Weirdest low-speed crash

[ilikefood]

So yesterday I'm coming home and slowing down as I'm turning into my driveway. All of a sudden my front wheel slides out and I end up on the ground. The culprit? No, not oil or anything like that, but a piece of thin plastic, same color as the road, that someone left in the street. It looks like I rolled over it as I was braking and turning, at maybe jogging speed, and lost the front. In the second photo you can see how the plastic got scraped on the underside. Probably one of the weirdest things that happened in my 18+ years of riding motorcycles.

The good thing is that I was riding my DRZ instead of my Multi, so no discernible damage to the bike. Normally I would be on the Multistrada, but it's at Super Plush getting new fork seals. And I was coming from work, so I was wearing my full getup, with big moto boots and Aerostich, so no discernible damage to me either.

 

[sf250gto]

That's a new one. Glad you and bike are OK.

 

[madsen203]

ATGATT :thumbup

 

[hayseed]

I hate plastic; non-recyclable moreso.

Recently, I stood with caution before riding, having noticed a banana peel next to my moto.

"Not today!" I thought.

25 minutes later, I slipped on orange peelings while backing into a spot near work.

"Compost, damnit!"

 

[psychocandy]

I've run into that before, probably more than once. A piece of cardboard at the beginning of a sweeping onramp for me on my LC4. I think my rear went over it. Pretty minor but also pretty proud of myself for saving it.

 

[ScottRNelson]

You can have similar issues with leaves, soft drink cans, and various other flat things that can slide.

I remember leading a group ride in 2009. When we got to the south end of Palomares Road we were turning around in a driveway to make another run the other direction. I was on my XR650L and went in a bit deep to make my U-turn, not thinking about the leaves my front tire was going through. As soon as it hit those, the front wheel continued straight instead of the sharp turn I was expecting of it. The bike went down and I was left standing there. I invoked the five-second rule - if you can pick it back up and continue on your way within five seconds, it didn't really happen. :laughing

That drop bent the shifter a bit more than it was already bent and I had to do a little work on it when I got back home - something I had been putting off doing. It was much better than it had been after being properly straightened.

I've had my XR650L for nearly nine years now and I'm sure it's been down at least a dozen times. I've never ended up on the ground, though, since they were all low speed drops and I've always managed to step away from the thing. I only ever did any serious damage to it one time when I broke the handlebar clamp off, then had to ride it 90 miles back home like that.

 

[bikeama]

Glad you had so little damage. I put my foot down on a plastic bag when I pulled into my garage. Foot went sideways and the ST1100 went over, cracked the windshield and pinned me to the wall. Heavy ass bike, 20 minutes later the wife get home and says what are you doing. :mad

 

[FreeRyde]

I had a co-worker run over a black water bottle in SF, instant face plant while cornering.

The world is a dangerous place...

 

[ctwo]

I'd rather hit oil than sheets on pavement.

 

[HeatXfer]

My wife goes crazy when MotoGP riders drop their tear-offs on the track during races. She's sure somebody's going to lose the front end when they ride over them. I told that would never happen, the plastic is too thin.

I'll have to show her this thread; she'll call me a liar.

 

[Ogier le Danois]

So yesterday I'm coming home and slowing down as I'm turning into my driveway. All of a sudden my front wheel slides out and I end up on the ground. The culprit? No, not oil or anything like that, but a piece of thin plastic, same color as the road, that someone left in the street. It looks like I rolled over it as I was braking and turning, at maybe jogging speed, and lost the front. In the second photo you can see how the plastic got scraped on the underside. Probably one of the weirdest things that happened in my 18+ years of riding motorcycles.

The good thing is that I was riding my DRZ instead of my Multi, so no discernible damage to the bike. Normally I would be on the Multistrada, but it's at Super Plush getting new fork seals. And I was coming from work, so I was wearing my full getup, with big moto boots and Aerostich, so no discernible damage to me either.

It happened to me on garage sale sign. Boom.....on the ground.

Glad no major damage. :thumbup

 

[ThumperX]

One of the most beautiful things I ever saw was Yamma Emma on a Vampire's Pirate Ride. She placed the front wheel of her DRZ on a paper plate down at Fort Point and executed a sliding steppie while clad in pirate gear

Yaaar!

 

[vkb]

One time was coming to a stop at a light and just as the bike was almost stopped the front end just went skating off to the left. Bike actually sorted of twisted and ended up laying on it's side between my legs were I stood. Still lodged under the front wheel was the culprit, one of those lane reflector bump things that had come off the road and was upside down showing it's asphalt camouflage.

 

[asdfman]

You can have similar issues with leaves, soft drink cans, and various other flat things that can slide.

Ah, my first crash. Good memories.

 

[Strigoi]

I went down on my old XRL while pulling into a friend's driveway. I managed to hit the spot right where the driveway starts turning into the curb just right, which made the bars go full lock and I just went down. I was going walking speed and the only damage was a broken bar end mirror (and a bit of my pride as several people saw). Just one of those stupid things.

 

[ilikefood]

You can have similar issues with leaves, soft drink cans, and various other flat things that can slide.

I remember leading a group ride in 2009. When we got to the south end of Palomares Road we were turning around in a driveway to make another run the other direction. I was on my XR650L and went in a bit deep to make my U-turn, not thinking about the leaves my front tire was going through. As soon as it hit those, the front wheel continued straight instead of the sharp turn I was expecting of it. The bike went down and I was left standing there. I invoked the five-second rule - if you can pick it back up and continue on your way within five seconds, it didn't really happen. :laughing

That drop bent the shifter a bit more than it was already bent and I had to do a little work on it when I got back home - something I had been putting off doing. It was much better than it had been after being properly straightened.

I've had my XR650L for nearly nine years now and I'm sure it's been down at least a dozen times. I've never ended up on the ground, though, since they were all low speed drops and I've always managed to step away from the thing. I only ever did any serious damage to it one time when I broke the handlebar clamp off, then had to ride it 90 miles back home like that.

I like the 5 second rule applied to bikes

At least with cans and leaves it's usually possible to see them. This thing was perfectly camouflaged in with the street surface. It's a bit darker than the sidewalk in the photos, but the surface of the street is a bit darker than the sidewalk too, so it blends in.

 

[ilikefood]

My wife goes crazy when MotoGP riders drop their tear-offs on the track during races. She's sure somebody's going to lose the front end when they ride over them. I told that would never happen, the plastic is too thin.

I'll have to show her this thread; she'll call me a liar.

To be fair, this piece of plastic was thicker than a tear-off, maybe the thickness of 5-10 sheets of printer paper or so. A tear-off would disintegrate as soon as the tire smeared it into the ground, but this thing was a lot tougher.

 

[monkeythumpa]

In high school, I used to get McDonald's food trays and put them under my rear tires on the Geo Storm and pull the handbrake. Then I would dick around on the front wheel drive doing spins in parking lots. It makes a hell of a racquet but it is like your rear tires are on ice. The trays last about 3 minutes before they are shredded.

 

[wedosurfer]

In high school, I used to get McDonald's food trays and put them under my rear tires on the Geo Storm and pull the handbrake. Then I would dick around on the front wheel drive doing spins in parking lots. It makes a hell of a racquet but it is like your rear tires are on ice. The trays last about 3 minutes before they are shredded.

I remember when people used to do this! There used to be 10+ cars in the local school parking lot every weekend, just SPINNING :rofl

 

[meldog21]

With all the similar crash stories maybe it wasn't so weird. I've seen one myself right in front of the old Milpitas Honda. A guy on a brand new looking bike slid the front wheel and went down on an upside down botts dot that had become dislodged from the road. So this kind of crash appears to be somewhat common?