What were you wearing when you had your last off or near miss?

[Madmax]

Hey Geoff,
good read bloke, and a good ending.


Max:aussie:aussie

[Louwai]

My bit.
7am. Wet. On my way to work.
Was heading up the on-ramp onto the freeway. Speeding up to 80klm/h to merge in. Semi in left lane of freeway (on my right) decided to head for the parking bay which was at the end of the on-ramp. He pulled straight into the merge lane. Obviously didn't see me.

I jammed on the brakes, but not too much cause I didn't want the front to slide. Was slowing down OK & would have stopped before hitting the truck no worries.
THEN..... Another BIKE hit me from behind. This idiot was going too fast & couldn't stop. We both went down. We slid about 20m along the road all tangled together.

The other guy was wearing jeans & a LS shirt.
His knee was badly chewed up & he had some pretty nasty cuts & grazes.
I was wearing my full Dry-Rider gear. I grazed the toe of my boot on the road, that was it.
I received abslutely no bodily damage at all.

[arthur dunga]

Over the years i've had quite a few crashes,from dirt ,road , track & even those mini moto's u could go & race.Worst was in perth 24th dec after a christmas break up on a honda 750,was wearing jeans t shirt & thongs,one of those hot balmey evenings, all i remember was doing cart wheels down the road on my stomach, trying to save my dick i guess.It was about a block from were i was living & i managed to get home & shower,then i noticed i could see my knee caps,ended up in hospital for 4 months with skin grafts on my knees & arms.I was in a ward with other blokes from bike accidents,it was when you could smoke & drink in there,they used to bring a beer cart around .Recovery was quite a party until we smoked a reefer in there ,then the shit hit the fan & they split us all up.Crashed at track days at the island a couple of times ,lost the front end & another time high sided at siberia,full leathers , just bruising & sore (ego).Spent another week in monash hospital when a car turned in front of me ,i cannoned over the boot into oncomimg traffic,i can remember watching the road slide by from my visor & waiting for the car to strike me ,but they had seen me coming & swerved.Leather jacket & gloves saved me again ,dislocated all my fingers on the left hand where i hit the boot ,like they were all facing 90 degees back wards.Had a half arsed attempt at racing to ,had done a novice racing course & one of the things they taught us was starts where just before the light changes to green you hold the throttle wide open & feed the clutch,Well come race day we do the warm up lap & i take it easy cause i want to be on the back of the starting grid but by the time i get there all the back grid positions are taken & i end up on the front ,the last place that i want to be . I remember adrenilin & fear , don't know which was more,just glad i was wearing my underpants with the elastic sides, when the light went green i just let the clutch go to quickly had to shut it down & go again ,any way went into the back off camber left hander & lost it,saved by leathers again,It's my firm belief if you don't hit any thing ,it doesn't matter how fast you come off there's a 99 percent chance you will be ok.On the rare occassion in summer i ride without the right gear i've never forgotten what it feels like to slide down the road & it still sends a shiver through me .One of the pearls of wisdom i've taken with me from this board that someone said is, remember, stupid hurts.

[rjw3105]

A few months ago, going to watchmy oldest son play soccer. Wife had a car full of kids so my middle son and I jump on the bike (SV1000S). Both wearing trackies, long sleeve tees and runners. I had gloves he didn't. Got to a set of lights as we went through car turned across the front of us completely blind. F%^$ing C89t jumped out and proceeded to abuse me while my 10YO son laid in the gutter crying. He ended up with really badly mashed hip (still healing now) badly grazed shoulder lacerated fingers. I ended up with a fractured shoulder, bruised ribs and an absolute conviction that myself and my pillions will never get on my bike without full gear ever again.

[kev11e]

G'day
1. Low side a couple of years ago with the p in a m onboard at approaching 80kliks say, both wearing draggin jeans, dririder jackets, gloves, helmets, me wearing boots, she wearing lace up boots. Minor scuffs to jeans and jackets, helmets unmarked...but her bootlaces hooked on pillion pegs so if the bike had jumped, she would have had a serious type fracture I am sure. So no more lace up shoes or boots. Cuts to her knee, bruising to mine.
2. Feb this year on way to work, sheila driving car Tboned me from left. I was doing no more than 20 kliks, no idea how fast she was going. Saw bonnet from corner of my eye, woke up talking to the ambos. Spent the morning in Blacktown Hospital. Severely strained groin and lower abdomen muscles (still sore), torn tendon in left shoulder...going for operation arthroscopy end of August. Gear? Jeans, Tiger Angel leather jacket, boots, gloves all unmarked (I was dumped on shoulder and head, no sliding apparently). Helmet has small cracks and is now in landfill.
So the gear has worked and I won't ride without it...
Regards
Kevin

[Geri]

Came off at 132mph (212km/h) on the runway this year. Tumbled a few times & slid maybe 300m. I was wearing full gear and came away unharmed apart from a hairline fracture in my wrist. It got slapped on the deck on my first tumble before I had the sense to pull my arms in.

Earlier in the year came off at around 50mph (80km/h) on a wet road and slid a bit there too. Wearing full gear so no damage again.

[DOMINOID]

Was travelling down the Oxley and lost the front end into a right hander. Had on Jeans and winter wet weather pants. Sloopy joe and padded wet weather jacket, good boots and gloves. Hit the deck at about 80kph. Slid, spun, and cartwheeled a few times. Haven't ever crashed a bike in 20 years of riding and felt I was missing out on something. End result. Broken collar bone. 2 broken ribs and strenum and some great bruises. A bit of skin off knees but nothing that was not healed in a week. I think it was the padding in the winter gear that stopped me from being any worse off. Oh and I don't intend to experience another one.

[brindog]

Last one was a low side left hand slide after the busa's back tyre lost grip (turned out it was covered in oil - long story). After the initial slap onto the side I just did a fairly graceful crazy starfish down the road on my back.

Heavy leather jacket took a bit of grazing; as did raw leather gloves (riggers/roping gloves - my favourites for something tough between my hands and the bitumen in summer); as did my plain old rossi boots; stone dints in the back of my full face; and a hole beside the left knee of plain denim jeans.

I had a slightly cracked rib, and a minor graze where the jeans wore through, and a sore neck. Busa just needed lots of new stickers levers and pegs on the left.

So now I've added kevlar jeans to the standard gear. I am wondering from reading the armour stories above whether I should get some - I love the idea of walking away, or walking anywhere after a stack - any tips on what to get or not to get, from you surviving gladiators?

This is an excellent topic - can't beat real stories - well done for starting it.

[RaZ]

nothing beats full leathers, boots, gloves & back protector. Thats my summer wear :)

[Tone165]

Lost front end in l/h switchback where road was damp. Probably @ 60-80kph.

Bike slid about 10-15 metres, coming to rest on opp shoulder.

I was wearing full leathers, gloves boots, and a bum bag with small change on my left hip.

Damage to me....slight sorenes in hip.

Damage to gear...slight scuff on left shoulder, bum bag burned thru, change fed out conveyor belt style.

Damage to bike...ruined Oggy knob, scuffed up stator slider, small scratch on clutch lever end, smaller scratch on bar end, cracked screen, scratched mirror, scraped muffler, lightly scratched fairings. Around $1500.00 to repair.

   

[kawasuki]

Hi Side at Eastern creek approx 120 kph with dri riders swoolen lower back ,knocked out for approx 1-2 minutes hence concussion. Low side at Eastern Creek 140 kph just slide along the road (hard) them hit the kitty litter (soft) had dri riders on all ripped to shreds buut onl elbow cuts. Off at Jindy ride Leather jacket jeans doing approx (5kph)
rooted my jacket and rooted my knees 2-3 weeks in hospital and very close in loosing my right leg due to infection (No More Jeans)

[mr magoo]

at the knowall age of 16 -DT125+work boots, footy shorts,singlet+60ks on gravel road =all afternoon in hospital with a scrubbing brush. and two years ago t boned a car at 60-80ks, full leathers,=one heap of scrape metal that used to resmble a bike ,scuffed leathers,broken collerbone,3 broken ribs with some lung damage and 3 months off work