July 3rd, 2013, 04:34 PM | #1 |
ninjette.org member
Name: Gary
Location: Homer, AK
Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54
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Hit Something but Didn't Go Down
Well I survived.
Was out riding today about here when I discovered this in the middle of the road: According to The Internet, that's a sand shoe from the landing gear of a semi trailer. What it's doing in the road is anyone's guess. I swerved to avoid it, but it caught my bike on the left side of both tires as well as the fairing. Tires are holding air, but since I was on the way to the local motorcycle shop for some routine maintenance anyway, I've asked them to inspect the tires to determine if they need replacement. Damage to the fairing is only cosmetic as far as I can see, but I'm sure it would be quite expensive if I decide to replace it. A little bit more about the scenario. I was stopped at a red light at the street just west of the point in the map above. I was the third or fourth in line behind a few cages. When the light turned green, everyone accelerated and the gap between me and the cage in front widened to my normal following distance, about 3-4 seconds. When I first saw the object, I was traveling at about 30 mph, speed limit is 35 mph, in the center third of the lane. With cages in lanes on both sides of me, I chose to swerve right to avoid striking the object head on, but I had to remain within my lane for obvious reasons. I did not brake, but I got off the throttle without disengaging the clutch. The glancing impact caused the object to slide left and into another lane, and though I didn't go down, I was immediately concerned that there was damage to the bike and that I could go down any second. Fortunately, I was able to stop the bike safely off of the road in a bus stop and do a damage assessment. My family was following in our cage to give me a ride home from the shop and they were probably more freaked out about it than I was. I walked back to move the object out of the road, but I didn't get to it before a woman in her cage hit it and got a flat left front tire. While we were waiting for the police to come and write a report I changed her tire for her and we took pictures of the damage to each others' rides. I consider myself fortunate for not going down or making the incident worse by impacting another vehicle, but as is typical I'm sitting here wondering what I could have done better. Any thoughts?
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July 3rd, 2013, 04:42 PM | #2 |
sail away
Name: Jon
Location: San Jose
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Sounds like you did pretty good. Seems like a small object, though, so you must have seen it pretty late. If that was the case, then the only thing I would have done differently (if I had time) is try to keep the throttle steady or only roll off very slightly. If I saw it very very late I would have committed to driving right over it and praying.
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July 3rd, 2013, 04:51 PM | #3 | |
ninjette.org member
Name: Gary
Location: Homer, AK
Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54
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Quote:
And yes, the nearly exact image of what I saw before I acted is fixed in my head because I'm sure that I stared at it for at least a second, first recognizing what I was looking at, then evaluating my options, then deciding what to do before acting. I'm not sure if that's what you mean by 'late,' but that first step of recognition was probably about a second after it passed beneath the cage in front of me and into view, leaving very little time to go through the rest of the process. Hitting it directly was the last, worst option in my opinion, so I'm glad that I at least avoided that. Thanks for your thoughts.
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July 3rd, 2013, 05:20 PM | #4 |
wat
Name: wat
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look farther ahead. the fact that you couldn't see around the cage in front of you means you were doing something wrong.
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July 3rd, 2013, 05:28 PM | #5 |
Daily Ninjette rider
Name: Hernan
Location: Florida
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Gary,
The shop may not be able to determine the real damage to the tire, simply because it is internal (if any) and it will show up after many more miles, hopefully like an evident deformation. That cut in the rubber seems deep enough to have caused some internal damage, but that is just speculation. I would keep an eye on it if the shop states it is all OK. Regarding the reaction time and swerving, only you know if you could have clear the obstacle completely. If you believe that you could have swerved more in a car, there is room for you to improve your avoiding maneuvers. The good thing is that you now know that the danger is real and it can happen again; hence, the smart thing to do is to train and to get ready for the next one. Check these out: http://forums.superbikeschool.com/in...?showtopic=109 http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=137312 http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=114372
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Motofool .................................Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly "Mankind is composed of two sorts of men — those who love and create, and those who hate and destroy. Love is the bond between men, the way to teach and the center of the world." - José Martí |
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July 3rd, 2013, 05:47 PM | #6 | |
ninjette.org member
Name: Gary
Location: Homer, AK
Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54
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Quote:
I read the first article that you posted, but didn't see the second two until I hit reply; thanks for offering that up, and I'll be sure to read what you've suggested. Strangely enough, I've thought about this before and I regularly practice avoiding potholes - by necessity, not choice - in a similar fashion that I tried to avoid this obstacle. I think what got me here was its height, and I suspect I was in the second (lean left) phase of a swerve to the right when I struck the object, exacerbating the problem by leaning the bike closer to the obstacle. In any case, you're right: I will get on the bike after it's safe to ride again and try to improve my skills.
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We do what we must because we can. |
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July 3rd, 2013, 05:58 PM | #7 |
I'm crazy,your excuse is?
Name: Winston
Location: Connecticut
Join Date: May 2013 Motorcycle(s): 250 2007 ninja Posts: A lot.
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You did your best and lived to tell. All is good. Just practice practice practice!
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July 4th, 2013, 12:52 AM | #8 |
ninjette.org member
Name: Gary
Location: Homer, AK
Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54
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Update: Local shop says tires are fine and I rode it to work rather than home as it was closer and I picked it up during Honolulu rush hour traffic. I plan to leave it for a couple of days to make sure the tires aren't losing air, then take it back home to wash it and do a thorough inspection myself. I'll probably still replace the tires soon anyway, even though there are less than 4000 miles on them.
Also, I notified the insurance company even though I had no intention of making a claim. Turns out that may have been a bad idea, because they are telling me that for their purposes, this is a collision and it will affect my rates. That's quite the message to send: Take 3 MSF courses to develop the skills to avoid a collision, then execute them properly so that there is no bodily injury and only cosmetic damage to the bike that I'm not asking them to pay for, but they'd better raise my rates because suddenly I'm a higher risk. I'm not quite sure what to think about that.
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July 4th, 2013, 04:40 AM | #9 | |
ninjette.org guru
Name: Thomas
Location: Montréal
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Quote:
Correct me if I'm wrong but, you should try to ride in the left third of the lane, usually that part of the lane is "cleaner" of debris, oil, gravel and the like. But I know you were in the middle lane of a three way road, so staying in the middle third lets you keep the same distance from car at your left or right. Difficult choice, but I'd rather ride in the left side, it's easier to see car on my right than something laying on the road away from my sight. My small deux cennes... |
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July 4th, 2013, 08:22 AM | #10 | |
Daily Ninjette rider
Name: Hernan
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Quote:
@Jiggles may have an advice.
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Motofool .................................Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly "Mankind is composed of two sorts of men — those who love and create, and those who hate and destroy. Love is the bond between men, the way to teach and the center of the world." - José Martí |
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July 4th, 2013, 08:24 AM | #11 |
Jigglin' your Jiglets
Name: Sean
Location: San Jose, Ca
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Tell them if it affects your rates then you are switching companies
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July 4th, 2013, 08:45 AM | #12 |
ninjette.org certified postwhore
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That doesn't seem right to me. I would talk a little more in depth with them about that. If you don't understand/agree with the answers from the insurers, I'd consult (off the record) some legal help for information on insurance law. That doesn't make sense to me that a non-claim would affect your insurance rates and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
The way I see it, you did well to ride through that without injury. If anything, you're less of a liability because you've shown that your'e able to cope with roadway surprises an not require a claim be made... |
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July 4th, 2013, 08:59 AM | #13 |
Certifiable nontundrum
Name: Harper
Location: NC Milkshake stand
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I saved a lot of money on insurance by switching to guyco
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July 4th, 2013, 09:05 AM | #14 | |
The Corner Whisperer
Name: Chris (aka Reactor)
Location: Northern KY
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Quote:
Drop them like a bad habit if they raise your rates. Simple fact is no change to policy, no claim means no rate changes.
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July 4th, 2013, 09:09 AM | #15 |
I'm crazy,your excuse is?
Name: Winston
Location: Connecticut
Join Date: May 2013 Motorcycle(s): 250 2007 ninja Posts: A lot.
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I believe that hitting debris would be comprehensive not collision and therefore not affect your rate.
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1 out of 1 members found this post helpful. |
July 4th, 2013, 12:20 PM | #16 | |
not an actual panda
Name: dan
Location: philadelphia
Join Date: Aug 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2008 Ninja 250, 2009 CBR600RR (Sold) Posts: A lot.
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Quote:
Find out if your rates will really be affected. Do you have any other accidents or tickets on your record? If they really do raise your rates I'd switch. |
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1 out of 1 members found this post helpful. |
July 4th, 2013, 02:39 PM | #17 | ||||||
ninjette.org member
Name: Gary
Location: Homer, AK
Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54
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Thanks to everyone for looking this over and offering advice. It's very helpful to have a few different perspectives on this event and I appreciate the time and thought you've all shown here.
Quote:
On this particular road, I chose the middle third because the lanes were so narrow and there was a lot of merging traffic. As you can see from the map in the original post, there's a lot going on where this incident happened and I thought that being in the center would give me a bit of a buffer if anything approached from the sides. Turns out that, as is often the case, the danger was directly in front of me. In most cases, I would choose the left third just like you are suggesting. Was my choice a contributing factor in the incident? Certainly. Was it a bad decision? I think not. But I absolutely won't say that you're wrong about anything that you've pointed out. Quote:
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July 7th, 2013, 09:58 PM | #18 |
ninjette.org member
Name: Gary
Location: Homer, AK
Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54
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Update:
After washing the bike including both tires, it looks like my front tire is unaffected. What I took for damage from the object appears to have been a minor imperfection from manufacturing. It was just a bit of extra rubber in one of the sipes. Rear tire looks to have surface damage only, no worse than a few other spots where rocks or whatever have gouged out the rubber. Tire pressure was exactly as I left it a couple of weeks ago, so that's another bit of good news. Thanks again for all the advice, folks!
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July 8th, 2013, 07:37 AM | #19 |
ninjette.org certified postwhore
Name: Rick
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Glad to see you didn't go down.
Since you have a police report you should turn it into the insurance and get a new or professionally repaired fairing. |
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July 8th, 2013, 10:10 AM | #20 |
Big Dreams, Small Wallet
Name: Brad
Location: Memphis, TN
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One key 'situational detail' for insurance classification is whether or not the object was stationary in the road, or was it moving?
"OMG that thing came sliding from the other lane and I couldn't avoid it" is different than "OMG that thing was sitting in my lane and couldn't avoid it"
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July 8th, 2013, 12:36 PM | #21 | |
Daily Ninjette rider
Name: Hernan
Location: Florida
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Quote:
Your only life is rolling on only two donuts of rubber: the three are priceless !!! You are welcome
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Motofool .................................Never ride faster than your guardian angel can fly "Mankind is composed of two sorts of men — those who love and create, and those who hate and destroy. Love is the bond between men, the way to teach and the center of the world." - José Martí |
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August 21st, 2013, 11:52 PM | #22 |
ninjette.org member
Name: Gary
Location: Homer, AK
Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54
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Another update: Geico isn't increasing my rates as a result of this incident. Their definition of 'collision' includes road debris that causes more than $500 in damage, but this incident doesn't meet that threshold. Good news, but I'll still never understand where they were coming from on this.
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August 22nd, 2013, 09:26 AM | #23 |
Certifiable nontundrum
Name: Harper
Location: NC Milkshake stand
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Glad ya got it sorted... Glader ya kept it up an on the road. Those things fall off a lot!
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August 22nd, 2013, 11:14 AM | #24 |
MSF Coach!
Name: Lupe
Location: Antioch, Tennessee
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did you get any air?
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August 22nd, 2013, 11:38 AM | #25 |
Big Dreams, Small Wallet
Name: Brad
Location: Memphis, TN
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Everytime I see ANYthing in the road now... I think about you and your dang giant metal plate!
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August 22nd, 2013, 11:58 AM | #26 | |
ninjette.org member
Name: Aaron
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Quote:
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August 22nd, 2013, 04:20 PM | #27 |
WOT WOT WOT
Name: Ken
Location: Suffolk
Join Date: Jul 2013 Motorcycle(s): '12 Ninja 250R Posts: 421
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I would have much preferred hitting that than the tire gator I hit when I was first getting used to my ninja. It was the largest one I've seen and probably half the circumference of whatever tire it came off of.
I was a tad distracted because I was trying to find my way into another lane as we were approaching an entrance ramp. So much for that. A car blocked me. Bent my shifter peg and left my toe feeling sore for a few hours. I was going 60. Funny how we can look back at the things that we lucked out on but could've suffered tremendously from. Good thing you made it out alive and well. Sorry about the slight damage but I'm glad you didn't dump the bike. Crap could've been much worst. |
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August 22nd, 2013, 08:19 PM | #28 | ||||
ninjette.org member
Name: Gary
Location: Homer, AK
Join Date: Oct 2012 Motorcycle(s): 2016 Triumph Street Triple RX Posts: 54
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Quote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNtMaaX_9e8 Quote:
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August 22nd, 2013, 08:30 PM | #29 |
MSF Coach!
Name: Lupe
Location: Antioch, Tennessee
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lol
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August 23rd, 2013, 07:29 AM | #30 |
ninjette.org guru
Name: Bob
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Negligent trucker - What if that had been a car's gas tank instead of your fairing?
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