Chime in if you have....

[PaNDeM1C]

If you have crashed your busa while riding... not dropped at a light or in your garage... tell us briefly what happened, etc. Maybe this will help new owners really realize that it can happen to them. I learned!

I've dropped and crashed mine. Dropped 2 times (once on gravel after turning into a hole, another after coming to a stop too fast because a car cut in front of me). Crashed once in Hollywood, CA on the Sunset strip right in front of the Roxy in AM rush hour traffic when a skank cut in front of me... and I lowslided on the slick road there. I lived. It all happened so quickly when I swerved to avoid the car and the bike just came loose...

I was lucky even though I just had on a helmet, jeans, long-sleeve shirt. I was even luckier that .org members NINJA KILLER (for parts) and Trip (for help) came to my aid!

Wear that gear! At least wear that helmet!!! A mind is a terrible thing to smash!

 

[jwcfbd]

crashed twice.  
First time was at night on a road I didn't know.  I was trying to catch my friends when I hit a nice straight section of road.  I hit the gas and caught up to them just as they dropped in to the next turn.  I panicked, hit the rear brake only and at the point all I could do was try to ride it out off road.  That didn't work I hit a tree and broke my leg in four places.
Second was going to work in the afternoon when something on the side of the road caught my eye.  I looked away for a second and when I looked back I saw something but had no time to realize what it was or react to it at all.  It was a car that broke down but wasn't able to clear the lane.  I hit the right rear corner of the car and broke my leg it two places.


crashing sucks.  ride within your limits and watch where you are going at all times.  Stupid hurts

 

[Kento-Moto]

Been there ... done ALL THAT !!!!!! looped her 200 miles from home.

 

[Kento-Moto]

I kinda tend to believe the saying ... There are 2 kinds of riders ... those that have been down, and those that will "

 

[GMbusa]

August 4, 1999.  2 months after my heart attack in June.
(It wasn't a good year for me)

I wasn't on my Busa, i was on a 83' Kawi LTD400. My friend got the bike for free off his uncle and i got it running for him. At the time i was working for Cardinal Concrete in Lorton,Va. As i went for a test drive through the yard it started to rain, thinking that it might be a good time to turn around due to the lightning, the bike went into a 2 wheel drift. Mind you that there's big sand piles all around there for the concrete mix and the tires were probly from 83'.  As the bike started to come around like a highside, i tried to jump off. The sissybar on the tail grabbed ahold of my left leg as i was almost clear of the bike and it whipped me onto the concrete surface like a ragdoll.  

When i regained concisiousness, my left knee was in extreme pain. My bud just ran up to me at this time. Thinking i merely had the wind knocked out of me, he said to walk it off. I took three steps and that's when i knew something wasn't right. The very moment i went to step with my left leg, i watched in horror as my left knee joint folded sideways and touched my right leg. I fell to the ground immediately and waited for an ambulance to arrive.  My bud Dave that was there said the sound i made when that happened, was unlike anything he's EVER heard come from a human. To this day he describes the sound i made as "Pure horror".

This whole accident happened at 5mph. It was a freak accident.

 

[dadofthree]

(Kento-Moto @ Jun. 19 2007,01:45) Been there ... done ALL THAT !!!!!! looped her 200 miles from home.

This was a result of listening to GNR wasn't it

 

[dadofthree]

(Kento-Moto @ Jun. 19 2007,01:47) I kinda tend to believe the saying ... There are 2 kinds of riders ... those that have been down, and those that will "

Hmmmmmm Yes

 

[MC MUSTANG]

Apr 26th, 2007. Crashed Bessie - I believe I was overconfident and let my guard down; she decided to show me who was boss. Rear tire kissed the double yellow (after a full day of moderate rain) and slipped out in a lean, new angle on road attempted opposite lean to avoid going off road, didn't make it.

I used to like to think of myself as a conservative rider who remained conscious of his surroundings... but I took several things for granted that night and they came and found me. I am very thankful for the wonderful members who helped me up and get back to the ranch.. and then brought Bessie back to riding condition. Always respect your scoot and wear your gear.... two hard learned lessons by yours truely.

 

[Buellbomb]

I don't know what happened, woke up in the ditch. Spent two months in the hospital, walk with a cane now. But I did wake up.

 

[SpeedAdict]

Spring 2005 750 Katana
Ran this road a million times at a million miles an hour, my favorite road around the area. Went into a knee draggin right and half way through at 85 mph I realized there was no way I was going to make the other half of the turn. Either slide or try to off road it into the neighbors yard. So I proceeded to off road a sport bike jumped a ditch and kept her on 2 wheels no worse for wear. If I happened to slide it it would have been bad news cause an F350 was comming the other direction would have squished my head. My bud ridding with me said he thought for sure I was going out of that farm land in a helicopter.

Nov 9 2006
Going to work where all military required reflective material. 200 yards from the house I sit at a redlight at 630 am. I get a green arrow left. Negotiate the turn and think to myself what a beautiful day for a riWHUMP!!!! About that time I realize my bike is no longer underneath my butt, then after that it was ground,sky,ground,sky, rattle rattle........ouch. Dude in an SUV ran the red light and blind sided me. Get up... my pristine bike bike is laying in the middle of the road injured. Fixed and back on the road 6 1/2 months later.

 

[Rylinkus]

Caught some sand coming around a corner on my YZF. Tires just slid out from under me. Luckily the bike didnt really hit ground until it was almost in the shoulder. My shoulder and head hit tar and the bike hit dirt and we slid. I suffered some rash on my hands. The bike was all plastic damage. When the only things really hurt at the end of the day are plastic and pride than it's a good crash, if there is such thing. I still wear my Icon jacket with battle scars from that day.

 

[proud dad]

Memorial weekend 1978.High speed wobble.[high speed for this bike 80mph]14 and scared of nothing.Thought I could hold it.WRONG!!!Went down at 80mph,flopped like a ragdoll.Bad road rash.Thighs,butt, arms,skin off palm of hand,chunk out of my helmet.Shorts and tee shirt.Was in hospital for 6 days.Whirlpool everyday for 2 hours.3rd degree burn DR. called it.More like all 7 layers of skin gone.Amazingly no scaring except for a quarter size on my right elbow.
If I was wearing the gear I have today,I would have walked away with only bruising.I love my gear.That wreck taught me,who the boss was.
Without the helmet,I would have felt no pain.I would have died instantly.

 

[rubber2burn]

July 2006 Was going home from work and about 2 miles from my house a guy ran me off the road on my 2002 Busa I have some pic's at the house but the are not digital shots. The guy did not look or signal just came into my lane we were in heavy traffic and I could not slam on my brakes or the ahole behind me would have ran me over. Did all I could the guy that came into my lane tried to run and the 18 wheeler guys box him in and made him stop and told him he had just ran a motorcycle off the road.

Now I have a 2005 LE and Hope to never go down again it is some thing you never forget I was fortunate I did not break any bones got a little Road Rash and allot of sore muscle and reinjuried both of my rotor cuffs

 

[Cookie]

Here is what happens when you go down on the left side and refuse to buy a billet stator cover! You then realize that when you thought it was cool to leave the stock cover on or polish it that the billet would have saved a load of headaches!

The Hayabusa is a heavy motorcycle and when you have a situation where you do go down it hit the ground like a ton of bricks.

Crashing any bike sucks. Crashing the Hayabusa seems worse.

 

[Shilpan]

I went down twice already, and both the times walked away without any injuries. God must really love me.

First time it was last summer at about 6:00am. I was headed towards NYC from NJ. There was a stop sign right before entering freeway (route 80) where I stopped. Car behind me didn’t realize it and hit me from back. I went flying 10 feet’s in the air. Luckily I was wearing jacket and helmet.  That A** H*** didn’t even stop. Since it was early in the morning there were no cars around and that B****** got away with it. He didn’t know that I survived. I went flying on the slow lane of the free way and no car. Thank god.  I had my video camera in my back pack. Here is the video of the bike:

Second time I didn’t go down but broke my front and rear rim by going over a big piece of concrete that fell off over pass. I was doing abt 50mph and my girl was behind me. I was a bright sunny day and the moment I enter the tunnel being dark all of the sudden I couldn’t see anything for like 5 secs and right then a big chunk of concrete fell on the ground right infron of me. Went over it my rear wheel came up and my girl was on me. I pushed her back gently and let my feets on the ground and tried my best not to let the motorcycle down and succeeded. Or else it would have cost one of our life since there were cars right behind us at the same speed. That day I decided not to ride my girl with me. I am crazy enough. I don’t wanna be responsible for her life. I should have sued the city for this but didn’t.

 

[Cookie]

Wow. A lot of good that cute little frame slider did, eh?

Glad you were both alright through that! Nuts!

 

[Cookie]

And tell us all that are wondering; WHY you did not bring some sort of civil suit against a state or local government that gets over on you as often as it can?

 

[Shilpan]

there was a lot going on at that time, i kind of ignored it. Shouldnt have though. i would have been a lot richer by now. heh!

 

[IG.]

First, I want to elaborate on the famous phrase "There are only two types of riders - those who crashed, and those who will".

I have to point out how useless and absurd this phrase is. Let me re-phrase it. "There are only two types of riders - those who already got caught in the rain while riding, and those who will." Is this phrase helpful, is it true? So is the original phrase.

The original phrase implies that once you crashed, you are off the hook and now can enjoy riding cause nothing bad is gonna happen from now on.

The truth is less poetic, but that's the truth: "It doesn't matter whether you went down or not. There is always a chance it might happen."

Back to the subject at hand. Crashed twice. Was fully geared. Walked away from both. Rode away from the first one.

Second one deserves a bit more insight because it illustrates a few important and lifesaving points. Got into a tankslapper at around 110 - 120 on the racetrack. Got thrown off. Slid, rolled - all on tarmac, got up 5 ft from the wall on the banking. Amazingly, the helmet got no damage/scratches except the side of the visor which does not block the view - so I still have it. Gear, gear, gear! Change the oil in your stock damper - if I did, this could've been prevented. Remember, don't assume your damper does the job based of the few headshakes and wobbles that stopped by themselves - these very likely would've stopped even without the damper. The real test of a damper is when the handlebars are ripped away from your hands.

And another important point. How to prevent a tank slapper? Aside from landing a croocket wheelie, there is a fundamental set of conditions which starts a tank slapper - a) light front barely skimming the tarmac, and b) steering input. Guess what, any time you are in a turn, you need to supply steering input to stay in turn (whether you realize it or not), otherwise the bike will straighten. If the front gets light because of any of the following - extra gas, bumpy road, wet road - the front gets turned by you because you apply steering input but the straightening force of the steering geometry is gone for just a fraction of a second. Next moment when the front regains traction, the wheel is cocked enough to start the wobble - left, right, left, right, etc. If you look at this process from a simple mechanical perspective, the oscillations will subside if the damper has enough damping ability, or will increase if the damper does not have enough damping capacity - it's that simple.

Another trick is to reduce the constant steering input you have to supply while in turn - this is an excellent preventive measure for this whole thing not to happen at all. How? The more you move your upper body to the inside, the less steering input is required to keep the bike in turn. So, the less steering input you apply, the less the front will get misaligned when it gets light, and therefore the less the initial throw of the front once the traction is regained. Believe me I had time to think while fixing the bike.

And yes, crashing sucks! Big time.

If you want to take a look at my leathers after the crash, and after I fixed them, and at my helmet, be my guest - the linky.

 

[1 BAD 2K]

It was May '06 I was heading to the job site on Quantico, Va USMC base. I took exit 148 that is a right merge lane into a 90 degree left turn going down hill to a stop sign. I picked up 2 nails in my rear tire just before I took the left turn. I hit the gravel shoulder then went down the inbankment jumped off the bike and just watched in horror as my busa hit the rocks on the bottom, bounced up caught a pinetree branch and flipped over. I sat in the hospital for 4 hour to get 8 stiches in my left knee which missed my knee cap by a 1/4 inch. By 2 O'clock I was back at the jobs site working and finished the day. Used a rental truck to take my broken busa home.