Wildguzzi.com

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: inditx on June 23, 2019, 05:31:34 PM

Title: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: inditx on June 23, 2019, 05:31:34 PM
Ok so Dave Swanson’s post got me thinking about what, we who are still riding, have hit and the results.

Oct. 2012 I hit a deer out of nowhere and broke a hand and got some road rash on a foot. Buck ran off and I idled the bike home. Thankfully it was only a half mile and it was a Rocket 3.

Some time after that my headlights attracted a bat! Yep a bat and it was DOA after slamming into my windshield/instrument cluster. Again on the Rocket 3, liked that bike but glad I got rid of it before hitting anything else!

inditx
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Yeahoo Whoyah on June 23, 2019, 05:40:46 PM
As I posted in the other thread, time to order Road Kill Animal Hit Tally Decals!

(https://i.ibb.co/Vj3TNHL/Road-Kill-Animal-Hit-Tally-Decal-Sticker-50046-1511153271.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Vj3TNHL)
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: s1120 on June 23, 2019, 05:47:27 PM
No four legged stuff...  I did run through a swarm of june beetles...  That was fun, I was covered with welts!!  Next was a swarm of lightening bugs....  I glowed for a bit after that.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Turin on June 23, 2019, 06:17:19 PM
Early morning commute to work during the summer on my Quota. Helmet on, jacket partially open, I cut through a residential neighborhood. The noise of the bike startled a flock of pigeons that were feasting on freshly laid grass seeds. The birds took off crossing the road in front of me. I felt a pat against my chest. Must of hit one. Hop on the freeway, head across the city, exit the freeway, and stop at a light. I felt some movement at my ribcage. Looked down and saw my stow aways beady little eyes staring back at me. Fully opened the coat and shooed him off. He sat there for about 15 miles.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: MarkMk on June 23, 2019, 06:31:33 PM
I hit a 'Roo, it tried to turn around to hop away,  just in time to poke my gear lever into it's eye socket, which promptly snapped off, I didn't go down, but my left leg took a pounding,
 After stopping, I hobbled back to check the 'Roo, who was in a bad way, so I put it out of it's misery with a large rock to the head, "POP", out came the gear lever end, which was later welded back in place & remains so 35 years later,,,,
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Guzzistajohn on June 23, 2019, 06:31:40 PM
Hit a rabbit coming back from the races in DuQuoin one time. It landed in the lap of a BMW rider behind me.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Daleroso on June 23, 2019, 06:38:24 PM
Years ago. A turkey buzzard, a possum & a huge yellow/black supper sized bee that hit my visor & then YOWEEE, something bit/stung me in the crack of my ass. Got to the side of the road asap doing a jig for a few moments & found it dead on the seat. Stung me through my jeans.
Got home, told the wife who laughed to tears at the 50 cent size welt 2" down the crack of my ass.
Remember it like it was yesterday.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: cliffrod on June 23, 2019, 06:44:43 PM
I've never hit a deer on a bike.  Even if typical Guzzi protocol frowns upon it, the "Loud pipes save lives" mantra seems viable. Riding out to see my current wife at her camp (on a large peninsula) while dating on the Guzzi, I never saw a deer anywhere.  Shark gill silentiums with no baffles, mainly because I never had them. During some monsoon-level rain, she told me to just take her truck home and pick up my bike later.  Driving the same route in a quiet, proper muffler truck, there were easily two dozen deer each way every time except during the midday sun.  She said seeing many deer every trip was normal, but they could hear me coming into camp as soon as I left the main road so expected the deer did as well.

I have collided with two large diving hawks- one on the V7 Sport in TN and one on the FLH in VT.  Each time, it was like having a giant tank bag attacking you. I saw it coming on the Guzzi- no real problems.  Hawk came straight in, tried to stop but still ending up between my chest/arms and tank. Open face half shell, so there was a lot of feather thrashing on my bare face before he left.

It was different on the FLH. 70ish mph on the interstate, saw a little blur moving in over right arm, then had something between me and the windshield flogging me.  By the time I understood what it was, I was able to turn enough for it to get away without too much wobble on the bike.  There were some small feathers stuck in my full face helmet when we got home..  Wife was riding on the back that time.   Didn't crash either time, but may have without the leather jackets.  Each one was scratched up.

Riding alert but relaxed helps.  You've got to be ready to simply (no pun intended- simply meaning automatic & reflexive, not hesitating while thinking) react.  Seeing a first deer means expecting the next one right behind it,,probably moving faster to catch up.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Green1000S on June 23, 2019, 06:45:45 PM
Fat groundhog, rabbit, squirrels, few birds, chipmunk and snakes.

No dogs, cats, deer or bears. :thumb:
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: inditx on June 23, 2019, 06:51:26 PM
These are great stories, keep em coming!

My brother, won’t say which one, had a bee or wasp fly up his nose while riding a dirt bike. Pulling out wings, legs etc., he finally got the bike stopped and did a "workman’s" cough to blow it out his nose!

We were young so we did what brothers do, we laughed when he came home because his nose had a big goose egg lump on it from the swelling!

Yowee!
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Scud on June 23, 2019, 07:12:59 PM
I have hit some interesting road debris, most notably, a big truck in front of me kicked up a pipe that was in the road, and it came straight at me. All I could do was curl up into the tightest ball I could while still controlling the bike. I heard the impact, but didn't feel anything... so kept riding till safe enough to exit the freeway. This was on a 1996 BMW R1100RT. The pipe punctured right through the saddle bag - and the saddlebags on those late 90s RTs were heavy, double-walled, ABS. I spent about 2 minutes thinking about what it would have done to me... asked myself what I could have done differently, decided I was following a big truck too close, instantly adopted a new habit and moved on.

Long ago, when I was young and thought wearing shorts on a motorcycle was a good idea, my shorts acted as an air-scoop and took in a wasp... which is more fun than a bee, because wasps can sting you several times. Fortunately, it was low speed and I was able to get off quickly. That was the end of riding in shorts.

So.. while I did not intend to do so, both of my stories ended with me deciding to change my own riding habits. Is that a theme anyone else?
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Rochey42 on June 23, 2019, 07:34:29 PM
Narrowly missed a black bear cub yesterday morning.  It was trying to cross the road at the end of a sharp blind turn and the poor thing didn't know what was going on.  Luckily I got out of there before mom crossed.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: 80CX100 on June 23, 2019, 07:38:48 PM
     I'm very conscious of the deer close to home around the farms, I don't like to ride at night, been lucky so far, I don't see as many deer back in the bush. I used to be an avid traditional bow hunter, so I'm very aware of funnels, edge lines, fences etc, the topography that the deer usually follow.

     But deer can be so unpredictable, a fellow rider on a Suzuki Bandit at "speed" close by, hit one on a main road, middle of the day broad daylight,cut the deer completely in half,,, insurance wrote the bike off,,,, the rider walked away with a few bruises. :shocked:

     I came close to getting a turkey in the head&shoulder area, but was luckily able to duck down low to the tank as he flew by,,, I took out a little Sparling with my right elbow, and the front fork/fender area has taken out a large black Crow.

     The scariest thing I almost hit, happened on a late night 40 yrs ago, ripping along at 75-80 mph on old hwy #16 on a 76 KZ900 w Windjammer, I couldn't see clearly at night because of the reflection of the gauges off the windshield, but I noticed what seemed to be a long wiggly line of what I thought was white toilet paper in my lane,,, as I went by the end of it, I realized it was a fire hose that had fallen off a truck; when I saw how close I came to the huge 2' long thick brass nozzle,,, severe sphincter moment at that point  :grin:

    Kelly
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: normzone on June 23, 2019, 07:49:39 PM
I can't match these -

Sparrow to the crash bar once, just had to wash him off.

Bees inside the helmet twice, stung once, the others flew away when I took it off.

I met a riding girl who said an empty plastic gallon milk jug came up and hit her in the breast, hurt significantly.

Tractor trailer crunched a pallet to shreds, I went through the kindling cloud without injury on my Eldo but began thinking about fairings.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: stubbie on June 23, 2019, 08:18:28 PM
On the road along the coast there is one particular park with a lot of low coastal scrub and a flock of swallows that at certain times of the day like to dart around the road catching bugs. Forgot about them one day and had one hit the fairing on my Le Mans at about 50mph. Another day driving home past the local golf club saw something hit the road about 10 feet in front of me. Luckily I decided to duck, a golf ball slammed into my helmet if I hadn't ducked I would of wore it straight in the face.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: TodkaVonic on June 23, 2019, 08:22:39 PM
Just birds, thank goodness.

1) A red winged black bird hit me square on my helmeted forehead and then dropped like a stone into my lap. I lifted my butt off the seat and the wind swept it away.
2) At highway speed hit a tom turkey running with wings aflappin' across the road. I swerved a little to the right and braced myself. It hit my fairing and then my right bicep then it went into the ditch. The impact caused my right hand to inadvertently flip the kill switch so it was swerve, brace, bam!, wooooooooosh. Just the wind and boy was it eerie. The impact also sent my front brake reservoir off to who-knows-where, so no front brakes, a throbbing right bicep, and a banged up front fairing/missing windshield for about 80 miles. The insurance guy says "yeah, I seen a turkey knock the roof off a car!" Don't know about that but they're more hearty than they look. (Almost said taste...stupid bird). 

Nate
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: TodkaVonic on June 23, 2019, 08:24:48 PM
Early morning commute to work during the summer on my Quota. Helmet on, jacket partially open, I cut through a residential neighborhood. The noise of the bike startled a flock of pigeons that were feasting on freshly laid grass seeds. The birds took off crossing the road in front of me. I felt a pat against my chest. Must of hit one. Hop on the freeway, head across the city, exit the freeway, and stop at a light. I felt some movement at my ribcage. Looked down and saw my stow aways beady little eyes staring back at me. Fully opened the coat and shooed him off. He sat there for about 15 miles.

That's terrific!
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Rough Edge racing on June 23, 2019, 08:37:01 PM
 Years ago I was on a crowded 4 lane highway..A 4x4 piece of lumber fell off a flatbed truck and there was right in front of me laying across my lane with nowhere to go but over it...67 Triumph 650 going about 50 MPH when I hit it...The bike never wiggled just two jolts ...I pulled off when it was safe...A smile in the front rim, tire still inflated..
  Same bike  in the city going down a side street at maybe 30 mph when a car backs out right in front of me...I go left, miss the car, up and over the curb, hit a bunch of metal trash cans and lose control smashing into a house porch..The front tire poked through the lattice work but no real damage..I looked up and a hippie girl on the porch leaned over, handed me a joint she was smoking " you need this".
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: kballowe on June 23, 2019, 09:19:12 PM
I hit a big turtle, earlier this year. 

It wasn't too far down the road that I was smelling fried chicken.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Ncdan on June 23, 2019, 10:56:23 PM
Probably the worst and scariest, going on a wreck call, as a motor officer, running 80+ mph, coming up behind a large van truck which straddled a short piece of 4 by 4 in the center of my lane. I hit it straight on....BLUMP BLUMP and that was it. No damage to the tires or wheels. I guess the speed lessened the impact. However my arse ate a good size piece of the seat of my pants.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: rocker59 on June 23, 2019, 11:22:06 PM

Usually, it's just rocks or lumber in the roadway.  Bent rim, and not much drama.  However, there was this one time in 1984:

-1979 Pontiac Firebird.  Driver ran a stop sign, pulled out in front of me, then panic stopped and froze when he saw me.  I hit the left front fender and cartwheeled over the hood.  Landed on my feet and walked away.  Witnesses were freaked out and couldn't believe it.  1983 CB650SC was totalled.  Firebird had a helluva crease in that left front fender. 

Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: kirb on June 24, 2019, 06:35:43 AM
A small bat- the aftermath was quite disgusting
Whitetail deer- broken ribs, Fib, rehab for 8 days with a totaled Stelvio.
Raccoon- lucky that was on a KTM with a 21" wheel- rolled right over him
Turkey- yea, those suckers are big.
Missed a small bear cub...didn't see mom, thankfully.
Various small rodents, nothing of note
Something skipped off the crash bar once...not sure what it was.
That little ankle biter of a dog in my neighborhood only runs after motorcycles. I keep an eye out for him, but one of these days his ticket is going to get punched.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: JC85 on June 24, 2019, 06:47:36 AM
A high like nothing else can give me.  :thumb:
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: paul in rochester on June 24, 2019, 07:19:31 AM
Hit a pigeon at speed with the fork of my GL650.
Giblets all over my leg, and I was pulling feathers out of the radiator for weeks.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: severely on June 24, 2019, 07:28:44 AM
Gosh, where to begin? Animals I've hit: dogs/5 or 6; cats/ 2 or 3; rodents/ too many to list; hoot owl/ at least 2; buzzard/ 4 ;wood  duck/1 ; wolverine/ 1; armadillo/5, to name a few. Animals I've ALMOST hit: bear, mule deer, whitetail deer, antelope, moose, elk, and last but not least a jaguar in Nayarit Mexico. Ride safely. :bike-037:
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: larrys on June 24, 2019, 07:30:22 AM
I hit a large, black dog at night that just happened to run across the road in front of me. I was going about 30 mph and saw black fur in my headlight and then I came to sitting in the road next to my bike and a dead dog. Got 60 stitches and a bunch of road pizza on the left side of my face. I met the future Mrs. larrys a week after the accident. I think she felt sorry for me...
My almost new SP had 998 miles on it.
Larry
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Beowulf on June 24, 2019, 07:37:34 AM
Haven't been riding long. I got hit by a semi tire losing its tread. A foot and half long chunk hit me in the chest and part of my helmet going 70 miles an hour. Call me a wimp but that hurt. No damage other scratches to my helmet and tear on my old jacket. Glad i was wearing gear. What a noise!
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: maquette on June 24, 2019, 08:55:20 AM
Hit a turtle yesterday on the way home from the VA Guzzi Rally. Me-1  Turtle-0
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Guzzistajohn on June 24, 2019, 09:04:29 AM
I hit a big turtle, earlier this year. 

It wasn't too far down the road that I was smelling fried chicken.

 :thumb:  MMmm chicken, they taste like chicken don't they?
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: SteveRivet on June 24, 2019, 09:05:10 AM
I hit a pigeon on I-95 going about 70 mph.  Point of contact was my left foot on the toes.  It felt like I'd kicked a medicine ball.  Pigeon liked it even less.

Steve
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Texas Turnip on June 24, 2019, 09:13:28 AM
We'll go back to 1959 when I started riding my Harley. I was riding on a rural gravel road when a farmers dog ran into the side of the bike bending the crash bar and breaking the fuel line. The farmer said it was country and you didn't have to pen your animals. He didn't have a phone (this is 1959) so I walked 4 miles home and my dad came out and hooked a rope to me and the bike for the ride back home.
We are sitting drinking cheap beer when I'm thinking of revenge to the farmer. So later that night I got some corn from the crib, shelled it and thru it on the road by the farmers. The next morning at daybreak the chickens are enjoying their breakfast and I come plowing thru with the Harley sending feathers and guts all over the place.

In my million plus miles I can't name all the stuff I've hit.
Armadillos give you a lift in the air for a second. Cats, squirrels, rats are just a thud.
Was riding on a gravel road in WY when I encountered thousands of butterflies. The tips of my boots and even my hands were covered in dead ones.
I hit one skunk and it went flying in the air just missing another biker riding behind me. No smell, lucky,eh? Seagulls make the bike shake.
At one time, 50% of my riding was at night so I've hit my share of road debris.

And the worst thing that I've hit was two years ago when a pickup that had stopped at a stop sign and then pulled out in front of me only 3 miles from my house. 15 broken bones and I'm still not on a bike.

Tex
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: kballowe on June 24, 2019, 09:21:04 AM
:thumb:  MMmm chicken, they taste like chicken don't they?

That's what I heard, and it was making us hungry.  We went riding around, looking for a place to get some chicken but ended up at a Chinese restaurant.

THAT wasn't chicken.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: fubar guzzi on June 24, 2019, 09:35:31 AM
 :popcorn: Hit a pedestrian in the mountains of New Hampshire---pitch black,no moon/stars could barley see the headlight at the end of the handle bars,two guys walking down middle of road,unknowing I went between them   :evil:  I wonder if they made it??????  Had a fight with a semi  :weiner:  took a real beating with that one,however the truck couldn't get away fast enough(we call that a phantom hit n run) I was in I.C.U.7days---sent towing bill to ALL State road service,they refused to pay up cauce I didn't report the accident to them within 48hrs---I was in I.C.U.  :thewife: 
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: MGrego on June 24, 2019, 09:36:12 AM
On my V11 Lemans, came over a slight rise in the road at highway speed and there were a half dozen turkey buzzards directly in my lane trying to take flight and avoid colission.  Ducked my head down and wham !  -- Feathers in my rearview mirror and a wobbling buzzard headed for the ditch.  Felt like I gut hit over the helmet with a sandbag....
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Siamese on June 24, 2019, 09:42:47 AM
Just a squirrel.  A couple days ago.  He ran out like it was his mission to get hit, but turned around when he got to my bike.  Too bad for him, he jumped up when he turned and got hit squarely by my right foot. 

Other that that, in forty years of riding, nothing. 
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Siamese on June 24, 2019, 10:01:49 AM
Oh...something hit me.  I'll try to keep this short and pithy. 

Trail riding in 1968 when I was 14 with my dad and some of his buddies.  I'm last in line.  Riding along at 20mph or so in the Michigan woods, and I saw out of the corner of my eye, something coming out of woods straight at me at high speed.  Whack...a large hornet hit and stung me in the neck.  I was geared up, and only a small part of my neck was exposed.  I stopped my bike and the others stopped.  Dad was mad at me for stopping but his buddy marveled at my bad luck.  Ouch.

Kept riding, and the EXACT same thing happened.  It came out of the woods way too fast to dodge and got me in the same spot.  I stopped.  Dad pissed.  His buddy put some mud on a bandana and wrapped it around my neck.  Felt better.  Kept riding. 

Maybe twenty minutes later.  EXACT same thing happened again.  Because of the bandana almost no skin was exposed, but this third hornet, hit and stung right on my neck.  I stopped.  Dad fuming and silent.  I let the group know that I was done for the day, and returned home.  Dad still silent, but his buddy said he'd do the same.

Twenty-five years later I run into the buddy, skiing in northern Michigan near where I met the hornets, and on the chairlift, he asked me if I remembered the hornet incident.  I said, yes, and asked him if he remembered how many times I got hit.  He said "THREE"!  Over the years I sometimes wondered if it was really three (because three would be ridiculous) or just two, but this confirmed it. 

Wasn't until even more years later that I wondered if somebody/something was telling me to turn back and go home. 
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: slowmover on June 24, 2019, 10:13:59 AM
On a 71 Triumph I hit just the corner of a foot long 4x4.It flipped up and it went flying past my left ear.No harm done but to this day I keep a BIG space cushion.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: BrotherJim on June 24, 2019, 10:26:57 AM
As mentioned in other posts, good ol' four-point Odocoileus virginianus center punch at about 60mph on my Suzuki Bandit 1200.  That was a doozy.  Next was a fatty Didelphis virginiana dead center on my Yamaha TW200 at about 50mph.  Just a next day flat rear tire after that one.  The craziest thing was when I was riding my Triumph Thunderbird Sport on I-69.  In the left lane at about 70 mph in heavy traffic, a group of a-holes in a retired, beater P71 a couple cars ahead hoisted a laser printer out of the back window and dropped it on the shoulder.  That thing exploded and immediately spun into a mass of plastic, glass and metal shrapnel, with pieces of it hitting my bike, face-shield and jacket.  No injuries or damage, but probably one of the more memorable, unnerving things that has happened to me on my motorcycle.  If a near miss counts, I was coming home from Lexington, KY on I-74 on the trusty Bandit, soaking wet in a thunderstorm, when just ahead of me a one-piece fiberglass tub/shower unit hauled by a pickup truck took flight and landed hard on the pavement a couple of car lengths ahead!  I was able to dodge that mess, but decided I had better take a breather and took shelter under the next overpass.   
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: cloudbase on June 24, 2019, 10:45:46 AM
I had a kamikaze bird fly right into the side of my helmet on U.S. 69 in Commerce, right by the Mickey Mantle statue.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: lucian on June 24, 2019, 11:08:07 AM
https://ibb.co/kD5JaF

https://ibb.co/iLyJ9a

https://ibb.co/k6Cvpa

https://ibb.co/nz1uhv
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: tcunnien on June 24, 2019, 11:28:33 AM
Hit a deer and a few seconds later hit the road. Bike totaled, deer totaled, Myself, two broken wrists and legs that looked like I was attacked by a cheese grader. Still remember the pain when they were cleaning out the asphalt particles out of my legs. I couldn't get enough morphine that night. Haven't wore jeans riding since. A painful lesson to learn but a lesson none the less.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: guzzisteve on June 24, 2019, 12:52:05 PM
Hit the asphalt today,  front end washout, front brake only, should have used the rear. Nothing like sliding in for a R/H turn at a stoplight. Belly flop on right ribs. Real slick road and my 32K mi Metz 880 front getting sorta hard. It'll go another 5K but pushing it you can make it slide(not good).
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Sheepdog on June 24, 2019, 01:38:08 PM
About the biggest thing I ever hit was a 1966 Baracuda. It was in college and a cute girl waved. I didn't see the 'Cuda until I hit the rear bumper and found myself on the hood...
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: v7john on June 24, 2019, 03:55:15 PM
Following a friend when his registration plate fractured at the bolt holes and took off. I could see it coming but, as we were both "making progress" and much too close to each other. I couldn't miss it. Hit me edge on in the face and broke my goggles. Got away with just a black eye.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Moto on June 24, 2019, 04:49:25 PM
1 human being, the local Triumph motorcycle dealer. He was drunk, I was young and reckless. Nice guy. Flipped him over the handlebars and into the gutter.

2 dogs.

No injuries to me in these encounters. My victims were not so lucky. Long time ago.

Moto
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Bill on June 24, 2019, 04:50:45 PM
Have hit a couple of snakes toward their tail. In  both cases my fellow rider behind me said the snake(s) instantly turned in an attempt to bite me or the bike. Hit a huge tortoise on the edge of it's shell,  he flipped up and knocked my foot off the peg. Kinda' funny if he lived. On two occasions I've come up on buzzards that instead of flying off to the side lifted straight away in front of me. Last thing I saw was a  buzzard right level with my eyes. I ducked down, closed my eyes and somehow I missed them. Me thinks the big windshield's  upper draft pitched them over my head.  Recently had a car stop in front of me for no reason on a green light at a clear intersection. That one hurt, bike totaled. Deer do concern me so in deer  country I'll not ride at night nor sunrise sunset. Also I slow my pace if it looks deery. The damn forest rats are so  unpredictable.
Bill
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: nc43bsa on June 24, 2019, 04:58:01 PM

https://ibb.co/k6Cvpa

https://ibb.co/nz1uhv

That'll buff right out.   :grin:
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: adaven on June 24, 2019, 06:10:03 PM
About 40 years ago on 101 north of Willits a large flying stinging insect flew into a hole in the crotch of my jeans. I dropped the bike and pants and and the insect next to the highway.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: cloudbase on June 30, 2019, 11:54:17 AM
Not nearly as bad as what almost happened to this guy.

https://youtu.be/r4pnQ3zBU9M (https://youtu.be/r4pnQ3zBU9M)
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: nealwp on June 30, 2019, 12:04:35 PM
I hit a deer. It yanked the handles bars out of my hands and my bike and I went for a tumble at about 55mph. I broke the little and big bone in my right leg. It was a life changing event. It took two years to fully recover. My Bassa faired much better than I did. The engine guards and hard bags save a lot of damage. I could have ridden it home if my leg wasn't broken.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: chuck peterson on June 30, 2019, 01:53:16 PM
Card table..

Upside down on the hiway..

With the legs open..

Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Vagrant on June 30, 2019, 01:59:18 PM
Two dogs, two Mallard ducks a turkey butt at least four small birds several snakes about a dozen grey squirrels and too many bees that took out their hateful last sting on various of my body parts.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: MacGlennon on June 30, 2019, 04:24:31 PM
Just went down this past Monday. According to my wife, the cops said that I hit a street sweeper. I have no memory of this event, all I recall was heading home- parts of that ride and then waking up in the ambulance while the paramedic was attending to me. A friend that saw me in the road said that I was sitting up and talking to the cops but I don’t remember any of that.
I’ve got some road rash but I really didn’t slide- just hit the thing and went over. Bruised tailbone and a concussion and that’s pretty much it to me.
The bike (2017 v7 Special)- bizzarely unscathed. The hit was right at headlight level so took out the headlight and instruments. Forks straight, f wheel straight, even the handlebars appear unbent oh yeah and a small dent in the tank. The only bummer is that the electrical connectors that live up there on top of the forks are damaged so it seems a partial wiring harness replacement might be necessary.
All-in-all, myself and the bike seem to have come out of this pretty well. I don’t know really what happened, which bugs me, but maybe I’ll have to come to peace with that and use this as a notice to be more vigilant.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Gliderjohn on June 30, 2019, 04:27:32 PM
From MacGlennon:
Quote
Just went down this past Monday. According to my wife, the cops said that I hit a street sweeper. I have no memory of this event, all I recall was heading home- parts of that ride and then waking up in the ambulance while the paramedic was attending to me. A friend that saw me in the road said that I was sitting up and talking to the cops but I don’t remember any of that.
I’ve got some road rash but I really didn’t slide- just hit the thing and went over. Bruised tailbone and a concussion and that’s pretty much it to me.
The bike (2017 v7 Special)- bizzarely unscathed. The hit was right at headlight level so took out the headlight and instruments. Forks straight, f wheel straight, even the handlebars appear unbent oh yeah and a small dent in the tank. The only bummer is that the electrical connectors that live up there on top of the forks are damaged so it seems a partial wiring harness replacement might be necessary.
All-in-all, myself and the bike seem to have come out of this pretty well. I don’t know really what happened, which bugs me, but maybe I’ll have to come to peace with that and use this as a notice to be more vigilant.
WOW! Glad all came out as well as it did. Hope you can find out more from the investigation of what may have happened.
gliderJohn
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: MacGlennon on June 30, 2019, 06:37:21 PM
Thanks, John. That’s the the thing about this that has me so spooked. That there was this thing that apparently I didn’t identify as a potential crash unfolding in front of me. I have nothing to review- no way to know what I did or didn’t do to avoid this accident.
Obviously it’s on me. As motorcycle riders we go out there every day. It’s our own abilitiy to predict or foresee hazards and situations that could lead to a bad result that keep us from harm. All my training and years of riding should’ve helped me avoid this. Maybe I’ve taken my skills a little for granted or allowed my self to believe that it couldn’t have happened to me- I’ve been riding for over 40 years and never struck another vehicle.
It’s humbling.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: hzbloke on June 30, 2019, 08:29:34 PM
I was going fairly quick when a crow hit me on the left shoulder. It hurt so much that, even though I was wearing a jacket, I really expected to find blood or at least bruising. But there was nothing. So if you ever want to beat someone up and not leave any marks forget the phonebooks and use a dead crow.

Again going fairly quickly I was close enough to having a serious run-in with a kangaroo that its tail knocked my mirror around.

I was riding 20 meters or so behind a mate on a road covered in locusts (over near Omeo about 10 years ago). He was fine and just rode through/over them. But his passing scared them up a couple of feet in the air. The front of my bike and my legs looked as if I'd been slimed, but with lumps.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: wavedog on June 30, 2019, 11:19:08 PM
Riding long hours cross country years ago, I hit the wall.
When I used to fly the mail, I hit a deer while landing on Center Island in the San Juans.
The most memorable was when I was 17, riding a Honda CB 350 and picked up a 19 year old girl that I sort of knew. She was hitch-hiking (it was the early 70's). Dude - those were good times.
The rest is just the usual stuff, birds, snakes, debris. A friend I was riding with ran over a porcupine. That was exciting.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: steven c on July 01, 2019, 09:03:44 AM
 The ground a few times. And bees, 2x4's, birds, something cartwheel from under a car and hit my boot, that hurt, glad I didn't have sneakers on.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Noguzznoglory on July 01, 2019, 01:01:45 PM
had a hawk glance off the top of my windscreen once. but once while looking up at the weather in order to choose my route home i ran over an island that seperates the lanes of a divided highway at an intersection.
the front wheel hit with a major bang that i thought would have to bend or break it. when the rear hit the curb it bounced the back of the bike up in the air and bounced me up off the seat so high it felt like my feet were above the seat. i dropped back down, landed on the pegs and kept going. no damage
wife was following on her spyder, scared her half to death
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Steve Scott on July 01, 2019, 03:59:47 PM
Riding home impatiently from Baltimore MD to Middleway WV late one night, maybe 12:00 AM or so Westbound on Rt 70 in the rainy darkness and going way too fast. I barely had time to notice a tractor-trailer tire lying on its side in my lane... didn't even have time to cuss, just started to get my butt off the seat and weight on the pegs (accursed Jackal forward-sets!) and FLOP! I hit it. Not BOOM! or Bang! but FLOP! It was only the tread from a separated retread and it just collapsed when I hit it.

Slowed down a bit after that.
Title: Re: What have you hit while riding? NGC
Post by: Guzzistajohn on July 01, 2019, 04:11:54 PM
I had a wasp (or something) hit ME 4 times under my shirt tail Saturday on a ride. that was not fun!