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Had my first crash yesterday

6K views 45 replies 24 participants last post by  Kitulu 
#1 ·
This truly sucks.

I was following my friend and his wife in their new truck. We were going to pick up my friend's new bike and ride back together. Not two traffic lights later, I am lying on the pavement.

The weather here has been pretty crappy...cold and wet. Yesterday morning was 65 degrees and sunny, which I find ironic as I ride in all types of weather, thus far with no issues.

His wife went to stop for a yellow light. I was about 3 car lengths back. As soon as I hit the brakes, both wheels locked up on the wet pavement. I let out the front brake and started downshifting as fast as I could go. When I saw that I was not going to stop in time (seriously, it felt like I was sliding on ice), I let out the back brake when the wheels were aligned and tried to swerve around the truck. The rear end slid out from under me to the right, and as I was in the process of a left-right swerve, it caused me to high side off to the right at about 30 mph and slowing.

The bike still runs. I will have to replace one of the fog lights on my light bar, and the edge of the windscreen is all scratched up. I don't know yet if it can be fixed or polished out. The crash bars did their job (surprisingly well, considering they did not bend) and have some scratches on the right side. The highway peg got turned around 180 degrees, but I may be able to salvage it. The right saddlebag guard is pretty scuffed up, and I have some new missing paint on the bag itself, along with some scratches on the bottom exhaust pipe.

My BRAND NEW Shoei J-Cruise is all scratched up on the right side. Needs a new visor, but the helmet is supposed to be replaced after a crash, so...

My old River Road leather jacket is scuffed and damage on the right side, but nothing wore through. The impact armor in the shoulder worked, but not as well as I would like.

Nothing is broken, but I have no lateral movement in my right shoulder at all. Hopefully due to the contusion and swelling. I have pain all along my right side, and road rash on my right forearm and knee, which makes no sense since there is no damage to the jacket. The knee is denim related damage.

My wife has been awesome throughout, and her first reaction, once we were done at the ER..."you need better gear!"[emoji13] [emoji7]

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
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#2 ·
You need new gear, its a one and done deal, but it sounds like the gear did it's job, you got nothing broken (it seems) and no road rash to be picked out by a paramedic.

Gear is armor, not a forcefield.

You and that gear done well brother.

Glad it wasn't worse!

Slap some paint on to keep the rot off and get back to ridin. :grin2:
 
#3 ·
Glad you are ok!
New gear for sure.
If you are filing insurance everything will be covered, if not....
Bargain shop, but don't trust the gear to work x2, at least I personally would not trust it.
Take it easy and get over the soreness!

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 
#4 ·
Glad you are back on HSN!




'Anyway.....Toilet paper goes over the top. Only serial killers and goat touchers let it hang down'
~borrowed from Brer @vito
 
#6 ·
3/4 helmet. The damage on it is right along the brow and ear line, so if I had been wearing my half helmet, I probably would have damaged the side of my face and ear.

Definitely getting another Shoei...I felt no impact at all with that helmet!

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
 
#8 ·
You should not look at as your first accident but your ONLY accident. Glad it wasn't too bad. I had an accident in 1980 and went down on my left side. Shoulder was sore but they couldn't find any damage in the ER. Two years later I had to have surgery on the shoulder because of a bad AC joint that was caused by the accident but because I signed off on it, I couldn't go back to insurance of the guy that caused the accident.
 
#10 ·
Glad you are ok !

In an accident, one may rub the side of the body in which the shoulder and arm most likely take the beating, and in which case a 1/2 or 3/4 helmet would do the job. But since none of us can predict how we would fall, there's a chance that we could fall flat on our face in which case 1/2 and 3/4 would be totally useless, and our faces would be worse than zombies'.

I personally spend money not so much on modifications but more on safety gears. There's no better protection that the full-face helmet, and i get the best one that I can afford, the same thing goes with jacket, over-pants, boots and gloves. No matter how warm the weather is I wear all my safety-gears. The warm/hot weather is nothing compared to rubbing one's flesh against the asphalt.

Since I ride a lot in traffic, my helmet also happens to be a high-viz one. Please go with a full-face helmet.
 
#21 ·
Get some Irish Spring bar soap. Take a little and rub it on your lenses until a haze forms, like turtle wax. Then take a cloth and buff the haze until it goes away.

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#16 ·
It's good to know that you came out okay. That's the real issue. Everything else is just rubber and steel.

Did they put down any ice melt crap on your roads for that storm that came through at the end of last week? I swear that sometimes that stuff is slippery like snail snot when lightly wet.
 
#17 ·
Wow... Glad you're okay and that it wasn't worse!

Always remember, bikes and gear can be replaced - you can't!:)
 
#25 ·
Well, I ordered a new jacket...unfortunately, it will not ship until March as it is a pre-order. I looked over the helmet, and it looks (and feels) as if my shoulder took the brunt of the impact. The inner foam is not distorted at all, and the scratches on the outside of the helmet are very shallow...I had worse on my old helmet from accidentally dropping it off the seat, so I may be able to just replace the visor and ride on.

I was also looking into riding pants, but how do you size them? Do you wear them over jeans or shorts, or wear them as pants and walk around in them all day if you are on the bike all day? I am talking about the actual riding pants from Revit or Tourmaster, not draggin jeans and the like.
 
#26 ·
I picked up some Bilt riding pants last week and wear them over my jeans/cargo pants. I actually just say in them. These have body armor in them, made out of tough material that will slide, and have zippers/Velcro that detach for warmer weather riding. I haven't had an issue on the ride or otherwise with them going over my pants. In the summer I will likely wear shorts under them. These are also great on keeping the wind out.
 
#28 ·
Interesting about Irish Spring soap I will try it too. I bought some special product to spray inside my visor but I don't see great results. Yesterday I was fogging up my glasses too.
 
#32 · (Edited)
hows your shoulder now --- hope its ok --- no lateral movement is a sign of a rotator cuff issue -- i hope you dont have that issue that repair is major and your arm is strapped to your side for six weeks -- major pain in the rear to not have use of your arm (and i am right handed; i tore my right rotator cuff at work) x-ray will not show tear needs to be looked at with mri

well i hope you are well

here is a site with lots of biker stuff here is pants page

http://www.jafrum.com/motorcycle-pants/mens-pants

no i am not affiliated with them just an occasional customer
 
#33 ·
hows your shoulder now --- hope its ok --- no lateral movement is a sign of a rotator cuff issue -- i hope you dont have that issue that repair is major and your arm is strapped to your side for six weeks -- major pain in the rear to not have use of your arm (and i am right handed; i tore my right rotator cuff at work) x-ray will not show tear needs to be looked at with mri

well i hope you are well

here is a site with lots of biker stuff here is pants page

http://www.jafrum.com/motorcycle-pants/mens-pants

no i am not affiliated with them just an occasional customer
I have some lateral movement, but if I move the wrong way, then I lose some of the movement. I am going to make an appointment next week to go see my Doc to have it looked at...especially since I heard a "snap" when I was taking off my shirt a couple of nights ago. Didn't think much of it as there was no additional pain other than what I was already experiencing.

Here is a link to the video I took of the damage, prior to doing some repair work.
 
#34 ·
Glad you are ok.

I recommend the full helm. Ive got the flip up type with sun visor and bluetooth.

Nice tip with the irish spring. I just flip up my visor at every stop.

Ive got the bilt pants too. They work but honestly they dont look like they will last a year.

One last thing about the helm. I believe the stats are about 40% of head injuries in a wreck are to the jaw area... (not sure exact #)
 
#38 ·
I did not read all of the comments, so this may have already been said. First, I noticed that you said you were about 3 car lengths back and then you mentioned you were going 30 mph and slowing during the crash. In dry weather, 3 car lengths at 30 mph is fine, but you should add at least twice that in wet weather to avoid panic stops because that will cause your tires to lock-up on non-anti-lock brakes. I know you probably know this. As far as the burn inside your gear go, that can happen when your body is moving inside your gear which happens and the shoulder injuries are to be expected from such a hard crash. In my opinion, your gear did its job--you would have probably been much worse off without gear. I've got road rash scars all over my body from foolish wrecks that occurred during my teenage years back when I did not wear gear, but luckily I had a helmet on thanks to the lid laws in Alabama during the 1970's.
 
#39 ·
Well, my shoulder got worse. On the 26th, I tried to adjust position in the bed, and felt a pop in my shoulder accompanied with a sheet of blinding pain at 0630. Hobbled to the bathroom, took some oxycodone, and tried to go back to sleep. At 0730, it happened again. So, woke the wife up, and off to the ER we went. They gave me some muscle relaxers and a sling, as I had lost all the movement that I had regained. The next day I got in to see my regular doc. She sent me to the lab for x-rays, and then referred me to Orthopedics. The doc at Ortho sent me back to the lab for a CT scan.

As it turns out, I had fractured my clavicle along the shoulder joint where it connects to the scapula. The initial fracture was small enough to not show up on the initial x-ray, and the pop at 0630 & 0730 was the muscles in my shoulder twisting the fractured bones around. The doc said 72 hours bed rest (which I was pretty much doing anyway), 3 months on a dead-man profile (in Army speak, it means that I cannot do any PT whatsoever), and recommended 30 days of convalescent leave, which I am going to talk to my CoC about when I come off block leave on the 3rd. I have almost no movement at the shoulder, and my shoulder, shoulder blade, and arm aches. If I move the wrong way, I get stabbing pain. I have gotten to the point of being able to gently, and with some pain, push my right upper arm straight up in order to wash and apply deodorant, but t-shirts are still beyond me. I am strictly button-down shorts for awhile. I still have only about 10 degrees of radial movement...i.e. moving my arm out away from my body.

I go back to the doc next week for a follow up and more x-rays...hopefully I won't need surgery.
 
#42 · (Edited)
@Kitulu Go gentle with than one. To tell you he truth , I'd be pretty up tight with whoever read that X-Ray and missed the crack.

I had a complete clavicle separation many years ago and they wound up putting 4 pins in it at Balboa Naval Hospital. I'm sure they have way better ways to fix them today (mine was in '66 or '67) but 2 pins are still in there and they let me know when a cold front is coming every time , it ain't always pleasant.

Took literally 3 months before the other 2 pins came out and a couple more months before I could get my hand up over my head and then a few more months to be able to do pull ups. Fortunately I did get full range and strength back and except for weather I wouldn't even know it happened.

What I'm trying to say is you don't want it to go that far by trying to use it lifting or whatever 'cuz no matter the method of repair the bones and cartilage can only heal so fast.
 
#43 ·
@Kitulu Go gentle with than one. To tell you he truth , I'd be pretty up tight with whoever read that X-Ray and missed the crack.

I had a complete clavicle separation many years ago and they wound up putting 4 pins in it at Balboa Naval Hospital. I'm sure they have way better ways to fix them today (mine was in '66 or '67) but 2 pins are still in there and they let me know when a cold front is coming every time , it ain't always pleasant.

Took literally 3 months before the other 2 pins came out and a couple more months before I could get my hand up over my head and then a few more months to be able to do pull ups. Fortunately I did get full range and strength back and except for weather I wouldn't even know it happened.

What I'm trying to say is you don't want it to go that far by trying to use it lifting or whatever 'cuz no matter the method of repair the bones and cartilage can only heal so fast.
I am trying not to use it much at all outside the current range of motion. What is really frustrating is that my right arm is my smart arm, so I keep forgetting and trying to use it like normal.

I got another small reality check today: my wife runs an in-home daycare, and the infant that she watches was crying because she had thrown up. My wife had cleaned her up, and was working on getting the rest of the mess cleaned up. I walked in and went to pick up the little girl to calm her down since she likes me. I lifted with my left arm, using my right only to stabilize her. It still hurt. I suppose that it makes sense since the weight on the left side was pulling on the muscles on the right side. Anyway, my whole arm aches.
 
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