First close call

[PMac]

So I was riding home from my girlfriend's tonight at about midnight. Had my first close call (been riding for almost 2 months now). Wasn't another driver, though. It was a raccoon! Damn critters like to come out at night. Luckily I was going the speed limit and saw it in time to swerve and miss it. Still scared me a bit. Anyone else hit any critters or anything at night?

[Jay_wolf]

i once went over a Dead fox , *i was dead before i touched it * on a Cbr 125 , Needless to say the front hopped up , and it felt really slippy , i was going a good 50 i think , just shocked me really bad . i think i mashed it , when the front bumped up,  couldnt of been more than 6 inches

[ducati_nolan]

I knew someone who nailed a deer with his bike and it really did a number on all of them. Deer...dead, Bike....dead, Rider...went to the hospital and his knee got really messed up.

Lots of deer arround where I live that love to go on suicide missions at night (you see them dead on the side of the road all the time) So I got   a brighter high beam (55w low/ 100w high) which helps a lot. Some people say that it's hard on your charging system but I never had any problems and the added safety is well wort replacing a rectifier or something.

I've had some racoons jump in front of my bike and I think the most important thing to do is not loose controll of the bike. If you hit one it probally won't take you down, (like the above story) so it's probally more dangerous to do a violent swerve. Also if you swerve without first slowing, you may just hit the next animal since many travel in groups.

I just lay on my brakes while going straight if something small jumps out. I then will swerve if it's still in front of me after I've slowed down enough. A deer is another story, don't hit them.

No matter what the speed limit is, don't outrun your headlight. Either get a brighter light or slow down.