Well the bad news is our riding season started off with a 3 GS pile up this year.  The good news is everybody walked away from it with minor injuries (bumps/bruises).  Meri bore the brunt of it including an up close and personal encounter with NakedGS's tires while ver4 tried to do some trials riding over Meri's bike.  I was ahead of the mayhem so I didn't see exactly what happened.  I'll let one of the participants give the rundown of the crash.  I was "lucky" in that I was one of 2 that got the awful scare of looking in the mirror and not seeing the rest of the riding group behind us.  Thankfully a couple cars and some other riders stopped to block traffic and make sure everyone was ok.  A big thanks to the Hereford police and fire department for responding quickly and treating us nicely.  And a major thanks to Piglet for coming to our rescue with a pick up for Meri's crashed ride.  Besides the bent handlebars we were able to piece ver4's and NakedGS's bikes back together well enough to ride by robbing a few parts off Meri's bike.  Hopefully the next outing will be less eventful.  Be safe out there guys and gals!!

-Jessie


Some pics from when we got the bike back to my parent's house:

Meri's helmet is toast but it did it's job



His jacket has seen better days too




The exhaust got knocked loose, possibly from when Victor hit it



Clutch lever is gone, clutch cable housing destroyed and the bar end mirror scraped up



A few tank dents



The good news, everybody still standing and smiling   

Well! I started the pile up, so I'll start it off.

I was coming around a turn onto a bridge to the left. I hit the double yellow and started to wobble. When I started to wobble I straightened up and tried to slow down. As I got to the edge of the bridge I hit the gravel and went over. Shortly after that I felt NakedGS, who ran me over, make contact with my side.

Looking back, I could have done several things to avoid going over. The best one would be to stay off the double yellow all together.

Glad everybody's ok!

What can I add that hasn't been said by Meri and Jessie?

I was trailing both Meri and NakedGS.  I saw Meri wobble and then next thing you know, he hits the wall of the bridge and bounces off into the street.  NakedGS followed up and hit Meri.  I tried to avoid both of them and the bikes, but I wasn't able to stop in time and I rather hit a bike than a person.  Honestly, I think we all had enough separation from each other, but the accident happened so quickly that there was no time to react.  The good news is that we were only traveling between 35-45 MPH.

My handlebars are bent on my bike, but other than that I have no real damage.  I see that JC Whitney has drag bars of my type for only $17.00, so I should be back on the road in no time at all.

I'll include a couple pictures from the accident.  Unfortunately, the pictures were taken after I moved all the bikes off the road.  I'm glad Meri's all right because he could have been seriously f'ed up.  The fall from the bridge to the river is about 20' and there were nothing but rocks where he would have landed had he went over the bridge wall.

Glad you guys are ok. Painted lines always worry me. I've seen videos of guys flying around crossing painted lines at full lean, I do my best to not touch them. Especially this year considering I put super cheap tires on my bike, since I ordered them when I was planning on selling it, and just wanted it inspected. It'll give me a reason to take it easy though.

Here are a couple pictures:

Scene of the accident


Jessie working on my bike


Brake lever and mirror that came off my bike

Wow sorry to see that but you're all walking to ride another day!  I'm going out for the first time this year tomorrow and this is a humble reminder that I need to take it easy.

Hope you guys get all patched up soon, and your bikes do too.

-Kyle

Take it easy, Meri!  I couldn't really understand how you had "just a little bruising" if NakedGS used your torso like an Evil Kneivel ramp, but I was glad you were on your feet!  The scarring on your helmet makes me thankful that I don't wear an open face- and I never will.  I like my jaw, eyes and nose too much.

-K

Hey all,
All I can do really is confirm the story of the other guys. I'm very thankful that we all walked away from the wreck, none of us got citations, and even all of our bikes were running afterwards!

My lessons:
1. More space between me and the rider in front of me, especially during group rides. The location of the crash was a left hand turn the bottom of a hill, with sandy areas around the double yellow and white lines. The terrian served to increase the "safe stopping" distance to more than my usual following distance, and probably by around 2x since ver4 crashed too.
2. Lose the "it won't happen to me" attitude. IT WILL. Be better prepared. ATGATT, but also know that safe stopping distance changes with road condition and terrain.

Oh, one more thing, that cop who was on the scene was THE MAN. Obviously a rider himself. As we're all standing there bruised, aching and with broken motorcycles, he's recommending that we goto this giant 500 biker ride in PA that happens on the first Sunday of each month. Awesome.

Wow, glad everyone's ok.  Good job taking pictures...it's always good to have documentation of what happened.  It saved me from paying around $1400 to the state of PA last year...

I still need to get out and ride with you guys some time.  Well, maybe not after reading this   Just kidding, haha.

nakedGS:  On a side note, here's the horsepower rating I found online for my Nighthawk:  14.4 ft.lb.@ 6500rpm

-Jessie

Quote from: BaltimoreGS on March 08, 2010, 01:27:09 PM
nakedGS:  On a side note, here's the horsepower rating I found online for my Nighthawk:  14.4 ft.lb.@ 6500rpm

-Jessie

Whoa!  There are way too many.

Quote from: ver4 on March 07, 2010, 08:46:08 PM
Honestly, I think we all had enough separation from each other, but the accident happened so quickly that there was no time to react.  The good news is that we were only traveling between 35-45 MPH.

At the risk of being an engineer, evidence would suggest inadequate space. If there was adequate space, there would also be adequate time to react, even stop; Q.E.D. - no time to react == inadequate space. As such, I'd suggest recalibrating your separation-o-meter - even more when travelling faster. When sightlines are restricted, sometimes the only solution to adequate space is to reduce speed to make the space you can see adequate for the speed you are travelling.

Quote from: nakedGS on March 08, 2010, 04:59:03 AM
1. More space between me and the rider in front of me, especially during group rides. The location of the crash was a left hand turn the bottom of a hill, with sandy areas around the double yellow and white lines. The terrian served to increase the "safe stopping" distance to more than my usual following distance, and probably by around 2x since ver4 crashed too.
2. Lose the "it won't happen to me" attitude. IT WILL. Be better prepared. ATGATT, but also know that safe stopping distance changes with road condition and terrain.

Nailed it in two. Any crash you can walk away from is a learning experience. Glad everybody is OK, and where's the ear missing from? - They all seem to be there in the picture...

If you can find a decent leather-worker, looks like most of Meri's jacket failures were stitching related, which can be re-done. On the other hand, that type of failure is one reason I favor simpler styles that are not using small pieces of leather to make graphics from (or if they are, just laying a small piece over large pieces stoutly stitched.)

I checked out my gloves earlier today. They were heavier gloves with armored knuckles and such. They were pretty torn up. I'm really really glad I wasn't wearing my summer gloves. They have no real protection at all.

It has caused me to decide to go shopping for some new summer gloves.

It has definitely caused me to go shopping for a new handlebar, chain and helmet. I was thinking of this one from bikebandit:
Helmet:
http://www.bikebandit.com/hjc-is-16-solid-full-face-helmet
Jessie, do you like the sun visor on your helmet? I usually just jam sunglasses onto my face once my helmet is on, but thats kindof annoying, and they can get crooked on my face and that sucks too.

I was also going to grab the "OEM" chain and handle bar from bikebandit, but I'm afraid the chain won't come with a clip masterlink. I don't have a motorcycle chain tool. Anyone buy this chain before and have suggestions? Better deal elsewhere? It didn't look like chaparral had the right chain for less when I checked out their site.
Also, anyone have a stock handlebar to sell me?

Jessie: I think I had a go-kart when I was like 13 that had a 15hp briggs&stratton... Haha, seriously though, I think that Nighthawk rules man. I am amused by the dual exhaust.

Actually, I think I'll pick up this chain.
http://www.moto-chains.com/site/898528/product/ek520sro
The one I've got on there now has low miles, but its probably original (18 yrs old), is kindof rusty and I saw one of the o-rings had broken on it, which probably means the rest of them are dried out and ready to die.

Quote from: DoD#i on March 08, 2010, 02:34:58 PM

Quote from: ver4 on March 07, 2010, 08:46:08 PM
Honestly, I think we all had enough separation from each other, but the accident happened so quickly that there was no time to react.  The good news is that we were only traveling between 35-45 MPH.

At the risk of being an engineer, evidence would suggest inadequate space. If there was adequate space, there would also be adequate time to react, even stop; Q.E.D. - no time to react == inadequate space. As such, I'd suggest recalibrating your separation-o-meter - even more when travelling faster. When sightlines are restricted, sometimes the only solution to adequate space is to reduce speed to make the space you can see adequate for the speed you are travelling.

I don't know if I agree with your statement.  Yes, we should have been able to react more quickly, but I know in my case it's kind of hard to avoid four obstacles in the road at once (two bikes and two people).  Sight lines were not restricted at all.  If you look at the picture I posted, you can see the turn in which Meri's wobble began.  It's not a tight curve at all.  I guess you had to be there to find out for yourself, but like I said, I know I had a fairly safe following distance (or so I thought).

Quote from: nakedGS on March 08, 2010, 05:21:03 PM
Actually, I think I'll pick up this chain.
http://www.moto-chains.com/site/898528/product/ek520sro
The one I've got on there now has low miles, but its probably original (18 yrs old), is kindof rusty and I saw one of the o-rings had broken on it, which probably means the rest of them are dried out and ready to die.

You're chain is in pretty bad shape.

yes- the condition of my current chain shames me.



new chain! 

Quote from: nakedGS on March 08, 2010, 04:42:08 PM
It has definitely caused me to go shopping for a new handlebar, chain and helmet. I was thinking of this one from bikebandit:
Helmet:
http://www.bikebandit.com/hjc-is-16-solid-full-face-helmet
Jessie, do you like the sun visor on your helmet? I usually just jam sunglasses onto my face once my helmet is on, but thats kind of annoying, and they can get crooked on my face and that sucks too.

That was the first ride I've done with the IS-16 Helmet.  I have worn HJC helmets since my motocross days and have had good luck with them.  I like that built in visor because it works over my prescription glasses.  There is about a quarter inch gap at the bottom of the retractable visor where you can still see unfiltered light.  So far I like the helmet but I'd have to ride in it without a windshield to check for wind noise before I would recommend it to someone.

I've never tried one but Sport Rider magazine gave the Sparx S-07 helmet a positive review and compared it to an Arai in weight and features.  Remember when you are shopping there is a big difference between the Snell 2005 and 2010 standards.

-Jessie