Thinking about hanging it up...

[Varmintmist]

The reason? I dropped my bike. This is 2 in 2 years.
 The details...
Going to work last Monday on the same damn road that I take the same damn time in the same damn way at the same damn speed. Road slopes to the right in a big way. Anything you dropped on the uphill side would roll to the low side unless it was square. Its a country tar and chip and you don't want to go into that corner over 15, at least I dont. Limit is 40 in the road but for deer, groundhogs and turkey, I don't get to that except for the straight parts.
 Anyway, I went to set up for a real sharp right hand turn, it is 90degrees +, Touched back brake like I do every time, azz end comes unglued and slides downhill, so it is out to the right about a foot. I release and recover, apply fore and aft. Azz end breaks loose, its like riding on black ice, release and recover, think, "F__k me". Apply both, start feeling the speed come off, Back breaks loose, heads downhill, front finds traction on the chip. Low side on the left in a hurry.

The painfull details...
Scuffed the lt saddlebag, bent the lt eng gaurd, damaged windshield, broke speedo. Broke 3 ribs.

A guy stopped and we got it off the road. I called work and two guys came out. One took me home and the wife was there. They hooked up the trailer to the truck and I backed it up the driveway, took it the mile and a half frome home and the loaded the valk,. The wife made me go to the hospital at that point.
Now I am just wondering if
A: I am that bad of a rider
B: am a unlucky SOB when it comes to Valks

I am torn right now between wanting to unload everything with less than 4 wheels and reparing the fat lady and keeping at it.


Some one could get a hell of a deal on one that needs cosmetic work if they caught me in the middle of a sneeze right now.

I dont know which way to go. If I fix her I am damn sure taking a ARC because this is ceasing to be fun. I love being able to take off after work and get lost for a hour but am I going to lose it AGAIN??
As a side benifit, I found that I won't be one to get hooked on oxycodon, because the only thing worse than 3 busted ribs, is puking with 3 busted ribs.

[Stude]

http://www.tiltingmotorworks.com/


http://www.tiltingmotorworks.com/

[eric in md]

really if your scared sell it to be honest . nobody needs to be scared. maybe try one of those can am spyders it has three wheels . you still get some air and freedom and not be afraid of dropping it . just a thought . its just no fun to be scared everytime you back that bike out of the garage. take care and best of luck ..

[designer]

Sounds like you ride a tough road daily, I would take the ARC and keep going on two wheels.

[Mr. Nuts]

This is intended to be helpful and courteous so please take it in that spirit.

You should either invest in some good training and learn to ride it properly, or

You should sell it and never ride again.

Bikes are potentially dangerous as we all know. But what lots learn the hard way is that your natural instincts (such as the one to hit that back brake in the curve) are often wrong, and sometimes fatal.

At the very least I would suggest getting Jerry "Motorman" Palladino's "Ride Like A pro" videos AND an advanced motorcycle safety course through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation or similar.

They teach techniques such as "slow, look, press, roll" that will take the crash out of those corners for you. You will learn when to touch those brakes and when not to.

Life is too precious, and short, for us to learn all we need to learn by experience alone. Fortunately, we live in a wonderful time when all of the information you need is available quickly and inexpensively.

Good luck with whichever course you choose. 

Mr. Nuts

[Bob E.]

I've had my share of close calls as most of us have.  Here are just two of my worst.  I lost my little brother to a motorcycle accident in 2002.  I nearly had an identical accident to his in the exact same place on that same day about a half-hour before his accident. Lucky for me, I was able to slow down enough to avoid the tri-axle dump truck that pulled out in front of me from that side street.  That was spooky.  Then in 2006, I hit a deer at 60mph 200 miles from home while travelling alone.  And while I had nearly $5000 in damage to my bike, I was lucky to not go down and was not injured, and was able to limp the bike home.

Anyways, here is what I learned from my experiences:

All you have to do is ask yourself why you ride in the first place and you will answer your own question.  If you cannot answer that question...well...there's your answer.  And if you cannot answer it now, and decide to sell...but remember the answer later, you can always get another one.

[bigdog99]

i believe that the reason we all ride is "not" to let it go down. i put mine down with my foster daughter on the back. someone let all of their oil out on an intersection that was not visible with the sun at my back. swung it 270 degrees and slammed into a curve.
slammed a 750 yamaha into the side of a 1970 pontiac B.Ass car. T-bone
pushed off the box of an 18 wheeler while passing him he wanted my lane, i did let him have it, both the lane and went i finally went past.
as the quote from the previous one said, why do you ride? i ride because i can! i will also say that those 3 experiences made me a better rider. i also feel that you have learned a very valuable lesson in that road. you now have a  reason to go a different way especially if it is longer in travel time.  i agree that pumping brakes at the wrong time is bad. i have learned that on loose road conditions i will actually keep to a lower gear so if i feel something moving i can let the wheel keep turning and force a controlled slow down.
2 more points then i am done. i will say that if you leave the bike due to fear of falling, it will haunt you the rest of your days. i dont ride horses for that very reason, please dont ask how i know that. second, dont ever sell the phat girl short or for a lesser $$ amount. its still the best ride goin and others will know that.
i cant say that i have ever broke anything while riding so i do not know how you feel, but i can say i know exactly how you feel riding to work and heading out afterwards. those are memories i will cherish all my days. i too feel that some day i will have to give it up, but the plan is to do that after i have worn out a Valk trike because i could no longer get the ole girl off the kick stand.

[Varmintmist]

FYI,
did the BRC,
put a lot of miles on a 550 and a 350  then 750 shadow over the last 5 years pre Valk #1, rode before that
Own and have watched Paladinos vids.
I was NOT breaking in a turn. This was straight line. Take a pic of a flat road, tilt it up on the left side enough to know that anything even partly round would roll right. The +90 curve at the end is banked more because thats how the road got cut than for speed. I did come down hard on both the last brake session because I was out of road.
The speedo cracked and is stuck at 15.


Not so much scared as PO'ed.  I like riding but I am not really into pain.

I am thinking that there was a lot of road condition involved. It was real hot for the first time that weekend. I think it brought the oil up. It was like black ice.

But I still feel that I f_____ up, and every suggestion that has went through my head as to where I did I don't see the way of doing different.

[bigdog99]

then i will add 1 more thing, i had a boss one time that used to piss me off every time i went to work. i asked him why he did that and he said, "it makes you work harder if you are pissed off." still not sure i understand that one, but i do focus more on the bike that i ever did in a car. i pray that i never get to where you are now, but i hope you make the best decision for you and we can ride together some day. i still hope you decide to take a different road.
i alos hope you heal quickly. 

[Varmintmist]

i still hope you decide to take a different road.
i alos hope you heal quickly. 

But the other road sux 

And it only hurts till the pain goes away 

[BF]

Fix it and take a different road to work.   

Saw a guy with a brand spanking new HD Ultra do down on a turn (withnessed the whole thing)....dude was going real slow.  He rode the center line that also had a line of goop layed down in the middle of the lane from a previoius garbage truck that he apparently didn't pay much attention too.  Slick as snot that goop that pours out the back of a garbage truck that stuff is.  He wasn't too badly hurt, but that brand new Ultra had some pretty sporty road rash on it.  Dude was pissed royal......didn't have insurance on it yet.  Ouch. 

Lesson.....always watch for the oil and other crap that might be layed down in the center line (or other parts of the road). 

Not saying that's what happened to you, but it's a thought.  Still, I'd fix it and ride again.....or buy a convertable.   

[Mr. Nuts]

Whether you were braking in a curve or the skid resulted from the road camber makes no difference. A little more speed and you might have experienced the potentially deadly "high side" instead of the rather forgiving "low side".

Here is an explanation far better than I can write:

http://www.msgroup.org/forums/mtt/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2192

[Oss]

been down twice on oil, watched a great rider in front of me go down on chicken guts outside Deer Arkansas  Seen riders pass away   It makes ya think what the F am I doin

It changed my riding style and slowed me down especially the low speed on the turn where I could not see the oil. When the LEO fell down walking to me I knew it was nothing I coulda done.

Rode the bike the next day after breakin ribs just because I needed to get back on

I cant picture not riding, rode 1500 miles this weekend to be with friends in this club.

Am I sometimes scared? you bet your ass especially on a wet road but without fear there can be no courage and without perseverence you cant reach your goal. That said if you need a break you dont need permission take time off and see how you feel. Dont sell the bike yet.

The trick IMHO is to ride your ride and know your limitations and to work on them as often as possible  I dont expect to ever get back to where I was soon but I am getting closer than I was last year

Do you have any riding buddies that have GOOD habits that you can practice your lines in turns?

For instance I gained more by following Highbinder for 45 minutes in the fog than I did the ARC course he just had some tips that stuck with me.  Thanks Don.

[sugerbear]

and.......check that back brake, could be it's not you.....
and, park it for a while and let yourself cool down

[Dogg]

we have a few of those tar aand chip roads here. first hot day, tar gets soft, chips will fly. easy. not your fault. next time, like suggested, lower gear around that kind of turn. then you wont slide. or go around the turn on the bottom of the grade instead of the top. ive done that also. wrong side of the road but if nothing is coming? whats it hurt?? nothing. relax more. dont tense up over the road surface. worst thing you can do.get on a dirt bike and go trail riding for a while. you will see that the tar and chip type roads aint so bad after all . 

[RTaz]

sorry to hear...hope you heal fast...do yourself a favor and don't hang it up until you heal up then decide.

[Jabba]

Dogg makes a good point.  I feel like the hundreds of hours I have spent on a dirtbike has made me a WAY better rider.  It develops a sense of "feel" that I can't compare to anything else.  When I rode on the dirt, it was a rare thing for BOTH ends of my bike to be properly stuck to the ground.  One end or the other was OFTEN loose, either under acceleration, braking, turning or some combination thereof.  I think it developed muscle memory in me that has saved my bacon on the Valk several times. 

None of us can know what happened.  You were the only one there.  We can all speculate, but it's thru the prism of our own experiences. 

It's obvious that the speed you were going was excessive for the conditions of the bike, the road, your attitude and your skills.  That's not an insult.  Maybe you just have to creep thru that creepy corner.  Say... 10 mph from 100 yards back.  I don't know for sure.  What you do there has crashed you twice.

Sucks dude.  I hope you get thru it without too much pain.  Like you said... Pain only hurts till it goes away.   

Good luck. 

The riding is a lot of fun.  The crashing sucks. 

Jabba

[solo1]

been down twice on oil, watched a great rider in front of me go down on chicken guts outside Deer Arkansas  Seen riders pass away   It makes ya think what the F am I doin

It changed my riding style and slowed me down especially the low speed on the turn where I could not see the oil. When the LEO fell down walking to me I knew it was nothing I coulda done.

Rode the bike the next day after breakin ribs just because I needed to get back on

I cant picture not riding, rode 1500 miles this weekend to be with friends in this club.

Am I sometimes scared? you bet your ass especially on a wet road but without fear there can be no courage and without perseverence you cant reach your goal. That said if you need a break you dont need permission take time off and see how you feel. Dont sell the bike yet.

The trick IMHO is to ride your ride and know your limitations and to work on them as often as possible  I dont expect to ever get back to where I was soon but I am getting closer than I was last year

Do you have any riding buddies that have GOOD habits that you can practice your lines in turns?

For instance I gained more by following Highbinder for 45 minutes in the fog than I did the ARC course he just had some tips that stuck with me.  Thanks Don.

Oss said it right for me.!

At my age,  my legs stiffen up, my wrists hurt,  my butt can't take long rides anymore, and this tends to give me less confidence.  I'm constantly trying to figure out ways to keep riding.
The Vstrom is no Valkyrie but the reduced weight helps a lot in making things easier.

I've been down  a nuymber of times too but getoffs only.  It sounds like you ran into oil and there was nothing that you could do other than what you did.

You are the only one to make the decision to quit riding.  It's easy to make that decison.  What's hard is to keep from making the decision to ride again.

[Hoser]

Trike it.  I plan to do just that in the future.  Hoser   ???

[Dubsvalk]

We all have to face the decision you are trying to make at some time in our lives.  Chipseal roads are dangerous.  The tar heats up and becomes very slippery.  One of the ranges I teach on has "tar snakes" all over it where they used tar to fill in cracks in the asphalt.  Our tires slide on them regularly.  The trick is not to hit the brake, it will stop skidding as soon as the tire comes into contact with the asphalt again.  Fix the Valk and ride again.  Try to ride more upright thru the curves on that type of road.  If you decide it isn't worth it, do what your heart tells you.
Dubs

[Ferris Leets]

If you are up to it.  Go back and look at the spot soon, like now.  Try to figure out exactly what caused it.  That stone and chip can be really slippery either fresh or on a hot day.  You might find an actual cause for the start of the loss of control.  I've done that and one time it was a marble sized round rock that at low speed just rolled with my tire sideways.

[MP]

+1 on hosers idea to trike it.  Or put a sidecar on.  I know a number who triked theirs, and wished they had much earlier.  Best wishes.

MP

[Jack]

Put it down to "stuff happens".  You just have to decide how much riding means to you.  I've been hit 4 times.  Two of those on the Valk.  I made a decision to continue riding after the last accident about killed me.  I'd rather ride and enjoy riding than die an old man anyway.

[da prez]

I can understand where you are coming from. The first accident on the road almost made me hang it up. I took to off road racing , which helped with my confidence on the road. Back to the subject.
 The most recent accident was with my new wife, on my recently purchased Valk. We were at a stop sign waiting for traffic to clear and a young girl and her passenger rear-ended us . We both walked away . After the police and prying the fender off the tire , we rode home. So far I have been run off the road , side swiped, hit a deer, flopped over a dog , caught in a tornado, rode thru a blizzard, dropped on an oil soaked turn.  Maybe this is why no one will ride with me. But I will ride until I can't get my leg over the bike.

                                              da prez

[Hef]

There seems to be a rule that if you ride, you will go down at some time. You just hope that when you do, you are lucky enough to walk away still breathing. I think everyone who has gone down had to make the same decsion as you face, whether to continue to ride or not. I took a very bad spill back in 1990. A deer broadsided me while I was riding down a state hwy. Messed me up pretty good and for the sake of my family I decided to quit riding. Four months later I had another bike and continue to ride to this day. It's in me to ride and the satisfaction I get from riding is well worth the risk.  Anyway, I agree with whoever mentioned the trike idea. Still get the wind in the face and they don't fall over. If you know anyone who has a trike, see if they would let you try it. Remember this is YOUR decision, don't let anyone else make it for you. Whatever you decide good luck!

Note: I agree with Jabba that dirt bike riding makes you a much better street rider. I rode dirt for over 35 years before I gave it up. You learns skills on a dirt bike that you would never pick up on the street.

[old2soon]

Go back to where it happened-SOON. Have a look around. I don't know your age. May or maynot have something to do with it. I turned 66 this past feburary. I KNOW for a fact things change as we get older. Every one of us is at a DIFFERENT skill level. Thats just the way it is. I raced road courses and moto cross in japan. Am i a better rider than you?? No and yes. Probably in different areas. Any one of us can go down at ANYTIME. The final decision is yours and yours alone. I would like to see you keep on riding-and one day share some wind with ya. Try to explain that to anyone that don't ride. Can't be done. We here on this board/forum get it. So ya had two in the same corner?? Try really hard not to do dat no more. Take a time out. But try to remember-we expereince stuff on two or three wheels ya absitively posolutely can't get no other way. Thats why we got into this in the first place. Myself-i find a freedom that i simply can't find anywhere else. You are the only one that has the answer. Trick is-duz ya know the question??  RIDE SAFE. AGAIN. HOPEFULLY.

[Varmintmist]

Not 2 in the same corner, whole different scenario with the last one, I had a little help with that one and it was the "other" way to work.

This was coming into a corner, and I was trying to get it slowed WAY down because I have been through that corner 100 times and it is one tight SOB.

Braking down BEFORE the corner is where the butt broke loose. The ROAD runs downhill AND slants hard to the south on the straight part (E-W) before the turn which breaks right, and down and is banked more from how the land lays than forethought. This is western PA where level is only machine made and there wasnt a lot of effort put into the engineering of this road in the 40's.
 I was upright and the rear skidded. When that happened, the rear slid toward the downhill side about a foot. I came OFF the brakes and got straight again, re applied and the same happened, recovered and had to throw the anchor out because I was sliding into the turn at this point, headed across the middle, towards a embankment. Came down hard on both. Then the front caught.

I came in set up for the apex turn, (out-in-out) and was near the middle of the lane.

I have been over it a few times and the only thing I can think of that I could have done would have been to take the curve to fast. After the thing would not get slow, I guess I could have jammed her to the right and went for it. Don't know how that would have worked out, but it would have been different

Can't see the trike thing. If I can't wrap my head around this, the money is going into a Corvette fund.

[RainMaker]

I am hopeful that I will be as open and honest with myself when it's time to stop riding.  No one knows when that time is except you.  Taking a good look and asking opinions is a very admireable thing to do.  My compliments to you.

I have been down a few times on my Valk and each time, it takes longer to heal up and get over the brusing/breaks from what seem to be increasingly minor drops.  I just took a full face header while mounting a new tire to my rear wheel when the tire tool handle came off the tool unexpectedly - I can get hurt just standing near the motorcycle!!  

Whatever you decide, you can always change your mind later.  It's not a "final" decision in any sense as there will always be a Valk looking for a good home if you decide to ride again in the future.  As for me, I'm gonna' keep riding a while longer.

Prayers being raised for your quick recovery.

[ValkFlyer]

I’ve got to say, based on your picture, you’ve got to chuck the bazooka.  There’s no way you can handle a bike and carry that thing around.  And don’t forget them little chubby legs make it more difficult to when your bouncing from one side of the seat to shift and then to the other to try and break.    Just a poor attempt to try and cheer you up, all kidding aside I hope you heal quickly, and if I might just add, I think “old2soon” hit the nail on the head.

[BigAl]

Well all things being equal, the problem is probably a bad run of luck.

To change luck give something away to a perfect stranger.

Don't laugh it works.

Oh and stay the hades off that stupid road.

I hate the road SMokinJoe lives on.

Off camber and narrow.

I will wreck on that stinkin road one day.

Oh wait a miniute my wife was driving one day and plowed my new van into the right hand bank on that stinkin road Joe lives on.

Told yah it would happen.

What fun.
Did I mention I hate the road that Joe lives on.

Al

[thumper]

Get a friend to give you a Gremlin Bell.

http://www.gremlinbells.com/

[Hoser]

Trikes are fun!  You can spin in a circle just like the nascar guys do when they win a race, works best on a loose surface, though!   Throw a ton of dust in the air!  Hoser 

[Beau57]

I agree with most that the final decision is yours alone.
After 40 years of riding I still have a phobia of sorts with right hand turns. Will try to scrape a knee with a left-hander but absolutely "pucker" on a right. I fly ultralight aircraft and I do the same in the sky....go figure. I have confidence in a lefty but not a right hander. No past mishap that traumatized me in a right-hander. I just do not understand. I am extra cautious and slow down more in a right turn period. In the sky you make your own road and I chose left turn every time. Maybe I'm a candidate for a motorcycle psycologist. I guess when your subconscience is so strong willed about something it will prevail in the end. Fear is certainly a powerful controling force in my riding style. I am a "newbie" as far as Valks go (2 months) and have slowed even more for the respect of this beast compared to my previous rides. I find myself being constantly reminded  through "seat of the pants" input that I am on a much larger motorcycle and I continue to adjust accordingly. I try to listen to every kind of feeling I get on the road and make heads or tails of it to save for reference in a need be situation. Don't know how many years I have left ,but  would  prefer to ride most of them.