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fingerling posted:Aaaand some of you were asking what helmet I was using.. I'm not entirely sure if it did it's job completely correctly.. I spoke to Boltons Kawasaki again, and one of the guys there said he'd never seen a helmet do this.. Then again, your face could have taken the full impact of the hit that did this. Must have been a really gnarly hit to bust your helmet like that and still mess up your face, too. Glad to hear you're recovering quickly. Sucks that they're not informing you very well, though.
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Jul 23, 2012 05:07
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And a tale from the other end of the crash spectrum... My back tire is bald. It picked up a slow leak and so I was just in the habit of redoing my tire pressure every couple of days while I saved up enough cash for the new tire and the 6k service that was due. We have been having lots of little rain showers down here, (Sydney Australia) and the back of the bike has felt a little loose on a couple of rides because of it but the bike is my only form of transport and I had been deliberate and gentle with all my inputs till I could get it to the shop and paid for. Called the shop this morning, arranged to drop it off at lunch. Turned into the lane at the back of the shop going not much faster than walking speed and the back just slipped right out from under me, bike slid a tiny bit down the road and came to a stop almost exactly outside the workshop doors. I wish I had the composure to calmly step over the bike and drop some awesome cowboy line like 'just thought I would drop the bike off for a service' or some poo poo but I was too shocked to say much or do anything but laugh really. Side mirrors, clutch lever and the paint on the rear are all hosed. No big deal. Exhaust is banged up into the swingarm but that may be a relatively cheap fix if they can bend it back and the bike was leaking green goo, hopefully it was just from the overflow and I haven't cracked the water pump. Either way it has gone from a couple of hundred bucks for a new rear tire and a service to at least a grand. More if the exhaust needs replacing. Much more if the pump is gone too. Awesome. Ah well, could have been much much worse. If I had been really moving I could have slid into the row of parked bikes that stretches all the way across the lane at the back of the workshop and played a very expensive game of domino's...
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Jul 23, 2012 06:47
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VendaGoat posted:And that's enough for me to never even look at a "shark" helmet ever again. My friend nailed his Street Triple into the side of a Suzuki Wagon R doing about 50 with similar results to his face/helmet. I believe he had a Shoei or Arai. Helmets aren't and can't be indestructible. The fact that fingerling is alive after a head on collision at such speed is testament to the helmet having done it's job and I'd happily buy Shark after seeing this.
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Jul 23, 2012 11:30
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fingerling posted:Aaaand some of you were asking what helmet I was using.. I'm not entirely sure if it did it's job completely correctly.. I spoke to Boltons Kawasaki again, and one of the guys there said he'd never seen a helmet do this.. Your description of the accident makes it sound like you ran the helmet into the side of the vehicle turning across your lane with a closing speed of at least 60 mph, possibly more if the vehicle was still heading towards you when you hit it. If that's the case, it doesn't seem surprising that the helmet caved in. So yeah, basically my take is the same as RBL's.
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Jul 23, 2012 11:53
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He gave is weight in kilos so I assume he was going 60 kmph (37.5 mph) and he said he got on the brakes so he might have been going slower than that. I hit a truck around 25 or 30 mph (I was going 55 mph and hit the brakes hard before impact) and my helmet didn't crack into multiple pieces and I ended up walking away. With that said my accident was different circumstances.
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Jul 23, 2012 12:12
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Crayvex posted:He gave is weight in kilos so I assume he was going 60 kmph (37.5 mph) and he said he got on the brakes so he might have been going slower than that. I hit a truck around 25 or 30 mph (I was going 55 mph and hit the brakes hard before impact) and my helmet didn't crack into multiple pieces and I ended up walking away. With that said my accident was different circumstances. True, but he also got blinded by the oncoming car so I have to assume it was a head-on collision, which means it would have been a combined speed. But it's fairly pointless debate it as we'll never know the exact impact speed, angle, etc. My point was I've seen helmets, even premium brand ones, do this in comparable, head on impacts. The thing to take away from this is that regardless of the end-state of the helmet, fingerling is alive and so the helmet did it's job. Basing future purchasing decisions on a single sample such as this with so many unknowns is irrational. Especially when the helmet in question is, according to people who test such things, otherwise rated very well, better in fact than some premium helmets such as the Shoei Multitec, which is good enough for British motorcycle cops.
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Jul 23, 2012 14:31
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The guy's alive and if he hadn't been wearing a full-face, he might now be struggling to post a crash story with his ghost fingers. Argue about what brand of helmet would do better when its weakest structural part nails a car at speed all you want, but at least he ain't dead or permanently brain-damaged.
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Jul 23, 2012 14:37
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Visited a friend last night in the ICU. Well, I guess it might be more accurate to say that we visited his wife, and looked at him. Details of the accident are sparse at best. He might be awake by this morning, but they were keeping him knocked out yesterday. His wife said he opened his eyes around 3:30 or so this morning. He broke pretty much everything: both tibiae, his left femur (which was sticking out through his pant leg, nothankyouverymuch), at least one wrist and at least one forearm bone, along with other smaller stuff like collarbone(s), etc. "Some" brain hemorrhaging, which he had a CAT scan this morning to determine if it was worsening at all (I don't know the results yet). We were assured that some brain bleeds were expected, but it obviously becomes problematic if things get worse in that area. Other than that, he didn't damage his spine or neck, thank goodness. He's still going to be recovering for a long time. Unless he remembers the accident or we can locate a security camera at the nearby school or shops, its going to be tough to really determine what happened. He was riding in the Atwater Village/Echo Park area in LA, leisurely Sunday ride to a friend's house. The vehicle that hit him gave their report that he had blown a red light coming out from a side street, and had been turning to head in the opposite direction from where he was supposed to be going. Just all around odd circumstances that don't add up with him and the way he rides; like I said unless he remembers it, it'll be tough to determine what went down. I'm typing this all up at work right now because its still right at the front of my mind and preventing me from focusing. I hate that it's basically causing me to reevaluate riding myself, but that's definitely a factor as well. Be safe out there. sirbeefalot fucked around with this message at 16:29 on Jul 23, 2012 |
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Jul 23, 2012 16:20
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ReelBigLizard posted:True, but he also got blinded by the oncoming car so I have to assume it was a head-on collision, which means it would have been a combined speed. But it's fairly pointless debate it as we'll never know the exact impact speed, angle, etc. My point was I've seen helmets, even premium brand ones, do this in comparable, head on impacts. The thing to take away from this is that regardless of the end-state of the helmet, fingerling is alive and so the helmet did it's job. Basing future purchasing decisions on a single sample such as this with so many unknowns is irrational. Especially when the helmet in question is, according to people who test such things, otherwise rated very well, better in fact than some premium helmets such as the Shoei Multitec, which is good enough for British motorcycle cops. Absolutely agreed and yes I am also happy that Fingerling is still with us. Please do not let my simple personal bias against a simple brand of helmet dissuade from the best fact of his post. He's alive and recovering. So, the helmet did its job. Took the hit and he's still here to tell us about it. My reasons are my own for not buying a shark helmet. If he or any of you wish to purchase a shark helmet, I will not say a word about it. Because I believe it's your head and you should protect it in a manner that you wish to.
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Jul 23, 2012 16:25
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sirbeefalot posted:I'm typing this all up at work right now because its still right at the front of my mind and preventing me from focusing. I hate that it's basically causing me to reevaluate riding myself, but that's definitely a factor as well. Be safe out there. I must say with all the town related carnage ITT I'm glad that most of my commute is rural (or what passes for it in Surrey) with only a bit of 30mph limit riding. I basically just have to worry about cowshit and people unreasonably obstructing my wheelies. The swines.
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Jul 23, 2012 16:35
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Wow, that sounds horrific, hope your friend comes through as ok as possible. Any idea how much gear he was wearing?
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Jul 25, 2012 21:34
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KozmoNaut posted:Then again, your face could have taken the full impact of the hit that did this. Doesn't matter. My local Honda dealer had an Arai helmet on display in the showroom with a plaque: "This helmet saved my life. [insert long letter about riding like an idiot] ...face plowed through a street sigh at 120 mph" The helmet was not only intact, it was in pretty drat good shape considering it knocked a pole out of the ground and completely mangled a street sign.
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Jul 26, 2012 01:29
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Crashes are all so different that it's impossible to say "This helmet hit this thing at X speed, therefore this other helmet should've hit this other thing at Y speed and been intact!"
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Jul 26, 2012 19:48
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Gay Nudist Dad posted:Crashes are all so different that it's impossible to say "This helmet hit this thing at X speed, therefore this other helmet should've hit this other thing at Y speed and been intact!" It was also the top of the head not the face. Still, I have never seen a helmet lose a whole section of face like that shark. I also don't see a lot of crashes, especially outside the internet.
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Jul 26, 2012 22:43
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Was turning to go into the gym parking lot at about 20-25mph and hit a patch of something slippery, I've done the turn multiple times so I knew what I was doing but I guess it had to happen sometime and all it takes is one time  . I flipped over about 3 times and slid about 20 feet. I find it ironic that I survived a 400 mile round trip in pouring rain but I get into an accident less than a mile from home. I feel like such a mootmoot now . I just need to see what insurance says tomorrow, $500 deductible so ill see if I can fix it myself for less. Front fairing is cracked and marked up.  Brake lever and foot peg is gone.  Reminder to get real riding jeans.   Helmet/Jacket and gloves are totally fine but the handle bar is completely hosed.    The bike flipped and landed on the concrete barrier thing.  Heres the turn, I've done it multiple times but I guess poo poo happens. Tenchrono fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Jul 27, 2012 |
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Jul 27, 2012 04:40
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himajinga posted:Wow, that sounds horrific, hope your friend comes through as ok as possible. Considering which bike he was on, I could say a 3/4 helmet, a 20 year old (but halfway decent) jacket, some jeans and some variety of sneaker. He unfortunately was of the "its just the small bike" mindset. From the extent of the damage, I don't know how much actual gear would have helped to be honest.He had his femur reconstruction surgery today, we hope to find out how it went soon. He'll have like 5 pins between the two breaks. *shudder*
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Jul 27, 2012 05:12
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Tenchrono posted:I find it ironic that I survived a 400 mile round trip in pouring rain but I get into an accident less than a mile from home. I feel like such a mootmoot now Don't feel too bad dude. That's just the luck of the draw. It could have been way worse. I've mitigated some pretty hairy poo poo but slick patches are nothing to gently caress with. That being said I think my worst bike injury was when I stepped off my goldwing into a patch of something really slick. I didn't realize it, and when I went to reposition my bike I slipped, ate asphalt and had 600+lbs of FUCKYOU come crashing down on top of me.
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Jul 27, 2012 07:30
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Tenchrono posted:I feel like such a mootmoot now
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Jul 30, 2012 15:39
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That is gnarly as hell, I'm glad you're still with us dude. Hope your friend makes it out ok. GnarlyCharlie4u posted:Doesn't matter. My local Honda dealer had an Arai helmet on display in the showroom with a plaque: A lot of professional racers seem to wear Arai. I know what I'm getting for my next helmet...
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Jul 30, 2012 21:27
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An observer posted:A lot of professional racers seem to wear Arai. I know what I'm getting for my next helmet... A lot of pro racers wear Shark, too. And Scorpion, Nolan, Shoei, AGV, Bell...
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Jul 30, 2012 21:54
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Wear what fits best, not what pro racers wear. (If those happen to be one and the same, great! Personally, Arais give me a headache in like five minutes.)
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Jul 30, 2012 22:25
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Endless Mike posted:Wear what fits best, not what pro racers wear. (If those happen to be one and the same, great! Personally, Arais give me a headache in like five minutes.) That's always my only suggestion when people ask my opinion about helmets. Go try stuff on, the most important part is the fit as long as it's a full face and of decent quality. That being said, the only helmet I've ever tried on is a Shoei and I think an HJC. I have an X11, which I bought used for $100 in basically new condition and a Shoei RF-1000 which I bought as New Old Stock.
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Jul 30, 2012 22:50
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Endless Mike posted:Wear what fits best, not what pro racers wear. (If those happen to be one and the same, great! Personally, Arais give me a headache in like five minutes.)
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Jul 31, 2012 04:48
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Crayvex posted:He gave is weight in kilos so I assume he was going 60 kmph (37.5 mph) and he said he got on the brakes so he might have been going slower than that. I hit a truck around 25 or 30 mph (I was going 55 mph and hit the brakes hard before impact) and my helmet didn't crack into multiple pieces and I ended up walking away. With that said my accident was different circumstances. Like you said, it's all subjective to different factors, speed, angle of the hit, etc. My old boss and good friend was wearing a modular helmet and was hit head on while doing ~30mph through a turn by a car that was estimated to be doing 35mph. He struck the outside A-pillar of the car face first and the flippable part of the face guard shattered into hundreds of little plastic pieces. The rest of the helmet stayed on his head. While the helmet didn't fair so well in the crash it most definitely saved his life. fingerling: I'll also echo going through physical therapy. The aforementioned accident happened around a blind turn in front of me. When I came around the turn I hit my friend's bike that was engulfed in flames. My hands had third degree burns and I was told that I could possibly never use them functionally again. My physical therapists were amazing and helped me get back to using my hands as I did before my accident. If you want, also consider talking to a regular therapist about the accident. There's a lot of emotional trauma that comes with accidents and can lead to PTSD. It's good to see that you pulled through a horrible accident and I hope that you can make a healthy recovery. I posted about my accident a few years ago and just went back and read it. I kind of disappeared after a few replies so I figure while I'm ranting and raving due to insomnia I'll give an update. Since finishing therapy in early 2011 I got a hankering for riding bikes again after I took my older Buell XB12 out of the garage for a test run. I was scared to death for about 5 minutes but after that I was as relaxed as ever and really enjoyed it. My wife was very distraught about me riding an "exploding death mobile." We talked (see: Very pregnant wife demanding) about me getting a cruiser bike and I agreed. I regretfully traded my XB12 in on a brand new 2011 Harley Sportster 48. Meanwhile my friend who was in the accident with me was finally getting out of his rehabilitation and therapy. He still had a 2008 Victory something-or-other and decided that he's not going to let having one usable arm take away the joy of riding from him. He rigged up contraption that used velcro to keep his left hand attached to his handlebar. He can clutch and ride just like before. For a while we spent weekends in a parking lot with me being his training wheels while he got comfortable clutching and stopping with his setup. Eventually starting and stopping turned into turning and braking and turning and braking turned into emergency swerving and stopping. He's as agile on his bike as he was before the accident, with the exception that he can't support the bike with his left arm while stopped. He's since dropped the bike twice, one time when he stalled going to pull out on a hill (not sure how he managed that) and once a few weeks ago when backing out of his garage. He was looking over the wrong shoulder and backed into his wife's parked car, causing him to tip over. I'd just installed new slip-ons for him and they got pretty scuffed up.  We still go riding together daily, but now I make sure that I stay in front of him so he can't blow me up. A few weeks ago I finally made true on my promise that I made a couple of years ago in this thread. Mikemo Tyson posted:As it stands right now I'm looking into getting a street or speed triple. So all in all I recovered pretty well. The accident was a real eye-opener that changed my life. My friend still rides every day and is saving up to buy a new EBR 1190 when they become cheaper. We're both holding out hope that advancements in medicine will come along and help him regain the use of his arm. Track days aren't fun without a 50 year-old old man to chase around, although I bet if he had a sport bike he'd still out-ride me with one arm.
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Jul 31, 2012 10:15
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I saw it mentioned a few pages back, but just wanted to remind folks that an AMA membership comes with roadside/towing for any car/bike that's "yours" (I've used it as passenger in a friend's car before) for around $35/yr.
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Aug 6, 2012 04:06
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dropped my 125 on a tight corner coming home from work at like, 10pm so just-past-twilight levels of darkness, hit the corner too fast, leaned the bike right down without the correct posture or experience to have the proper throttle control for that sort of speed, scraped the footpegs for about 6 feet before layer dan-ing it and lowsiding. totally rider error and it's something I have learned from. Bike already had hosed fairings (varaderos are popular learner bikes) and I snapped the front brake lever and bent the rear brake lever Walked away without a scratch, cheapo textiles totally and utterly hosed, helmet took a slight donk so replacing that too. Luckily a work friend of mine was riding behind me as we had finished shifts at the same time, he had already hit the killswitch before I even started getting up, helped me run the bike onto a safe bit off the road so I could sit down and have a cigarette and assess myself and the bike. Cyanophyta fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Aug 10, 2012 |
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Aug 10, 2012 01:06
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Radbot posted:I saw it mentioned a few pages back, but just wanted to remind folks that an AMA membership comes with roadside/towing for any car/bike that's "yours" (I've used it as passenger in a friend's car before) for around $35/yr. FYI I've been told by an operator that the roadside doesn't include accident towing. They'll call a truck still, but it will cost you. You can ostensibly get around this by just saying it "won't start" which is covered. You also can't get assistance more than once in a week, or 10 days or something. Still probably the best value, though.
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Aug 10, 2012 02:50
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judenhauer posted:dropped my 125 on a tight corner coming home from work at like, 10pm so just-past-twilight levels of darkness, hit the corner too fast, leaned the bike right down without the correct posture or experience to have the proper throttle control for that sort of speed, scraped the footpegs for about 6 feet before layer dan-ing it and lowsiding. Unlucky man, I rode in the twilight and full-on dark for the first time this week too. It's crazy how the fading like fucks with your depth perception. Thankfully you're all right and the bike sounds like it won't cost to much too fix to my untrained mind. Does your insurance cover your gear?
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Aug 10, 2012 13:50
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ReformedNiceGuy posted:Unlucky man, I rode in the twilight and full-on dark for the first time this week too. It's crazy how the fading like fucks with your depth perception. I don't mind riding in the dark but that's probably because I only have one eye that works and no depth perception 
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Aug 10, 2012 14:36
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schreibs posted:I don't mind riding in the dark but that's probably because I only have one eye that works and no depth perception How are you legally allowed to drive?
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Aug 10, 2012 16:02
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Cars, roads, buildings, etc. are pretty much known sizes and they're moving showing positioning, so your brain puts it together pretty easily I'd imagine.
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Aug 10, 2012 17:04
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Safety Dance posted:How are you legally allowed to drive? because little 90 year old grandma with two cataracts and arthritis is allowed to drive. I'll be god damned if I am going to be turned away.
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Aug 10, 2012 22:49
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Safety Dance posted:How are you legally allowed to drive? I'm kind of the same way and have had DMV agents in two different states go out of their way to show me how to fake the vision exam. Technically the right way is to get a doctor's waiver, and I'm pretty sure the DMV would let you get a waiver for missing your head entirely if you had the right forms and paid the right fees. The brain can extrapolate 3D information from perceived relative motion and stored knowledge of object size, and does so unconsciously. But it does often take a perceptible extra moment to parse, and every now and then I have something 'warp' or 'pop' because the brain guessed wrong about what something was or how big it is and was thus way off on how near or far it was. (This is kind of neat, once you get used to it you can trick gently caress your depth perception in trippy ways like making your legs look 1000 feet long.) When driving / riding it just means I need to pay attention more and take extra care (especially at night) not to outrun my vision.
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Aug 12, 2012 05:04
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Snowdens Secret posted:I'm kind of the same way...  I asked her about it once, and she says she still has reasonable depth perception by accounting for parallax.
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Aug 12, 2012 05:51
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Aww I was hoping for an awesome lizard-eyed mom pic.
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Aug 12, 2012 06:02
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Safety Dance posted:How are you legally allowed to drive? The same way I walk around without hitting walls: there are lots of cues to how far away things are. Roads happen to have them painted in parallel lines, in nice, bright, distinguishable colors!
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Aug 14, 2012 03:32
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EightBit posted:The same way I walk around without hitting walls: there are lots of cues to how far away things are. Roads happen to have them painted in parallel lines, in nice, bright, distinguishable colors! Someone's never been to NM.
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Aug 14, 2012 05:22
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If a guy can be a professional street skater with only one eye (sheldon meldinski I think his name is) where one miscalculation of distance means you split your nuts on a handrail then I think dude can ride a motorcycle.
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Aug 15, 2012 06:50
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Crash Test... 5 of my friends. Today a group of scooterists are riding out to a campground for the night, as part of the Monkey Run XV rally. I was not with them today, but around 1pm I got a call from a friend who's club was running this rally that some people crashed, there are injuries, and asking if can I come over to bring some tools and parts and help get the bikes to storage. The reason for the carnage? The City of Seattle, after responding to a car fire earlier today, neglected to clean up a long, roughly lane-wide, oil streak. Nobody I talked to (mostly not the crashers) had the whole story, but I think at least two riders crashed independently because of the oil, while the other 3 were some combination of crashing on their own or hitting a downed bike. They say there was enough oil on the road that it was difficult-to-impossible to walk on. According to people that lived nearby, there had been a few minor accidents/incidents there in the preceding hour. The current human damage tally is one guy with a fractured ankle, one guy with a torn ligament in his shoulder, plus various scrapes and bruises. The current bike damage tally was 2 broken clutch levers, a broken headlight and mirror, assorted road rash, and one beautiful restored old Lambretta with significant body damage. Me and another friend rode the scooters of the two injured riders a couple miles to storage and concluded they would both need to be trucked to a shop for a serious looking-over. So the tally may increase as people's adrenaline wears off and the bikes make it to mechanics... By the time I got there they had that stretch of road blocked and were actually starting to clean it up. 
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Aug 19, 2012 00:25
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Jesus Christ. Glad no one was seriously hurt. I see that like that around Boston, only its giant pot holes instead of oil. Is there any chance of compensation from the city?
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Aug 19, 2012 11:59
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