The weather was unexpectedly nice today, so when I got home I decided to go for a ride.
I was cruising the hills around my house, and I turned onto a country road I've ridden before.
Since the last time I rode it, they went and ruined it with the "oil and gravel" business.
So I'm taking it easy and I come to the end of the road and I find this.


"Oh hell", I says.
"Loose Gravel" is a serious understatement.
At the bottom there was a solid inch and a half of pea-sized stones, which did a fantastic job of preventing me from getting any traction.
Back side slid around a little, and I thought I was going to keep it up, then I slid out and dropped the bike on it's right side.
Landed on my right hip, slid a little, and popped back up on my feet.

No loss of fluids (gas, oil, blood, etc.)
Bent my right barend about 90 degrees forward, scraped up my mirror and exhaust, popped off my side cover. No serious damage.
My jeans got a little torn up, but my leather wallet was in my back pocket and took most of the damage.
It literally saved my butt.

I felt a little stiff, but I walked it off and rode home.
First time for everything I suppose.

Glad you made it out OK.. that road looks like a nightmare! 

yeah i dropped my bike for the first time the other day. My freaking arm still hurts...  The bike wasnt starting up so i put it on second gear and ran with it and then gave it gas.....unfortunately it was a lot of gas so i kept running with the bike but i couldnt keep up at 20 mph and dropped it. The bike was in one direction and i fell hard on my arm in another direction. Bike was fine but just a few scratches. Odometer light went out(  i think the bulb is gone or the circuit board). and clutch rubber also had scratches.

Now i am only worried about my arm because it hurts BAD. Hope you didnt get hurt bad man

Quote from: scottpA_GS on September 22, 2009, 04:53:26 PM

Glad you made it out OK.. that road looks like a nightmare! 

It was. I came over the hill and pretty much knew I was going down.
There wasn't much I could do.

My hip's a little sore, but I should be fine.

Thats a lucky fall by all means if you didn't mess up any skin when wearing jeans. Sounds like a lucky wallet, I'd hold on to that one 
Thats mostly easy/cheap stuff to fix on the bike too, you are lucky yours is naked 

I'm glad you are safe.

I came over the hill and pretty much knew I was going down.
There wasn't much I could do.

[/quote]

That looks like a fun road... What do you think you did wrong, and what would you do differently next time to avoid the crash?

How fast were you going when you crested that hill? How many seconds of sightline and reaction time did you have? Did you have to slow down/turn on top of the thickest gravel section, or could you have just maintained speed and roll thru that gravelly section?  

Quote from: Gary856 on September 24, 2009, 10:41:20 AM
That looks like a fun road... What do you think you did wrong, and what would you do differently next time to avoid the crash?

How fast were you going when you crested that hill? How many seconds of sightline and reaction time did you have? Did you have to slow down/turn on top of the thickest gravel section, or could you have just maintained speed and roll thru that gravelly section?  

It was a really nice ride until they re-did it.
I was going maybe 20-30mph, not very fast. I had lots of time to slow down IF I could get any traction.
I slid pretty much the whole way down.

The bottom of the hill is a stop sign and a T in the road, with a ditch on the other side.
I had given up on making the turn and started going for a gravel-patch/driveway when I went down.

As for avoiding: stay off those roads. They're bad news.

Definitely glad to hear you made it out ok 

Sounds like it wasn't too much damage either, always a good thing.

Chalk that one up as a learning experience. Riding too fast for the conditions, going over a crest on an unsealed road too quickly. You locked up the rear brake and slid? Did you get on/off the rear to try and help get traction? Did you follow the tyre tracks of other vehicles (can see in pic) which are much clearer?

Glad you're ok.

Quote from: Gary856 on September 24, 2009, 10:41:20 AM
I came over the hill and pretty much knew I was going down.
There wasn't much I could do.

That looks like a fun road... What do you think you did wrong, and what would you do differently next time to avoid the crash?

How fast were you going when you crested that hill? How many seconds of sightline and reaction time did you have? Did you have to slow down/turn on top of the thickest gravel section, or could you have just maintained speed and roll thru that gravelly section?  
[/quote]

+1 that's good stuff

Almost same thing happened to me last week on Thurday 9/17.  It was definitley my fault but I have know idea how it happened.  I either leaned too far with my weight/balance off; or I was going too slow; or I hit something slippery.  I found some green chalky crap on the left edge of my front tire. So, I don't really know.  Worst part is I've taken that same turn more aggressively, faster and at a tighter lean than when I fell so 

Side note: 11000 mi in two years commuting; which in this area of new jersey at least, seems to be alot.  And I ride year round in all weather except snow and ice. So I have experience, just in case anyone thinks I'm a squid.

I was making a left turn around a circle; was leaned over then I just fell and slid about 10-15 feet at ~10-15 mph.  I slid pretty much while sitting on my bike sideways.  My left knee got very low-mild road rash; nothing serious,  And my bike got scratched up, but nothing serious.  Fairing saved my leg.  Only the left mirror and turn signa and bar end big scratches.  But the fairing held pretty well.  Mostly sticker damage, few deep scratches and rear left fairing scratches.

I've been holding off on buying more gear cause I was slowly saving up, but Ironically I was on my way to get a back protector when this happened.

So, since it happened I've been going crazy and bought back protector for both my jackets, riding pants, with more still to come.  (want gear advice, type in "gear advice" in the search)

I'm going to try and take the advanced rider course too.  (My goal is to take it every year)

Actually, luv the 2-5 year experience factor is the most dangerous time for motorcyclist to crash. Why? Because, we have more expereicne than a newb but just enough experience to think we can handle things we can't. It's that comfort zone that we think is there but is not.

I have about the same amount of ride time as you and still do my parking lot practice and low speed manuevers.

hope you guys feel better!

mary

I never thought of that.

I actually thought I past that faze already, but I guess not.

At least were all doing it right by riding a GS500, unlike other people that skip to a 600 or 1000 right after their first 1000 miles.

Hell alot of people don't even wait 1000 miles to jump to the bigger bikes.  The kid i bought my gs from only rode it 300 miles and bought an R6.

RETARDS!!!!!

The whole lot of them

Quote from: bassmechanicsz on September 25, 2009, 11:05:04 AM
Hell alot of people don't even wait 1000 miles to jump to the bigger bikes.  The kid i bought my gs from only rode it 300 miles and bought an R6.

My buddy is looking for a street bike and he's convinced that he needs at LEAST a 600, even though everyone with experience is telling him to get something smaller.

This is the same kid that broke his arm the first day he got his dirt bike.
Yeah.

I've put more than 1,000 miles on my bike since I got my license on Sept. 1 of this year.  The only time I "dropped" my bike was while I was putting on the windshield while the bike was on the center stand.