When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Not nearly as serious but when I was 17 I got thrown off my little Yamaha 90. I was very lucky as I saw the women get ready to pull out and she never looked my way. I rolled off and she drove over the bike. They had to take a wrecker to pick her car off my bike. I got away with nothing more than a few cuts and scratches plus a destroyed helmet. Wish I would have kept that helmet!
There are just too many stories from Damn I'm Lucky To Be Alive people on two wheels - pedal, scooters, or motorcycles. I could be wrong but I think the next group of those folks will be I was in my Jeep and had every single panel off when . . .
yeah damn, if I think about it too much it still gives me the chills 20 years later. I got thrown into oncoming traffic and I got hit by a vehicle coming in the other direction. The driver of that vehicle reacted quickly and skidded to a stop just as their car hit me, one more inch and my head would have been really messed up. that driver saved my life by reacting so quick after I ended up in their lane. He was an older guy driving a huge old school Lincoln land yacht. He was very kind and helpful after he got out of the car, he even asked the Police officer for an update on how I was doing when I was in the hospital.
It was a four month recovery for me, but it could have been worse. I still saw the sun rise the next day so I will take that as a blessing.
Me too. All I remember seeing is a green flash. It turned out that a woman made a left turn in front of me without looking. Witnesses have told me that I flew over the car and landed on the pavement. Thankfully, the ambulance scrapped me up quickly and brought me to Kings County Hospital. I woke up in the hospital the next day to hear the doctors standing over me wondering if I'd live. It turned out that in spite of my Snell approved helmet I fractured my skull and spinal fluid was leaking through my nose. I left the hospital about a week and a half later and spent quite a bit of time convalescing. The headaches remained for about two or three years during which time I was living on Advil (4 at a time).
A few months later I borrowed a friends bike just to see if I still wanted to ride. I was about a block from where I started when I saw a car about two blocks away. I immediately pulled over to the curb, turned the bike off, put it on its kickstand, and walked back to where I started. I handed my friend the key and told him that his bike was about a block away. I had lost my nerve and you shouldn't ride a motorcycle if you've lost your nerve.
I too enjoyed motorcycling and every now and again I get a hankering to ride one. I gave up my MC license years ago and to this day am sorry that I didn't renew it. Not that I want a motorcycle, I shudder when I think about it, but I did earn the license and was proud to have it.
Me too. All I remember seeing is a green flash. It turned out that a woman made a left turn in front of me without looking. Witnesses have told me that I flew over the car and landed on the pavement. Thankfully, the ambulance scrapped me up quickly and brought me to Kings County Hospital. I woke up in the hospital the next day to hear the doctors standing over me wondering if I'd live. It turned out that in spite of my Snell approved helmet I fractured my skull and spinal fluid was leaking through my nose. I left the hospital about a week and a half later and spent quite a bit of time convalescing. The headaches remained for about two or three years during which time I was living on Advil (4 at a time).
A few months later I borrowed a friends bike just to see if I still wanted to ride. I was about a block from where I started when I saw a car about two blocks away. I immediately pulled over to the curb, turned the bike off, put it on its kickstand, and walked back to where I started. I handed my friend the key and told him that his bike was about a block away. I had lost my nerve and you shouldn't ride a motorcycle if you've lost your nerve.
I too enjoyed motorcycling and every now and again I get a hankering to ride one. I gave up my MC license years ago and to this day am sorry that I didn't renew it. Not that I want a motorcycle, I shudder when I think about it, but I did earn the license and was proud to have it.
I never would have guessed you rode a motorcycle, Rob. Thinking about it though it does make sense. I had a motorcycle license when I lived in California 3 years ago but when I moved to Colorado and got a Colorado license they put holes in my California license! WTF!? I had no idea that would happen or I never would have gotten a Colorado license. In any case I only rode my street legal dirt bike one time after I broke multiple bones in my foot In October 2017. Nobody made me crash and it was all my fault. in Colorado I see lots and lots of motorcycle riders and most of them don't wear helmets because it's not a law here. Yeah, and they do die. The only thing that attracts me is the three-wheelers that have two wheels in the front and one in the back, and they're badass looking but I figure they cost as much as an S2000, so what the hell, I've already got one of those.
^ The S2000 is almost a motorcycle with 4 wheels, as close as it gets for a car.
Exactly!! Plus I can put the top up and get take advantage of heat and cool air. I don't see any reason to switch to a three wheeler when I've got an S.
I was looking at them thinking how cool they would be with electric motors and an extra wheel in the back to handle all the extra torque.
but without all of the crap that makes a car a car, airbags and crash structures and, and and... you know just a 4 wheel motorcycle.
To be honest I have no delusions with respect to safety.
there is not a shortage of idiots out there. it is probably worse now with smart phones and texters and so forth.
The best news about the Concours is it is a big bike. not quite a Goldwing big but big.
I'll probably put in a bright strobing brake light kit.
To expand on my mortality a little. I've been tempted to count how many of my nine lives I've used up. (i'm probably rather quite overdrawn.)
If I die I will have no regrets. living, now that takes work.
But, I am not ready for a rocker on the porch to sit and wait to die. it will be too damn long and I get bored to easily.
I honestly can't count the number of times over the last 5 years I laid in bed praying I'd die in my sleep to make the pain stop.
but if I was suicidal, that would have occurred a while ago.
To be honest I have no delusions with respect to safety.
there is not a shortage of idiots out there. it is probably worse now with smart phones and texters and so forth.
The best news about the Concours is it is a big bike. not quite a Goldwing big but big.
I'll probably put in a bright strobing brake light kit.
While I detest hearing the sound of Harley's , I do agree that loud pipes save lives. Some Japanese bikes are too quiet, like the Goldwing, a bit louder is better. Hopefully your bike isn't too quiet.
