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Hazardous start to the riding season....

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DoctorXRR

DoctorXRR

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Joined
Aug 9, 2009
Messages
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Location
Austin, TX
Hey, dudes, just wanted to post up a cautionary note on a near miss I had this Saturday, riding my restored 84 900 Ninja with some buddies.

I am now convinced that certain hill country roads are more dangerous, giving the masses of large shiny bikes that have a hard time negotiating turns.

Me and my buddies were returning to Austin on Hamilton Pool road, still on the very farther out section off of 281. Its actually FM 962 and at Cypress Creek Road there is a tricky curve that has a bit of rise and can catch you out.

Well, I am heading towards the turn, and a couple big shiny bikes exit, and since I know more often follow, I rolled off the gas a bit. As I enter the turn, a big bike has his rear wheel locked, smoking the wheel, front end wobbling.....as he crosses the double yellow right in front of me.

He was not wearing a helmet, and his eyes were big and bugging out, he was fixating right on me. His front end was wobbling around, he could not control his trajectory. I knew a head on collision was going to happen. I averted my eyes to the left, did a hard counter steer, and he grazed me and the bike. My bar end weight was snapped off the bar, the bar bent, my right footpeg sheared off, and I felt his bike mash my right foot and ankle. Thankfully I did not drop the bike.


He careened down a cluvert and dropped his bike, I think as he was trying to stand it up.

Dude was very apologetic, and provided me all of info by phone. I could smell alcohol on him.

Seeing as I could ride the bike, and we were quite a ways out from any near by town, I opted to ride it back home. So next is dealing with his insurance company.

Was a wake up call:

Practice your braking and counter steering.

Slow up if a couple of big shiny bikes emerge out of a turn, the next one may be in your lane.

Think out scenarios in advance.....how will you respond in a similar situation?

Wear high quality protective gear that fits.

Be wary of time of day.....are you heading back into town on a road that still has lots of riders heading the opposite direction?


Ride safe dudes!
 
Glad you made it out relatively ok.

Drinking and riding are something I dont tolerate, you want to ride, then ride, you want to tilt a few back do it when the bikes are home or at the motel/campsite whatever as long as the keys are put up for the day.
 
What a scary encounter, glad you are ok and maneuvered to avoid a worst result.
 
Again, glad you are okay but I would have called LE, especially if I detected alcohol on his breath. If he's drinking/riding he is NOT my brother and I would not have cut him any slack.
 
Texas T said:
Again, glad you are okay but I would have called LE, especially if I detected alcohol on his breath. If he's drinking/riding he is NOT my brother and I would not have cut him any slack.
Click to expand...

I agree. Without a police report, or any citations being issued it's your word against his.
 
DoctorXRR said:
Think out scenarios in advance.....how will you respond in a similar situation?
Click to expand...

Glad to hear that you are okay.

It's spring time and everybody is out along with the fair weather riders. I was close to riding faster than my line of sight allowed and nearly got a face to face meeting with a local farmer this weekend. While not so much an issue in the Hill Country, lots of farmers in row crop areas are moving equipment and materials from place to place now adding to the risk on some of the FM roads. It's not unusual to round a curve and see some New Holland with a disc attachment taking up a lane and a half.

Gotta say you made a hard call. I hate to get other riders in trouble, but the guy you describe has serious case of stupid. Hopefully he'll wake up, get sober, buy a helmet and take some training.

m
 
Sad thing is ALL of these roads are safe for everyone if risen at posted speeds. ... Or even close to it.
 
Hail said:
Sad thing is ALL of these roads are safe for everyone if risen at posted speeds. ... Or even close to it.
Click to expand...

A lack of skills and/or judgment makes ANY road unsafe at ANY speed.
 
Glad you are ok. I think you'll are missing the main factor in the accident.
It wasn't the drinking or excessive speed for the rider's skill set. I blame the excessive amount of chrome. It reflects the sun light and literally blinds you!
 
Texas T said:
Again, glad you are okay but I would have called LE, especially if I detected alcohol on his breath. If he's drinking/riding he is NOT my brother and I would not have cut him any slack.
Click to expand...

+1 also glad to hear your Ok. Are you starting the repairs on the Ninja. I have a GPZ550. Wonder if his floor board caught the tarmac and thru him off line? Drew
 
Your skill probably made a scary moment out of a potential disaster. Bad as it was...coulda been way worse. Glad you made it through.

Yes, the spit and polish crowd is out these days. They scraped one up on hwy 6 last week here in b/cs. That hanky on his head did little for protection.
 
Grozny said:
I agree. Without a police report, or any citations being issued it's your word against his.
Click to expand...

+1

never leave the site of a contact/damage incident w/o involving LEO

glad your body made it thru the incident

shorts can be washed

skoots can be re-built

lives turned into souls are forever lost to this world

shiny side up

sw
 
Glad you are okay as well. Same as others about drinking and riding, my beer seems to taste a lot better after I've parked her for the day. Hope everything works out with getting his insurance to fix your bike.
 
I talked with his insurance company, since I left a message to file a claim. They described some of the accident to me, and said he admited he was at fault. They passed me on to Safeco that actually holds his MC insurance, along with claims adjuster and claim number. I called and left my info. He also admitted fault to my riding buddy at the scene, and he is former Marine, so talk about credibility!

There were no obstacles in the road, and he did not ground out his bike....He told me "I just looked down for a couple of seconds...."

Here is a picture of the skid mark he left as he overshot the turn, rear wheel locked up and smoking. He was headed roughly west, I was headed roughly east, coming into the turn. He intersected my path on my side of the road.

HDGPZAccidentb21613_zps91f5ff85.jpg


Here is the rest of the skid mark he left as he went down the embankment on the other side of the road. At this point I would have been on the right hand side of the picture, in his lane as I had to countersteer to my left.

HDGPZAccident21613_zpsc736e772.jpg
 
Wow glad you're alright.

As many have said, drinking and riding don't mix. His service, cred or whatnot makes no difference if I smell alcohol or Mary Jane. I would have called a LEO out just for his sake to make sure he gets home safe.

On a more humorous note... everyone knows that all that polished chrome helps of cut through the air smoother, thus more fuel efficient. Plus everyone knows cruisers are far superior when it comes to cornering and the best tool for hill country, especially if chopped.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 
Thanks for the reminder to be on the look out. The roads will be crowded with fair weather riders that are rusty and eager to ride.

I'm glad you were able to avoid a head on collision. Thank goodness!

Safe travels,
TTR
 
Nice job dodging him. And totally the right move, cutting to the inside of him. The one thing he was very unlikely to do was lean more and make the turn at that point.
 
A"Just because you can afford one doesn't mean you know how to operate it" biker.
Did he even have a valid license, which you do not need to obtain insurance.
Sounds like this rider has about 20 miles in the seat. A classic case of target fixation.

What kind of boots did you have on, seem like a good boot taking a hit like that and not getting injured.
 
"What kind of boots did you have on, seem like a good boot taking a hit like that and not getting injured. "

Was wearing a pair of Alpine Star road boots, a moderate priced boot about $125, with some ankle protection. But as a road boot is pretty flexible. I have ankle injury tho. Thinking about upgrading my protective gear. Buddy of mine rides on the road with Sidi ADV boots, which while heavier would give much better protection, plus I could use them for light dual sport riding. For DS riding I wear full motocross boots, but may not need that for just graded gravel roads.

I am also wanting to upgrade my gloves to better leather/knuckle protection than the light weight Tourmasters I was wearing, which I really got for DS riding.
 
hizzo3 said:
On a more humorous note... everyone knows that all that polished chrome helps of cut through the air smoother, thus more fuel efficient. Plus everyone knows cruisers are far superior when it comes to cornering and the best tool for hill country, especially if chopped.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

those are solar panels, its the new trend in "green" riding :rofl:
 
Texas T said:
Again, glad you are okay but I would have called LE, especially if I detected alcohol on his breath. If he's drinking/riding he is NOT my brother and I would not have cut him any slack.
Click to expand...

AMEN brother!! take him off the road before he kills someone other than himself!
 
Update here on the outcomes.
The insurance company totaled the bike at $2,700 value and $3,500 in damage based on THEIR estimate. I sent a lower estimate done by a shop, at about $2,000 but insurance company insisted on using the higher one. I think by totaling the bike its less liability for them, instead of paying for repairs and getting deeper in. Costs were mostly all in the body work since OEM bodywork is very expensive and hard to find.

So, I bought back the bike for $200, and got a salvage hold on the title. I have to make some minor repairs and get the bike inspected again. I found a bar and footpeg on Ebay, and have some minor body work damage to live with. I will have to deal with getting a new title shortly.

The bike's starter motor or clutch makes an odd sound it did not before, not sure if the impact goofed something up a bit.

For my ankle, getting PT which has helped tremendously. At the end of my 8 sessions will re-assess and see if I need more. Its still sore and not at 100 percent, but the PT and exercises help tons. Main concern was getting in shape for my big DS ride in June.
So, on my return will be negotiating with the insurance company on pain/suffering for my ankle, and reimbursment for all expenses.

Hope to have the Ninja on the road again soon!
 
good to hear things are moving forward and your ankle is getting better.

as for the noise, the famous doohickey found on the KLR was first used on the ninja and like the KLR Kawasaki never improved it. the ZRX uses essentially a slightly different version of the ninja engine and the starter/ alternator/ balancer drive tensioner is prone to messing up. when starting it will slap the clutch basket putting dimples on the basket and eventually catches the clutch basket and snaps off. member over on ZRXOA (quick) produces a manual tensioner that fixes the problem.
 
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