UMass Amherst afternoon rides Tue 9/23, Wed 9/24, Thu 9/25

[Cougar296]

Well...my quick ride up and down 116 with a friend of mine yesterday morning didn't end in a nice way.

We were on 116 headed home...we went into a nice left hand turn...got about halfway thru the turn when all of a sudden his bike looked like it just gave out. He had a pretty nasty lowside, him and the bike went off into the guardrail. His bike hit the rail and bounced back right into the road, the last thing I remember was seeing was the top of the bikes gas tank as I hit it mid-turn and went up and over. I kinda pulled a superman and me and my bike ended up about 100 to 150 feet down the road from the turn. I was in the air for what felt like an eternity, then hit the ground and rolled/slid for what felt like even longer.


Unbelievably neither of us had any very serious or life threatening injuries. My friend messed his leg up kinda bad, he got a helicopter trip to baystate. I got pretty beat up, bad rash on the legs (I've been thinking about getting decent riding pants since I know jeans don't hold up very well against pavement, but I appear to have held that idea off for a little too long). No complaints with my jacket, it took a decent amount of abuse (the arms are all torn up, a big hole worn out on the back, didn't get thru the back armor tho). Luckily we'll both be alright and nothing more serious happened.

If anyone here plans on going out to 116 anytime soon just be careful, especially if you plan on heading out there earlier in the day when there isn't that many cars out there yet. When we went down it took 5-10 mins for a car to even pull up to our accident. Come to find out there's ZERO cell phone coverage out there, so someone had to get in their car and turn around to find a house with someone there to use their phone.

Stay safe...

[EJLemo]

Hello Cougar

Sorry to hear about the accident. Hope your friends leg will be allright. And glad you were not injured badly.

[GNTurbo6]

Hey Cougar, also sorry to hear about the accident. Hope you get better soon and you're back on a bike next season. You may want to check out these riding jeans I picked up if you're not ready to commit to leathers. They got kevlar on the ass, side of legs and knees and also have CE armor in the knees. I did a lot of searching around to finally find something that I thought would protect me adequately.

[deslock]

That sucks but I'm glad you guys are OK. I too need to pick up more protective pants... GNTurbo6, which ones did you get?

Not to bring up something depressing/morbid, but that section can be deadly: http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...16-conway.html

[GNTurbo6]

They're from Cycle Gear - Motorcycle Apparel, Parts and Accessories. They are Red Route brand, baggy style since the standard ones don't have the CE knee armor. For some reason they didn't list my size (32) in Blue so I just got black but would have much preferred blue. I read somewhere that the standard length is 31" inseam while the long is 34".

[deslock]

They're from Cycle Gear - Motorcycle Apparel, Parts and Accessories. They are Red Route brand, baggy style since the standard ones don't have the CE knee armor.

This one? Is it machine washable?

[GNTurbo6]

I think so. Aparently both sides of the tag were printed on the front side of it so its a bit hard to read. I think it says something along the lines of "Machine wash cold with all buttons and fasteners closed. Dry in shade, do not allow sunlight to be on the inside of the garment."

[Cougar296]

That sucks but I'm glad you guys are OK. I too need to pick up more protective pants... GNTurbo6, which ones did you get?

Not to bring up something depressing/morbid, but that section can be deadly: http://www.nestreetriders.com/forum/...16-conway.html

holy shit...that was the same spot we went down. Luckily we'll both be OK. My rash on the front of my legs/knees hurts kinda bad, but other then that I'm good to go. My friend is still in the hospital but will make a full recovery.

I'm definitley gonna invest in some pants before I start riding again...if I was wearing something that protected a little more then jeans I'd be mostly OK right now other then general soreness and brusing.

I still have the itch though...going to check out a bike tomorrow afternoon, and stopping by the towing place in the morning to check mine out. If the bike isn't completely lost (no bent frame, working engine), I might try to salvage it.

[Ken C]

Actually, the fatal crash was in Conway about 6 miles away from your crash. I live in Ashfield where you fell. I commute on 116 to Deerfield every day. I saw the evidence of the crash. I' glad you are both ok.

Any idea what caused the crash?

[Cougar296]

Actually, the fatal crash was in Conway about 6 miles away from your crash. I live in Ashfield where you fell. I commute on 116 to Deerfield every day. I saw the evidence of the crash. I' glad you are both ok.

Any idea what caused the crash?

I'm not 100% sure on what exactly caused it. My friend was on a older model SV650 (real early 2000's i think) and he had been complaining about how the front end just didn't feel very good in some of the turns. He also has some newer tires on the bike, Michelin pilot roads I think. On the day of our crash we stopped in Ashfield at that little open market to get a coffee, and he mentioned the shitty feeling front end again, kinda like it was gonna slide out. Well on the way home we went into that left hand turn and he lowsided a little past the mid point of that turn. From what I saw (i was not too far behind him) him in the bike went off into the guardrail and he went with it. The bike hit the rail, bounced off, and slid right back into the road...i saw his bike slide right in front of me. It just happened way too fast and all I saw was the top of his gas tank as the bike slid in front of me and I went up and over. I'm not sure what exactly caused the lowside...there were some leaves in that corner, and it was still kinda cold out....probably about 50 or real low 50's by that time. I think it very well could have been a cold tire issue considering we had just left the little market in ashfield and our bikes had been sitting for a while. I'm fine right now with the exception of the road rash on the front of my legs....and my right foot is all black and blue, along with my shins....kinda weird. My friend called me today and he should be outta the hospital on thursday...so luckily we didn't get seriously hurt.

[GNTurbo6]

From what I hear those Pilot Roads cool down quite a bit faster than the Pilot Powers. Combine that with the cooler temps like you said and that's probably what caused it. Tires aren't gonna stick like its the middle of the summer anymore. A guy on Umass Motorsports just wrecked his same generation SV650 on the 29th. Here's a pic of his bike.

[Cougar296]

that wreckage looks eerily similar to my friends bike...the front wheel and forks came off the bike and were down the road a little bit.

My bike has...had...pilot powers with only a couple thousand miles on them. I absolutley loved them, they fuckin stuck like glue. The only time I've ever had the rear step out or lose any sort of traction was when it was raining out. Even when I went out on cooler days, like the day of our crash, I always tried to get a good 30 mins of riding on the tires before I ever tried to push any real performance out of them. I made sure to kinda ease into it too...I was never sure if the edge of the tires got significantly cooler then the middle.


Also GNTurbo, I got your PM, thanks for the link, I'll definitley check that out. Unfortunatley I think my bike's gonna need shitloads more then just plastics...I know for a fact that the fairing stay was destroyed, and most of the components in that general vicinity were busted/missing. The nose was split down the middle (almost perfectly) and the left side was gone. Unfortunately that's the only thing that I got to see while I was laying there. They found my tool kit, wallet, and keys on the side of the road....they all were in my tail, so I don't know what the situation with that is. I shall find out tomorrow when I go check it out...i might post a picture up when I get back.

[Ken C]

Thanks for the explanation. I stopped by the site yesterday. The pavement is clean with good pavement texture, so nothing apparent with the road surface.

There is a skid mark heading toward the guardrail that is segmented into 4 parts. This could be caused by the tire contacting the road as the bike is sliding, but it could also suggest braking. My first thought was a panic situation. This happens all the time when a corner is tighter than expected for the speed and the rider stands the bike up and jabs the brakes. Any chance this was the case?

I had Pilot Roads on my VFR a while back and hated them, because of their wooden feel (perhaps this is what your friend is experiencing when he says the front feels funny). But, they are not likely the real culprit for any loss of traction. Sure, some tires offer more grip than others and the cool temps certainly do contribute, but those tires are designed to operate fine in those temps.

I ask these questions because I'm in the business of motorcycle skills and safety and when a crash happens in my back yard I take particular interest.

Also, it is imperative to evaluate the cause of a crash if there is any chance of preventing it from happening again.

Fell better!

[Cougar296]

Thanks for the explanation. I stopped by the site yesterday. The pavement is clean with good pavement texture, so nothing apparent with the road surface.

There is a skid mark heading toward the guardrail that is segmented into 4 parts. This could be caused by the tire contacting the road as the bike is sliding, but it could also suggest braking. My first thought was a panic situation. This happens all the time when a corner is tighter than expected for the speed and the rider stands the bike up and jabs the brakes. Any chance this was the case?

It could be, I'm not really sure. All I saw was him lowside and slide off into the rail. I figured that maybe he had gotten on the gas as we were coming out of the turn and lost the rear, or the front slid out. It could have been panic braking, but I didn't see him slow down at all, unless he lost it immediately after hitting the brakes. Everything seemed fine then all of a sudden he was down...thats all I really remember seeing. I got a chance to check out the skid mark the day of the accident...I wasn't in the hospital very long and had someone drive me up to the Ashfield police to get my riding jacket and the rest of my friends stuff, so I stopped by to check it out.

[Cougar296]

I snagged some pictures me and my friends bike today...It kinda made me feel sick to look at it. I feel even more lucky that we're both alive and gonna be ok after I saw them sitting there.

just a couple of the pics:

[GNTurbo6]

A few parts look salvagable... not sure what the buy back price is but it may be worth while since you said those Alstare parts are hard to find. Looks like the gas tank and the rear compartment cover could be ok. The exhaust looks usable although possibly slightly bent, same with the rear hugger.

EDIT: I looked at the other pics in the photobucket folder and the left side of the tank is dented and scratched up so forget that part.