bearman
Active Member
I had a little issue with gravity on the wet roads while in Fayetteville, Arkansas for the Bikes Blues & BBQ rally this year on Friday Sept. 20th. It could have been much worse, thankfully it wasn’t.
I think all the members on the group ride have heard the story but I’ll repeat it here for everyone else.
I laid the Mastiff down that Friday with Stephanie on the back. Stephanie and I are both fine and not much damage to the scooter. I had a sore right wrist and left shoulder and a couple bruises on my right leg. Stephanie had a sore right foot for a couple days. We both were wearing helmets and Stephanie was wearing her leather jacket. We both had on leather boots and I was wearing leather gloves. We also both had on rain gear borrowed from Mastiffdave. Sorry Dave, I’ll have to replace those now that they have a few holes in them. While I agree that holes and rips in jeans and such adds character (especially if there’s a story to go with them), but having holes in your rain gear kinda defeats the whole trying to stay dry thing.
It was only sprinkling rain at the time, but it had been raining harder earlier and the roads were pretty wet where I went down. I was just going too fast for the conditions or this would not have happened. Thankfully, traffic was light at the time.
Me and Stephanie were going around a downhill curve to the right on a 5 lane, I was on the right side of the inside lane and when I realized the curve I was in got a lot sharper in front of me (and I was going too fast), I started easing on the front brakes and drifting to the left side of the lane. I don’t know if it was in the middle of the lane or the left side, but at some point I hit a slick spot. That’s when the front tire said f**k it and let loose of the pavement. I thought I might have hit a white line but you can see in the skid mark pics that I slid smooth between the white lines. The front tire let loose a few feet before anything hard hit pavement, so the skid started before the gouges in the pavement.
Start of gouges in pavement at red arrow, looking North
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Skid_1_looking_North.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
Standing at end of skid, looking North
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Skid_2_looking_North.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
Standing close to the start of skid
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Skid_3_looking_South.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
End of skid
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Skid_4_looking_South.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
If you copy and paste these numbers 36.319587,-94.186777 in Google maps, set on satellite view, you will see where we went down. There is a black car about where the gouges in the pavement started.
In a couple of heartbeats the front tire started sliding, the bars locked to one side and we went down on the right side. We slid about 95 feet through the left lane and almost all the way through the center (turn) lane. We rode her down for quite a while like sliding into second base, then Stephanie came off the back after about 75 feet and I tried to kick off soon after but somehow my lower leg got caught between the mirror and throttle grip and I stayed on till the end. Stephanie’s foot got pinched between the bike and road and it put a hole about the size of a nickel in her leather cowboy boot (THAT cost me a new pair of boots from the Pig Trail Harley shop, but at least I didn't have to buy her a new foot). I think her boot got between the pavement and the rear tire or possibly the rear pulley. I think my leg got between the air cleaner and the pavement on the initial bounce.
It happened between two hotels and there were a few riders out in one parking lot that saw what happened and came running out in the road to help us. One came back out and talked with us when we were taking pics two days later.
Pic of one of the helpers.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/Helper.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
As far as damage goes, the most costly damage was to the exhaust pipes. I don’t think I will replace anything else right now. The pipes got some rash on them, but more importantly they got bent in and up toward the frame about an inch.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_1_Pipes.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
There is a very small amount of road rash on the throttle grip and front brake handle end.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_6_Grip.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
There is considerable road rash underneath the right front peg and peg mount,
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_2_Front_Peg.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
and on the brake pedal end.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_3_Brake_Pedal.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
In addition to the rash, the brake pedal arm is bent toward the engine, I will try to straighten that out (I thought it would be OK like it is but when I had to panic brake the other day, my boot missed the pedal).
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/Damage_4_Brake_Pedal_a.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
There is a small amount of road rash underneath the rear peg and peg off-set.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/Damage_5_Rear_Peg.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
There is some road rash on the bottom edge of the frame. It is only on the corner of the thick side plate that is welded to the tubes. What you see on the tube in the pic is dirt. I had made a bracket for the pipes to one of the original pipe bracket holes in the frame, I don’t know what happened to the bolt but it disappeared, it’s not broke off in the hole so I think it may have fell off before the spill.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_7_Frame.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
You can see how far the pipes are bent by comparing the hole in the bracket to the frame hole.
The new Sissy bar bag was on the bike for the first time when we went down. It got a little scuffed on the side of it, and my right glove got a little scuffed on the palm. I don’t have a pic of the glove.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_11_Sissy_bar_bag.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
Both the rear peg and off-set was loose after the spill and I had to tighten them up before we could ride back. I had put the Kuryakyn Zombie front pegs and mounts on the scooter 6 months ago but I just put the rear off-sets and pegs on 30 minutes before this happened. I picked them up at the Kuryakyn booth at Pig Trail HD the evening before. Stephanie was complaining of the hot-right-foot syndrome (but last winter is was cold-left-foot, go figure), so I got the off-set to raise the rear pegs about 2 inches and they also moved them out about an inch. She says it cured her hot-foot.
I got the pipes used for cheap and I already have a set of Vance and Hines 2 into 1 that I want to install, so no big loss there and the beat up ones still work anyway. And the right mirror was loose at the mount, just had to tighten it back up. We cleaned the scooter up the next morning and put about 70 miles on it that day (Sat.).
I credit the wet pavement with causing this spill but also credit the wet pavement for helping minimize the damage to the scooter and to Stephanie and me while we were sliding. But I give credit to Nokia for saving my A$$. My phone literally saved my butt.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/Damage_8_pants.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
I had a rag and my phone in my right back pocket, and the pants and rag had a hole ground through them. The phone was ground almost halfway through on the bottom end but my butt and underwear had no damage. And no I didn’t have the insurance on the cell phone.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_10_Phone_in_back_pocket_1.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
Pic of the scoot after the slide.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Pipes_after_slide.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
Pic with the new pipes, just finished installing two days ago.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Pipes_new.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
Airplane pilots have a saying that goes;
A GOOD landing is anytime you land a plane and everyone is able to walk away.
A GREAT landing is when everyone is able to walk away AND you are able to re-use the plane.
I’m not a pilot (although I have stayed at a Holiday Inn), but I think that as far as crashes go, mine was pretty good. Now the crash I had in 1981 that left me with a 12 inch scar on my arm and a crooked leg is another story, for another time.
Y’all keep the rubber side down, and I’ll try to do the same.
Bear
P.S. And yes, I have heard that you might be a redneck if you have a motorcycle in your guest bedroom. I am not a redneck, mine is in the dining room (I’m just trying to be like MastiffDave).
P.S.S. The phone still works but I have ordered new parts for it. Just in case it has to save by butt again.
-
I think all the members on the group ride have heard the story but I’ll repeat it here for everyone else.
I laid the Mastiff down that Friday with Stephanie on the back. Stephanie and I are both fine and not much damage to the scooter. I had a sore right wrist and left shoulder and a couple bruises on my right leg. Stephanie had a sore right foot for a couple days. We both were wearing helmets and Stephanie was wearing her leather jacket. We both had on leather boots and I was wearing leather gloves. We also both had on rain gear borrowed from Mastiffdave. Sorry Dave, I’ll have to replace those now that they have a few holes in them. While I agree that holes and rips in jeans and such adds character (especially if there’s a story to go with them), but having holes in your rain gear kinda defeats the whole trying to stay dry thing.
It was only sprinkling rain at the time, but it had been raining harder earlier and the roads were pretty wet where I went down. I was just going too fast for the conditions or this would not have happened. Thankfully, traffic was light at the time.
Me and Stephanie were going around a downhill curve to the right on a 5 lane, I was on the right side of the inside lane and when I realized the curve I was in got a lot sharper in front of me (and I was going too fast), I started easing on the front brakes and drifting to the left side of the lane. I don’t know if it was in the middle of the lane or the left side, but at some point I hit a slick spot. That’s when the front tire said f**k it and let loose of the pavement. I thought I might have hit a white line but you can see in the skid mark pics that I slid smooth between the white lines. The front tire let loose a few feet before anything hard hit pavement, so the skid started before the gouges in the pavement.
Start of gouges in pavement at red arrow, looking North
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Skid_1_looking_North.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
Standing at end of skid, looking North
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Skid_2_looking_North.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
Standing close to the start of skid
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Skid_3_looking_South.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
End of skid
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Skid_4_looking_South.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
If you copy and paste these numbers 36.319587,-94.186777 in Google maps, set on satellite view, you will see where we went down. There is a black car about where the gouges in the pavement started.
In a couple of heartbeats the front tire started sliding, the bars locked to one side and we went down on the right side. We slid about 95 feet through the left lane and almost all the way through the center (turn) lane. We rode her down for quite a while like sliding into second base, then Stephanie came off the back after about 75 feet and I tried to kick off soon after but somehow my lower leg got caught between the mirror and throttle grip and I stayed on till the end. Stephanie’s foot got pinched between the bike and road and it put a hole about the size of a nickel in her leather cowboy boot (THAT cost me a new pair of boots from the Pig Trail Harley shop, but at least I didn't have to buy her a new foot). I think her boot got between the pavement and the rear tire or possibly the rear pulley. I think my leg got between the air cleaner and the pavement on the initial bounce.
It happened between two hotels and there were a few riders out in one parking lot that saw what happened and came running out in the road to help us. One came back out and talked with us when we were taking pics two days later.
Pic of one of the helpers.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/Helper.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
As far as damage goes, the most costly damage was to the exhaust pipes. I don’t think I will replace anything else right now. The pipes got some rash on them, but more importantly they got bent in and up toward the frame about an inch.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_1_Pipes.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
There is a very small amount of road rash on the throttle grip and front brake handle end.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_6_Grip.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
There is considerable road rash underneath the right front peg and peg mount,
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_2_Front_Peg.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
and on the brake pedal end.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_3_Brake_Pedal.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
In addition to the rash, the brake pedal arm is bent toward the engine, I will try to straighten that out (I thought it would be OK like it is but when I had to panic brake the other day, my boot missed the pedal).
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/Damage_4_Brake_Pedal_a.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
There is a small amount of road rash underneath the rear peg and peg off-set.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/Damage_5_Rear_Peg.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
There is some road rash on the bottom edge of the frame. It is only on the corner of the thick side plate that is welded to the tubes. What you see on the tube in the pic is dirt. I had made a bracket for the pipes to one of the original pipe bracket holes in the frame, I don’t know what happened to the bolt but it disappeared, it’s not broke off in the hole so I think it may have fell off before the spill.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_7_Frame.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
You can see how far the pipes are bent by comparing the hole in the bracket to the frame hole.
The new Sissy bar bag was on the bike for the first time when we went down. It got a little scuffed on the side of it, and my right glove got a little scuffed on the palm. I don’t have a pic of the glove.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_11_Sissy_bar_bag.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
Both the rear peg and off-set was loose after the spill and I had to tighten them up before we could ride back. I had put the Kuryakyn Zombie front pegs and mounts on the scooter 6 months ago but I just put the rear off-sets and pegs on 30 minutes before this happened. I picked them up at the Kuryakyn booth at Pig Trail HD the evening before. Stephanie was complaining of the hot-right-foot syndrome (but last winter is was cold-left-foot, go figure), so I got the off-set to raise the rear pegs about 2 inches and they also moved them out about an inch. She says it cured her hot-foot.
I got the pipes used for cheap and I already have a set of Vance and Hines 2 into 1 that I want to install, so no big loss there and the beat up ones still work anyway. And the right mirror was loose at the mount, just had to tighten it back up. We cleaned the scooter up the next morning and put about 70 miles on it that day (Sat.).
I credit the wet pavement with causing this spill but also credit the wet pavement for helping minimize the damage to the scooter and to Stephanie and me while we were sliding. But I give credit to Nokia for saving my A$$. My phone literally saved my butt.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/Damage_8_pants.jpg" border="0" alt="" />
I had a rag and my phone in my right back pocket, and the pants and rag had a hole ground through them. The phone was ground almost halfway through on the bottom end but my butt and underwear had no damage. And no I didn’t have the insurance on the cell phone.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Damage_10_Phone_in_back_pocket_1.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
Pic of the scoot after the slide.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Pipes_after_slide.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
Pic with the new pipes, just finished installing two days ago.
<img src="http://www.bigdogbiker.com/photo/data/500/medium/Pipes_new.JPG" border="0" alt="" />
Airplane pilots have a saying that goes;
A GOOD landing is anytime you land a plane and everyone is able to walk away.
A GREAT landing is when everyone is able to walk away AND you are able to re-use the plane.
I’m not a pilot (although I have stayed at a Holiday Inn), but I think that as far as crashes go, mine was pretty good. Now the crash I had in 1981 that left me with a 12 inch scar on my arm and a crooked leg is another story, for another time.
Y’all keep the rubber side down, and I’ll try to do the same.
Bear
P.S. And yes, I have heard that you might be a redneck if you have a motorcycle in your guest bedroom. I am not a redneck, mine is in the dining room (I’m just trying to be like MastiffDave).
P.S.S. The phone still works but I have ordered new parts for it. Just in case it has to save by butt again.
-
