Have you ever made road-kill with your bike?

[b1lock]

I whacked a deer a bout six years ago on my old honda 750 four. That was fun. Ran over a beagle one time in Missouri on a honda shadow. And there have been a few birds over the years. The deer was a real life changeing experience. That was the closest I ever came to kicking the habit. But then I remembered my dad saying when I was a kid "Get back on that horse and ride it " so thats what I did. Just carefuller now.

[Dragon Tamer]

I have hit one deer, was almost stopped but still broke the headlight and got venison hair all over everything, kept it upright though. Many birds, the largest was a duck that hit the fairing. That folks makes one heck of a bang.

For some reason robins like to fly through the front wheel, I don't know what attracts that particular bird to do that but it has happened about 10 or 12 times now.

The actual worst one was just recently. We have a large population of Mennonites that live in the area and on Sunday afternoons they are all over the road on bicycles. I was following Poppa Smurf on his bike and a large band of the Mennonite girls had spread out to give him a path through the bunch of them. They stayed spread out for me also but about half way through a LARGE grey tom cat ran out of the ditch and right in front of me. No way to dodge it with the girls on either side of me and I hit it right in the center and cut it right in two. Spattered cat innards all over those girls, the bump wasn't all that bad but the screaming almost deafened me!

[g15usmc]

I have hit one deer, was almost stopped but still broke the headlight and got venison hair all over everything, kept it upright though. Many birds, the largest was a duck that hit the fairing. That folks makes one heck of a bang.

For some reason robins like to fly through the front wheel, I don't know what attracts that particular bird to do that but it has happened about 10 or 12 times now.

The actual worst one was just recently. We have a large population of Mennonites that live in the area and on Sunday afternoons they are all over the road on bicycles. I was following Poppa Smurf on his bike and a large band of the Mennonite girls had spread out to give him a path through the bunch of them. They stayed spread out for me also but about half way through a LARGE grey tom cat ran out of the ditch and right in front of me. No way to dodge it with the girls on either side of me and I hit it right in the center and cut it right in two. Spattered cat innards all over those girls, the bump wasn't all that bad but the screaming almost deafened me!

As Horrible as it is, I Find this story Hillarious!

[planedick]

Raccoon

In '74 in Avon, NY going to Lakeside at night, sprinkles and threatning real rain. The road goes under a narrow guage scenic railway where the railroad is ground level and the road goes down under it and back up on the other side. Having done this route often from my girlfriend's house to home, I liked the dip at about 50 mph. Nice little period of weightlessness. However when I acquired traction again braking was necessary as the road came to a "T" in about 150 yrds.

As soon as possible I got on the brake as it was damp but the headlight now pointed out a Raccoon directly in my path. Off the brake swerve behind him and back on the brake. Damm, he turned and run right in my path with no time to even let go of the brake. Bike went down, so did I.

Now being from CA I wasn't accustomed to wearing a helmet, but in NY it's required in '74. Shoulder hit the pavement and weight of hemet caused my head to hit the pavement. Good 3/4 helmet that fit real tight and the impact caused it to rotate nearly wiping my nose off my face. Now I'm sitting on the road, feet forward, looking into the earpeice of my helmet and all I can see is that barbed wire fence just on the other side of this narrow country road and I'm still doing about 25 mph sliding toward it on my a$$.....

I did manage to get stopped before I hit the fence and rotated my helmet to see that I was only about a foot from the fence.

I went and picked up the bike, bent things back to somewhere normal to make it rideable and went home. Then I discovered that I was missing my wallet and it was raining now.

Now this all happened in front of a farm house on one side of the road and a barn on the other. I know at about 4 AM this farmer will be going accross the road right where this all hapened, So..... Back to the scene. About 5-6 miles later I found my wallet in the road just where my a$$ hit the pavement. I picked it up and went back home in the rain. Left the Raccoon there for the farmer.

[fredintoon]

My worst was a headstrike by a thrush but back in WW2 my uncle Ron killed a cow with his BSA. Riding home at midnight in the blackout with a slitted headlight, you can't see much. One minute putting along a country road, the next, waking up in the ditch under a dead cow. Uncle struggled out of there, OK except for bruises. Found the bike on it's side in the middle of the road, still rideable except the bars bent up so he had to make wheelbarrow lefts to turn right. Arrived home and pushed through the blackout curtains to tell the family "sorry I'm late" to be greeted with hysterics. Seems the BSA's front number plate had gutted the cow and uncle was head to toe drenched with cow's blood.

[CatatonicBug]

My worst was a headstrike by a thrush but back in WW2 my uncle Ron killed a cow with his BSA. Riding home at midnight in the blackout with a slitted headlight, you can't see much. One minute putting along a country road, the next, waking up in the ditch under a dead cow. Uncle struggled out of there, OK except for bruises. Found the bike on it's side in the middle of the road, still rideable except the bars bent up so he had to make wheelbarrow lefts to turn right. Arrived home and pushed through the blackout curtains to tell the family "sorry I'm late" to be greeted with hysterics. Seems the BSA's front number plate had gutted the cow and uncle was head to toe drenched with cow's blood.

Wow, there's some stuff before my time! Blackout curtains?? Front number plate??

[Toolmaker Tim]

Deer

Almost got one tonight. I was going down a suburban street on my way home from work. One side of the street on the east side of the river has a conservation club where I see deer all the time, so I am especially careful through there. When you cross the river the right side of the road has a chain link fence about 4 feet from the curb, so there isn't much room. I reached down to adjust my mirror, and when I looked up there was a doe standing RIGHT THERE in the little grassy strip. Fortunately it must have been one of the older ones that doesn't get very excited when something goes by. Does anybody know how to get a crease out of naugahyde. There was definitely a snapping noise when I got off the seat!

[TheFrugalTech]

Kills:
3 Snakes
1 Rabbit
1 Squirrel
1 Opossum
1 Cardinal off the windshield - My buddy said he rode through a cloud of red feathers behind me.
1 Hummingbird off the windshield - Like hitting a flying blood sack.

Close calls:
Too many deer to count - One causing a 75 MPH tank slapper I'll never forget.
A few racoons
1 Vulture - Bounced off the windshield of a minivan coming the other way and lobbed over my head about 3 weeks ago.
1 Small Human - Kid chasing a ball into the street a block from my house
1 Large snapping turtle - Glad I missed that one.
A few chickens

"Bumps"
1 Deer - Got on the brakes hard to miss one running across the road then saw the second one following at a full run headed right at us, got on the gas hard and it caught the tail end of my luggage rack just enough to wobble the bike a bit and leave some fur.

I have my driving lights aimed toward the sides of the road due to the number of deer in my area. Not enough hunters where I ride.

[steelraider]

Dead Meat

I hit an armodilla dead center at 80 mph at 6 am on a remote road in louisiana on my BMW K100RS in '85. Amazingly the bike sucked up the hit and exited with a slight wooble. Took a couple of miles to get heartbeat down.

Spotted a deer running through a field from my right side. My speed about 70mph. Deer speed full gallop. You do some fast math and the answer is "collision". Bent over and waited for the enevitable. Nothing happened. Saw the deer in rear view mirror bounding over fence of field on left. Only answer I have ever come up with is that he jumped over the rear of the bike. Happened in '90 in Tennessee. Same bike!!!

[ExcessiveBiker]

Critter Killer

I hit and killed a deer in NY on a '76 XS750. Deer dead, I still have the bike.
Other bikes: several dogs, woodchuck at over 100mph (drunk, didn't fall down, not drunk anymore) and a pheasant.

ExcessiveBiker

[jetmechmarty]

(drunk, didn't fall down, not drunk anymore)

Does that mean you quit drinking, or you're not drunk right now?

[Czekus21]

Runnin 2 up through corn field Minnesota at about 75 mph. Chopped up a couple of pheasants that decided they didn't want to live anymore. I was gonna get ride of the Vetter fairing but decided after that incident, the fairing stays on.

[ExcessiveBiker]

Critter Killer

I went home that night not drunk anymore. Several years after that, I quit getting drunk, period.

Do vehicles count as critters? If so, I ran into a Chevy in PA with a Kaw 500 H1. Bent the bike and broke a small bone in my hand. Later with an XS650, I got smacked in the rear by a car. And finally, a couple of years ago, on my 81SH, I was hit from behind by a Honda 750, of all things.

ExcessiveBiker

[Joab]

No critter kills on my record so far, but the PO was broadsided by a deer on this bike, and last summer my dad had a guardrail jump in front of him. That is the story he is sticking to anyway. I think his Vulcan 1500 would vehemently disagree, if it were still with us today.

[Gearsnd]

nope never hit a critter on 2 wheels as yet. saw a few deer off to the side of the road in the dark, but thats about it.

however if we are counting vehicles...i bounced off a buick (late '90s?). driver flipped his left turn signal then as i gunned it passed him on his right he changed his mind. no technically there was no turn lane so i was in the wrong...technically. my only elaboration. i hate college campus's. i did however keep the bike up right and relatively undamaged.