my first brush with death

[beechfront]

cruising along through town yesterday about 45-50. 4 lane street (two each way) with no dividing/turning lane. I was on the inside track, inside lane when a grand am decides to pull right out in front of me. I swerved to the left (I remember raising my right leg up in the air a bit) as my bike cruised just inches past their front bumper. When I recovered from the massive swerve I was in the middle of the outside lane of oncoming traffic.

Things could have been much worse if:

A: they had not hit the brakes at the last minute.
B: there would have been any oncoming traffic at all.
C: I had not made it a point over the last year to train myself to countersteer.


I think I am going to sell my XS. I'm too young to die.

[beechfront]

ALSO

I really feel this message board saved my ass. When I first got on here 1 year ago, I read a thread about countersteering. Since then, I have practiced, practiced, practiced. I wanted to be sure if the situation arised, that I would swerve away from the object not towards it. This may be a bit extreme, but if I really feel that if I had not read that thread on countersteering a year ago, I would either be in laying in a hospital bed right now or dead.

[Mike Hart]

What is the speed limit on that road? Were you expecting such a maneuver?

Really glad you had the right reaction with your countersteering!!!!!! Good on ya!

On the other hand, inside track of inside lane wasn't giving that GrandAm a good opportunity to see you...or do I misunderstand your lane position? Inside meaning near curb, or near centerline? Anyway, whew.

Have a look at Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough, he has lots of great city/freeway/other survival tips.

watch out! piano falling from sky.... eeek

You could just stay in the house, but you might fall in the bathtub or leave the gas on...

[beechfront]

inside meaning near centerline. i thought that's where you were supposed to drive. i figure the closer i am to the curb the farther they have to pull out to see me. if i am correct, this gal had no excuse as there was a lane and a half between me and the curb.

speed limit 45.

[Mike Hart]

okay, good! whew. Is stupidity an excuse? cell-phone? arggh Don't it just frost ya when you are doing everything right and some idiot puts skidmarks in yer shorts!!!!!??!?!

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Mike,

The way I read it he was in the lane closest to the center divide, the idiot in the Grand Am decided to not just pull out into the lane closest to him, but to cross the lane and pull out into the lane closest to the center, apparently NOT SEEING Beechfront coming down the road!! Great maneuver there Beech, glad you survived and the other conditions were right!!

But like Mike said, you can die a thousand ways that are not under your control, drunk idiots plowing into you while you're just sitting there in your cage, getting run over by a 85y/o while shopping in a street market, etc!

So...aside from if you might have been travelling a bit over any posted speed limit which could have affected your allowance for reaction time not to mention the ability of the other vehicles to see you in a timely manner before you arrived at that point, some other defensive options would have been "IF" you saw the car sitting on the side of the road would/could have been to flash you brights, or tap your horn!? BUT, being in the far left lane, I like you, would have been fairly safe to assume that you were in a fairly safe position from the idiots pulling out in front of you, vs. driving in the lane closest to the curb!?!?!

Sell it if you must if you think that will really keep you safer and prolong your life, although that quality of life will have been severely dimished by it's absence!!

T.C.

[TopCatGr58]

Don't forget to floss!

I forgot to mention a few of my brushes:
#1 In '76,(18 y/o) shortly after receiving my first "NEW" bike, Yam TX500 twin street, just got it broken in, was out riding Near San Angelo, Tex with best friend on his Honda 175 Enduro, long story, at night, many miles from town, drunk idiots in cage tries to run us off road, I follow after them leaving friend behind, then stop in road to avoid idiots stopping and turning around possibly to try to run me over again, friend comes over hill, my hand slips partly off clutch lever, lurch in front of him, he doesn't see me in time, plows into me at close to 55mph, totals his, and severely tears up front end of mine, car drives off leaving us stranded, we walk away with only minor scratches and bruises!

#2 Driving in friends neighborhood on old Yam305 twin 2 stroke, coming to uncontrolled intersection, cross traffic, car approaching, I proceeding in my lane, watching other car carefully looking like they weren't slowing down for stop or yield, they did neither, hit the brakes strong enough to slow/stop bike to point where front wheel just bounced off of their rear fender as it went by!!

#3 Idiot in cage turns in front of me only a few blocks from my house, unable to swerve to avoid, hit brakes, slow to manageable impact speed, hit front right corner of car with my front tire/end, fly thru my windscreen, over her hood, bounce off of windshield and onto ground, again, minor scrapes and one major bruise...nothing broken except front end of XS!

#4 Driving down hwy with throttle lock cruise engaged, thought had enough following distance, crest hill, traffic in panic stop, grab lots of brakes but didn't release throttle lock, cross up front end under severe braking, thrown down at 40+ mph, lots of road rash, nothing broken, except turn signal and spark plug.

#5 Recent rally trip to XSeast2003, return trip home, in 2 lane 1 each way local hwy, had 1/2 mile or more open in front of me, several cars behind me, lots of oncoming traffic, I see old covered pickup truck in oncoming lane turn across my lane into driveway, then see it backup and turn onto shoulder of my lane, looked like they were going to mailbox at road, so kept on cruising at speed, next thing I see, no turn signals, truck decides to pull out in front of me and the other 6 cars behind me...surely they saw them even if they didn't see me??, going too fast to stop now, swerve towards middle yellow line and gun it and just slip by left rear view mirror and front end of truck and oncoming traffic as I whiz by truck....feeling kinda smug that I made it....with assistance from countersteering handling as well!!!!

Possibly a few more I've forgotten, will stop now, but like riding a horse, gotta get back on!! T.C.

[Jerry]

I think everyone has war stories to tell about accidents or near accidents.

Of the people I rode with in my younger days, most have given it up. Brother, brother-in-law, father-in-law, many others. To continue to ride is a tough decision. I'll ride until the joy of it no longer outweighs the fears. (Did about 385 miles yesterday.) And you never get "safe"; there are always new situations, crazy drivers, critters on the road (migrating grasshoppers are making some western roads slick) and you can never let down your guard. On the ohter hand, you do get better and more experienced with learning to recognize dangers.

I backed off riding after my last incident, many years ago, where a back tire went flat suddenly while riding 2-up with the wife. Shook both of us up. However, I found I couldn't give up riding although the wife no longer rides with me. (Having kids along the way had something to do with this also.) That led to the purchase of another Yamaha and eventually the XJ.

If you back off riding for now, see how you feel about it in 6 months or a year. If you don't miss it, sell the bike and move on. If you do miss it, you can get back on and get going again.

[canman80]

steer

Wow,what a close call,have had afew myself.Til this day tho i've never heard of counter steering.Something I'm DEFINEATLY going to look into.Have swerved before to avoid cars pulling out in front of me,I'm wondering if this is similar ?Going to practice anyways.
Chat up 66 next time I see him....thanks for the info

[Bud Manley]

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...ountersteering

Thought I'd post the link. I read the hell out of it after learning the hard way that turning at speed has nothing to do with leaning. I almost ate the front end of a pickup whle doing 40-50 while coming into a curve and the damn bike wouldn't turn. It turns out that the street is a lot different from my brothers backyard.
I've practice countersteering everytime I go for a ride now. Hopefully it'll be there for me when I need it.

[MartyA]

Prolly been said before, but it should be mandatory for everyone purchasing their first bike be taught how to operate it. It is so obvious when someone does not know how to start, stop, parade (lane rules) and HOW TO CORNER.

I watched a guy and his pillion partner on what had to be his first drive. Came up on a Sportster, and I watched him fight the bars trying to steer the bike like a car. I could see his shoulders willing the bike to turn. He pulled right, it turned left. He looked completely mystified. They would do 10mph in the corners, then he would accelerate to 60mph on the straights. After the 3rd curve he went straight into a field. Fortunately he had no oncoming traffic and no speed, laid the bike down and only singed his gal's leg. I suggested he take a motorcycle safety course, his gal had less constructive suggestions. I offered to give him/her a lift somewhere, he said he only lived 1/2 mile back down the road.

But, when your time is up it is up. Erie, PA news had a head-on, pick-up pulled around a right turning car and right into an oncoming bike. He did not survive. Truck driver had minor injuries. Best countersteering in the world prolly would not help that.

Like Jerry said, never let down your guard. The oncoming car turning right is not a threat, right? If the car behind it decides to impatiently pass it....

Good luck, keep alert, hope to hear from all y'all forever..

And TopCat, I was going to tell you I was passing through your neighboorhood in a couple of weeks on my way to OBX, but now....

[beechfront]

WHY?

it's one thing putting yourself at risk like that - but why would you risk the safety of someone else? It was a long, long time before I was comfortable enough to take a passenger along.


I'm still not decided about whether or not I want to keep it or not. I mean, I DO want to keep it, but....

[CA.XSer]

Back in 1979 when I had my first 79SF I started getting a really uneasy feeling riding back and forth to work in the fall. I finally decided to park the bike that winter and take my cage. Next spring when i started riding again the feeling was not there. Don't know what it was or where it came from.

Beechfront, maybe you need to do the same thing.

[mitch]

close calls

I have had too many close calls, in my 35 yrs of biking.I t- bboned a car that came through a red lite in 1972. broke my leg on my handle bars busted my collar bone and dislocated my shoulder on the cars roof as i bounced off it, then busted my arm when i hit the pavement lets just say it was a long summer! But ya gotta just get back on and ride cant see myself without a bike. Bye the way i didnt sue ya didnt do that back then lol,they paid my lost wages and medical bills. regards Mitch

[Snow]

I've had too many close calls to count, it used to seem there was one a day and I'd worry if it didn't happen early on.

When I had just gotten the go ahead to ride my father's GS750T (later became mine), I was exploring some close by neighborhoods when the van in front of me started turning left and cross the centerline without turn signal, so I assumed he was turning into a driveway on the left....needless to say, he wasn't turning left, he was actually turning into a driveway on the right! too bad I was already accelerating and pointed to go around his right side...I jammed on the brakes and did the "bounce the front tire off the van" bit. Nothing damaged.

And I'm sure lots of you have read my story about damned brick mailboxes....