Hey everyone, this is my first post; been hanging out for a while, soaking up the knowledge.

I hate for this to be my first post but, I dumped my brand new (only 600 miles) 2010 Iron today.

I was headed home from the store when a guy in a mid-90's dodge pickup pulled out directly in front of me. It was a T intersection where he was the only one with a stop-sign. I was doing the speed limit, (35 mph). I saw him stopped at his stop-sign, waiting for an on coming car to pass by; I was headed south while the car passing by him was headed north. The car passed by, and this guy suddenly and quickly pulled out across the north bound lane directly into my path. I was (and always do), riding close to the yellow double line for maximum visibility. His rear passenger side wheel well was about 2 ft in front of me when he pulled out. I did the only thing I could do... hit the hooks as hard as I could. I locked the front wheel, the handle bars jerked to the left and I went down. The bike landed on its left side and slid about 180*. As fast as I went down, popped back up and started running after the truck, as the driver didn't even stop. My adrenaline must have been really pumping because I caught up to him and was screaming at him as he was still driving; I usually don't run that fast!

He pulled off the road, I went back to my horse, picked it up myself and pushed onto the street where the truck had just pulled out. Miracualously, no one had been driving by at the time I dumped, or me or my bike might have been crushed. But, no-one else saw the incident. After I said I was going to call the cops, the guy gave all of his insurance info, with his telephone # and muttered something about being late for work. I got the guys signature indicating that he was responsible for the crash.

I check the bike out, seemed OK, started fine, no warning lights. Pulled out same as always, rode as if nothing happened.

I called my insurance, a rep is going to call me on Monday.

The damage:
All on left side

Mirror loose (the stem can rotate 360*) and road rashed

clutch lever road rashed

Forward control shift lever tweaked upwards a few degrees, rubber and end cap on shifter road rashed

Foot peg road rashed at the hinge and on the stem at the end of the peg.

Slight swirl on trans cover

Rear tail-light housing severely road-rashed and tweaked downwards a few degrees

Very light scratch and rub mark on top of rear fender, probably from when I came off the bike.

I'm 100% OK except for rub-burns on my right elbow and left knee from my shirt and jeans.

I was wearing a helmet, KD's, harness boots, gloves, Levis, a long T + a flannel, a back pack and a leather vest, I think the gloves flannel, and Levi's stopped me from more serious abrasions. None of my clothing was ruined either. My cell-phone stayed in my pocket, but got busted. I'm sure I'll be very sore tomorrow.

So now that I've hit you with all that; what do you guys think I should have done differently, from any point, before during or after? My adrenaline was going so hard that I found it difficult to not hit the guy, let alone make a rational decision about the incident, I wish I wouldn't have dumped the bike, but I not really sure if I had any other option besides smashing into the truck's wheel. I think I did OK with this whole thing, but objective eyes are sorely needed.

Thanks!

 

you did good, however you should have had a cop come to the scene. glad you are not hurt. sorry about the bike, make his insurance pay for everything! Lawyer up if you got to!

 

sinse you only have 600 miles on a brand new bike my guess is a more seasoned rider would have been able to avoid the accident.

that being said, i wasn't there, anything can happin and at times all the miles in the world under yr belt won't help.

what is done is done and i am glad yr ok. the most important thing about crashing is being able to walk away so you can ride another day.

make sure in those situations you are using both brakes front and rear. also, make sure you are always scanning ahead (not sure if you took the MC safty course but its pritty good). and last always always better to be safe than sorry. when i'm not positive someone sees me i slow down and prepaire to honk, break, swirve, whatever....i have had to do it more than once and it helps. even if the guy was at his stop sign and you where totaly ligit in zooming by its better to just slow down.

you said yr bike is an 10 so my sugestion is to take it to the dealer and just have them fix it back up good as new

 

Glad you didn't get severly injured. As midnight stated never leave the scene of an accident without police arriving at the scene to do a investigation and report. No different when 2 or more cagers are involved in a wreck. Glad your OK.

 

He would have been real late for work had that been Me because as others have stated never leave a scene of a accident with damage to You or Your bike until the police arrive. Only glad Your ok ! .....WVleo

 

Thanks for the input guys. I did take the motorcycle safety course and passed it with excellent scores, and definitely used both brakes. Even though I have a statement of responsibility and signature from him, I regret not having the cops show up.

I've been running the whole crash-chain scenario through my head and I'm pretty sure that the only way I could have avoided this was to be going about 10 mph slower than the speed limit. Swerving would have sent me right over a guard-rail and down into a ditch. When the dude pulled out the way he did, he almost ran me over with his front passenger side wheel, as I was slowing down (quickly!!) he continued to make the turn into my lane and I almost ran into his rear passenger tire...thats when I went down. As I fell, I could have literally reached out and grabbed his rear bumper.

Anyway, thanks for listening and for the input. Greatly appreciated!

 

Welcome from Michigan.
Sorry about the accident, glad your ok. Except for not calling the cops, I think you did pretty good... Good luck.

 

Hate to hear about your accident but glad to hear that you were not seriously injured.
+1 on calling the cops and getting an accident report.

 

sorry about the ride...

 

Dude 600 miles..real sorry to hear that but glad to hear your OK