Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge First off in 40 years

Well it had to happen eventually. After 40 years riding I recently had my first off. A totally stupid mistake with only myself to blame. taking the slip road from the M40 to the M25 I completely misjudged the exit and hit the verge at about 60mph. Bike went down hard on the left side and my helmet smashed into the tarmac. I thought something must be broken. Deathly silence for a few moments and then some motorists who had seen the accident and stopped came over. Luckily the first to arrive was a consultant surgeon who was on his way to the airport and he checked me over. Amazingly no major injuries but usual treatment from ambulance with neck collar and stretcher. Very lucky to get away with a cracked/broken rib, damaged hand, abrasions and bruises - wearing the right kit helped - leather jacket, armoured jeans, gloves and helmet. Without the helmet I'd probably have lost a few teeth if not worse.
The bike is a write off but, as everyone says, it's only a piece of metal and can be replaced - but I loved that bike(Triumph America).
Anyway insurance paid out what I considered a good price and a new bike is on its way - another America.
Be careful out there

Glad you are all O.K

Gwilly

Ouch! Glad you're still here to tell the tale.

+1

Doesn't seem right to say " you were lucky" But in a way you were. Hard to let the old bike go but when the new one comes. It wont be long till you put the old one to the back of your mind and you get injoy the new one. Allways the way weather its a house,car,bike or Girl/Boy friend. Glad you were ok . atb geoff

So glad you're OK and so very sorry about your accident. I understand about letting your old bike go, but as you say it's only metal. Hope you're healing and you have fun dressing out your new America. Good Luck to you!

Sorry to hear about the accident but glad you are okay. It's a heads up for all us 'seasoned' riders in that we can never be too cautious.

Glad you're ok. Also glad your insurance company treated you better than mine.

Sorry to hear of this, Glenn. However, I'm glad to hear your insurance company has come through for you.

I'm wondering, now that you've had time to reflect upon this incident, if you now might think you would've had a chance to somehow prevent this crash if you would've reacted differently once you had come to the realization you had entered into this turn too hot? Perhaps, you now think you might have grabbed a little too much front brake or maybe tapped the rear brake a little too hard? Or, maybe you now feel that if you might have countersteered just a bit more, this might have worked?

I ask this, not because of some "morbid curiosity" or to find fault in any way, but because I feel your experience could serve as a learning experience for many of us around here.

(...yep, even to those of us who have more than 40 years of riding under our belt...to say nothing of those relatively new riders among us)

Sometimes I find myself going a little to fast for a certain situation and had to grab a lot of brake to slow down, just get caught up with the wind in my hair (I wear a helmet)Blah, Blah, Blah... Glad you made it to talk about it!!!

So YOU'RE the reason my premiums went up?

Just kidding

Glad you're OK