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How about some bug stories?

3K views 41 replies 35 participants last post by  kingmt01 
#1 ·
This, from the windshield thread, had me thinking:

In addition, have you ever "collected" a bee on your chest?
Actually, I've "collected" a bee that hit just above my glasses and slid up UNDER my 3/4 helmet.

I could feel him staggering around as I went from 60-0 in fairly record time.

Got the helmet off and watched as a fairly shook-up bumblebee buzzed (wobble-y) off to the fields.

No sting, fortunately. The Kansas June Bugs to the face hurt worse than the stingbug did. :D

So whatcha got for bug stories? RWHes (Riders Without Helmets) have GOT to have some good ones!
 
#3 ·
A truth about bugs is the taste. Some of them taste awful, but most of them are not bad. You seldom get a good look at the bug before it hits so you really don't know what kind of bug it was. But there are times when you get hit smack in the mouth and say to yourself "I know that bug!" just by the taste.
 
#5 ·
I managed to get a wasp jammed under the helmet strap. Thinking it was the buckle pinching I just gave it a flick, wasp dropped down inside my shirt. So at 70mph I am pounding on my chest trying to kill it while it repeatedly stings - and control and stop the bike. Once stopped of course I was jumping around ripping off clothing - I often wonder what passers by thought of that, it must have been quite a sight.
 
#29 ·
A friend of ours bought a couch off a yard sale and a day later when he was moving it in the house to where he wanted it a six foot Black snake came out of the bottom of it.
 
#10 ·
Last summer, I led a ride up near the Red River in Texas. With tall grass up to the road, as I went by the grasshoppers spooked. The bikes behind me were pounded by hundreds of inch and a half grasshoppers. The bikes were splattered in brown and green.
 
#12 ·
I had a hornet hit me in the neck and go under my jacket. I didn't know what it was until it woke up and stung the living crap out of me as I am doing about 60 down the highway.

This one is not a bike related bug incident, but this weekend, I was power washing the house and I must have dislodged a spider the size of a half dollar. It landed on my right cheek and started crawling up my face! I freaking hate spiders. I turn into a little girl when one gets on me. I totally flipped out and was running around the front yard trying to get if off without getting bit. I am not really scared of anything, but by god, I hate spiders!
 
#16 ·
... I am not really scared of anything, but by god, I hate spiders!
Apparently there is one more thing you are scared of :). "Scaredofmyownshadow"

My bee story is similar to some others. I got hit in the face when I decided to open up the shield for some fresh air. It stung me right above the left eyelid. I pulled over and took my helmet off, but that thing was long gone ... hurt for a bit.
 
#13 ·
My daily commute takes me through a mix of country roads and super slab. While commuting I wear a Shoei FF, with the visor up when I am on the back roads. I was on my way home last Friday afternoon on a back road with the visor up, when a wasp smacked me in my face and was hanging on to my glasses.

There was no way he could crawl into the helmet so I was able to just brush it away. On non-commuting days I normally wear an open-faced helmet. Otherwise I'd be pulling a quick-stop and dancing to get the helmet off as quick as I could.
 
#14 ·
Windshields and helmet have protected me from many bug and rock hits. Tho when a big June bug hits you on the front of the helmet you know it. I did have a bee manage to circumvent my windshield and get caught under my jacket collar and proceed to sting me in the neck on my way into work. May flies or fish flies hatch are even worse if you commute near fresh water. They will congregate on freeway bridges and roads that are lit up causing a greasy mess on the roads.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Worst bug I ever hit was a Texas grasshopper at about 70 mph. I caught it square between the eyes. I had sunglasses on and the bridge actually cut my forehead! I never could get the smell out of those sunglasses. Ended up chucking them. My brother has a better bug story though, he ran through a swarm of honey bees! He got stung about a dozen times all at once! I also have a guinea hen story. I hit that thing going about 65 and it almost took me off the bike! Sure knocked the wind out of me!
 
#18 ·
55 mph no windshield, black bird, dead center in the chest. Hit so hard lost both grips, leaned backwards, set back up, grabbed bars, wind knocked out of me, got the bike stopped, KY State trooper saw the whole thing. All he said was I can not believe stayed up when you lost your grip on the bars. The feathers were every where.
 
#19 ·
My earliest 'bug' story was when I was 16, in IN, and riding in shorts and no shirt, and I saw this little black dot in the field to my left, which is slowly getting bigger, and then WHAM! The inside of my right arm felt like I was hit with a baseball bat. It was just a bumblebee, about the diameter of a quarter and about 1.5 inches long, and he left the back half of his body, with his stinger, still stuck in my arm. Never found the rest of him, but BOY, did that hurt! Learned me to wear at least long sleeve shirts or a jacket after that.

Then, there was a bird, yes a BIRD, that hit my helmet at my right forehead about dusk going back up to Austin, TX about 80mph on the freeway as I was coming up to a curved bridge. Nearly lost it, but somehow managed to keep the bike upright and going around the curve fine. Never saw the bird on the ground behind me or in my mirrors, but sure scared me, good!

Last one, was the grasshoppers, earlier this year. The guys from our CMA chapter decided to take a ride. We went up toward the crest of the 10.8k mountain near us, but then took off east, going on a little 2-lane road. However, most of the bikes were in front of me, and they were kicking up the 2-3 inch long grasshoppers, who were then coming down right into me, but only on my right side. My windshield, right glove, arm, and leg were covered in green/brown/yellow goo from the dozens of them that hit me. Even with all that, it was still a fun right, though.
 
#21 ·
Years ago I was coming home early in the evening. Ya know, about the time those nasty critters come out. Well, I was just riding along minding my own business and all of a sudden something grabbed my shoulders. The pain was so terrible and the grip just got tighter and tighter and it's then that I notice I was being pulled off the seat! I had no idea what was pulling me from my bike seat. Then I looked up....It was the BIGGEST BUG I ever saw. Must have been 8 feet long, wings about 10 feet, long hairy legs and those BIG EYES!!!!!!

I awoke a little while later......the wife said I was dreaming again.

Bullzeyet
 
#22 ·
Didn't happen to me but last summer I was at a gas station for a break when this guy on a Harley pulled in. He was not wearing a helmet and his face looked like someone had plastered him with an egg. Don't know what kind of bug it was but he had yellow crap splattered all over his face. Had to of hurt...
 
#24 ·
The Kansas June Bugs to the face hurt worse than the stingbug did. :D
A June Bug is a June Bug isn't it? It,s like taking a shot in the head from George foreman! Well the average man would be... Let's say, unconscious. A June Bug... Not as much, BUT! It Damn near knocked me off my bike back in 1977. I had an open face helmet and it hit me dead square between the eyes! And at 70 mph it's guts were all over my face. Well for a few weeks I was marked... With the red dot between the eyes. Funny now that I look back at it. It still heart like hell!
 
#26 ·
I've had issues with bees on a few occasions:

One flew between my helmet strap and my ear, ended up stinging my ear and flew off.

One stung me just above my knee when I stopped for lunch at a local diner. (Some kind of weirdo paper hornet thing....)

Best one was the one that flew down my shirt and stung me 4 or 5 times before I could squish it. That was fun at 35 mph.

And then there was this one time, at band camp.......
 
#30 ·
A few weeks ago I was on a "poker run" and afterwards while comparing our "hands" one of the other guys mentioned that on a previous ride that group was given paper targets to put on their bikes, and whom ever had the best bullseye with bug splatters was the big winner....

He said that they could put the target wherever they wanted on their bike... Windshield, helmet, jacket, wherever you thought you have the best chance of getting hit by a bug....

I thought that sounded like a fun twist for a group ride.


Sent from Motorcycle.com Free App
 
#34 ·
Several years back we were riding two-up in the countryside when my wife started jitterbugging on the pillion. It really startled me as she is normally a good passenger, and I had a tough time keeping it under control while making an emergency stop on the shoulder. Turned out some kind of bee had blown up her jacket sleeve and was repeatedly stinging her back.
 
#35 ·
Riding home from a PGR mission a couple of years ago when something flew between the left side of my helmet and my cheek, then crawled up and into my left ear. I'm sure I looked funny as I locked it up to pull over and snatch that helmet off. Never did find out what it was.
Also had a bumblebee fly around my windshield to hit me on the right cheek once while cruising with my face shield up.
 
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