636 rider had a crash

[GRU]

this is why so many people sugest a small bike for a beginer

http://kawiforums.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=27101

[callmelenny]

accelerate at a moderate pace shifting about +/-12k into second, then 3rd was about +/- 10k putting me somewhere in the 90 to 100mph? right?

Sigh......

Is there any hope for someone that rides like this on the road?  :dunno:   I guess if he was on a 250-500 cc  bike he wouldn't have the power to put himself in that position.

These folks ruin it for the rest of us. Higher insurance and poor public image.

[crash]

seemed pretty cheery for a guy who lost a foot.

[MR_PINK]

seemed pretty cheery for a guy who lost a foot.

LoL i thought so too, but it's his own fault so i have no sympathy for him...there is a reason why people don't recomend 600's for beginer bikes  

['04gs500f]

they seriously going to wack off his foot/?? i thought he was joking since he mentioned possibly riding again...

['04gs500f]

people like that scare me, i feel sorry for him, but not in the way that im sorry such a tragic thing happened to him but sorry someone cuold be so ignorant when starting to ride

[Rema1000]

Sounded like he got headshakes at 90+ mph, jumped-off, then had the misfortune to grind his foot down to nothing.  Now, the GS doesn't get head-shakes easily, but it isn't hard to top 90 mph.  Just leave it in 4th and red-line it.  I'm sure there are folks here who ride 90+ at times, wearing sneakers.  If the guy's crash hadn't been caused by head shakes, it could have just as easily been caused by a raised manhole, etc.  90 mph doesn't leave much room for the unexpected.

Sounds to me like it might have been caused by excessive speed and lack of gear.

Hm, maybe it's time to go order some race boots?

[callmelenny]

Hm, maybe it's time to go order some race boots?

Almost anything would be better than the VANS he was wearing

[That guy]

WOW.    excuse me while i throw up.

[Mk1inCali]

Am I the only one in the US that thinks we should adopt a CC or HP limit while you have your permit?  shaZam!...Danny crashes, another friend of mine that bought an '03 RR went off the road twice last night, didn't crash but should have, 3-4 other guys I've talked to have totalled their bikes just this spring and are looking at getting their next 600 or 1K size bike as soon as they can afford it again.  Wrecked list include: FZR600, 2 Duc 748's, and I've heard of a couple others.  Maybe Danny will chime in here with what he's seen as he has hung out/ridden with some stunters/guys that cruise the strip on their sportbikes.

Am I the only one that thinks NOBODY needs that kind of speed on the streets?

[Recreational_Anxiety]

Am I the only one in the US that thinks we should adopt a CC or HP limit while you have your permit?  shaZam!...Danny crashes, another friend of mine that bought an '03 RR went off the road twice last night, didn't crash but should have, 3-4 other guys I've talked to have totalled their bikes just this spring and are looking at getting their next 600 or 1K size bike as soon as they can afford it again.  Wrecked list include: FZR600, 2 Duc 748's, and I've heard of a couple others.  Maybe Danny will chime in here with what he's seen as he has hung out/ridden with some stunters/guys that cruise the strip on their sportbikes.

Am I the only one that thinks NOBODY needs that kind of speed on the streets?

I'm definitely with you  there.  In fact, I think everyone should have at least a couple of years driving experience (in a car) before they're allowed to ride a bike.  There is way too much to think about when  first learning how to ride a bike, not to mention trying to do all that  while having to think about all the rules of the road.  It's just  way too much for most 16 year olds to be able to handle safely without adequate "real life" experience on the roads.

[Mk1inCali]

What I don't get is how people expect to be able to handle the absolutely incredible amounts of forward thrust a 600 will produce.  Sub 4 second 0-60's are the norm for any bike more powerful than an SV650.  What kind of dough would you have to shell out for a car that can compete with that?  1K's are that much faster, sub 10 second 1/4's and almost 200 mph.  

What happened to riding cross country on a CB350.  Damn my father and his skill in getting me to religiously read Egan since an early age.

One of the kids who wrecked his kitted out 748 was in the police station when I went to get a fix-it ticket for lack of mirrors written off, been 2 months since his accident.  He was doing accelerating past 120 when he saw a car pull out into his lane half a block ahead of him.  He hit the car straight and upright.  This happened at dusk on a week day night.  People were on the street, being a popular section of downtown, and because of the usually low traffic amount, people frequently jaywalk, or back their cars out, as everybody just slows on down to wait for them.

120, in a crowded downtown.  I'm sorry, but that is an act only committed by someone who is either mentally handicapped or severely lacking in any sort of judgement.

I could continue ranting, but most have stopped reading by now anyway.

Ride safe, and remember, you are a "motorcyclist."  You get lumped in with everybody else that has 2 wheels, and I sure don't want anymore discrimination than I already experience being a 20 yr old on a black bike with dark clothes, and sunglasses.

[nathanael]

okay, this may be a dumb question, but what is a "headshake"? I haven't a clue.

Also, makes me REALLY want to get some riding boots. I've been wearing some Salomon hiking boots, which are certainly better than Vans, but I don't know how much better. :dunno:

['04gs500f]

lol this amputee is jacking up motorcycle boot sales

[Mk1inCali]

Headshake is when the front of the bike unloads it's weight, either by massive throttle inputs from the rider, hitting something on the road, a bump in the road itself, or huge and fast changes in the rider's body positioning.  Couple any of those with low tire pressure, worn tires, crappy suspension (as in low fork oil, blown seals, worn out springs, etc etc), and you've got a pair of handlebars that go back and forth in your hands at a fairly specific harmonic frequency.  Sort of like hitting a bell, it rings at one specific vibration frequency, same with the chassis of the bike, except the bell's ringing translates into the front wheel wanting to turn back and forth really quickly.

My '00 does it when I let go of the bars and have a worn out rear tire.  Put new tires on it, headshake goes away.

Tankslapper is a more violent and often fatal for the bike version of the same.

[JeffD]

Head shakes, tank slapper, and some other names.


The front wheel will start to "shake" back and forth due to the momentum of the wheel and it usually feeds itself getting out of control and making the rider lose control.   This is why they invented steering dampers

http://store.yahoo.com/motostrano/ohsteerdamki.html

Basically somehow the front wheel will get turned one direction.  Then the wheel will fight to get straight but it will go too far and then fight to get back to the center and go farther the otherway...   It feels like someone is taking the handle bar and "shaking" it back and forth.  

Starts small then gets bad if you dont stop it.  It usually doesn't happen on the GS.  It started to do it once on me when I let go (both hands..god knows why) and slowing with my rear brake.  It just started to act funky and I grabbed the bars and it stopped.  So if it happens to you just relax and try to dampen the front wheel with your arms.

[Michael]

they seriously going to wack off his foot/?? i thought he was joking since he mentioned possibly riding again...

Yup.  Open fractures like that, especially if they go into the joint, have a very high risk of getting infected.  Once infection gets into bone it's really hard to kill it.  Also, with the loss of nerves and muscle he described his foot wouldn't work much anyway.  He will really be better off learning to walk on a prosthesis than hobbling on a non-functioning foot.  I decided long ago that if something like that ever happened to me, the orthopods would get one chance to get it right, then if it didn't work I will make them take it off.  You can modify your bike to take into account that you can't press the rear brake with your prosthesis (at least, not with a great deal of control) but it's a lot harder to ride if you can't put any weight through a weak and painful limb.
Let's just hope it doesn't happen, hey?

[RedShift]

We should all thank this guy for increased Insurance rates.    

[starwalt]

...  I'm sorry, but that is an act only committed by someone who is either mentally handicapped or severely lacking in any sort of judgement....I could continue ranting, but most have stopped reading by now anyway.....

Rant on my friend! The "rider" at the focus of this thread exhibited an all too common phenomenom in today's society - ignorance of and/or diregard for cause and effect.

What if the wacko had hit some kids walking along the road? That would be considered vehicular assault and would become man-slaughter if someone had died.

Years ago I had an instructor in college that kept two statistics: Motorcycle accident deaths and Skydiving deaths. "Hutch" would post newpaper clippings of these on the door of one of the Physics instructors - who by the way did both! Hutch was famous for his "Hutchisms" he would interject in his lectures. The one that comes to mind here goes something like this:

"If you have a kid who is no good, won't do what you say, and is causing you trouble, buy him a motorcycle! He will think you are the greatest dad in the world and nature will take care of your problem."

In this case the dad would be exploiting cause and effect. The youth, of course, wouldn't have a clue he was just set up for a severe lesson in life.

Darwinian concepts do apply in certain situations.  

[Turkina]

He sounds way too cheery... must be all the pain meds he's taking until he gets his foot lopped off.

The boots I wanted didn't fit quite right, so now I am the proud owner of a pair of Sidi Vertigo Corsas Let's hope I don't test them out anytime soon!

If you've got the cash to buy the bike, you should have enough to buy some proper equipment too!