Witnessed a harley rider go down @ 55mph on the road and being 2 cars behind him gave me a view you don't want to see. Watching the rider tumble and a bike out of control with no rider makes you sick and gave me a sense of safe riding techniques shouldn't be overlooked and sometimes (including myself) is taken for granted.

The old boy got his head back together, jumped up as I handed him his hat that was left on the road 100' back and he thanked me as he put it on his bloody head. Overall, he needed cleaned up, some stitches and walked away with his life and the bike was repairable so there was a positive.

The wreck will be burned in my memory for a while.

 

any thoughts as to why he went down?

 

Little bit of cowboying, went to pass 2 cars and the 2nd car, which was a van, had the same idea. Self inflicted but the van kept on motoring after putting him down.

 

A good 30+ years ago my wife and I were playing cat and mouse with an old guy on a Harley. It was a pretty nice interstate, route 78 west & 81 north near Fort Indiantown Gap Military Base in Pennsylvania. We were going well over 90 mph and I saw him in the rear view mirror catching us and then he went down, the bike was shiny and spun in circles as it moved back and forth between the two lanes before it came to a stop. He told us all he could remember was the bike went into a high speed wobble and went down so he tried to stay on it as long as possible but then started rolling and could not stop rolling. He was bruised but able to ride the bike home, we followed him to make sure he was OK. He was wearing a heavy leather jacket, and a shorty helmet with a visor. The visor kept his face from hitting the street as he rolled. It was a scary sight and the drivers of the cars that were behind us got a scare as well. Not too long after that we bumped into a coworker that rode Harleys and he heard about the incident, said the fellow blamed it on the rear being too high - the old guy replaced that bike it with a newer Harley.

 

I was behind a bike on the freeway that went down doing 60mph with a passenger on the back.....both were wearing leather jackets and helmets.....rolled for a while and came to a stop...not one scratch on either rider....the guy was so delirious he kept saying he thought he could ride the bike home.......took me three attempts to explain to him that his clutch lever had been sheared off and was just gone.....I gave them a ride home

 

Been in four accidents in all the years I have been riding; First one was COMPLETELY my fault-I was looking at a girl strutting her stuff on the sidewalk (I was 17 at the time!) and slid under the rear of a Catalina!
Second accident I should have been dead (According to police) my rear wheel locked up on my old Guzzi doin'70 goin' down a hill, the bike flipped and flew through the air hitting the ground five times. I only hit the ground three times before sliding to a stop!
Following year a deer jumped in front of me at 65 MPH. I survived;the deer didn't!
Finally, the last accident I was rear ended doing a motorcycle escort with all my lights and everything else on! This lady literally slammed into me and pushed me down the freeway! Her excuse? "I thought the person behind me was going to rear end me so given the choice I thought it would be better if I hit you!
These accidents might sound like a lot,however I have close to 300k I have put on streetbikes and have been riding since I was six!
Yes accidents suck, death or a wheelchair is make them much worse. I try to play it safe (Other than a little speeding here and there!) and just accept that this is the life I have chosen. For better or worse.