RKBA Harley

[tt11758]

Not bad Rob, not bad.....love the short wheel base of the Sportsters.  You can toss 'em around a little. 

Unfortunatly, guys my size, 6'1" and 240lbs, make a Sporty look like a Schwinn...

Be safe...and if she's been sitting a while, be sure to check the rubber.

And guys like me, 6'4" and 350 lbs, on a sportster looks like an elephand sitting on a football helmet.  In other words, I'd look like I had a tail light shoved up my butt! 

[tt11758]

Very nice bike Rob. Little elbow grease and you'll have it all ship shape again. How long has it been since your last ride? (Well that's too long )

My current motorcycle is a 2000 Vulcan Classic 1500 FI. Ride it every chance I get, which isn't as often as I would like but oh well. Quick story about riding safe and idiots out there on the road.

Just 2 weeks ago I was up in San Antonio heading home riding on The Death Loop (AKA Loop 1604), running around 75 MPH just keeping pace with the rest of traffic. Then some moron towing a U-haul with a Durango moved over in front of me. He/she (don't know for sure) was also going 75, even though there was a very large sticker on the trailer saying MAX 45 MPH.

I backed off to give me some more space and he decided he wanted back in the right lane. I decided I had enough of his in and out driving, cause he had done it several times before, and went to pass on by. Just as I got alongside the trailer, the whole deal started jumping and bucking around like crazy. It took me a half second to realize the hitch had come loose and was now only being held by safety changes. It caused the back end of the Durango to come off the ground, slung slightly sideways and back down over and over again giving it a nice "fish tail" action.

At that point, I am pretty much screwed. I couldn't speed up because he would swerve in front of me and couldn't slow down because the trailer would come in behind me. It would get within a foot’s distance from me. So my only options were to ditch in the dirt (going 65 at that time) or just keep pace until I had an opening to get the hell away.

I finally got the chance when the trailer swung him over into the far right shoulder away from me to really mash the brakes. He finally got it stopped, to my surprise, without flipping the thing over. Once he had stopped, I decided I was getting the hell off the highway and sped to the nearest exit screaming WHOOO!! like a maniac. I stopped at a safe point on the access road, shut off the bike, got off and just kind stood there for a second letting it sink in how I was almost wiped off the face of the planet by an out of control U-haul shook the load out the bottom of my pant legs.

To say the least, I was one aware SOB driving home.  I didn’t let anything get within a 1/4 mile of me the rest of the drive.

(Sorry, it wasn't truly a quick story.)

So stay safe on 2 wheels or 4 and remember to stay the hell away from U-haul/moving trailers.

Edited for accuracy.     

[Rob Pincus]

Scariest Motorcycle Moment:

I had a tire change on the Ducati back in 97 or 98, rode 200+ miles and was on an interstate doing 80 when the rear axle decided to work loose. Rear tire just-about-instantly locked up, cranked up against fender and swingarm, and bike did a whacky tail slide as I went from the far left lane, across three to the shoulder. I'm pretty sure the driver of the semi that I cut off lost sight of me and a wasp couldn't have flown between the back of my bike and the front of his truck.

I got the bike to the side of road, got off, walked about 10' away and then just sat there looking at the bike... smoking tire and all... for about 5 minutes.

Good Times!

[tombogan03884]

With that kind of "pucker factor" I'm surprised you didn't need a crowbar to get the seat out of your Butt. 

[Rob Pincus]

Didn't sink in until after I got off.... keep in mind that I had no idea what was going on..... Sudden decelaration, skidding, odd noise.... recognized rear wheel was locked and headed for shoulder...

[Sponsor]

[PegLeg45]

Didn't sink in until after I got off.... keep in mind that I had no idea what was going on..... Sudden decelaration, skidding, odd noise.... recognized rear wheel was locked and headed for shoulder...

I think it goes that way in most situations....you don't know it's coming until it gets there.

Eyewitnesses to my situation told LEO's that I did everything possible to avoid as much 'damage' as possible, but from what they saw, the collision was unavoidable and that the only thing I could do was try to limit how much damage was done.
That was my own assessment as well. It was kind of like sitting next to a stranger in a movie theater and suddenly the guy reaches up and slaps you....you can't always see it coming. When she turned into my lane (no blinker), all I could do was try to keep as much of my leg as possible from being caught between the car and the bike.

[Timothy]

Zero recollection.....green Minivan makes left turn in front of me, maybe 50 feet away at 35 mph....less than one second to react and lights out...though I was concious the whole time, I have no idea what happened but the bike never touched the van. 

I can assume that my years of exprience took over and I laid it down hard to try and slide.  The witnesses, all relatively illiterate, had four different stories.  The guy that ran over me drove off down the road and then walked back to where he ran over me.  The LEO forced him to go back to his house and get the van.

Concussions are wonderful memory erasures!

[Hazcat]

I was 18 on a CB 350.  Pull out of a gas station on the N side of a fourlane and was heaed E.  A 40 year old came out of no where (actually the bar up the street on the N side also) locked up the breaks, slid into my line and hit me broad side.  I had enough time to move my left leg out of the way.  He ran over the bike, I cleared the car end to end, hit the pavement and slid to a stop. This all happened in my lane.

Totaled my bike and the car (65 Dart).

Cop shows up in nothing flat.  Says he pretty much saw the accident and it was not my fault.  

Car guy sued, the Cop testified on my behalf and I lost! (I wonder if my punching the driver had anything to do with it?)

[True_Texan]

I was 18 on a CB 350.  Pull out of a gas station on the N side of a fourlane and was heaed E.  A 40 year old came out of no where (actually the bar up the street on the N side also) locked up the breaks, slid into my line and hit me broad side.  I had enough time to move my left leg out of the way.  He ran over the bike, I cleared the car end to end, hit the pavement and slid to a stop. This all happened in my lane.

Totaled my bike and the car (65 Dart).

Cop shows up in nothing flat.  Says he pretty much saw the accident and it was not my fault. 

Car guy sued, the Cop testified on my behalf and I lost! (I wonder if my punching the driver had anything to do with it?)

I had something like that happen to me on a dirt road. I was 16 driving a '75 Kawasaki 900. Going around a hard turn to the left about 25 mph, the guy driving an 80's model Buick broadsided me. Some how I reacted fast enough to get my leg out of the way. Kicked me off the right side and I hit the ground in a tuck-n-roll move. (My friend driving behind me said it was a bad-ass move like something out of the movies.) I jumped up right away, and stood the bike back up to keep gas from spilling out of the tank. I didn't even get a scratch on my helmet.

I got the ticket for failure to yield right of way. They said I was in his lane on a single lane dirt road, figure that one out. The Buick was totaled and I paid a buddy $20 to wield the kick stand back to the frame. Replaced 1 right side turn signal and that was all the damage. So now I can tell people that bike was built better then a Buick. 

[Hazcat]

My bike ended up under the car!  I was full on broadside to him when he hit me. (bastard!)