Your fastest get off (Poll added)

[HardAspie]

Have yet to have a fast get off. 

Keep it that way. I am sending Vibes Of Verticality your way.

[Arizona Wayne]

Keep it that way. I am sending Vibes Of Verticality your way.

All my get offs are slow speed.   Don't even break any bones. 

[HardAspie]

Hey, to everyone here who has taken a roll or a tumble or a slide or taken up some form of aviation while riding. I am glad you are here to tell of it. Safe riding!

[Lcarlson]

About 12 years ago, high wind drove a large cardboard box into the front wheel of my Buell M2 Cyclone, taking me down at about 50 mph. Result: eight broken ribs and the collarbone they hung on. Call me Captain Crunch. It was not good, but I was back on my bike shortly before I could return to work. Only significant get off in forty years.

[oldbike54]

 275 mph  OK OK , it was only about 65 , race track SoCal , but it felt like 275 , landed in sand . One of the incidents that made me realize I had no future as a motorcycle racer 

 Dusty

[Rox]

Mine was at 85 mph on my Street Triple about 3 years ago. For those familiar with San Diego I was coming down the H Street  on ramp to the 805 and hit an obstruction in the road and rolled down the 805 N to the next overpass.. probably rolled 1/4 mile.  Made an error of judgement trying to stop the roll and burned off both my palms and wore an abrasion into the muscle of my left calve. Was laid up 3 days at Hillcrest and only 2 weeks out of work. I was back up on 2 wheels 4 weeks after... When you fall off the horse you gotta get back on..

My hardest fall was when my rear end locked on my Rocket 3. High sided at 50 and just thrown on my face to  the road. If I wore my Buco like I planned that night I'd probably be dead. I have the helmet in my garage to remind me of it  .

[HardAspie]

275 mph  OK OK , it was only about 65 , race track SoCal , but it felt like 275 , landed in sand . One of the incidents that made me realize I had no future as a motorcycle racer 

 Dusty

Sounds like a speed version of the windchill index.

[oldbike54]

Sounds like a speed version of the windchill index.

 My First Sargent gave me a windchill index when he found out what I'd been doing to get myself dinged up  Tried to tell him my broken fingers happened during a fight in a sleazy bar in Riverside CA , he knew I didn't drink damnit 

 Dusty

[HardAspie]

My First Sargent gave me a windchill index when he found out what I'd been doing to get myself dinged up  Tried to tell him my broken fingers happened during a fight in a sleazy bar in Riverside CA , he knew I didn't drink damnit 

 Dusty

Sounds like the Sargent was more a problem than the wreck.

[oldbike54]

Sounds like the Sargent was more a problem than the wreck.

 Well , we weren't supposed to get ourselves killed , that was the military's job  At least he didn't tell the CO , of course the major that was our commander rode MC's , he might have been more understanding 

 Dusty

[HardAspie]

Well , we weren't supposed to get ourselves killed , that was the military's job  At least he didn't tell the CO , of course the major that was our commander rode MC's , he might have been more understanding 

 Dusty

My brother in law was career USCG. According to him, when one is on the service the government literally owns that person. They have invested a lot of time and money into that someone and become quite put out should that someone get injured by way of anything they consider tomfoolery.

[Arizona Wayne]

275 mph  OK OK , it was only about 65 , race track SoCal , but it felt like 275 , landed in sand . One of the incidents that made me realize I had no future as a motorcycle racer 

 Dusty

Now that you mention this incident, I forgot about the time an Ahole decided he was going to go into turn 3 @ Willow Springs Raceway faster than I was going............la id his ass right in front of me and I had to take evasive action  or run his ass over...........so I ended up running off the track, found a drainage ditch and clipped my chin with the handlebar mount of my 305 Yamaha.  This was before full face helmets existed.  It bent my front forks and for that I never made the actual race.     Looking back I shoulda run the Ahole over but didn't have time to think about it.  I was probably doing about 50 mph approaching the corner.

[Adk.IBO]

1976, maybe 1977... a friend needed a car to pick up and tend to his child, my suggestion? Trade for the day. I had a '71 MonteCarlo- he had a 1972(?) Suzuki 750 Water Buffalo. I ran the bejeepers out of it all day, had a ball! On my way back to return the bike, hot summer day, nice country straight away to wring it out one more time. Hit redline in 4th gear, shifted to 5th at 85 mph. Everything went silent, rear wheel locked up, slid one way, slid the other way, then the bike slid out from under me. Remember the  hot day? Tar had boiled up on the road surface making a softer surface to slide on. ATGAT even back then, good boots, new heavy jeans, leather jacket, gloves, good helmet. Slid on my butt until the pockets wore through, things started getting hot, the bike sliding and sparking along in front of me crossing the center line. Put my feet down and began the tumble and roll over and over until I came to rest in the oncoming lane with the borrowed bike in the opposite ditch. Thankfully no traffic! From where the skid mark started to where the bike ended up was 270 paces. Come to find out the 2 stroke motorcycle, that had oil injection, had run out of oil and seized the motor. Could have saved it by pulling in the clutch! Poured some oil in and fired it right up after it cooled. Replaced the fork legs, had the tank repainted, and as I recall returned the bike weeks later after $700 out of pocket repairs. Still have that leather jacket (does not fit) with scuffs and black tar marks from the crash. Came out of it with a sore shoulder from the first flip. Very blessed I am!

Stay safe, John

[Tobit]

Off road.  1973, on my Hodaka 125 Wombat wound out in third gear or so in the desert near El Paso.  Must have been doing all of 40mph when a jackrabbit took me out.  Landed and slid on my right shoulder, watching the big rock get bigger and bigger as it got closer to my right temple.  It made a nice gash in my sparkly blue Rocky helmet, right about eye level.  My shoulder still bothers me 43 years later.

Also on the Hodaka, in the El Paso desert, following a buddy on his Kawi enduro over a jump in an area we'd never ridden before, he twitched to the right in mid-air.  It was too late for me.  He missed the concrete foundation of some forgotten army building but I caught it with my left big toe upon landing.  Holy F***!  Hello pain.  Broken toe.  Speed?  Probably about 45.  Stopping distance?  Maybe 10 feet.

Also on the Hodaka, trying to impress a female classmate in the neighborhood park adjoining the desert, (we were in 9th grade) I wheelied through the swing chains and almost made it.  The clutch lever ball - end caught a chain and threw me on the ground, then dropped the bike on top of me.  Speed?  Maybe 10 mph.

I don't ride Hodakas anymore.

Tobit.

[HardAspie]

1976, maybe 1977... a friend needed a car to pick up and tend to his child, my suggestion? Trade for the day. I had a '71 MonteCarlo- he had a 1972(?) Suzuki 750 Water Buffalo. I ran the bejeepers out of it all day, had a ball! On my way back to return the bike, hot summer day, nice country straight away to wring it out one more time. Hit redline in 4th gear, shifted to 5th at 85 mph. Everything went silent, rear wheel locked up, slid one way, slid the other way, then the bike slid out from under me. Remember the  hot day? Tar had boiled up on the road surface making a softer surface to slide on. ATGAT even back then, good boots, new heavy jeans, leather jacket, gloves, good helmet. Slid on my butt until the pockets wore through, things started getting hot, the bike sliding and sparking along in front of me crossing the center line. Put my feet down and began the tumble and roll over and over until I came to rest in the oncoming lane with the borrowed bike in the opposite ditch. Thankfully no traffic! From where the skid mark started to where the bike ended up was 270 paces. Come to find out the 2 stroke motorcycle, that had oil injection, had run out of oil and seized the motor. Could have saved it by pulling in the clutch! Poured some oil in and fired it right up after it cooled. Replaced the fork legs, had the tank repainted, and as I recall returned the bike weeks later after $700 out of pocket repairs. Still have that leather jacket (does not fit) with scuffs and black tar marks from the crash. Came out of it with a sore shoulder from the first flip. Very blessed I am!

Stay safe, John

My 1974 Zook GT 550L did much the same to me albeit at a lower speed. Suddenly the silence was frightening and the tach needle went for zero. I did get the clutch pulled and so the rear wheel lockup amounted to a short chirp and the thing was rolling again. I thought, oh my, the engine has seized. Turned out otherwise though. These GTs were Suzuki's first series of bike with electric start, and the design was not good. The starter sprague could seize and spin the starter motor at such a speed that it would explode in its housing and lock it all up! Eventually there would be a TSB, but my dealer apparently did not have that on hand. After several replacements and with my noting that the starter issue could happen even if I had been using the kick, I let that one go.

[Muzz]

Fastest slow speed get-off. My wife and I hit a huge oil slick that ran down the road edge (on a hill) and out in to the corner. We slid parallel to the curb up the road after sliding out in the corner. Happened so fast neither of us can remember actually going down.

Highest speed get-off, going to sleep on the Matchy probably doing 65-70 mph. Bike (so I am told by the family picnicking in the lay-by next to the corner) that they heard the bike coming fast down the straight, with the father saying to his family that unless that guy slows down REAL soon he is not going to make in round the corner. Didn't even try. Bike evidently veered slowly off the road, hit the edge where the seal met the verge, and flipped. I slid along on my front and stopped right on the edge of the drop and the bike sailed over the edge (this is where the memory kicks in ) landed on it's back wheel and leapt in to the air and hit a pine tree at about the 8 foot mark.

A credit to British engineering; with their help I managed to get it going and with slipping the clutch and them pushing got it up a fire break and back on the road. Made it back the remaining 200 odd miles to Christchurch, with the bike looking just a little beat up.

[swordds]

So many ways to crash on a motorcycle!  But if I eliminate the crashes caused by going way too fast, and reduce the threat of those caused by invisibility by not dressing like a Navy SEAL or 007 on a secret mission just to look cool in black (seriously, most roads are asphalt and most asphalt is black so how better to camouflage yourself than dressing in black and riding a black motorcycle?), and reduce the chance of low sides or high sides caused by locking up my breaks by having ABS, and reduce the chance of spin-off by having traction control then I am feeling fairly safe, except for kamikaze animals and truck tire alligators and large sheets of wind blown cardboard.

I think ABS and traction control are great things but now I am curious how many people have been in accidents they feel could have been prevented by this technology?

[canuguzzi]

Poll added. ^^^

[v7john]

Not me, but a friend during a group ride in the 70s. On a dual carriageway, making progress at around 80mph my friend was on his 860 Ducati when he was hit in the face by a seagull. I was behind him and got covered in blood and guts (from the bird). He was knocked out cold and I just missed him.

My fastest get off was only about 30mph and was one of those end-over-end, down-the-mountainside trips into the countryside.

[welshrob]

ok, so. are we going for who has the record here?  a brief skimming shows 85mph is tops so far.

Google tells me that 175kph is 108mph. Which is the speed I fell off at. I had ridden around that corner dozens of times, usually at 160kph, on that day I was feeling extra tall, bulletproof and talented so decided that I could go even faster, which is why I checked my speed as I set up for it. I was also in 5th gear instead of 4th, which I usually took that corner in.

but the poll asks about ABS/ traction.  is the thinking that if im going 85 and hit the ABS that i will avoid the wreck.  or is it that at 85mph ive hit sand or oil and the traction control will save my butt.  at speed things happen quickly. if its an object or other vehicle you can swerve better than you can brake.  your ABS will only slow you down a bit before you crash.  or is it related to braking in a curve.  that would be about the only place it would help , and then thats just a band aid covering up for poor riding skills.

I have a Triumph Explorer which has Traction Control and ABS and my Guzzi doesn`t. They are IMHO, excellent rider aids the ABS probably much more so than Traction control. They are AIDS, not a miracle cure for bad riding and both are more use at lower speed rather than higher. I would love ABS on my Guzzi V7 but traction control is IMO pointless on a bike with the v7`s power output. It`s hard to break traction on the v7 it, unless it`s wet and you ride like a mong.

 My Explorer has 135hp, 121nm of torque but runs a relatively narrow 150 section rear tyre, so if I switch the traction control off and ride hard in the local mountains, leaning right over and touching the pegs in 2nd or 3rd gear, the TC light comes on coming out of every corner, telling me that it`s controlling the rear wheel spin. It would be an easy bike to hiside without it.

ABS saves lives in two ways. Both in an emergency braking situation. One is when you are using maximum braking force on the front, the rear becomes very light and it`s easy to lock up which can result in you laying the bike down. The other is that being confident enough to hit both brakes as hard as you can in an emergency, even on a wet road without fear of a lock up means you will stop in a much shorter time. On an non ABS bike in an emergency you are always trying to balance shortest stopping distance with not locking the wheels up and for 99% of us this will mean braking well UNDER the maximum potential of the bike, which results in a much longer stopping distance.

The hard bit is having two bikes, one with rider aids and one without. In an emergency you don`t get to think, you just react and it can be easy to get it wrong, I know I`ve done it! Braking too hard on the Guzzi and locking the rear and not braking hard enough on the Explorer, worried about a lock up which of course won`t happen!

[swordds]

I believe traction control could come into play on a V7II in preventing some accidents caused caused by hitting ice, oil, sand, gravel or other slick surfaces that might otherwise cause the rear tire to loose traction and slide out. It doesn't necessarily take super bike torque to spin the rear wheel unintentionally depending on road conditions.

[HardAspie]

The two actual "offs" that I have been such that I doubt that any rider aids could have prevented. In one the bike simply had inadequate chassis; the other was a few hundred feet of ice hidden my the road profile. My guess is that ABS can and does prevent crashes in some cases.

[ohiorider]

It wasn't totally unlike us in the 1960s to put down a beer or two at the local bar before riding home (sorry, guys .... we did.) 

I'd left a buddy's house in December, 1965, near Christmas, on an incredibly warm evening, much like today here in Cleveland (60F in Feb.)  I was riding my lovely A10-powered BSA Spitfire Scrambler, when I noticed I needed fuel.  So I turned up an unfamiliar street, heading toward the main drag with all its gas stations.

Keep in mind, this was a BSA with a 6v generator and no battery ..... just a generator to keep the headlight and taillight illuminated, so there wasn't a lot of candlepower being generated.

I approached a parked car that was sitting with it's front end into the road, like the driver had just given up trying to park, and left the front of the car sitting way out in the road.

I made a smooth curve around the car, only to find (with 5 candlepower) that the road didn't go thru, but that I'd ridden into a turn circle.

Wham!  At 30-40mph, I hit the curb, and now I was  ripping through a back yard, airborne.  I recall whipping past a window of a house and seeing people surrounding a piano, apparently singing Xmas songs. 

Then, thank God, a clothesline rope caught me about chest level and pulled me off the bike, and I went sliding bu*t first across the wet lawn, taking out a few shrubs.  The bike continued on its path.

I finally came to a stop, but couldn't find the BSA.

It has gone over an 8-10 foot drop off into a church parking lot.  The Beezer had flipped upside down before it hit any pavement, and was firmly wedged in a bunch of high weeds that served as a barrier between the two properties.  Not a dent, but a front wheel had most of its spokes broken.

Walked back to my buddy's place, and we returned and extricated the Beezer from the weeds.  It was rideable (barely), but 8 months later, she and I were on the trip of a lifetime, a round-trip ride from Charleston WV to Port Isabel TX.

So that was my get-off.

[Stormtruck2]

65mph/105kph hit a 76 Chrysler Newport Custom.Weight 4539 lbs/ 2059kgs.  My 1979 Yamaha XS 11 Special.   Weight 569 lbs/ 258 kgs, plus me at 175 lbs.  Hit it in the right front wheel.  Did my Superman imitation over the hood of the car, then landed chest first on the pavement.  Busted the chin bar off my Bell Helmet and ruined  my day old leathers.  I bought the bike on Friday, Saturday I hit the car.  200 miles on the bike.  ABS wouldn't have helped, only levitation would have. 

[Guzzistajohn]

On the street? no. All have been low speed goofs. Dirt? Too many to even remember. Sure I would have crashed anyway

[oldbike54]

65mph/105kph hit a 76 Chrysler Newport Custom.Weight 4539 lbs/ 2059kgs.  My 1979 Yamaha XS 11 Special.   Weight 569 lbs/ 258 kgs, plus me at 175 lbs.  Hit it in the right front wheel.  Did my Superman imitation over the hood of the car, then landed chest first on the pavement.  Busted the chin bar off my Bell Helmet and ruined  my day old leathers.  I bought the bike on Friday, Saturday I hit the car.  200 miles on the bike.  ABS wouldn't have helped, only levitation would have.

 "175 LBS" 

 Dusty

[Arizona Wayne]

If you are really a competent rider on your MC you don't need ABS.  I see guys here who can't wait to de-link their built-in linked braking Tonti system as if it's a negative feature.  In fact it's a mechanical ABS system on the street.  The only reason you should want to de-link it is if you are going to actually race that bike and even then you are going to have to learn how to make up for the de-linking you dis-connected when needed.  ABS makes up for a rider's inabilities.

[v65tt]

I had a near miss over the christmas break on the TT, came into a small painted mini island going about 10mph intending to go straight on ( my right of way ) and a 57 seater coach coming onto the island did not see me  ( 55w headlamp, white helmet and hivis yellow RST jacket FFS) and as he clipped me I was able to lock the front wheel and carefully drop the bike on the slippy wet island and walk off it.

Even local Police biker who responded the accident said it was lucky i had locked up and slid under the front rather than take a direct hit!

Not a mark on the TT or me.  Having ridden lots of V7II and Stelvio's I can really see the benefit of ABS/ASR etc but this was first time I was glad I could lock the wheel

[welshrob]

If you are really a competent rider on your MC you don't need ABS.  ABS makes up for a rider's inabilities.

That is your opinion. Luckily it is not one shared by the majority of motorcycle rider training schools, motorcycle safety organisations, the motorcycling press and the motorcycle industry. Basically anyone that has done any testing in a controlled environment.

A VERY experienced rider, might be able to pull up a non ABS bike, in the same distance as an ABS bike on a flat road, with a good surface, in the dry, if he is focused. But how will that same rider manage after a hard day`s riding when he`s tired? After he`s distracted because of an argument with the wife? Or feeling like he`s coming down with a cold or flu, or wearing wet clothes? Or on a steep downhill on a wet greasy road? Or on a road he`s never ridden on before with a rough surface? Or even all of the above together? Can he consistently do it EVERY SINGLE TIME? Can he f**K!

ABS, will not get tired, distracted, ill, inattentive or inconsistent. It does the job and it does it every time, all of the time. A job that even an excellent road rider will only do some of the time and what 98% of road riders can`t do at all. The job is stopping the bike in the shortest distance physically possible without locking the wheels.

I will keep an open mind to opinions to the contrary though, if anyone would like to post a video of themselves doing an emergency stop on a non ABS bike, at speed on a steep downhill slope, in the wet, I would love to see how you fair!
 

And, as nobody yet seems to have invented a magic spell to turn a new rider into an very experienced rider overnight, ABS is a great way of keeping new riders alive until they get 20 years of saddle time under their belt.

[RANDM]

In the wet - Coming up to French's Forest through Forestvlle from Lane
Cove, 45/50mph on a K2 Honda 4. 3 lanes each way running
up to a big intersection with Islands and the inside lane turning
left (Aust - drive on the left side of road). I'm I the centre lane,
Mercedes comes up on my right, I looked at him, he looked at
me - eye contact and that "knowing" that we "saw" each other.

Prick changed lanes into me anyway, saw him coming and went
for the left hand turn and two wheel drifted into the island defining
the turn. Hit at almost 90deg, got shot up in the air about 6ft flying
flat and level watching the bike barrel roll beneath me and thinking
"I'm gonna land on this" but didn't as it dug in and stopped, I landed
about 4ft beyond it and rolled. I was so pissed off and wanted this guy's Balls
so bad I just jumped up and ran to the bike flipped it up without
thinking and had jumped on and got it going again before I
realised the forks were twisted among other things, bastard
got clean away. Lucky to get away with it, but close calls were scarier.

Bell's Line going Bathurst doing 120mph and seeing a yellow blob in
the distance that quickly grew into a D9 cat on a trailer doing
about 30mph and having nowhere to go - grabbed everything I could,
madly changing down and watching that big bitch get bigger. Got down
to his speed about 2ft from it, pulled over, got of somehow and
sat down and shook for 5 mins.

Old Road from Gosford to Sydney on the back of a Yammy 650
racing a mate on a fully "Duntallised" Bonnie and a Kwaka 500.
Getting up over 100mph on the shortish straight bits. Taking a
right hander with a clearing on the left where a family were having
a picnic lunch. I was looking at them when we hit a tree root lump
going across the lane which chucked the bike up I the air. Must
have hit the frame cause both wheels left Mother Earth, lucky
again because all we did was land about 2or3 ft outside our line
and carried on a little chastened. I can still see the look on one
of the kids faces though 40 yrs later - all big round eyes and
mouth going OOHH. I'm sure I left fingerprints in the grabrail!

Going back to Sydney from Bathurst through Victoria Pass on
The back of a Triumph 750 Tiger with those big low Megas.
Long right hand sweeper with a fall through trees on the left at
70mph or so and the Muffler grounded lifting the back wheel
of the deck. Both of us put a foot down and pulled it back up
On the tire - thanking the Road Gods we had firemans boots
with Leather soles on. Probably left fingerprints there too.

Maurie.