2000 miles in, first motorcycle crash

[JulesMaximus]

I'm probably close to 4k miles on my bike and still haven't been down. Not that I WANT to go down, but... Eventually everybody does. I'd want mine to be a small minor thing like this and not getting plowwed by a semi or something...

And kudos for wearing everything. I wear 100% leather on my body, except leather pants. I have them, but they are just too damn hot for summer time. I will skimp for jeans most of the time or my textile pants if it's not super hot either. ... :-/

I put 17,000 miles on my SV650, only dropped it once while not moving so technically, not a crash. I have 13,000 miles on my Ducati, haven't dropped or crashed it... yet.

I'm sure it will happen at some point. As long as I keep riding chances are I will have an accident. I gear up as best I can, which means boots, jacket (leather), gloves (leather), and a full face helmet. I sometimes wear Cortech jeans but sometimes I wear regular jeans too.

 

[z1ggy]

I put 17,000 miles on my SV650, only dropped it once while not moving so technically, not a crash. I have 13,000 miles on my Ducati, haven't dropped or crashed it... yet.

I'm sure it will happen at some point. As long as I keep riding chances are I will have an accident. I gear up as best I can, which means boots, jacket (leather), gloves (leather), and a full face helmet. I sometimes wear Cortech jeans but sometimes I wear regular jeans too.

Well if we count dropping while not moving.. I dropped my old gs650 3 times... haha.

My one friend dropped his cbr earlier this year while riding (low side) and only had minor damage to the bike and just some scrapes. Rode away totally fine.

I worry about a place that's seasonal riding because not everybody is used to seeing bikes in say March or October (all times I've ridden because I have cold gear stuff). That's the time I feel like I am most likely to get hit.

 

[olds]

I don't think it makes any difference. There are areas where I don't feel comfortable splitting like in and around exit ramps where cars are merging and trying to move across lanes but freeways, generally speaking, are no less safe to split than city streets. Studies have shown it is actually safer to split than it is to sit in stop and go traffic.

By the way, I am not advocating flying through traffic that is moving at 75-80mph or even traffic that is moving at 40-50mph. I've seen guys do this when I'm driving my car and it annoys me. And it is not legal.

1 million dollars says you can't back that up with the vehicle code...

 

[JulesMaximus]

1 million dollars says you can't back that up with the vehicle code...

1 million dollars says you'll get pulled over and cited for it if you do it in front of a CHP Officer.



Disclaimer: This is not a wager. :sneaky: Lane splitting laws are not spelled out in the CA Vehicle Code, it is allowed but must be done in a safe manner. What is and is not safe is up to the officer who pulls you over. I've never been pulled over for lane splitting but I know people who have and usually it is for doing dumb shit like weaving through traffic that is moving at 40mph and above.

 

[olds]

1 million dollars says you'll get pulled over and cited for it if you do it in front of a CHP Officer.

Just tried it out and didn't get pulled over or cited. I'll take a cashiers check, please.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Just tried it out and didn't get pulled over or cited. I'll take a cashiers check, please.

:hmm: How about... no

 

[olds]

I don't get cut off very often. At least not more than once by the same driver.

 

[McWatt]

So I have read the same thing about other countries before while doing research on possibly getting a bike. My biggest question would be how similar are the traffic patterns in other countries to ours? From what I've seen while visiting Europe and talking to friends who grew up in India and other areas where there are all kinds of things on the road... It seems like it would be a bit different... In a major city with relatively slow traffic speeds I could see it working really well... Not so much on a highway during rush hour traffic when cars are dropping randomly to we'll under half of the posted speed. Again just an outside perspective from a driver with no motorcycle experience. In a contested city it seems like it would be more similar to riding a road bicycle in traffic... Which I know can be tense... But certainly doable.

I read in a guidebook while driving in Greece a few years back that European motorcycle accident (or fatality? I forget) rates are about 9x higher than in the US. The information was for a subset of European countries including Greece (the second most dangerous) and Portugal (the most dangerous), not averaged over the entire continent. So as a general PSA, I'll just note that if you want to ride in Europe you should be vigilant and know what you're getting into.