RIP Little Buddy

[tucsondog]

Soooo, I crashed.....
Concussion, broken collar bone, road rash on back & arm whiplash, and a really sore ankle.
Little Buddy = Write off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uf7l19SO4Fw

I'm done for the season, and depending on funds, will hopefully pick up another bike and ride again next season.

 

[thecdn]

Glad you had your gear so the injuries weren't worse. We should make a montage of scraped and scuffed helmets to show the morons who don't wear them.

Was it one critical thing that wrote off the bike or the sum of all the little things?

[tucsondog]

Sum of all the little things... the total cost of repairs would have exceeded the value of the bike, and it was cheaper for both my insurance company and me to simply write it off. There is one picture where you can see the crankshaft through the engine casing. At that point, there isn't even a point to attempting repairs. Fairings, motor, bent forks, linkages, all over 3k. I'm just hoping they let me take it home and strip it first, before they take it to the wreckers.
Oh well, live and learn i suppose.

[mister]

HOW did you crash?
What did you Learn from the crash - what steps could you have taken to avoid it in hindsight, what did you do wrong in the first place, etc.?

Michael

[NorwayGT1]

damn man im glad to see you walked away from that, i lost 3 friends in the past 5 years in motorcycle wrecks.
Although it sucks to lose the bike, look at the bright side of the situation! And that is that your still kicking it lol!
Cause face it wounds heal, chicks dig scars, and now you got one hell of a story to tell...

once again good to have you with ur, but sorry for your loos!

[rayshon]

that video was actually pretty sad...

why did you crash?

and you should be happy you're alive, Someone is looking out for you

[rebel_rocket]

How fast were you going?

[Dr.McNinja]

How fast were you going?

I'm no expert or anything, but it looks like he was going at a good clip. Take a look at the length of the scratches and their angle. The scratches are pretty much parallel to the ground, which means the bike slid, the length implies it slid for a little while.

The huge dent in the tank would tell me that it hit the ground pretty hard. There's a chunk of his crank case missing and there are scratches on both sides. I bet the bike went for a roll.

I'd put my money on him panicking and laying down the bike.


Long story short, it was fast enough to destroy his bike and give him a concussion and bad road rash.

[tucsondog]

21:30, October 10, 2011. I was travelling 80kph (the speed limit...) . I turned off one exit too early. The exit I wanted has 500m of straight road & excellent braking distance. The exit i was on runs parallel to the one i wanted. Because i thought i was on the long one, i didn't break until the last minute. I was focused on the distance, about 400m ahead of me, not so much what was under my nose.

What was under my nose was a concrete median.....

I hit the brakes hard, stupidly locking up the rear wheel. I felt it swing out to my left past 45 degrees.
At this point, I did the worst thing i could, and slightly released the rear brake....
The last thing i remember, is the rear wheel gaining traction, the bike snapping back underneath me, and being launched towards the median (going ~55 kph by now...) and thinking "oh f***..."

When I came too, i did a self assessment for injuries, made sure i was out of traffic, and laid still when i heard a passer-by calling for EMS.
When i talked with the police and then went back to the accident site, I had been launched ~20ft through the air, hit the median at about a 60 degree angle head/shoulder first (knocking me out) then slid 40ft along the concrete median until i came to rest. The bike hit the median full on and danced along it until if reached the end of the barrier.

Here is where i crashed:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?saddr=Unknown+road&daddr=Unknown+road&hl=en&sll=51.089221,-114.134581&sspn=0.002258,0.006748&geocode=FeqOCwMdcXAy-Q%3BFfiRCwMd9G8y-Q&vpsrc=0&mra=ls&t=h&z=19

The barrier has 1 street light and NO reflectors on it until it's too late...... An excuse? Perhaps, but it may have helped... I'm not the first one to crash on that corner...

The police, ER staff, and Dr's all said that proper gear saved my life a week ago.

So what have I learned...

Make sure you have all your gear... make sure you're on the right road... and when in a rear wheel skid NEVER RELEASE THE REAR BRAKE! Oh, and Amazing Grace via bagpipes is the perfect remembrance-video music...

[tucsondog]

More pics...
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150867303825131.750265.681165130&type=3

[the mole]

I'm no expert or anything,

I'd put my money on him panicking and laying down the bike.

One out of two aint bad.

[JDezle21]

I'm no expert or anything,

I'd put my money on him panicking and laying down the bike.

One out of two aint bad.

Glad to hear you're (relatively) okay. it can be tricky scanning the road ahead and not being ready for whats right in front of you.

[scratch]

Glad you survived.  Hope you feel better and heal up fast.

[Porkchop]

Good to see you are still around to tell the tale.

- Porkchop

[Bluesmudge]

A bike with ABS might have saved you from this crash. Being more alert certainly would have.

Glad you are alive. Make sure to learn as many lessons as you can from this crash.

[mister]

When coming into a corner too hot you have 3 basic options...

1 - hit the breaks, slow in a straight line and hope you stop before the edge appears
2 - hit breaks hard to wash off some speed, release, then lean lean lean brother for all you're worth
3 - lean with everything you got, then lean some more. If the pegs aren't scraping you ain't leaning enough

The problem with #1 is, it was the lack of road judgement which cause being too hot in the first place, no reason to think you can now suddenly judge the ability to brake and stop in time too. But it is an Instinctual Thing to do - cause that's what we do in a car.

The difference between 2 and 3 is, when you brake the bike wants to stand more upright and you cannot corner upright. So while breaking slows you down it also gives you less radius to make the turn in. BTW, coming off the throttle completely mid turn has the same effect as braking, it wants to stand the bike as the weight moves forward onto the front wheel. A standing bike drifts you wide.

ABS may have prevented the highside but I doubt it would have prevented your crash conditions being like you said. Only being more observant of the road you were on would have done that as you would have been riding slower as you released you were on the wrong exit.

Thank you for sharing your experience and lessons learned.

Michael

[Electrojake]

Item 1.) Tucsondog, thank you x10 for posting your story. It helps a lot. The photos, the map, etc... all good.

Item 2.) I've been "corrected" on this issue here previously but I still say the rear brakes on a GS500 are so poor they are actually worse than no brakes at all. They are dangerous.

I own & ride bikes from 50cc to 1300,
From new to antique,
Some hand and some foot controlled rears, both disk & drum.
My point is the rear brakes on a GS500 are crap and I am not surprised you locked em' up and then released causing a crash. I'm just glad you made it.

No man should have to be a master of roadcraft with hundreds of hours of track time to be able to effectively (safely?) use a bikes rear brakes.

The rear brakes should be predictable. Have some sense of feedback (modulation?), and require an intentionally heavy input before they ever lock.
I've ridden home-brew mini-bikes with more forgiving rears than the GS.
Tucsondog, Glad you made it, and thanks again for your posts. 
-Ej-

[adidasguy]

I have to take issue with the rear brakes being crap.
The fact that they locked the wheel means they work pretty good. He no doubt pressed on it really hard.
I find the rear brakes very predictable and work great.

However, the rear tire can make a difference. When I first got Trey, he had an old, hard, giant tire. I was always locking it up with the slightest water on the road. Many of our city streets are old and have round, smooth river rocks as aggregate. Those are very polished and smooth - hence slick when wet.

Once I put on a fresh tire with good rubber, I never locked up the rear wheel again. I have great feedback and know what the rear brakes are doing. I think they're pretty good and predictable. Also they are about the same as rear brakes on lots of bikes.

Condition of the pads can make a difference. Also what grade of pads the brakes have.

Locking can be caused my many things. It also means the brakes are braking.
If the rear doesn't lock up on you, maybe the brakes aren't braking, or they are not strong enough or something else.

[Electrojake]

I find the rear brakes very predictable and work great.

Compared to what?
What's your reference point?

However, the rear tire can make a difference.
Once I put on a fresh tire with good rubber, I never locked up the rear wheel again.
Condition of the pads can make a difference.
Also what grade of pads the brakes have.

Agreed.
Your comments about rear braking "in general" are valid.

I think they're pretty good and predictable.
Also they are about the same as rear brakes on lots of bikes.

Again, what's your reference?
My bikes are either new, or older machines that are meticulously maintained.
When I comment rear brakes in the general sense, I am indeed comparing apples to apples, and the GS500 rears are dog poop.
My GS is a 2007 which has always had unfriendly rear brakes.
Since I can't judge what I've never ridden, it is very possible that the older GS bikes (pre 2004) had better feel to the rears.
It would not surprise me that those older bikes were a better breed overall.

Thanks for a spirited post, 
-Ej-

[adidasguy]

Anytime I use the rear brake, I know exactly what it will do. It is very predictable.
I have 3 bikes: 1992, 1994 and 2009. All operate the same. I don't have to remember what bike I'm on - the brakes are the same. I've ridden 4 or more other GS500's that friends have. Never had any doubts as to how the rear brake works. Always the same - always predictable.

I test rode a GSX650F and a GSXR-600 plus the bikes in the MSF class. Never have to give any thought to how the rear brake works. There might be a light difference between bikes, but reflexes take care of that after using the brake once or twice. One bike had an aggressive rear and squishy front brake. So? After using them a couple times, I learned how they worked. Just like cars have different feel to the brakes and you learn that after braking a couple times. After that, instinct keeps you in the clear.

I do understand that if you ride only 1 GS500 and it has rear brake problems, you'd assume all have a problem.