So I was stuck in traffic last Wed as there was some accident at the other end of a long road with no intersections causing a jam. The road has lots of hills, and at times, it's hard to tell if there's a car in front of you. The car in front of me did the classic "slam on the gas and then 4 feet later, slam on the brakes" maneuver. I accelerated after letting some space get between us, and I guess I just grabbed my front a little too hard when he slammed on his. I couldn't have been going more than 5-7 MPH, but that was enough. The front wheel locked, and up came the rear. I knew what was happening instantly, and let go of the brake, but it was too late. The worst part of an endo is when it sneaks up on you, you aren't able to grab the bike properly, and the combination of the rear bucking you off like a bull, and then all that downward weight on your hands causes you to slip off the grips, and you just have to watch it happen. I flipped over the front of the bike, and impacted on my right shoulder, and right side of my face. My head bounced, and flipped to the other side. Thank God I gave that car in front of me some following distance, or I would have hit it. The shoulder REALLY hurt, as I am currently recovering from a high-speed snowboarding accident where pretty much the same thing occurred, and I've got all sorts of torn cartilage in there, so, yeah. other than that, I barely felt anything. I was fully conscious and aware the entire time. I braced in fear of just HEARING my bike fall over, which is when it SLAMMED RIGHT ON TOP OF ME. Which, I also barely felt, but I wasn't sure why. Thank God I bought a light bike, right?

So, the bike tips over to my side, and I sit up and see my leg is caught under it. A driver on the other side asks if I need help, and I tell him my leg's caught, so he comes to help. By the time he pulled over and got to me, I had gotten myself free, and he helped me stand the bike up. I'm assessing my condition at this point, and feel like something is pulling me backwards. I rotate my torso a couple of times, and realize that I totally forgot I'm wearing a padded backpack stuffed with clothes (and a laptop >.< ) that totally took the impact of the bike. NICE.

I survey the scene, and notice I've got a mirror, a crapload of glass, and some fluid on the street. The fluid is green, so , coolant. Mirrors are cheap, but the glass wasn't from the mirror. It was my front position light. The bike rolled on it's face, and smashed it in. I gave the bike a once-over, inspected the radiator for cracks and leakage (none) looked for anythign else drippy, then checked for general damage. Incredibly: very, very little; probably because I cushioned its fall. I shook the bike around a bit to get the oil back in the cylinders, and turned the ignition. The guage cluster initializes like usual. Nice. I turn the engine switch on, and the fuel injectors sound fine. Cool. I hit the starter, and it fires right up. I reav it slowly to about 7k, everything sounds perfectly normal. I duck walk it a few feet, everything's moving ok. No weird sounds, very very cool.

So NOW, I gotta get out of here. My shoulder feels like my arm is missing, but I know why, so I'm not too worried. I can still move all my joints, so lets see what happens. The problem is now I'm stuck facing against the lane of traffic, on a shoulder that's no wider than a bike path, and a steep gravel dropoff past it, so no three-point turnarounds. On top of that, traffic is moving at like 10 MPH, but no end in sight, and nobody is going to stop and let me in. Then, way at the intersection where I cam from, I see a motorcycle cop turn onto the street with his lights on. ****; someone called the cops. I do NOT want to spend my night telling stories and filing BS reports I want to get my bike home and put my shoulder in the hot tub for a couple of hours.

Miraculously, two drivers going opposite directions team up and stop to let me in. I pull into the opposite direction lane, just in time for the cop to not see where I am. I get to the intersection, and notice the cop had pulled into a ditch over there, with 3 other bikes. Looks like ANOTHER rider had wiped out over there. Weird.

So, I get myself home, take some time surveying the damage, and notice there's blood dripped everywhere. "OH. My hand is bleeding." I had lost my gloves somewhere at worked, which is whee I was coming home from. I tried to look for them as much as I could, but security herds everyone out of there at 5 on the dot, so I had to forgo them for the evening. OF COURSE, that's when I needed them. Not too bad, though, just a couple of scraped knuckles. Nothing deep, just enough to bleed. My left hand was working a hell of a bruised palm, though (it's nice and purple as I write this).

So, I took these pictures. A bunch of little stuff, some of which I may never bother actually fixing, cuz its hardly noticeable. I didn't even notice the bent rearset until the next day. I was already replacing the windscreen and position light, so I didn't even care about them. The worst part was the black scratches on the tail. Well, it turns out they were just some oil from rubbing on the road when it tipped, and Goo Gone took them right off! You can't even tell that side ever had a problem!! Unfortunately, the other side is going to need a new sticker. Where are you guys getting factory stickers these days?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2173123...7623752024081/

I kinda don't want to wash the blood off

ATGATT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Found my gloves, but now I gotta go helmet shopping

 

that is bad, but could have been worse. Glad the bike took more damage than you did.

 

the best thing is that your ok. Sucks for you and your bike, but hey its time to do some of those upgrades you had planned? right?

 

Sounds like you had a lucky escape !!

Good to hear there's not too much damage to you & your CBR.

This could have been much worse, hope you feel better soon.

 

Glad to hear your okay and the bike didnt take alot of damage due to your couragous act of acting as a cushion . lol

Feel better and let that shoulder heal up cause you only have 2 and they play a big role for you. lol

 

Amazing how such a low speed crash could do so much ... imagine crashing at higher speeds with no gear. Glad you made it to tell the story. Shoulders take a while to heal so take it easy.

How'd the laptop fare?

 

Good to hear your okay, and I hope the bike will feel better after some cosmetic surgery!

Try these sites for oem stickers/graphics.

http://www.bikebandit.com
http://www.replicals.com/index.php?cPath=21_30

Cheers~!

 

Glad to hear you're ok dude... ATGATT!!

 

That sounds like a bad accident, thats how my friend got killed last year but he was going a bit faster. Glad your ok. Hey and we were just talking about the new abs brakes on the 09 and up; would of been nice to have. Johnnyh

 

Yeah I was just looking for that thread so I could post there. Got a link?