Ouch- laid it down

Had a nice ride along route 17 "app gap", some decreasing radius tight turns. It was awesome, first time I really got to lean the bike over and work on some breaking. Coming home on a very familiar section of road, I hit a huge oil slick in the middle of a turn and before I knew it I was up close and personal with the pavement. Two things I'm thankful for: the first is that I had full gear on, leather pants and a hybrid mesh/leather jacket. Full boots and gauntlet glove plus a full face helmet. The second is that I was hanging off the bike a bit which meant I didn't have as far to fall to actually hit the pavement. I have a bit of rash on my right arm from the liner of the jacket but that's about it. I'm sure tomorrow I'll be feeling it alot more but at least nothings broken. Bike looks to be only cosmetic damage. Right lower fairing took a beating and the mirror is a little scraped. Rear brake pedal is about an inch shorter and the exhaust now has a nice line down the middle of it. I think the moral of the story here is that sometimes there's just nothing you can do.

The view from the top of the Gap, pre-lay down.


Post lay down

Tail pipe

Jacket

Point of first impact

Lower fairing damage

The oil I picked up during the slide

Nice coating on the rear tire


Rear brake lever

Right wrist, glad I had on gauntlets

The oil slick

The front tire

The right palm

 

Sorry 'bout that and glad you weren't hurt worse. That's a typical garbage truck streak from improperly disposed-of oil. You did see the shiney line before you went down ?? Id' want to do some investigating to discover the source of the oil since it presents a real danger to all road users.

 

That sucks oot loud, glad your ok. That much oil on the tire would have doomed anyone.

 

Didn't see it at all, it's in a weird spot and didn't start until about 1/4 way into the turn. Even if I had my only option would have been to stand it straight up and run smack into the woods. Not sure that would have been any better. Had a brief chat with a LEO who arrived shortly after as a bystander had called in the oil spill.

 

Ouch :frown: - I am glad to hear you survived in one piece.

A while back I had my bike slide out from under me at very low speed on a roundabout which I discovered had a huge trail of diesel on. There's a filling station nearby and I wish they put a sign up telling people would not over-fill their cars - as diesel is a menace to anyone on two wheels.

Thankfully the R&G sliders did their job and apart from a few extra scratches on the mirror, the bike and I were completely unscathed. The sliders did a great job of holding the bike up and stopped my leg from being trapped below the bike. Unfortunately the road surface was so slick that I then fell over and banged my elbow (which hurt for days after) as soon as I tried to stand up. A classic very keystone cops moment. So I then crawled cautiously over to the kerb, to find somewhere safe to stand up and eventually managed to get the bike up off the deck.

Its amazing how much adrenaline can mask pain. I bet you will feel plenty of bruises tomorrow, so don't go mad and if things don't feel right see a doctor.

Take care



SkiMad

 

Sorry about the spill and your spill. You sound in good spirits though, so that's awesome. Nice to have the "right" gear, too! Good luck in getting her fixed up.

 

Sorry about your mishaps :sad:
Glad you not hurt :thumb:
Damn oil spot.....:chaingun:

 

Looks like you did everything thing you could do except going slower-maybe! Your Equipment worked-well. Sliders are a must have -not a option! In oil-only a bike standing perfectly up-wins!

 

wolf...I dont think that going any slower around the turn would have helped. I think the result would have only been lowsideing at a lower speed.

VT that sucks but glad that you are able to share the experience. The DB that did what ever with the oil needs to be

 

Lower speed all way means less damage unless your out running a accident like getting out of the way of something. The bigger the lean -means your riding on less tire too. I once went over a road totally covered in oil and didn't fall-turned the front damper to high and didn't turn the wheel at all,but the road was straight on a curve gravel or oil could be there unless you just checked the curve out before hand. One reason I got a bike with abs is because it can save a fall sometimes by keeping the tires from slipping too much. The way I ride is al ways thinking-did I make a mistake today-what could I have done more safely and try not to make the same mistake again. I believe 99.9% of accidents can be prevented by thinking your way out, instead of thinking there was no way to prevent a mistake,MSS by the way is one of the best schools there is very riding safer. But it maybe more fun to screw up once in a while:smash:

 

Brutal, sorry to hear......it's frustrating, without being able to enjoy corners we might as well trade our VFR's in on Harley's.
I had a awkward one today on the only good corner I have going to work. Big hunks of ashfalt the size of baseballs, about a dozen of them scattered all over a double bending 180. Sure glad it wasn't an oil slick or both.....makes you think.

 

I'm fairly certain going slower wouldn't really have made a lick of difference. Based on where the oil slick started, I was already leaned in and heading for the apex when I hit it. ABS wouldn't have done squat because I wasn't braking mid turn, and they prevent the tires from locking, not from sliding when it's slick but glad you kept it upright on a straight road . As for the preventable by thinking: There are certain things- oil, rocks, sand etc... that you just can't predict or act fast enough to avoid. That's why I'm not beating myself up over it. There is nothing I would have done differently if I were in that same circumstance. I had finished breaking, picked a nice line, slowly rolling on the throttle, looking through the turn when BAM. That's really all there was too it.

 

Ok Im usually one for a smart ass comment but I do have to share this with you. I call BS on 99% of all accidents can be prevented. I work in an industry where we try to achive this, but the goal is un-attainable. Ill give you the best example from what I do. Of course I use to (as of 1.5 years ago) work offshore in the GOM oil field. This," all accidents can be prevented", is a moto that all offshore companies have adopted. Do I believe in this...Yes..but no. I am a Diver/EMT and my company gracefully paid my EMT training. I had just finished my EMT training many moons ago and my company paid for it. Well soon after we had an EHS (Enviromental,Health,and Safety) class. We did 3 days of EHS class and every one was sold on the direction of how our company could be more safer. So was I. The question that was presented to the class was, " who does not believe that all accidents can be prevented?" I was the only one to raise the hand. They asked me " why do you not believe that all accidents can be prevented?" I stated, "you guys just put me through an EMT class. If all accidents can be prevented then why spend the money to get me certified?"....No answer. Now, yes, I am sold on all accidents can be prevented but.... we wouldnt have and EMS system if that was true. Accidents are just that, accidents. Unforeseen events that pile up in an order that the enevitable outcome could not be prevented. Prevented is the key word.

Accidents happen unfortunately. Hopefully we can put a lot of emergency room doctors and emergency workers out of work....unfortunately I don't see that happening

 

I agree VT, sometimes circumstances overrule. We have to except certain risks choosing 2 wheels, no matter how educated they are.
Same goes with all aspects of what we do. It's in the front of my mind right now, yesterday here in Ottawa a double bus ran into a train and killed 6, one was a friends daughter.
She didn't make a mistake by getting on that bus to go to work, the circumstances were out of her control.

 

Glad you made it out of this relatively OK. Betcha your ass puckered up pretty good on that spin.

As for 99% of all accidents can be prevented. If we had the luxury of turning back time, see what was done wrong, then not do it, then yes, That is a fair statement. But that is also a perfect world which we all know we do not live in. Shit, we don't even want to live in that world do we.

The term that all accidents can be prevented, really comes from sitting back and analyzing what took place. The question is always asked, if someone directly involved in the accident had done something different, would that accident have taken place. I have yet to investigate a collision that I could not come up with a positive answer to that.

If that oil spill was from improperly disposed of oil, then that right there tell me someone could have done something to prevent that accident. Properly dispose of the oil. Accident prevented.

I am not being critical of VT_VFR. Absolutely to the contrary. I admire his stand on this. Shit happens. Sometimes we make it happen ourselves. I went down a few years back because I was trying to keep up with someone I had no business trying to keep up with. Did I stop riding or slow down and never push the envelope again. Absolutely no fuggen way. I learned from that experience, then continued, like I suggest everyone else here has, pushing my limits a bit more each time until my skills improved. And I suppose I still do. That is the fun in this activity. We all know that.

Ride on my brudder, ride on.

 

Sorry to hear about your off, and glad that you and the bike are relatively unscathed. Unlike cars almost any bike mishap has the potential to really injure us. As the saying goes, "there are 2 sorts of riders...." You have ticked that box, and come away wiser.

 

I did say the only safe bike is on bike stands-I know motorcycle's are a accident waiting to happen as I must have a record for dropping my old R6 with sliders every where, I was actually kidding around-it all most seemed like some joker-placed the oil on purpose- sounds like its possible ,but still even on motorcycle's just changing one thing might have saved the fall like possible going like grand mom down the rode-not much fun but neither is sliding down the road on pavement-got to hurt I would say:boink:

 

Once while riding behind a small herd of elephants...

 

Awwww Billy. Did you get shit on?

 

I wonder what the post speed limit was on this curve? Could it possible be going a bit too fast,sense 99% of the time a motorcycle riding is doing double the speed limit-of course this couldn't have possibly be the problem, all it takes to spin out is too much air in the tire too! I know the roads where I drive and there is a curve that all most always gravel is there-sand,oil, gravel even a burger king wapper or a banana peel could be a reason to go down, I know of a guy who hit a Owl and got knocked off the bike too - that might of been the .001% when there was nothing to prevent a accident except have a horm that sounds like a eagle to sotstir:care the owl away