first crash thread?

Rory28

Hi guys. Came off my bike today. A Suzuki gn 125.

Turning left into a carpark and then suddenly I'm going face first into the road. Bike landed on my knee and a very nice lady helped get it off me. It happened all very fast I'm not to sure what happened. Super glad I had full gear on as it could have been a lot worse. My knee is cut up and swelling a bit. Its not so bad tho. More embarrassing than painful.

I had a smoke to calmn my nerves and tried starting the bike. Took a bit but then I drove it home. Minor damage, I think. Left indicator is smashed up good and the handle bars are slightly askew.

How about some similar stories to help me not feel quite so stupid.
How about your bike, where it happened and how bad?
If this is inappropriate then please say so. I'm still hopped up on adrenaline.

Zascar

Glad your ok, could have been a lot worse. Did you just slip or what happened?

Touch wood I've never had a spill - but not a bad idea for a thread. Have you had a crack - what happened, and what did you learn from it? Might help us all avoid one some day.

Rory28

I think it was because I was in too high a gear and turning to slow. Then I was in under it instead of on it. Can't say I learned anything because it was a silly crash and it happened very fast. Could have been gravel or just poor riding on my part. That's a my best guess.

bladespin

I was 17, had an RD125 and was just getting confident; going for the occasional longer spin away from familiar roads, hit gravel on an S bend on the Trim side of Summerhill at about 50 mph, managed to save the bike but all straightened up and went through the hedge, landed in a field with no more damage than a bent handlebar and a snapped brake lever, very lucky.
A very nice older lady stopped and brought me up the road to her house to call for assistance, was walking back and caught a tosser trying to pull the bike into a van - I ran at him; think Rambo first blood, he took off like a lunatic.

Forgot the lesson, be prepared and don't leave a bike somewhere it's vulnerable I guess.

Seanie_H

I was 20 yo, on my Vespa and heading down the bus lane on the N11. It was only a 50cc so it was slow enough. A car decided that she'd waited long enough behind a slow moving JCB on the inside carriageway lane and jumped into the bus lane in front of me about 150mtrs before her upcoming left turn. With hindsight I thought I was stupid as my first instinct was to beep rather than steer. My second but more crucial mistake was to jam on the breaks and then steer left which sent the bike down. Sore knee and wrist etc. but generally grand.

I picked up the bike, sat for a while a then headed into work. As I was coming around the bend on to the East Link I felt the bike drifting to middle line and for some reason couldnt trust the bike to lean left to centre my line. I eventually copped on, slowed and corrected but it scared the shi* outta me.

Key is to get back on the bike and analyse your mistake which is what you're doing already I guess.

DJDylan106

Glad you're okay Rory and there wasn't too much damage! My first fall was during my training, grabbed a fistful of front brake and hit the car park floor whilst practicing emergency stops... Ripped my gloves, bottoms and scratched the side of my helmet and visor ( helmet now just a reminder on the shelf ). No serious damage done to my handsome self except a bad case of wounded pride and embarrassment. Lesson learned I certainly won't grab the front brake with anything more than 2 fingers from now on! :cool:

Plopli

Glad you're ok, live and learn !

My first was on my brand new BMW F650, few days after I got my licence.
Some gravel in a roundabout and off I went.
Not too much damage as I was slow and had crash bar.
More a lack of confidence and inexperience than anything.

Last one was few months back, dreaming in traffic, slippery road, car in front break (not hard), I've plenty of space but I'm surprised, grab the front and I'm down in front of all the kids going to school. Few scratches to the bike and a cracked shoulder for me.
Complete stupidity on my part, never day dream when driving a bike.

16 years of biking in between, covering ~15000 km per year.

I had one bad and 2/3 very small (letting the bike fall down at a stop for example) in between.

All the drop I had were always my responsibility.
Going too fast, not anticipating the road and other users.
Never forget the open road is not a track.
You have gravel, mud, other users and the side of the road have edges, ditches, fences who are very close and not wide open space to slide.

Don't forget you should always be able to stop in the distance you see clear in front of you. Trying to stick with that saved me multiple time (It also probably make me look like a slow rider but I don't care).

gerrowadat

Great thread, I'm only on the bike less than a year but never as much as had a fender bender in the car, should be good advice on here for avoiding drops and seeing what mistakes cost people their bike/pride/etc.

Good one on the stopping in the distance you can see - did my first commute in the dark today and felt like a granny on the yoke, but **** it like.

zubair

1st off was on a roundabout, lowside, still not sure what happened. Think it was diesel, the bike didn't give me any hint of slipping and next thing I know I'm sliding down the road.

2nd was filtering in Dublin and a fella did a uturn in front of me. You can guess the rest.

Lessons learned: Get crash bungs. Wear your gear. Get an action cam. Diesel is slippy. Check tyre pressure. Remember you're invisible to cagers. Get back on the bike.

jay48

First crash - car done a u turn through a line of cars and straight out infront of me . Luckily the day I bought my first leathers
Crash 2 - a tourist missed their exit on a roundabout and decided to go all the way around again , across my path as I was going straight through
Crash 3 - high sided on a brand new tyre outside the bikeshop
Crash 4 - tucked the front riding like a Numpty at a trackday
Crash 5 - went into the tyre wall at Dunlop when my brakes failed in a race
Crash 6 - lad behind me tucked the front during a race and took me along for the ride
Crash 7 - lost the rear and low sided at turn 1 at a trackday
Crash 8 - lost the rear and low sided at turn 1 at a trackday , this time trying make up for losing time on the entry
Crash 9 - a couple of weeks ago , didn't even get to turn 1 , tucked the front scrubbing in new tyres

Thankfully walked away from them all , lesson learnt - always wear decent gear .

irish snowblower

1st for me was an rd 350 lc around 1989 one hundred yards from house stopped at a cross roads and too anxious to get going, back came around and left me sitting on my arse. Lesson 1 wait until tyres are warm before letting rip. 2nd was in 1992 I bought a gsxr 400 on a saturday went out sunday to try it against an rg250 gamma I hit a bump around 70 mph it tool off slapping and threw me over the bars. Broken ankle, breast bone and three broken fingers. It turned out there was only 10 psi in the front and 15 in the back. Lesson 2 never thrust anyone check everything yourself.

sonic85

dropped the bike on my IBT - slowed up to take a right hand turn started to take the turn and hit a patch of gravel. oh fcuk! it slid out from underneath me - felt like a right numpty.

out in the lashing rain last year slowed up approaching a roundabout entered it and was making my way round when the front washed out and I went sliding across the road. got some fright. not quite sure if it was my fault - it was unbelievably wet at the time but I think I could've been a bit smoother with the throttle.

NoQuarter

Both of mine were when I had my moped when I was about 17. First one I was turning a corner in the wet and the bike slid out and I went sliding toward an oncoming bus, lucky he could stop in good time. I cold have been going slower and it wouldn't have happened.

The second was driving out of a petrol station, front wheel hit black ice and I was a gonner! Nothing I could do about this one!

Just got a 250 after 10 years in a car so I am very wary. I dont know whether to just expect that I will come off it at some stage or keep my head in the sand and think maybe I'll escape it!

lennymc

jay48 wrote: »

Crash 5 - went into the tyre wall at Dunlop when my brakes failed in a race

I thought that was turn 1, starfish style?

Crash 1, cb400, first bike, lost the front when someone reversed out in front of me
Crash 2, into a ditch on a 3 day old bandit 600
Crash 3, rgv 250 up at nutts corner.
Crash 4, gsxr 1000, brakes went funny into turn three at mondello, off into the gravel, stopped and toppled over
Crash 5, gsxr thousand, turn 4, lowside, bike rolled in the grass. I slid on my ass.
Crash 6, gsxr thousand, turn 3 bishopscourt, lowside, bounced across the track. That one hurt quite a bit.
Crash 7, lost the rear in turn 2 at mondello. I slid up the track. Bike bounced up the track. I retired.

Ayrtonf7

gerrowadat wrote: »

Good one on the stopping in the distance you can see - did my first commute in the dark today and felt like a granny on the yoke, but **** it like.

I know the feeling man. Moved out to Ballivor last August. Commuting to Blanchardstown and Maynooth for Work/College. First night I drove home it was pitch black out and of course I was on unfamiliar windy country roads with all sorts of road conditions. So I did exactly what you did and slowed right down. No shame in it as now 5-6 months later Im whizzing along! Probably some of the best advice Ive ever gotten is ride accordingly. Covers a lot of basis!

Anyways I guess my first real off was on my first long distance trip. Heading from Dublin to Corofin Clare. Me and another friend went and as we were both learners we decided to take the more scenic route! Somewhere after Banagher I come over the crest of a hill and started flying down the otherside as the road gently veered to the right. I decide I needed to slow down a bit otherwise Im heading straight for the ditch. Wasnt confident of the road surface so didnt Jam too hard but i ended up going into a massive row of bushes, somersaulted over the handlebars and landed upside down about 5 foot down the hedge line. Was a good first experience IMO if there ever was such a thing. Bike was fine, I was fine, and we continued on our way after a few smokes.

Tigger

i bought a bike drove it to my mates house and threw him on the pillion so we could tear around the estate
got all confused about how things were meant to work and crashed into a wire fence then burst out laughing
week later he had a bike

Pierced Off

First one was on a Honda 50 at 16 years old, rode into a wall. In my defence, it was a very low wall, it was lashing rain in the middle of December and the wall wasn't there the previous time I took the short cut. They had actually only built it that day. I then waited 20 years to have my next one. Filtering up past stationary, Friday evening, rush hour traffic and some learner pulled out of the line without indicating. I broadsided him resulting in broken shoulder, broken ulna & radius and a tibia smashed into many little pieces. I also wrote off the bike. (by the way, it's not wise to filter at 80kmh)

Cuddlesworth

jay48 wrote: »

Thankfully walked away from them all , lesson learnt -

I glanced over the first part, read the "lesson learnt" bit and thought after 9 bloody crashes I'd have hoped so..

Can you really count track days though? I would have thought it was a given that finding your and the bikes limits will at least involve a handful of offs.

I'm 6 years in myself and haven't had any offs yet. I dropped it once at a right hand turn. Wasn't a off, just a real slow fall to the ground after trying and failing to pull it back up.

jay48

Yeah , 9 times off the bike and thankfully nothing worse than a few bruises thanks to decent gear and a lot of luck .
I'm by no means a crasher , 15 years on bikes , 3 crashes on the road in the first 3 years , all slow speed , 6 on track in 12 years of track riding including 3 years racing and averaging probably 30 trackdays a year / 200 miles a trackday . So as well as gear , pack in road riding lads and do trackdays , they're safer ðŸ˜႒

Edit - and one of those years included racing with Lenny , luckily he didn't get on track much that year , the crash count could've been much higher ! :-p

Alkers

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I glanced over the first part, read the "lesson learnt" bit and thought after 9 bloody crashes I'd have hoped so..

Can you really count track days though? I would have thought it was a given that finding your and the bikes limits will at least involve a handful of offs.

I'm 6 years in myself and haven't had any offs yet. I dropped it once at a right hand turn. Wasn't a off, just a real slow fall to the ground after trying and failing to pull it back up.

Do I not recall you having an altercation with a taxi at some stage or was that not another poster?

Cuddlesworth

Simona1986 wrote: »

Do I not recall you having an altercation with a taxi at some stage or was that not another poster?

I did, he tried to ram me(and my gf) off the road unsuccessfully. No off though, just a light graze to the front rubber.