dave77 wrote: ↑Wed Dec 28, 2022 12:28 am
BrokenolMarine wrote: ↑Tue Dec 27, 2022 9:24 pm
Congratulations on the dream realized. I rode for several years in my younger days, but two close calls that WEREN'T my fault in less than two weeks put an end to my riding. I took the hint. that was back in the 70s. I haven't ridden since and it's a lot worse here these days. Two of our Motor Patrol Officers were in major accidents just before I retired, one was fatal and the other was out of commission for six months. Neither of them were at fault either.
Watch out for the other drivers, and enjoy that new bike...
Same here, started at 16 and rode all the time. Got my dream bike (not a Harley, a '83 Honda Sabre), hadn't even had it a year when a 80 year old woman pulled out in front of me, if I could have got up and dusted myself off I would have got back on and rode off but the bike was totaled and I was on my way to the hospital, spent 9 months off work recovering. Too many close calls before that so I haven't ridden a bike since.
Too bad I hadn't been hit by someone very wealthy. Her insurance adjuster was a nice guy and once told me if the money was there he would be offering me a million dollars to settle (1984 dollars!). She was just a little old lady widow, no lawyers involved, I just settled for her policy limit.
A tight circle of friends in high school would swap vehicles around to meet our needs. I had a custom van that was really popular and I had a couple friends with bikes. They loved the van. I had gone on a long ride through the country one weekend and was headed home when the weather betrayed me.
An 80 year old woman looked straight at me from the exit of a grocery store lot, in the driving rain. She was in a brand new cadi, it was 1978. So that Cadi was a BOAT. Still looking dead at me she pulled out in front of me, across two lanes of traffic to get to the turn lane... and stopped. Her car was blocking two and a half lanes of traffic. In the driving rain, I "touched" the brake, the bike started to slide in the water and oil on the road. I was a tripod, both wheels and my right foot, the bike pointed at a 45 degree angle to the right... Sliding straight at her Cadi, and her blurry face looking straight at me out the driver's window, mouth a huge "O" like it was my fault I was going to smash into her new car. The dealers stickers still on the back door glass. (Back then they left them on the windows until they turned yellow and fell off by themselves. LOOK, I have a brand new car!)
Luckily the car to my right saw what was happening and slowed, and the one car between was also alert and changed lanes. I hit that slightly dry pavement. The bike popped upright at the last second and I cut by her so close that her taillight grabbed at my pants. I pulled off to the side of the road, and managed to stop, pulled the bike up on the kickstand, dismounted, and it fell over in the mud. I sat on a concrete culvert beside a 20' deep concrete drainage ditch and my hands were shaking so bad I couldn't get back on the bike for twenty minutes.
After I got the bike home, I returned it to the owner.
(I had an incident two weeks before involving a bird strike to my chest at high speed that made it hard to breathe for a month.)
I took the hint, I didn't ride again.
