Heart breaker and a thinker

[urbanj]

Gotta vent

So i probably won't be riding at all this season cause I had shoulder surgery. 2 months in and I'm still working only on range of motion. By brother asked me if I'd teach him to ride and I thought why not. He's 23, has a squeaky driving record and he is my bro. So I teach him well, he passes his skills test so he is allowed to ride by himself. His only restrictions are no night riding and no passengers.

Anyways before I switched the insurance over for him to be the primary operator I finally bought sliders for the bike. Long story short, and this is by his account, he's putting along with traffic going up to about 30km/h and then slows back down again. this happens a bunch of times while he is on this road in traffic. then he tells be the next thing he knows is he is just feet from the guys front bumper grabs some brake, sees he can't stop in time and just dumps it and jumps off.

Good thing is he is 100% OK. and the bike gladly has minimal damage. frame slider did it's job. just the corner of the right front fairing is scraped and the right grab handle. everything else, which you can't really tell, is the mirror has some smear on the plastic. Probably can just rub it out and the pegs have some scuffs on the underside.

I haven't been able to check it out yet but my dad got my neighbor who is an older man and for all my life growing up he has ridden and restored old bikes. he rode it home and said it ran straight and actually loved the bike. This is from a guy that rides classic nortons and whatnot. kinda cool. I'll still have to go over everything though.

Here is the scary thing, It's an accident you can't train for. all I can say is, when the car in front of you stops, YOU STOP. what he tells me is he doesn't remember. Which may be from the shock. He says maybe he blacked out or fell asleep. I dunno. And I would never trust an answer like that except both my sister and my mom have been diagnosed with this problem with the electrical circuit in the heart where it just stops beating for a brief time. My mom, only 47, has gone through all the testing and will now need a pacemaker. It's happened at a light and she passed out and ran into the car in front of her. That being said shes not allowed to drive now until she gets her pacemaker. my sister is in further testing. so maybe my bro is F'ed up too. I dunno.

But that is some crazy ****.

I still think he just zoned out and dumped it. Stupid NOOBs:spank:

 

[FZ1inNH]

Sorry to hear this! I wouldn't let him ride it again until he is tested for the medical problem. Once cleared of that, Take him out and teach him emergecny stops, attention tricks like having people lined up, each with a nerf ball and as he runs the gaunlet, one randomly rolls one in his path or throws it at him. All in a controlled and empty lot of course. Did he simply take the test or did he actually go through the BRC?

Bummer to hear about but certainly glad he is OK. He's smart enough to know his life is more important than the bike.

 

[MarinaFazer]

I still think he just zoned out and dumped it. Stupid NOOBs:spank:

I agree. I almost rear ended someone because I wasn't really paying attention in traffic. I bottomed out the front forks from how hard and late I broke. Luckily didn't lose balance, but I could easily see how it would be SO embarassing to have that type of fall.

 

[DaveOTZ]

I would normally agree with the stupid newb thing... But I was thinking about the muscles we use on our bike especially when we are in a tight situation...

If you have a genetic heart defect in the family, I would totally ask him to get tested. Tensing the stomach muscles is usually followed by an abdominal push (like pushin a poo) this can activate a vaso-vagul response, someone could experience fainting or heart stoppage. This is why they tell you to breath when you lift weights.

Definitely get him checked out. Regardless of the bike

Vasovagal episode - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[lytehouse]

Sorry to hear about your bike.....and your surgery. Hope you are doing well & heal fast...stinks that you had to have this done now that the weather is getting nice!

 

[jmerch44]

Don't be so hard on him, It could happen to anyone. Get well soon man.

 

[sfcali86]

yea sometimes we get distracted then we turn and its to late thats why allways look ahead and pay attention :spank: to your bro

 

[dean2287]

First - well done by your bro' to get out of it unhurt. Bottow line - it could have been worse. I would call it inexperience, and hopefully it doesn't unnerve him...just a good lesson. Stop and go traffic it a pain in the @ss, especially when you are just between 2nd gear and having to drop down to 1st again.

Second - I agree that he had better get checked out, before he starts riding again. It's bad enough in a car, on a bike it could be deadly. Hopefully he was just daydreaming and not having syncope.

Third - FRAME SLIDERS SAVE THE DAY AGAIN! Best investment ever. :thumbup:

 

[Zealadin]

The only time that would really be a valid excuse if I'm reading your post right, is if the car in fronts brake lights where not working, and he was distracted by something valid, ie a person he needed to watch about to step into his path. Even then its realistically just bad riding.
He obviously isn't scanning ahead far enough, and keeping an eye on all the cars in front, not just the one he is tailing, not to mention staying a safe distance behind, being properly aware and staying focused.

I think the worst part of your post is that he made excuses and didn't take responsibility, that shows he hasn't learnt from his mistake and unless this attitude changes means he probably won't last long riding.
I'd get him medically checked if there is anything in the family that may cause it, but if it comes up clean I'd probably recommend taking him to task and forcing him to take responsibility so he can learn from this incident.
Its always really really hard to admit when your wrong, but in 99% of situations there are alot of safe riding practices which make sure you never end up in that kind of incident, because your riding to avoid it from the minute you turn your bike on.

At least he is ok... this time.

 

[urbanj]

Yeah thanks for the replies. I'm sure he panicked but it sucks that I wish I could have done more to prepare him better. But that said I taught him using the same tools and drills I was shown in my safety course. Truth is everyone will be down eventually and hopefully this is him getting it out of the way.

Unfortunately for me, if you can say that, I've never ever been down.:rockon:

Best thing is that he is ok and the bike is ok. I just needed to vent.

 

[Zealadin]

Yea he is alive, so you did a good job teaching him
Everyone has to learn their lessons themselves, you literally cannot impress upon someone some of the dangers they face, they need to face them themselves (they only become real then).

From your post I think you might feel a little guilty that maybe you didn't teach him well enough, but I don't think you should feel that way at all.
He got out without injury, and it was just his concentration that let him down most likely, you learn ALOT when you have incidents like this, its just nicer when you can learn it without the incident, like it sounds you have managed with no drops!