Have you ever layed down a motorcycle?

Question

Have you ever been either the rider or passenger on a motorcycle and layed it down (i.e. crashed) Summarize the event for us.

Answer 1

Yes, Last year my old man and i went out for an afternoon ride... He was ahead of me on his bike and I was just relaxing and cruising behind when all of a sudden i hit some lose gravel going around a curve and couldn't get it back under control.

I slid down the highway fearful the cars behind me were going to run me over... the bike itself landed in a ditch tire to tire with only handlebar damage.

When my old man got back to me I had taken off my helmet and was sitting in a ditch begging him not to be mad at me as the bike was a gift from him... {we think of some of the stupidest things when we are hurt, LOL}

I was taken by ambulance to the ER when i had my road rash cleaned up and was Xrayed from head to toe. Except for peeling the skin from my left arm and back and a few minor bruises I was fine.

Got back on the bike the next day once the handlebars were replaced.

Answer 2

The First bike I crashed was my friends FJ1100. It was my first time on a bike and I locked up the front break when a car was going to turn into me. banged up the left side. Next was my Honda Ascot VT500. Once again a car cut me off and I slid into a ditch Bike had some scratches. The big one was my Suzuki GS 1100. A car ran a stop sign and I hit the rear wheel and went over the top of the car landing on my head and back. Bike was totaled and I was a little hurt After that I has a GSXR 750 and managed to be OK on that until I sold it a few years later. Good luck

Answer 3

In 35 years of riding (yeah I'm a crusty old f_rt) I have laid a bike down exactly once. Had my ex on the back, goin down 171 in Louisiana, dark, raining like hell, and there is one stop light in the little town of Rosepine, well the light turned yellow and I twisted the wick not knowing an 18 wheeler had gone off the road earlier leaving a large fuel spill, well this makes the road slicker than owl snot and the bike starts coming around to meet me, well about that time I see lights coming from the other direction and I am drifting into his lane, so I hit the rear brake quick, turned the wheel to right and laid it down, I stayed on the bike holding on to the bars leaning over the side of the bike letting her take the punishment, slid about 200 yards, I did 33 dollars worth of damage to the bike (ground the shock nut down to nothin, and ground the clutch lever half way down, not to mention a spot on my hand about the size of a quarter) my ex did not fare so well, she was wearing shorts and a halter top and ended up with road rash on most of her butt, LOL makes me smile. Maybe thats why she's an ex. LOL yeah that was funny.

Answer 4

Where to start...

1993, layed down my first bike ('78 Kawasaki Spector): Showing off on a pair of Cheng Shin tires (which are horrible) and it just slit out.

1994, took a corner on a green arrow and another car ran the red, I grabbed too much front break and it slid out, I was on a 1991 Kawasaki ZX-6 and was wearing shorts (Dumb, dumb, dumb).

1995, same ZX-6 as above, showing off (again) on the Las Vegas strip. I did a burn out, got it sideways and highsided it. I hit 4 cars on that one. This is where I began to relaize that I was the cause of my riding problems!

Long period of safety....

2002, found a MINT 1992 Yamaha FZR 1000 (second one I owned) had it for three months. Making a right from a side street onto a main street, but there was a patch of sand going up the side of the Main steet. I lost traction when I pulled out, saved it but my direction of travel took me right back into the sand. Well, to avoid a parked car I swerved back onto the Main street and lost the back tire... at 10 MPH. This was my worst accident... my pride was VERY damaged. lol

Answer 5

Lets be very clear. NO ONE "lays it down" ever. Anyone who says they "laid 'er down" is covering for the fact they CRASHED.

Call it what you will. If the bike crashes, it is because you are out of control.

from Timberwoof's FAQ:
http://www.timberwoof.com/motorcycle/faq/riding.html

When should I “lay her down”?
• Laying down a bike to avoid a crash is highly recommended by the IAMBPM (International Association of Motorcycle Body Part Manufacturers), the MMU (Motorcycle Mechanics Union) and the AMAMSG (American Medical Association for More Skin Grafts).
We should all lay our bikes down more often to help support these fine organizations! Very often, stopping or swerving to avoid a crash does absolutely no damage to the motorcycle or the rider thereby depriving the shops and hospitals of repair work. Let's all quit being so selfish and do what we can to help the economy, so lay down your bike for the good of all (except, of course, yourself, but it's a small sacrifice to make)!—XS11E
• On my first long trip on my old used goldwing, I met some friends down in the valley, and they were to follow me. Soon, one of them pulled alongside and notified me that I was losing some coolant and they didn't like it. I pulled over, and determined that rather than get out the toolkit for a 10mm to unbolt the overfilled coolant reservoir,I could simply remove the cap and roll the bike over on the front and rear crashbars, on the soft sandy shoulder without damage, and saved some time. It made a good photo, too.
I could change the rear tire on the road the same way, but havent had to yet. When I hit the horse trailer in Washington, I was on the brakes all the way to impact, which is why I could get up and worry about the damage and finishing my trip.—Paul Calman
• Almost never. Tire rubber has immense traction; plastic, steel, and chrome have next to no traction at all. If you’re on your bike and in control, you stand a much better chance of stopping in time or swerving out of the way than if you just let the bike slide.
One of the tests in the MSF Basic Rider Course practical exam covers swerving. You ride at ~20 MPH directly at the instructor. At the last moment, he points to one side or the other and yoru'e supposed to swerve the bike in that direction. If you swerve in the correct direction, you get ten points for the question. If you swerve in the wrong direction, you get eight. If you fail to swerve at all, you fail the course. The MSF does not teach you how to “lay her down.”

Answer 6

Yeah - on Saturday, I was on my way to the AMA Superbike event in Sonoma County. I stopped at my local dealership to buy a ticket and ran into two other bikers. They asked if they could tag along, as they didnt know how to get to the track. I said yes.

Two blocks later, one of the guys isnt paying attention and hits me from behind at 30 mph while Im stopped at a stop sign. Knocked me offf my bike, trashed my full Ti Muzzy system, and broke homeboy's arm.


Another time, I was at Thunderhill race track, doing a track day. Some guy went off course and turned to come back onto the course...he entered the course right in the middle of Turn 8 - which is about 120mpg corner. I was in a full lean when the guy pulled out right in front of me. I missed him - but low sides and slid uphill about 75yrds. No injuries whatsoever...but bike got rashed!

Answer 7

Yes, mine is really lame though.. I had just got my brand new Ninja and had only ridden it like, twice.. With lots of supervision. Well I got cocky and was like, yeah I can do this myself.. I'll just ride i through the neighborhood (I was living with my parents at the time). I got on with helmet and jacket and let off the clutch WAY too fast and my bike started going crazy and I crashed in my parents front yard.. LOL. I got up really fast, kind of dazed, picked the heavy thing up with some super human strength and put the kickstand down.. Looked around to make sure no one saw me.. then put the bike up. Didn't fool with it for the rest of the day. I broke off the turn signal, scratched the exhaust up a little, and put a small gash in the fairing.. Good times.. ;)

Answer 8

I assume you mean "laid" down, not layed because layed is slang for...well, never mind.

Yes, certainly not intentionally of course. Ride long enough and you have scars to carry with you for the rest of your life.

The one that sticks with me most I wasn't involved in, it was my brother in law before he became my brother in law (I married his wife's sister years later, but that's another story). I was letting him ride my Harley that day, and he lived on one of those dead end streets in Los Angeles that butted up against the freeway. You came down the street, hard right, dead end shortly thereafter. He was coming at a fair clip, hit the brakes before the turn and the rod that did the rear brake fell off. He used as much front as he dared, which slowed him a little, and laid it down in the sharp right turn. The bike then slid to the curb, where centrifical force put it upright and he did a perfect somersault over it into the grass. Not a scratch on him, and it only took out the left turn signal on the bike.

Answer 9

In the street -
Twice. Both times on ice going less than 5 mph
It felt like someone pulled the rug out from under me LOL
It was in the freezing cold winter.
I had so many layers of clothes on, didn't feel a thing. I got up laughing. It was kinda fun LOL
In the dirt -
I lost count after 100

Oh...I forgot one -
Riding to work, it was raining out.
It was bumper to bumper on the parkway.
I pulled off the road onto a 3ft wide paved bicycle trail.
Coming up to a bridge, there was a blind turn.
I hit some steps made out of railroad ties at about 30mph.
Me and my bike did a 360 degree forward flip in the air.
The front end was pretty smashed up and my shoulder was bruised pretty bad.
Managed to ride home.
The next day when the swelling went down, I went to the hospital and found out I broke my collar bone.

Answer 10

which time ? lol
i have over 250 k on sport bikes and as a rider you fit into one or to categories at all times there are those that have gone done and there are those that are going to go down . my first one was a huge oil slick took the bike right out from me slammed me hard to the ground at about 40 broke my shoulder blade in half then when i went to pick my bike up cause it was in the oncoming traffic lane it dislocated my shoulder ..... took me 9 days till i was riding again