Wear your gear: My minor low side story

[saxnbass]

Took a spill on the girlfriend's cruiser on my way to work today. Was coming off the interstate and took a turn in the intersection and felt the bike loose traction and start to slide, then I felt my butt and lower back sliding down the asphalt. I was wearing leather jacket, leather vest, boots, gloves, full face helmet, and kevlar riding jeans. The only injury I sustained was a slight bit of (though quite painful) rash on my lower back / upper butt where the jacket and vest rode up. My jacket, vest, and jeans (which must have ridden down some) are all fine; though my underwear got torn up :P
Got up, 2 guys helped me pick up my bike, I hoped back on it and rode the rest of the way to work. Got to work and just cleaned up the bit of rash with some soap and water in the bathroom and put a bandage on it to keep it clean.

I know for a fact that had I been in shorts and a t-shirt like a lot of people around here (especially guys on cruisers) wear, my entire butt would be washed, and most of my back would be torn up pretty bad too.


Here's an after pic of the bike:



Only real damage I've found was to the bar end. Guess it slid on that and the bags:

[Motofool]

Good thing that your leg did not get trapped under that heavy bike !!!

[ninjamunky85]

Good to see you and the bike came away mostly unscathed. Any ideas as to what caused the accident?

[c-dog]

Looks like cruisers crash like dual-sports. Very little damage. No plastic body work to damage. Amazing the only damage is the bar end!

Glad you're ok.

[Hero Danny]

Good thing your armor kept up!

Also, looks like your bike (girlfriend's bike) is in good condition still! I spy a few scratches, but not bad at all considering it was sliding! You were lucky!

[flitecontrol]

Originally Posted by saxnbass

Only real damage I've found was to the bar end. Guess it slid on that and the bags:

What about the torn up side covers? Was that done before you crashed?

[saxnbass]

Originally Posted by Hero Danny

I spy a few scratches, but not bad at all considering it was sliding!

What scratches?

Originally Posted by flitecontrol

What about the torn up side covers? Was that done before you crashed?

Torn up side covers?



Wondering if you're both talking about the reflection of the pavement in the chrome covers...

[flitecontrol]

Look at the cover just above and to the right of the sidestand pivot. There's material missing.

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by saxnbass

What scratches?



Torn up side covers?



Wondering if you're both talking about the reflection of the pavement in the chrome covers...

Yeah, I guess it is just a reflection that I see on the gas tank. My bad

[Hero Danny]

Originally Posted by flitecontrol

Look at the cover just above and to the right of the sidestand pivot. There's material missing.

I didn't even notice that! Yeah, there's a chunk missing!

[saxnbass]

That black chunk? That's the reflection of my vest I believe. I will try and get another picture tomorrow morning from another angle so we can compare.

[NevadaWolf]

Looks more like a reflection of the piece of frame holding the side stand on. Looks like a plate jots out that the side stand is mounted to and the curve of the cover is causing a warped reflection.

If i am seeing what Lee is seeing...

[Mocha Man]

Sorry to hear about the crash, but I'm glad the bike held up nicely!

[akima]

Glad you're ok @saxnbass. Why do you think you lost traction? Bad tyres? Bad surface? Bad throttle control?

Those cruisers look so comfy to ride. I'd probably ride a lot slower if I had one of them!

[saxnbass]

Originally Posted by akima

Glad you're ok @saxnbass. Why do you think you lost traction? Bad tyres? Bad surface? Bad throttle control?

Those cruisers look so comfy to ride. I'd probably ride a lot slower if I had one of them!

Throttle control wasn't an issue; I gently rolled onto it (giving it more) to keep weight distributed slightly towards the rear. Tyres are fine; they're only about 800-900 miles old, and I got the bike leaned more getting on the highway than I leaned it when it slid out. That is what gets me to the conclusion that it was bad surface / something in the road.

[saxnbass]

So about that "black chunk". Got it all cleaned up and polished today, even though it's 100° outside.
Put my drying towel over the kickstand sensor and alas, no chunk missing :P



And some extra pics









You really can't even tell that the bike has been down, except for the bar end on the grip, which will be replaced when she figures out which grips she wants. Can't believe cruiser grips are like $70!!

[fishdip]

Originally Posted by saxnbass

So about that "black chunk". Got it all cleaned up and polished today, even though it's 100° outside.
Put my drying towel over the kickstand sensor and alas, no chunk missing :P



You really can't even tell that the bike has been down, except for the bar end on the grip, which will be replaced when she gets some money and figures out which grips she wants. Can't believe cruiser grips are like $70!!

When she gets the money? You are the one who crashed it?

[saxnbass]

True; she said she wanted to replace the grips before I crashed it though, so she said not to worry about it… probably cause I paid for the whole bike to begin with and have done all the maintenance work on it to get it running right again :P If she figures out what grips she wants, I'll probably just get them for her anyways.

[Worldtraveller]

Originally Posted by saxnbass

Took a spill on the girlfriend's cruiser on my way to work today. Was coming off the interstate and took a turn in the intersection and felt the bike loose traction and start to slide, then I felt my butt and lower back sliding down the asphalt. I was wearing leather jacket, leather vest, boots, gloves, full face helmet, and kevlar riding jeans. The only injury I sustained was a slight bit of (though quite painful) rash on my lower back / upper butt where the jacket and vest rode up. My jacket, vest, and jeans (which must have ridden down some) are all fine; though my underwear got torn up :P

This is why it's important to get a jacket that has some moderately stiff armor in the back. Not only does the armor provide padding and impact protection the extra stiffness resists (but doesn't completely stop) the jacket riding up and exposing skin.

A two piece that zips together is better, and a one peice is better yet.

Two piece that zips is more convenient for commuting, though. Both my street leathers and my hot weather textile gear zip together. (I have a one-piece for the track.)

Glad you're mostly ok, that's a nice looking bike.

[saxnbass]

My jacket zips to my leather pants, but I'm not going to commute to work in a 2 piece leather track suit… on a cruiser :P

My jacket also has one of the top back armors on the market. The thing for me is that I can't find a jacket that properly fits me in this country due to my body type (6 foot and 125lbs). A properly snug fitting jacket would have prevented the road rash too probably. It would be nice for more manufacturers to add the belt snap attachments, but unfortunately that's limited to a few manufacturers, most of which fit me even worse than my current jacket.

[sandman889]

I always wear all my gear minus the race suit. otherwise i just wasn't comfortable.

[LittleRedNinjette]

Hope your back feels better!

Btw, realy like the bike!

[JohnnyBravo]

Sounds bad, and all too easy... I "forget" my gear a lot more than I should

Glad you're decent

[saxnbass]

I'm decent. I never lost a day of riding. I'm actually back on my bike now, finally got my new HID ballast in the mail the other day and am legal to ride it again. Warranty replacements are so slow to get :P

The only mark left is a bruise/scab/potential scar on my lower back; can't even feel it anymore, you just see it.

But just to prove that gear saved my hide, know a guy who had a similar thing happen to him; he low-sided at about the same speed as me. He wasn't wearing any gear; he got a ride to the hospital, some skin grafts on his left hand and forearm, and won't be riding due to that for at least a few months.

[terasu12]

some of the gear most of the time here... with the cooler weather in fall im going to try have atgatt. to

[Worldtraveller]

Originally Posted by terasu12

some of the gear most of the time here... with the cooler weather in fall im going to try have atgatt. to

I don't get this.

Even in Az, I wore ATGATT. So what if you sweat a little. Hell, the summers in KS were worse because of the humidity, but at most, I would switch to a mesh jacket when it was really bad.

I always say better to sweat than bleed.

[KawiKid860]

Gears no joke man. I had some minor rash where my jacket rode up too, now it has a hard back protector in it to help with that as well as keep my back protected though I didn't injure it in my accident. My gauntlets kept my hands mostly safe, just a couple holes in the palm on two fingers, no burst seems. Broke my right wrist though, bought gloves with a little better wrist protection now but it's understandable that you have to still have some wrist movement. Jacket scuffed up a bit but held together flawlessly. Boots don't even look like they were in a crash. But I was wearing jeans, and I always said that if I crash in jeans I'll probably hurt my legs and then wear better leg protection afterwards provided I have that opportunity. Now I own kevlar jeans with optional armor that I will not ride without from here-on. Regular blue jeans probably would be decent in terms of sliding just in the city, but there's no impact protection and I hit the ground at 70+ mph and slid mostly on my knees so they were bad. Not fun. They're healing up well but they're still nasty, and I'll have some serious scars. I'm EXTREMELY lucky it wasn't worse

[Worldtraveller]

Originally Posted by KawiKid860

Regular blue jeans probably would be decent in terms of sliding.

Sorry, that's incorrect. You get about 3-4 feet out of heavy denim (like the Carhart work jeans). And that's gently being laid down onto an abraiding surface....

[KawiKid860]

Originally Posted by Worldtraveller

Sorry, that's incorrect. You get about 3-4 feet out of heavy denim (like the Carhart work jeans). And that's gently being laid down onto an abraiding surface....

Opinions differ, lots of people have gone down in regular jeans and gotten up with nothing but a few scuffs on them, even on this forum. I'm not saying they're any kind of decent protection or something to rely on, but they've been known to not completely disintegrate on impact. Shoot I've even lowsided in regular jeans and they held up, they weren't even heavy duty they were thin skinny jeans that I liked to wear in high school. It was only like 15mph in a misjudged roundabout, but I slide more than a few feet.

Now at 70+ that's a different story, pretty much all the seams burst and the impact areas are singed lol. Been trying to get my mom to patch them up, I really think I can still wear them