So, after months and months of riding safely, I had to go crash my bike...

I was on the freeway behind a car, when the car in front of me suddenly veered away. I saw something on the road and didn't really have time to veer off without skidding out, and it looked like an empty box, so I took a chance to try ride over it. It was NOT an empty box, I hit it, flew over my bike, and rolled what seemed to be numerous rolls on the freeway... Lucky for me there weren't a lot of cars and I didn't hit the road wrong, because I was able to get up immediately and check for injuries.

Aside from a few scrapes on my elbows and knees, I was completely fine. My jacket and jeans are ruined and my shoe flew off, but my helmet had no scratches at all apart from the visor.

The side of my bike is ruined, but since it was a single vehicle accident, I didn't want to claim insurance and risk it raising, so I will have to buy parts online and fix it myself. I am just glad the worst injuries are scraped up thumbs!

I'll post photos at a later date...

Glad to hear your ok. Did you have any time to slow down any? How fast where you going?

And the 1 million dollar question. What was in the box?

That was scary, man; you could have been run over!!!

I am very happy that you have survived only with minimum damage.

Your guardian angel was watching over you indeed.

And the 1 million dollar question. What was in the box?

Yep glad you are ok but like he said What was in the box?

Youch! Glad you're OK. If it was solid enough to knock you off the bike, I'd check for damage to the front forks and the front part of the frame as well, before spending time or money working on the cosmetics.

What would you do differently if you could do it over again? From your description, it sounds like more space to the car ahead may have given you more time to deal with the hazard, would you agree?

I'm still kinda glad I hit it head on, if I swerved and clipped my back wheel on it instead, I would've flown over the divider into oncoming traffic! I barely had time to slow a little. I have no idea what's in the box, because by the time I stopped rolling, I was so far away from the box that other cars were blocking it and I didn't want to go walking through traffic to look at it. I barely had time to pick up my stuff from the road (my pockets had worn through and I had left a trail of breadcrumbs from when I hit the road until when I stopped rolling.) I know I still left some stuff behind like my garage remote and a keychain (I got the keys, but the keychain decor itself had fallen off and I didn't see it.)

I still don't know what the #*()@!$#*&%) was in the #)(@*$()!@*$!@# box...

I still don't know what the #*()@!$#*&%) was in the #)(@*$()!@*$!@# box...

Could have been:

WhwbxEfy7fg

:rotflmao:

My mechanic was nice enough to give me free storage, and he gave me a list of parts I would need to buy for him to repair it. (He also gave me a quote for if he bought it of course! But I told him I would still like to price-shop a bit.) I'm not worried about cosmetics, just want to get it road-worthy so I can get back to riding :)

What would I do differently? I don't know, it was mostly bad luck, I was just pulling up behind the SUV which swerved to switch lanes and ride nearer to the line. Usually I keep my distance so I would have time to react to sudden braking, and I also ride more in the lane-sharing area so I would have a longer field of vision where cars don't block as much view... I guess more coffee would help as it was the morning commute to work and I might have been able to react faster if I was more awake? I really can't tell at this point though.

I don't think anyone's is that big and hard enough to cause me to fly like that.... Oh god, kill it! Kill it with fire!!

List of parts needed to make note-worthy (According to my mechanic):
Front brake master cylinder
Right rider footrest bracket
Right handle bar
Rear brake pedal and hardware
Yoshimura muffler strap
Turn Signals

Anybody know of any good places / parts to buy? Aftermarket is ok, preferable in some cases. Thanks!

Glad you are safe, although you are missing some things on your list to make your bike roadworthy again... Safety gear... Im glad you had some protection on when you crashed, otherwise you wouldnt be here posting your story today, you would be in a hospital bed or worse...

Even after people read this and the other stories about how gear helped(in his EVERYDAY route) people still wont wear any gear at all... What a shame, when will people learn.
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I do ATGATT, whatever gear I manage to knock together from my meager budget. Decent helmet (not top of the line but a pretty good one) Jacket, and gloves. I got the gloves with the hard knuckles, but they ripped right at my thumbs and I got road-rash there instead... My motorcycle jacket is also pretty ripped but the scrapes I got from the rip are pretty minimal, no blood at all. My jeans are pretty ripped and I had to throw them away, but also barely and scrapes under there. I had steel toed boots on (Non-motorcycle) but the laces on one broke and fell off when I was almost done rolling, but no injuries resulted from that. Also additional protection because I always have my backpack on when riding, and strapped across my chest, and I put my puffy rain-pants in there for emergencies and that provided A LOT of padding! But yeah, I do need new gear...

i dont mean to kick a guy when he is down, but ATGATT means ALL THE GEAR, all the time. jeans are not gear. non motorcycle boots are not gear. real gear survives the crash and can be worn through a few more crashes. that said, i frequently wear jeans. so i can sympathize.

you said the SUV switched lanes? it was in your lanes and switched out? or it cut you off? it sounds like you didnt have enough clearance.

Boots work good, sometimes I wear my steel toe combat boots(but mostly my motorcycle boots) you should try to get some riding Jeans or riding overpants. Normal jeans offer more protection than shorts, but still not great protection, but deff better than wearing other kinds of non riding pants still.

I got all my stuff brand new shipped to me for under 600(pants, gloves, jacket, helmet, boots, milspec reflective vest) all icon from www.parts-unlimited.com im not sure how much it would cost to replace all your gear(I got a massive discount cuz of my bro) but they do have some nice cheaper gear there that meets all the criteria. Craigslist usually has decent gear for sell once in a while.

Have you tried Ebay to see if anyone is selling spare parts?
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ebay is also a great place to buy used gear.

My mechanic was nice enough to give me free storage, and he gave me a list of parts I would need to buy for him to repair it.

It seems to me that the fork tubes, front wheel and tire have good chance of needing replacement (hard to see at a glance).

Your bones are going to hurt for a week.

Still amazed by your good luck

Glad to read you survived bro...and since you now have a new lease on life, do the wise thing and invest in gear. You don't even have to shell out large amounts of dough to have good protection (this coming from a craigslist and ebay troller) and if you wear jeans often (as I do), get yourself some knee/shin guards. Oh!...and mad props to you for even considering to get back on the saddle, I know people who've turned their backs on motorcycling over parking lot drops. Good luck fixing the ninjette up bro :)

Ouch man, glad you're ok and all...I would put a big blurb on what to do. But...it seems as though you've done a great job already. Is there any major fairing/cowling damage?

Glad you're okay! Here are some options I've come across while searching for gear myself. Hope it helps.

Riding jeans (http://www.revzilla.com/motorcycle/speed-and-strength-run-with-the-bulls-jeans)

Speed and Strength $99 Jacket (http://www.revzilla.com/product/speed-and-strength-moment-of-truth-sp-mesh-jacket)

Thanks for all your kind replies! I tried out a few riding jeans, but I'm fat in a really weird way, so most jeans don't fit right, hence I've gone with regular thicker jeans. Even though my helmet looks ok, I'm def getting a new one anyway, don't want to take a risk with the styrofoam inside being damaged already!

I've not bought a lot of parts on Ebay, because I've heard of people who sell fake parts that break upon tiny impacts, so I'd rather not go that way. I don't think I'll repair the fairings as of yet either, I need it mainly for commute, not to look good. (Even though it's still an awesome side benefit when available!)

How hard did I hit? I don't know, it happened to fast, but I remember rolling a lot and not the actual impact, so I would say I didn't hit the floor very hard, probably at an angle that reduced the impact and my rolling reduced it more... or something...

The SUV didn't switch lanes, I was pulling up behind it and was preparing to overtake it, it swerved out of the way of the box on the road but by that time I was close enough behind it that I wasn't able to swerve as well without going into a skid.

http://edge.ebaumsworld.com/mediaFiles/picture/663261/80455408.jpg

Did you at least make a police report so that the box wouldn't hurt other drivers and you could still report to the insurance company if the damage ends up being too much?

Glad you are OK. Sorry about your bike. It sounds like you may have been too close behind the SUV. Regardless of the reason, two seconds is plenty of time to react.

Yes, I hope you reported it to the police. They might actually look inside the box to find out who it belongs to and you can send the bill for everything to them.

As far as the insurance, I would make the claim unless it was minor and it doesn't sound minor. They raise the rates anyway, so why not make the claim?

Things you have learned:
1. Don't follow too closely and keep a 2-3 second distance behind the other guy.
2. Nobody hauls empty boxes on the freeway.
3. SUV's can't be trusted.