Who's the crashiest amongst us?

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Dickyboy
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Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Dickyboy »

Admission time, I've had 3 bike "accidents" over 40yrs but not big mileages, worst was a tank slapper at 60mph that spat me off and caused an SRX600 to self destruct all because I'd ignored the slow puncture in the rear.
The comical bit was where me and bike ended up it looked like I'd laid the bike down on the verge and gone for a wee nap, oh & being tail end charlie meant my mates had disappeared into the sunset by the time I'd come round.
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by KungFooBob »

I've written off two CBR400's and a VFR400. The VFR resulted in a night in hospital.

I crashed a Fireblade on a trackday at Cadwell.

I crashed my Ducati race bike twice. One time requiring a visit to hospital in an ambulance.

My first real bike, a Honda NS125R I crashed on an almost weekly basis.
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by weeksy »

In terms of road i've only had 2.... but on track it's up in the 5+ range i think, Jerez, Mallory, Cadwell, Oulton, Donny....

Road both were arguably lack of attention for a split second, either from me or the driver, arguably a smidgen of both. Both i was able to ride home from though.
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Le_Fromage_Grande »

When I had my TS50 in 1983 I fell off quite a bit because I rode off the edge of the tyres.
In 1985 I had a car pull out in front of me and I hit with an LC, did the same again in 1987, didn't have another road accident until 2000 when an Astra stopped in front of me and I ploughed into it on an R1, entirely my fault I wasn't looking where I was going.

I've never fallen off on a tarmac track because I'm not going fast enough (I also don't like riding in groups)
I've no idea how many times I've fallen off on dirt, it's got to be in the hundreds of times, my first lap of a motor cross track I fell off at least 5 times.
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Horse »

Roundabout
Hedge
Grass bank

Ice
Diesel

Ice
Puncture

Disc lock

Car on mini roundabout
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by MrLongbeard »

21 years riding, 2 accidents, both write off's;

1; CCM R30, car pulled out of T Junction in front of me I super manned it over the bonnet to land on the grass verge the other side of the junction

2; Speed Triple, car drove across my lane to exit the road on a sharp bend, I interfaced with side of car, looking back I probably laid the bike down / over braked
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Yorick »

Over 50 on track.

Hundreds riding Enduro :D
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Tricky »

I've been legally riding on the road for 46 years now, and I consider myself to be have been very (very) fortunate in that in all those years , although I have had many many almosts, I've only had two road offs , both were when I was in my teens, and both resulted in broken bones, although nothing too serious.

I had a dabble at racing in the 80s- 18 crashes in my first season, 5 in 2nd year and 4 in my 3rd (and last) year- got a few burns bruises, sprains winded a few times and and a couple of big bangs on the head but thankfully no serious damage
Since then I've been doing track days on and off for the last 15-20 years , and had a grand total of 4 offs in all that time, 3 of which were in the wet, and 2 of them were on KTM390s ( dangerous little bikes eh! )

As for offs when MX and green-laning, don't think any of us can keep count of those.....
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Ditchfinder »

First adverse camber bend I ever encountered on a bike confused me enough to hit the opposite kerb on the MZ. Bike was fine but dug a bit of fresh tarmac out of the pavement with the bars.

Put a dent in the drivers door of a Rover 214 with the MZ, looked like he was parking up on the LHS so I went to overtake just as he turned right into his driveway. Car was written off, not even a scratch on the bike.

Country lane in the dark on the Gpz305, first time 2-up (and the last time) and forgot I needed to brake earlier for the tight bends with a bit of extra ballast on the back, used the farmers gate to stop me instead. Headlight cowl was in many pieces and a dent in the tank for that one.

I think that's it, got off pretty lightly given I was a bit of a nob when I was younger
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by dern »

30 years, several near misses, no offs.
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Noggin »

I don't feel so bad right now as when I saw the title!!

Riding since 2003 -

Two road crashes, both bikes written off and second crash the worst for me!

Two track, both bikes survived to try another day :D :D
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by The Spin Doctor »

We played this game on Compuserve back in the late 90s.

A US MSF trainer rather smugly said he'd been riding 20 years and he'd never fallen off.

I produced a long lists of crashes and near-misses, which I won't relist because it would take too long ;)

The worst? A 75 mph highside out on the Chichester bypass. I spent too long trying to identify a wader on the salt marshes next to the road, I failed to notice I was about to run off the road and up a grass bank. I almost saved it but there was a short stretch of Armco protecting a drain and I clipped it, and that threw me off back into the road. That one bloody hurt as I landed on my backside, which damaged my back, then smacked the back of my head on the tarmac, which knocked me out for a few seconds and finally I tumbled. There were four distinct impact marks on the lid, half the visor was torn off, my right glove was 30 yards back down the road and my wrist watch strap had taken a big chunk out of the back of my left wrist so my left glove was full of blood. Police and ambulance turned up but I insisted on getting back on the bike - a GS500, another much underrated machine - after I'd bent it straight, then rode into Portsmouth, to deliver the parcel, before heading home. I wasn't so smacked about that I'd not realised that a) I'd end up sitting in casualty for hours before being discharged, at which point I'd need to get a taxi to a railway station and catch a train home, then go back a couple of days later to collect the bike from the police pound for which I'd be charged recovery / storage, plus I'd need to get someone to pick up the parcel I had on board and deliver it for me. It wasn't a tough decision. But I needed help to get off the bike when I got there a couple of hours later.

My most surprising crash was a 30 mph highside on the Harrow Road out near Harlesden when a rear brake shoe delaminated and locked the rear wheel. That was on the AR80, still one of my fav bikes. It just bounced... a bit like me in those days.

And my fav three near-misses were:

1) locking up the front with only the front brake hand on the bars because I was waving a rather attractive and scantily clad young lady to cross the road in front of me in Soho when someone tossed a Dayvilles ice cream under the front tyre (I would have too, disgusting muck they were) - ice is just as slippery mid-summer as it is mid-winter. Huge wobble and much hilarity from said young lady.

2) losing the front on a Charles and Di wedding souvenir plastic bag outside Buck House the Monday after the wedding. There were hundreds of the buggers in the road and I hit this one at near knee-down lean round the old roundabout. Saved by the tyre when it hit tarmac again, nothing to do with my skills.

3) losing the front just a bit further down the road, where Birdcage Walk comes in from the left. Another courier on a VT500 had just stuffed me up the inside at the end of the Mall as I turned left, so I returned the favour on the next right-hander. Unfortunately, the shade meant the road surface was damp from a shower, and we both lost the front end. The XBR went down so hard on the right that the exhaust and centre stand bounced it back up again. The other courier managed to pick his bike up from the slide but was last seen with the front wheel buried between the railings on the other side of the pavement.

Oh, the jolly days of courier work in London :)

That MSF instructor? He said "you can't be much of an bike trainer if you fall off so much".

My response? All the more experience to help explain just why my trainees should do as I say, and not as I did.
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Horse »

The Spin Doctor wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 12:21 pm attractive and scantily clad young lady

Huge wobble from said young lady.
Pics? :D
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by slowsider »

Not all my fault but all avoidable if I'd given it more attention. All learning opportunities :D I'd like to think I wouldn't do the same again now.
CG125, several times. Once, with L-plates, on a bend without assistance, once on ice on the way back from getting the steering stop welded from the previous crash, once into the side of a car that ran a red light because I was out-dragging a mate on his TY50, once into the back of an AA van that had braked to avoid a loose dog. Left my handprints in the dirt of the rear doors.
X7, overtaking a van that had left it to the last minute before moving left on a dual carriageway to avoid a roadworks ahead sign, which I didn't.
VT250 went straight on at Graham Hill bend at Brand's and laid it down rather than hit the armco.
GT550 on ice after electing to take a short cut mid-winter. Had to wait for a passing motorist to help to lift it because the road was so slippery.

Kept upright:
GT550, once parked downhill and it rolled off the sidestand as I was climbing off; such acrobatary ensued. Once turning into Kingsway from High Holborn on a job and the front end slid out; Outstanding skillage kept it upright 8-) , but in doing so, I managed to poke the clutch lever through the rear light cluster of a parked Merc.
Gixxer750, rear-ended while waiting to emerge at a roundabout.
TDM850: once clipped from the side by a car emerging from a carpark with the driver's view blocked by a parcel on the passenger's lap. Once, following a student out of a T-junction, glanced right to check I had room to go, looked ahead only to see he'd changed his mind, grabbed the front brake and elegantly toppled sideways, trapping my boot under the engine. Had to wait for student and onlooker to help me out. :oops:
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Rockburner »

Quite a few... from memory (or lack of):

Probably fell off the mini-crossers (Puch Magnum X & Honda Z50) a few times but I don't remember any specific instances (well - apart from the one where I fell off a rope swing and smacked the back of my head on a log, then rode home - lost about half an hour that time)

Smacked the V50 into the back of a 3-series who stopped rather abruptly on a country lane. My fault for being too close and in a rush. Broke my toenail! Only damage to the BM was a tyre mark on the bumper - the bike bent both fork legs so hard the paint on the genny cover was imprinted onto the back of the mudguard! :D (yes I rode it home)

Fell off the TL600 at 80+ somewhere near Ramsey in '93 or '94 and wrote the bike off (rebuilt it), broke a bone in my left hand and some scrapes (VERY lucky). Totally my fault.

Highsided the ZXR400 at about 10mph in about 96-97, lost grip on some chippings while going round a bend, the council wound up paying for that one! Fault is arguable, the chippings were about an inch deep.

Head on with my brother at the end of the driveway at about 15mph (nearly lost my right leg at the knee, and allegedly would have done if not for the intervention of a visiting Israeli surgeon - or so I was informed.) Fault - arguably both of us for not thinking about the fact it was a blind bend on a single-track entranceway (big holly bush obscured the oncoming)

Got knocked off the Mirthcycle at High Wycombe when a driver cut across me to exit the big roundabout when I wasn't (she was inside me (to my right) on the roundabout, and heading into HW, I was in the outer-most lane for the M40 southbound), By this time I'd learned my lesson and I was fully armoured up so not much more than bruising. (although I've recently realised that my left shoulder is a different shape to my right one - could have been this incident). Fault - 50-50, She was cutting across the flow of traffic, I should have realised someone doing that was a possibility.

Lost the Mirth once in freezing conditions on a roundabout somewhere near Nottingham being a twat. (Couchy might remember that one, he came to rescue me. :) ) Totally me.

Rock1 was written off when a Golf turned right across me in heavy traffic near Streatham Fault: I might have been going a touch quick for the traffic conditions (solid), but pretty sure I was doing less than 30 and was legally in the bus lane, I just didn't realise that the side road I was passing had a corresponding gap in the central barrier for right turning from the other side (unfamiliar with the area).

Rock 2 was written off when a Landy spun up right in front of me and floated into the middle of the road as I was overtaking it, centerpunched the thing and punctured the tank! I broke a bone in my right hand. Fault: I possibly shouldn't have been overtaking, but it was a dead straight road, the only reason he spun was the car on front of him cut him up and braked - the Landy driver panicked and for no readily apparent reason the car rotated to the right (up the camber) and crossed the white lines.

Fell off Rock2 on a rideout once simply locking up the front on some leaves on a corner on a tiny country road, no damage, just embarrassing. Totally me getting tunnel vision.

Hit the back of an mpv in London once (on a Rockster, I think), not hurt, but probably my fault (ish) for trying to make progress through traffic when I shouldn't have done, she pulled out to overtake something I hadn't seen. I think that went 50:50 on the claims.

I also had an incident in London where I should have gone down, but the Rockster just shook it off! I made the mistake of overtaking a dithering car just as she turned into a side-road (no indicators), the front wing of the car hit the cylinder head but the bike just 'skipped' and she must have stopped because I found myself 20 yards up the road, and she'd turned into the side road and stopped. Had a quick chat and we both apologised for scaring the bejeesus out of each other.

Got smacked into from behind whilst on Mitzi's K1200R, the impact was hard enough to bend the swingarm so much that the drive shaft was locked solid. Again - lost a few minutes to memory loss. Fault: I was stationary and turning right into a driveway, so sitting right on the white line (just to left of it?) with indicator going and brake light on albeit under dappled light.... he had plenty of time and distance (about 100yards) to see me....

I think that's most of the major ones (unless anyone else remembers one I've missed) .... Overall I think I've been very lucky - even the incident that did the most damage could have been far worse.
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Skub »

Man,I wouldn't know where to start for 49 years on the road.

In my teens and 20s I crashed my brains out on every bike I owned and some I didn't. For years I never owned a bike that wasn't a crashed and repaired job. I lost my licence twice for dangerous/reckless driving. I was well known as a loose cannon.

The first bike I didn't crash was a R90S I bought in the late 80s,so by that time I seemed to have bled it out of my system. I did ping off the side of a right turning,non indicating car on an Innova while RLAC,but I didn't actually crash. Dropped the ZZR1100 braking on a wet road and happily that was me done with the horrible scraping noise.

I got off pretty lightly with injuries,considering the sheer bulk and regularity of crashing sessions.

Broken pelvis.

Broken right arm.

Buffed through the left kneecap and severed the main tendon,leg no worky for long time.

Aside from the usual gashes and stitches,that's pretty much it.

Considering what a dick I was,I'm a lottery winner in the 'still alive' stakes. These day I'd imagine all that luck is used up,so I ride accordingly. :lol:
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

My only proper off at speed was at Donny, I locked the front end and wiped out coming into the esses while on the Ron Haslam school. The bike landed just wrong, hit the curb and flipped over doing all kinds of damage. I slid the other way. I was 17, so I just got up and walked off :D Fortunately the school didn't have any crash damage charges.

On the road I've only ever had stupid little 10mph carpark snafus on wet leaves at the like, no real crashes in >20 years (touch wood!).

The worst vehicle related injury I've ever had was that bloody E-scooter crash :D Oh, and I broke some ribs Karting once.
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Couchy »

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 2:58 pm My only proper off at speed was at Donny, I locked the front end and wiped out coming into the esses while on the Ron Haslam school. The bike landed just wrong, hit the curb and flipped over doing all kinds of damage. I slid the other way. I was 17, so I just got up and walked off :D Fortunately the school didn't have any crash damage charges.

On the road I've only ever had stupid little 10mph carpark snafus on wet leaves at the like, no real crashes in >20 years (touch wood!).

The worst vehicle related injury I've ever had was that bloody E-scooter crash :D Oh, and I broke some ribs Karting once.
You sure ?
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Mr. Dazzle »

I seem to remember that particular bike got ridden home, so it can't have been that bad :lol:
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Re: Who's the crashiest amongst us?

Post by Couchy »

Mr. Dazzle wrote: Thu Nov 25, 2021 3:51 pm I seem to remember that particular bike got ridden home, so it can't have been that bad :lol:
Was it the cannondale or the Husaberg ?