What should I have done differently?
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Road Master
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,016
Likes: 2
RE: What should I have done differently?
the pegs weren't totally locked out. they did fold a little (about 20degrees or there 'bouts). Lets Just say .... I have a bud who has dropped his bike a few times... and with the pegs resting on the ground it keeps the crash-bar from hitting the ground and the bike doesn't fall over as far as it would normaly. I did the same with mine as I didn't want (in the event of dropping my bike) to do something stupid and my bike fall over and the pegs fold in. I use my pegs 80% of the time when I'm riding so I have no 'need' for them to fold in to 'get 'em out of the way'. I'm not a rider who rides curves/twisties hard. I, as a general rule, do not want to over-ride my bike and lean it so hard to scrape the boards/pegs. I know there are a lot who do and have a great time takin those twisties fast and leaning hard while scraping. I'm more of a 'cruiser' type of rider. I have my 'fun' with speed and cornering back in the day with my sporty-cars (Mustang Cobra, Camero IROC-Z28, Porsche). I've settled down I guess and don't have the need for speed like I used to. I ride more for just enjoying the ride and scenery and company than I do for the thrill of twisties and whatnot. (for most I would probably be considered too boring of a lead-rider). I have a wife and 8 kids who do depend on me .... so I try and not be too radical on my bike to risk them having me not around (but that is a topic for another post sometime). Bottom line.... I keep my Hiway pegs very tight so they don't move much as I don't lean with speed that hard to risk scraping them in normal riding situations.
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 2,360
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From: Naalehu, Hawaii
RE: What should I have done differently?
ORIGINAL: the_icemAN
.... I'm all about 'learning. I know there are lots of 'almost' bad accidents and those who have a lot more experience riding than I have. Just wondering if/what I did that maybe I should have done differently to avoid glancing off the barrier to begin with?
.... I'm all about 'learning. I know there are lots of 'almost' bad accidents and those who have a lot more experience riding than I have. Just wondering if/what I did that maybe I should have done differently to avoid glancing off the barrier to begin with?
I can only pray that I would have the same reaction in that short a time span. The "learning" is for me, andthe only thingI can think of is the speed. It will make me slow down for a while but having brothers that are DOT engineers I usually travel those ramps at the speeds they have told me they are designed for, plus a little for the "leaning" factor. Thanks for posting, its a good reminder.
Arvid
Banned
Joined: Jan 2007
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From:
RE: What should I have done differently?
Well this location sounds like a biker nightmare engineer designed.
What with the double curve high up in the air and the second one sharper.
My thinking would be that no matter how familiar you may be with the curve,
Being dark as you say, I would have approached it more slowly.
It may have come from a dump truck or even someones pickup.
I guess consider your self lucky that the thin gravel didn't extend farther or that
it wasn't ice.
But happy to hear you made it with minimal damage.
What with the double curve high up in the air and the second one sharper.
My thinking would be that no matter how familiar you may be with the curve,
Being dark as you say, I would have approached it more slowly.
It may have come from a dump truck or even someones pickup.
I guess consider your self lucky that the thin gravel didn't extend farther or that
it wasn't ice.
But happy to hear you made it with minimal damage.
ORIGINAL: the_icemAN
heading to work last week I'm on an on-ramp traveling about 55mph and banking to the left. This on-ramp goes over a 4 lane highway about 20ft below. The on-ramp is kinda a double-curve where it starts out as a wide-curve and then bends sharper before straightening out.
While leaning through the wide-curve part I encountered some 'sand/gravel' mix which must have come off of a dump truck (just guessing at this). It was dark enough in the morning and the nice slippery addition to the road was spread out enough I was not able to see it. Well I felt it. Rear tire kicked out to my right and immediately and I was feeling the bike starting to go down. I was able to bring the bike 'upright' very quickly. Now I'm faces with another problem. When I took out the lean on a bike when the road/on-ramp is curved I was now heading almost stright into the short 3-4 foot Jersey barrier and ready to go over the barreir and dump myself 20ft below.
I wasn't sure if the gravel/sand mix was still there and all I could do was simply give a little counter steering lean at a time (as much as I felt I could give it) and trying to use a little brake but not too much as I didn't wanna lock up the rear on the gravel/sand. Now I'm into the little gravel nibblits which collect on the side of the road. I kept braking as much as I dared and giving leans to try and get away from a head-on with the barrier. by the time I reached the jersey barrier my bike was no longer 90degrees perpendicular to the barrier but now at about a 20-30 degree angle to it. Last split second before impact I counter steered a lil extra and since I was in the outside of the lane gravel crap my rear slide again to reduce the angle even more. I ended up NOT hitting the Jersey barrier with my wheel/fender but instead my locked-out hiway peg took the brunt of it. It hit the barrier pretty well and kept the bike from going into the barrier. I did regain better control of the bike once it slowed down to probaby 30mph and was able to get 'off the barrier' . My Right outside hiway peg looks like it was taken to a grinder for a few minutes. Took off almost 1/4" of metal from the peg from the initial blow and then scrape.
Granted it is hard to put all the facts together 100% accurate as this happened in the span of about 2 seconds (from initial loss of rear tire to impact on the Barrier). I've tried to replay this in my mind several times as to the events that happend and how I reacted. I know my first reaction is 'don't fall over the barrier to the road 20ft below. 2nd was ... don't lay down the bike.
I know there are those who will say .... 'if all that happened is losing 1/4" off of a highway peg.... then you handled it perfectly ". I'm all about 'learning. I know there are lots of 'almost' bad accidents and those who have a lot more experience riding than I have. Just wondering if/what I did that maybe I should have done differently to avoid glancing off the barrier to begin with?
heading to work last week I'm on an on-ramp traveling about 55mph and banking to the left. This on-ramp goes over a 4 lane highway about 20ft below. The on-ramp is kinda a double-curve where it starts out as a wide-curve and then bends sharper before straightening out.
While leaning through the wide-curve part I encountered some 'sand/gravel' mix which must have come off of a dump truck (just guessing at this). It was dark enough in the morning and the nice slippery addition to the road was spread out enough I was not able to see it. Well I felt it. Rear tire kicked out to my right and immediately and I was feeling the bike starting to go down. I was able to bring the bike 'upright' very quickly. Now I'm faces with another problem. When I took out the lean on a bike when the road/on-ramp is curved I was now heading almost stright into the short 3-4 foot Jersey barrier and ready to go over the barreir and dump myself 20ft below.
I wasn't sure if the gravel/sand mix was still there and all I could do was simply give a little counter steering lean at a time (as much as I felt I could give it) and trying to use a little brake but not too much as I didn't wanna lock up the rear on the gravel/sand. Now I'm into the little gravel nibblits which collect on the side of the road. I kept braking as much as I dared and giving leans to try and get away from a head-on with the barrier. by the time I reached the jersey barrier my bike was no longer 90degrees perpendicular to the barrier but now at about a 20-30 degree angle to it. Last split second before impact I counter steered a lil extra and since I was in the outside of the lane gravel crap my rear slide again to reduce the angle even more. I ended up NOT hitting the Jersey barrier with my wheel/fender but instead my locked-out hiway peg took the brunt of it. It hit the barrier pretty well and kept the bike from going into the barrier. I did regain better control of the bike once it slowed down to probaby 30mph and was able to get 'off the barrier' . My Right outside hiway peg looks like it was taken to a grinder for a few minutes. Took off almost 1/4" of metal from the peg from the initial blow and then scrape.
Granted it is hard to put all the facts together 100% accurate as this happened in the span of about 2 seconds (from initial loss of rear tire to impact on the Barrier). I've tried to replay this in my mind several times as to the events that happend and how I reacted. I know my first reaction is 'don't fall over the barrier to the road 20ft below. 2nd was ... don't lay down the bike.
I know there are those who will say .... 'if all that happened is losing 1/4" off of a highway peg.... then you handled it perfectly ". I'm all about 'learning. I know there are lots of 'almost' bad accidents and those who have a lot more experience riding than I have. Just wondering if/what I did that maybe I should have done differently to avoid glancing off the barrier to begin with?
Outstanding HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 2,183
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From: Lenexa, KS (KC)
RE: What should I have done differently?
Damn, Iceman, I get shivers[sm=insomnia.gif] just reading about your "event." I can only hope I would have responded as well as you did, but who knows.
My first thought was that you were probably a little too fast for the curve, at least faster than I normally run a curve, but I do accelerate after entering the curve, so that may be where you were when you hit the sand -- not something that I would have expected to encounter either.
I'm just glad you were able to get out of it with as little damage (and no injury) as you had.
Thanks for the post -- you may very well be saving someone else's life. [sm=thanx.gif]
My first thought was that you were probably a little too fast for the curve, at least faster than I normally run a curve, but I do accelerate after entering the curve, so that may be where you were when you hit the sand -- not something that I would have expected to encounter either.
I'm just glad you were able to get out of it with as little damage (and no injury) as you had.
Thanks for the post -- you may very well be saving someone else's life. [sm=thanx.gif]
Thread Starter
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Road Master
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 1,016
Likes: 2
RE: What should I have done differently?
At first I thought about replacing my peg but thinking about it for a few min .... I came to the realization .... that it is not too visible and... it goes with the story. I consider it a little battle-scar that I happen to win the little skirmish. Also gives me the reminder when I wash the bike that I was fortunate and it was somewhat evident the good Lord didn't feel my time on this earth was done. 
Road Warrior
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,439
Likes: 2
From: Lancaster, PA
RE: What should I have done differently?
ORIGINAL: the_icemAN
At first I thought about replacing my peg but thinking about it for a few min .... I came to the realization .... that it is not too visible and... it goes with the story. I consider it a little battle-scar that I happen to win the little skirmish. Also gives me the reminder when I wash the bike that I was fortunate and it was somewhat evident the good Lord didn't feel my time on this earth was done.
At first I thought about replacing my peg but thinking about it for a few min .... I came to the realization .... that it is not too visible and... it goes with the story. I consider it a little battle-scar that I happen to win the little skirmish. Also gives me the reminder when I wash the bike that I was fortunate and it was somewhat evident the good Lord didn't feel my time on this earth was done.
Seasoned HDF Member
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 5,072
Likes: 104
From: Prescott, AZ
RE: What should I have done differently?
smoked lens reduced your vision just enough - lesson learned... BTW - you never did tell us how you remove your shorts from your butt??? lol
Glad you had a save... Sometimes these are the Best lessons learned -
Glad you had a save... Sometimes these are the Best lessons learned -
Tourer
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 279
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From:
RE: What should I have done differently?
I'd say you did good. The only thing I would say you could do better is to take those curves a little slower and do it in the out-in-out fashion, especially since there is a long stretch to get up to speed. At least you realized you mayhave been able to dosomething better.
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Road Master
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 967
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From: Eastern Massachusetts
RE: What should I have done differently?
Was is really an on-ramp, or was it two highways merging? 55 on an on-ramp is certainly too fast. What's it posted as?
It also sounds like you might have delayed your turn a little. It's good to go to the outside for a better view, but it means you need to lean more to make the turn. A little slower / a little closer to the inside would be my hindsight call. Without knowing there was sand in wait, though, I'd probable have taken it wide myself.
Good save; glad you made it.
It also sounds like you might have delayed your turn a little. It's good to go to the outside for a better view, but it means you need to lean more to make the turn. A little slower / a little closer to the inside would be my hindsight call. Without knowing there was sand in wait, though, I'd probable have taken it wide myself.
Good save; glad you made it.
