't believe in those deer whistles for an instant, either, because I actually hit a deer with an old car of mine with the whistles on. Squirrels can suck it, though. I kicked one of the bastards on my old Buell going 40.
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# ? Sep 27, 2009 14:24 |
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Tsaven Nava posted:Abso-loving-lutely. And really, any sort of large animal on the side of the road, I loving idle past, be it deer, horses, cattle, anything. Every time I see one, I flash back to the OZYMANDIAS thread on ADV. And yeah, I think of him every time I see a Wildlife Xing sign and I slooooow down.
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# ? Sep 27, 2009 14:47 |
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Becktastic posted:Oh God that thread is heart breaking. In my sculpture class we have to make a sculpture based on writings of some sort and I chose his. Reading over them pains me every time, but hopefully I will have a nice memorial when I am done. Oh yeah. I also met a guy at the HD campground in Anchorage who had a bit of a limp and looked like some back pain, and I asked him what had happened. Evidently he'd hit a moose at 60mph, flew off the road and flipped 150 feet down a cliff. He was in the hospital for over 9 months and countless surgeries recovering. He was wearing full gear, but even in spite of that the doctor said that his shin and ankle bones looked "like corn flakes" on the x-rays. The damage to his legs was so bad that they had to put a nerve block or something in his spine to effectively make his legs permanently numb. And here he was, two years later, doing another 9,000 mile road trip from Montana to Prudhoe, then Anchorage and back.
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# ? Sep 27, 2009 16:06 |
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Tsaven Nava posted:Abso-loving-lutely. And really, any sort of large animal on the side of the road, I loving idle past, be it deer, horses, cattle, anything. Every time I see one, I flash back to the OZYMANDIAS thread on ADV. That is the most depressing thread on the internet
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# ? Sep 28, 2009 21:34 |
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redscare posted:That is the most depressing thread on the internet Link please.
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# ? Sep 28, 2009 22:29 |
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Coredump posted:Link please. If you really want to get depressed as hell on a Monday, its your funeral http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=136505
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# ? Sep 28, 2009 22:30 |
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Wow that is drat sad. On the bright side I took the HOV lane home on the bike today and no one hit me
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# ? Sep 28, 2009 23:06 |
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Fuckin' ungulates
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# ? Sep 28, 2009 23:30 |
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redscare posted:If you really want to get depressed as hell on a Monday, its your funeral Hmm. I'm not sad. I'm proll'y just an rear end in a top hat though.
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 00:41 |
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OrangeFurious posted:Hmm. I'm not sad. I'm proll'y just an rear end in a top hat though. Read all the way to page 13
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 00:55 |
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Tsaven Nava posted:Read all the way to page 13 Jesus christ it went from horrible to just hosed up
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 01:49 |
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redscare posted:If you really want to get depressed as hell on a Monday, its your funeral Ok that is the saddest thing on the internet.
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 01:54 |
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Tsaven Nava posted:Read all the way to page 13 ... "Oh, wait, most people haven't changed their settings to show 100 posts per page..." Post 104 sucks. Post 194 sucks a lot more. Kenny Rogers fucked around with this message at 02:46 on Sep 29, 2009 |
# ? Sep 29, 2009 02:43 |
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dietcokefiend posted:Jesus christ it went from horrible to just hosed up Honestly, when I first was directed to that thread, it was enough to make me momentarily re-consider my trip.
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 03:35 |
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That story has made me frantically worried about not having a back protector that isn't a butterfly-shaped piece of foam. I'm already cautious as a rider, and it's good to have such disturbing poo poo like this to keep me pressing myself upward further on my toes.
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 03:40 |
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the walkin dude posted:That story has made me frantically worried about not having a back protector that isn't a butterfly-shaped piece of foam. I'm already cautious as a rider, and it's good to have such disturbing poo poo like this to keep me pressing myself upward further on my toes. I've always been worried about my back since I started riding. I even wear my bull riding vest which is good enough to stop a 1500 pound bull from crushing me to death, but even then I still feel vulnerable. When I buy a proper riding jacket, it is going to have the best back protector around.
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 03:42 |
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That story and others like it is one of the reasons I wear chest/back armor as well as the back armor built into my leather jacket. It may not help, or it may make all the difference in the world.
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 04:32 |
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# ? May 16, 2024 17:50 |
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In that case, what's among the best back protectors out there that are attachable? I've been looking for reviews and the such without avail.
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# ? Sep 29, 2009 05:19 |