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Totaled my R3 - Rust in Peace

14596 Views 54 Replies 29 Participants Last post by  ahakanc90
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Towards the end of my ride yesterday I crashed my bike into the guard rail. Came too fast into a downhill right turn and it got tighter once I was already in the middle. Ended up in the oncoming lane, target fixated to the guard rail and bam... I clearly remember the two seconds before the impact, staring at the rail and hitting the brakes. I could have probably saved it, but probably wasn't experienced enough, only 1200 miles on record. I had so many close calls like this but I simply didn't have my lesson. I was addicted to the adrenaline that comes with riding fast around the corners. It had the feeling of being on a rollercoaster.

I was actually happy after the crash, in the sense that such a big lesson came with a little price, in terms of bodily injuries. There was no oncoming traffic. I ended up being hospitalized with only couple deep cuts in my left knee which I was able to get away with couple staples and some road rash on my left arm. On the other hand my bike was not as lucky as me, front was completely smashed, wheel came off and forks were broken. I guess it absorbed most of the impact.

Lesson learned: if you are planning to go above twice the speed limit, better make sure that your gear is more than a helmet and you wont be upset when you crash your bike. I was only wearing gloves, jeans and a long sleeve sweater. If I had knee protection I would be able to leave the hospital much earlier and wouldnt have to wear a knee immobilizer today. If the cuts were slightly deeper on my knee I would have had to go through surgery.

My bike's photo 15 minutes before the crash.



sucks to end up in hospital after being at such a nice place





I had full insurance with 500$ deductible. I filed my claim today, lets see how it goes. I definitely want to keep riding, hopefully my finances wont be a limitation.
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Towards the end of my ride yesterday I crashed my bike into the guard rail.

S#!*, oh S#!*.

That's 2 bad crashes in one week for Forum members.

Glad you weren't hurt badly and major Props to you for sharing about the crash and the lesson learned. Good to hear you plan to ride again. I bet T-rav_12 would advise you to get a Red or Black one next time since they're slower!!

ATGATT, always.

Nice place. Where is that?

Cheers!
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Towards the end of my ride yesterday I crashed my bike into the guard rail.

S#!*, oh S#!*.

That's 2 bad crashes in one week for Forum members.

Glad you weren't hurt badly and major Props to you for sharing about the crash and the lesson learned. Good to hear you plan to ride again.

ATGATT, always.

Cheers!
Thanks man, sharing eases the pain and sorrow. One accident is more effective than thousand advices. I stood up to ride again, hopefully very soon, before winter comes.

haha, this was actually my after crash fantasy, ending up with a different color, red preferred :)

This place is Lake Wyola in Massachusetts. It is a rider's heaven around here, countless twisty roads in deep forests.
Thanx for the honest account of your accident. Glad you came out fairly well. It's not always easy to admit truth when it involves yourself being a ding-dong. Many of us have been there, whether while learning to ride, or even after much experience (Lord knows I've crashed my share of bikes due to my own folly). Sorry about your bike getting wadded up. That always sux. Hope you heal fully and soon, and I hope insurance comes correct for you. I'm happy to see your eagerness to ride again too. Hopefully you learned valuable lessons about PPG (Personal Protective Gear) and personal limitations. The best and most important thing here is that you'll get to ride another day!

LOL, Fang, you wiseguy. But you ARE right...LOL again.
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Thanx for the honest account of your accident. Glad you came out fairly well. It's not always easy to admit truth when it involves yourself being a ding-dong. Many of us have been there, whether while learning to ride, or even after much experience. Sorry about your bike getting wadded up. That always sux. Hope you heal fully and soon, and I hope insurance comes correct for you. I'm happy to see your eagerness to ride again too. Hopefully you learned valuable lessons about PPG (Personal Protective Gear) and personal limitations. The best and most important thing here is that you'll get to ride another day!

LOL, Fang, you wiseguy. But you ARE right...LOL again.
Thanks trav, I believe it is a very important step to admit that you messed up on the way to being good at what you are doing. Accidents are all about chances, if I avoided this one I might have been involved in a much serious one. I simply underestimated the risks involved with riding and it got me.
Good to hear you are ok. Hope you learn what you did wrong to prevent future accident. Personally, on a new road that you haven't ridden on with your bike you need to take it slow or I call it a practice run. Once you get used to it or remember all the corners, traffic, and road condition ride it at your own paces/control. Anyhow, have a fast recovery man.
Good to hear you are ok. Hope you learn what you did wrong to prevent future accident. Personally, on a new road that you haven't ridden on with your bike you need to take it slow or I call it a practice run. Once you get used to it or remember all the corners, traffic, and road condition ride it at your own paces/control. Anyhow, have a fast recovery man.
Exactly! I was going to write this in my OP, if you haven't memorized the road, do not go fast on it. Thanks man!
First off, I am very sorry to hear about your accident. Sometimes, the only way to learn is to make the mistake yourself. Hopefully I will be able to keep my stuff straight as I ride more. I am already feeling confident in my riding (<400mi.) I hope to be able to keep myself in check and not push myself beyond my capabilities. Luckily, I ride with others (except for daily commuting) who help keep from doing anything stupid.
First off, I am very sorry to hear about your accident. Sometimes, the only way to learn is to make the mistake yourself. Hopefully I will be able to keep my stuff straight as I ride more. I am already feeling confident in my riding (<400mi.) I hope to be able to keep myself in check and not push myself beyond my capabilities. Luckily, I ride with others (except for daily commuting) who help keep from doing anything stupid.
Thanks man, I am glad to see that people are coming up with stuff I forgot to write about. Never let the confidence fool you, keep your focus at 100%.

As you stated it is much more safer to ride with responsible riders that know you are beginner and will keep you within your limits. Unfortuntately most of my nasty fast riding habit came from a friend whom I was riding with couple times. As you get used to speeding up, it starts feeling usual, but it will get you if you ignore it's consequences for a split second, which is what happened to me. I wish you an accident free thousands of miles on your R3, hopefully I will be a good example at least to the new riders.
Heal up quick...


On another note, thanks for the honest feedback on your accident. I have met many out there over the years and 99% of all riders in accidents in the twisties always blame it on an animal or gravel when in reality, it was target fixation aka tunnel vision.
Out of curiosity have you taken a Motorcycle Safety course? All you really have to do is LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!!! If you fixate on the guard rail, you'd better bet that's where you'll end up!!

Glad you're okay!! Keep riding! :)
Out of curiosity have you taken a Motorcycle Safety course? All you really have to do is LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!!! If you fixate on the guard rail, you'd better bet that's where you'll end up!!

Glad you're okay!! Keep riding! :)
I agree
Out of curiosity have you taken a Motorcycle Safety course? All you really have to do is LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!!! If you fixate on the guard rail, you'd better bet that's where you'll end up!!

Glad you're okay!! Keep riding! :)
Do this! You will thank yourself many times over.

Good to hear you are ok and hope you heal up fast, but, if you want to go fast, get on the track.

There are many track day organizations out there. Use them to your advantage. The track is the only place you should be pushing it. Good run off, emergency vehicles already there, and a lot of experienced control riders to help you out.

I gave up riding on the street because I felt it was to dangerous. You never know where the next patch of gravel will show up. Especially mid turn.
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Out of curiosity have you taken a Motorcycle Safety course? All you really have to do is LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO!!! If you fixate on the guard rail, you'd better bet that's where you'll end up!!

Glad you're okay!! Keep riding! :)
Do this! You will thank yourself many times over.

Good to hear you are ok and hope you heal up fast, but, if you want to go fast, get on the track.

There are many track day organizations out there. Use them to your advantage. The track is the only place you should be pushing it. Good run off, emergency vehicles already there, and a lot of experienced control riders to help you out.

I gave up riding on the street because I felt it was to dangerous. You never know where the next patch of gravel will show up. Especially mid turn.
I did take the MSF course, and it was very useful. Once at night I was able to swerve from an animal in the middle of my lane thanks to what I was taught in the course. I was also riding pretty good and barely had target fixation issues at moderate and slightly higher speeds.

But when you panic at high speeds, you forget everything and it all comes down to reflexes, which I haven't built enough of during my 1200 miles experience apparently.

Before I went into the curve I was thinking random stuff, and this had a huge part. I was thinking why my fast riding friend hadnt invited me to a ride for a while, and I thought maybe he wrecked his bike. Couple seconds later I was on the ground..
Heal up quick...


On another note, thanks for the honest feedback on your accident. I have met many out there over the years and 99% of all riders in accidents in the twisties always blame it on an animal or gravel when in reality, it was target fixation aka tunnel vision.
Thanks man.. It is my philosophy to admit my weaknesses so I wont be dumb enough to repeat them.
Im gladyou are okay. You can always get a new bike its just that if you get hurt the doctors may not be able to put you back togather to full 1oo% you will be a better rider for in in the end trust me.
Hope everything turns out well with the insurance mate. It's good to hear you're all okay. These are one of the many things you only want to do one time in your life. It goes like that with all the mistakes in life, but (again) as the Dutch say: "een ongeluk ligt in een klein hoekje; an accident lies in every corner";)
Sorry to hear about the accident ahakanc90, but also awesome to see you have such a positive attitude about it and are looking to learn from it! Good on you and hope the recovery is speedy and the motorcycle gods bless you with a new ride soon.
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