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Harley rider down today


donkason

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I was on Blue Church road on the north end of Sunbury heading out for a bite. The road has some nasty twists and lots of loose gravel. As we rounded the first in a series of tight corners I got to see the bottom of a Road King in the ditch and the rider about 4-5 feet away laying there. He completely missed the corner. He didn't know the area as he was asking for directions to a main road adjacent to Blue Church. There was a 7-8 foot black mark straight off the pavement and he didn't even try to turn and he was in 5th gear:eek:

No helmet, shorts, sneakers, and a tank top. The guy was pretty sore and I think his hand was broken and I know a few of his fingers were. I picked him up, picked his bike up, pulled it out of the ditch, checked the forks, bars, brakes, kicked the dirt off, and he went along his way. He was an old firefighter and hard as nails.

Luckily he walked away and his wallet was hurt more than him. It was my first time seeing a street rider down. Scary stuff.

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That's a good question lol

Ha-ha! I had to explain that to him too as I picked it up and told him to not help since he was jacked up. He kept hobbling over to help:eek:

I'm closing in on a 500lb deadlift. Plus if you pick it up with your back to the bike and walk backwards into it you get the leg press motion as well as the back. Gotta bring all large muscle groups into play with compound movements.

Now backing it out of the ditch in flip flops......I needed an assist from my father in-law for that.

I doubt he'll ever wear gear and I wanted to ask him why he was being squidly on an HD but it's not my business and I doubt I'll change his mind.

I always wore a helmet but read a story about a woman who fell off a bike and had her whole left breast ground off by road rash. The story of recovery and pics make me cover up like I'm Amish when I ride now. Between that and track days it can make you a bit more responsible.

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Maybe this will scare him into riding with gear...

Unfortunately, the opposite is more likely. The prevailing mindset amongst many cruiser types that have been down is; "I went down once in (whatever lack of protective clothing they were wearing) and no helmet, and all I got was a couple of broken fingers! I'm willing to accept the risk that I may go down again one day, but it's just too darn HOT to wear a helmet and all that other stuff all the time!"

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Bah.....by the time I get home i have sweat rolling down my head and my helmet has a crap load of vents. The heat is the same whether I wear my jacket or not so I wear the jacket. Shit kicker steal toes and gloves. To each his own I guess.

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You were in flip-flops? Not on the bike then, i hope...

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk 2

Week or so ago (IIRC), Scruit was writing about one of his encounters where the guy said "I've been down a dozen times without gear..." (or something like that).

The guy you helped is probably one of those types.

Kudos to you for helping him out.

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My buddy always gave a speech about not wearing a seat belt as it was safer to get thrown from the car. Great guy but a complete knuckle head sometimes. I know the type.

As for my sandals I NEVER ride in them. I crashed a bicycle in them once when I was a kid and mangled up a toe, never again! I ride in A* boots or over the ankle boots on my cruiser.

And if I was down a dozen times I would promptly thank God I was alive and sell my motorcycle to avoid premature death.

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Week or so ago (IIRC), Scruit was writing about one of his encounters where the guy said "I've been down a dozen times without gear..." (or something like that).

The guy you helped is probably one of those types.

Kudos to you for helping him out.

Yeah, some old Harley guy who was raggin' on me for dressing like an astronaut. "I've been down 12 or 13 times and never got seriously hurt, so I knwo I don't need gear..."

Meanwhile, Darwin listens in on the conversation and thinks; "Shit, I missed one..."

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Unfortunately, the opposite is more likely. The prevailing mindset amongst many cruiser types that have been down is; "I went down once in (whatever lack of protective clothing they were wearing) and no helmet, and all I got was a couple of broken fingers! I'm willing to accept the risk that I may go down again one day, but it's just too darn HOT to wear a helmet and all that other stuff all the time!"

I'm a cruiser type now lol I'll never ride helmetless. :)

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