So...how large of animal has anyone hit..and how fast????

[TomRodgers]

Just curious, cuz this morning i gacked a large racoon. scared the living $hit out of me!!!!!

[mrdigitech]

Never

I've never hit anything so far (knock knock). I do have lots of racoons around my place and have always been scared to hit one. How did it go? how fast were you going? Was there anything left?

Cheers!

[James England]

In 1979, on my brand-new XS1100, heading for the ferry to Amsterdam, I hit a human being at 30mph. I was actually doing the speed limit only and a teenager leaving school ran across the road and stopped on the dotted line half way across the road. For some reason, he then stepped out in front of me but with his back facing me. My bike hit him square on and knocked him into the air. He did a complete flip to about 6 feet and landed on his back in front of my bike, head facing me. The bike had remained upright throughout. I got off, and went to him and he was semi-conscious but suddenly came round, jumped up onto his feet and ran away.

My bike headlamp was smashed to pieces. There was a huge bash in the fuel tank where his hand had hit it... paint flaking off and ruined. Indicator destroyed. Headlamp ears bent and ruined. Forks twisted out of true but not bent. Front fender twisted all over.

I managed to follow him to his house and explained to his parents. He was uninjured! Heaven knows how. And, it being 1979 and nobody having heard of the word 'sue' or 'personal injury', I had the audacity (and youthful stupidity) of actually demanding that they pay for the damage to my bike! They refused and we parted amicably. The teenager was absolutely fine and that, even to me as a callow youth, was the most important thing.

As to the bike... I delayed my ferry by a day and spent a fortune on a new headlamp but the bike looked awful. 4 months later it was stolen in Amsterdam and I never saw it again. A very ill-fated bike but..... at least I was relieved of the credit payments which were crippling me (more youthful idiocy), so it all worked out for the best.

[ross]

couple weeks ago....

i caught a bird (sparrow or starling) in the chest at about 35 mph......his 2 buddies flew right to left in front of me and then thump!......he bounce off my chest and h*ll if i know where he went....i was in full gear with a full helmet fueled with 2 large coffee's.....i kept riding on to work.....just my 2 cents....ride hard, ride safe....ross

[CatatonicBug]

Some of the replies in this recent poll are rather scary! Especially the folks from down-under!

[Stoffa]

Goats

On a long ride out to Broken Hill. (mining town, outback NSW) I got complacent passing many "families" (3-10) of feral goats by the wayside. Now goats are more wary than most of our bounding friends in Australia (who take great delight in committing sewerside (**** everywhere) on our roads) So crusing around 130k, 80 mph, just one female decided to change her mind a come back across the road - brakes on, but managed to hit her rump as she passed across the front tyre. Wife and I stayed upright - no drama. Goat (viewed in mirrors) cartwheeling, horizontally, 3 or 4' above the road and crash landed down the gully and got up!
The sad PS to this weekend is a local rider from Broken Hill died after hitting a kangaroo quite near to town.

[justme1100]

Does a tree count? The damn thing jumped right out in front of me on a curve, twisted triple-tree, pancaked my headlight and instrument cluster. I came off the bike and missed the tree but when I got up I walked right into a barbed wire fence and received a large gash in my thigh for my efforts. I stumbled upon a donor bike a few months later and we have put many miles under us since then. Lesson learned and thank you to my H.P. for every day after. Ride Safe! Be alert, the world needs more lerts.

[TomRodgers]

I imagine the coon weighed in about 10-15 pounds....size of a very large cat......and i was doing about 70.....split him in two, cuz when i came back down the road, he looked untouched by cagers......

Last night resulted in hitting a bird. This morning a friggin possum....just call me the "game killer" WTF!!!!!! Just hope i dont hit a DEER!!!!!!!

[CatatonicBug]

I imagine the coon weighed in about 10-15 pounds....size of a very large cat......and i was doing about 70.....split him in two, cuz when i came back down the road, he looked untouched by cagers......

Last night resulted in hitting a bird. This morning a friggin possum....just call me the "game killer" WTF!!!!!! Just hope i dont hit a DEER!!!!!!!

Wow! Stay safe out there! Time to mount a cow catcher on the front of your bike!

[Crusty Snippets]

Hit

I hit a 180 pound two legged creature at the track. He fell off in front of me and was vertical with the pavement. Hit him in the middle of his back, went over the top and into the gravel, fell off, got up and resumed the chase.

Unkle Crusty

[Barnfresh]

A small bird (sparrow) hit me in the chest years ago while riding in upstate NY... I caught him in my hand and he looked dead with a broken neck. I told my passenger "here - take this.." and passed it back. She was surprised - especially when it woke up and flew away!

[11Rider]

Cat, squirrel, bird and lots of bugs.

[s clarke]

What I hit on an XS11

On the ZONKER XS11, a mooses legs, two dogs ,at once, a concrete curb, a FAT seagull, and on my ZX11 at 80 KMH on a "twisty", a 250 lb deer..in flight, which terminated my riding 'career'!
Cheers
Syd

[3Phase]

I hit a bull on my dirt bike once ... everything was fine physically and mechanically but the bull he was not pleased to see me at all, no sir he was not!

[Rooster]

just to prove I'm Canadian I hit a beaver bout the size of a black lab. of course without the long legs. Don't be daydreaming on the way home at night.