Unexpected Crash Test (A Pratical Physics Lesson)

[Thumper]

Just in case anybody else was wondering and to safe anyone else trying it out for themselves. In a collision between an XS11 travelling at 20-25mph and a mark III Ford Fiesta doing an illegal U-Turn (Manouvre-Signal-Mirror) the Ford Fiesta and driver sustain the most damage. In fact if it hadn't been for the ambulance crew insisting I go to hospital for a check-up I would've picked the bike up an continued on my way home unscathed. HA! HA!

[MaRtiB]

EeK !
I guess you're a lucky fellow (if I can say so) for not having any scratches from a car vs bike collision. Usually, the bike is the looser. The size of the car only determining the amount of damage done to you ! Here's an example:



Hope that your XS11 didn't suffer too much and good luck with the paint job !

[uk1.1s]

Oww

Thumper - Hope you are OK mate.

Mark I Fiesta vs. a tatty CB250RS a couple of years ago did the same for me.....

Watch out for the muscle ache the next day or two, I could hardly get out of bed on day two.

Poor Fiesta driver youth learnt the hard way that when you look in your rear view mirror in a traffic jam you see the rest of the jam behind you and not the filtering bikes...Doh!

Take care - hope the XS isn't too bent

[Thumper]

Thanks for the concern neither me nor the bike are badly damaged worst is the most serious damage is a dent in the petrol tank. Crash bars & Metal handlebar ends= 2 very good ideas.

[davidenorth]

I am a former deputy sheriff and I am glad you came through so well. I just started riding again after 18 year layoff. I can't believe how badly people don't see motorcycles. I saw plenty of bad drivers when I was a cop. I had a guy in a pickup almost bump me from behind on a freeway last sunday. Any ideas anyone how you safely keep tailgaters off you when you are riding. I don't like the panic stop because most idiots behind aren't paying attention or don't have driving skills to not lose control in panic condition.

thanks

[uk1.1s]

Defensive Riding

David,

Any ideas anyone how you safely keep tailgaters off you when you are riding.

Tough one that sometimes ... in my youth (20 something) I had the attitude that if someone was doing something wrong then they were idiots and it needed pointing out to them.

Instances spring to mind of ....oncoming cars half in my lane and me not giving way and making the situation more of a close thing then it had to be...... also sometimes me reacting to tailgaters by slowing even more and then gunning it away from them just as I see the front of the car dip as they hit the brakes..... this and other "normal occurances" I somehow lived through.

Sometime later (probably in my mid-30's) I decided that if the other guy is wrong, then it doesn't matter as I'll be the one who's dead.

These days (depending on my mood) those tailgaters either are invited to pass or lost in my wake as I take off and get some other traffic between me and him/her.

Think about applying Defensive Riding - make the situation survivable by avoiding the problem or reducing the risk of the situation in the first place.........

Sorry if all this sounds like a TV ad. - just a personal riding philosophy.

[uk1.1s]

Not invincible

Re-read the above post - I sound a bit 'holier than tho' don't I.........

I'm still the guy who stoved my 250 into that Fiesta the other year in exactly the same way as they got Thumper.....

I'm just out there trying not to tangle too much with all those hard steel boxes out there

[davidenorth]

I forgot to mention that in 1976 when I was eleven I wrapped my Yamaha 80cc dirt bike around a tree, after a failed Evil Knievel jump imitation. It looked oddly like his Wembley stadium leap. I somehow survived with no broken bones and I was wearing a helmet. The bike lived on with a huge dent in the right side of the gas tank where the tree gently shoved my knee into it.

[fusionking]

I have heard of bikers dropping marbles at random to get cages to back off. (heard it works purdy dang good too!) Garry

[wpc57]

Hmmm... Marbles on a windshield... Smashing Idea.<G> Last Sunday I went to center line, slowed up and asked the driver if he wanted to ride and me tailgate him .... needless to say he backed off.

[uk1.1s]

The &quot;Red Mist&quot; approach

Some of the more mad element of a bike club I used to be in used a few tricks and tips

A pocket full of fine gravel thrown over the shoulder was one memorable one ..... There was even a more responsible version of gravel wrapped in plastic clingfilm so the cars paint didn't get too damaged

One of our earlier members I heard about really lost it and had taken the chain from across his middle and started lashing at a car on the motorway from his Bonneville - all at around 70 mph in heavy traffic. It got a little out of hand - and he got 6 months.

I remember once being followed dangerously closely by a big BMW which was flashing it's lights and clearly wanting me to pull over (again - in heavy motorway traffic). I was riding behind another bike I'd caught up with and when I pulled over they passed did the same to him. The occupants were all in evening dress rather than it being an unmarked police car as I'd guessed. Things got a little dangerous with some swerving at the bike from the middle lane when they managed to get alongside but the other guy refused to budge....

Eventually we both got mad at this guys behaviour (probably a British class system thing with us ) and we managed to box him in the middle lane and slow him down with me at the side by the drivers door, the other bike in front and a big truck to the left. I quite enjoyed that...back in my more reckless days


Be careful out there

[skippy344]

What about a couple of paint balls thrown over the shoulder? Just kidding, don't want to inflame the already angry, idiot driver.

I find that I just pull over and let them pass. Then I pity them because they are more worried about being late for something and aren't having the experience of riding that I am.

Stay safe fellow riders.

[CHRISSER]

I ussually like to ride 10-20 kliks over the limit to keep gaters at bay. If you're passing them they have no reason to tail you, hehe

[Thumper]

I like to use that one myself on the open road I usually ride around 80-90mph not too many people tailgate you at this speed and if they do I open up a bit and try to get a line of slow cars/or whatever between me and them. If this doesn't work they're too keen on dangerous driving and I let them pass, at least you can keep an eye on them when they're a few hundred yards in front of you.