Ssky0078
Junior Member
It was a beautiful Sunday on December 2nd, 2012. I had went out for a ride with a few friends up AZ state route 88. We had made it past Tortilla Flat, AZ to point where it becomes dirt road. On the way back down we stopped in Tortilla Flat for a bowl of their famous chili. It was just starting to get dark so we began to head back up the hill. Temperature was a crisp 55ish degrees.
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As we started our trek back up the side of the hill we were on the side of the road that was exposed to the how to say open air, or cliff side. About 1/4 mile in I felt my rear tire give way a little coming out of a corner. I made a conscious decision to slow down and go at or below the speed limit 25 from there on out. About another 1/4 mile up the road I began to enter a sharp left sweeping curve at about 25-20 mph. About mid curve the road had the asphalt worn away to concrete and it was directly in my line. The patch of worn away road was to wide to swerve wide and if I had leaned in sharper it would have put me at an odd angle engaging the uneven surface. So, I decided to stay the course and aim right through the middle off the patch. As I was hitting the apex of the curve and starting to roll on the back tire hit a patch of loose road/gravel and skipped out about a foot, maybe a foot and a half. When the back tire grabbed it basically stood me up (reminded me of riding bmx as a kid and skidding the backtire to a semi stop and popping up and riding again). I was now aimed dead straight at the edge of a cliff bout 20-30 feet in front of me. I immediately let off the throttle and attempted to lean back in. I was able to ride the white line for a second but as there was no real shoulder and I couldn't adjust and lean in hard enough at the speed of now 10ish mph for fear of automatically landing on my side the front tire grabbed the side and pulled me off the road. I immediately grabbed the front brake and hit the rear (i'm not sure of this but the skid mark in gravel suggested it). As the bike was now within a foot maybe two of a 100-150 foot embankement/cliff. I leaned as hard as I could into the hillside. Thank god the bike fairing and left fork snagged into a bush bringing the bike to a dead stop. I was propelled over the handlebars head first into a bush (I believe sage now that I think about it but I thought mesquite at first but it wasn't a tree). The bush seemed to slow my face down and I think I was still hanging on to the bike so my feet began to go over the top. As I was in mid air over the bike I was in a matrix direct view down at my new MRA vario windshield snapping in half by a tree/bush branch. I believe my left hand was still holding on to the bike at this point so it whipped me left shoulder/head first down into the ground. I remember my helmet smacking the ground as I'm now looking at my front end upside down. Immediately I roll over and check to make sure the bike is not going the rest of the way off the cliff. There is maybe a foot or 2 at the most from where me and the bike came to rest and the road grading rock ended and the sharp decline began.
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My friends then came up behind me and pulled over to see if I was ok. We figured out how to reset the bike and get it started (I honestly never thought I would have to use that procedure after reading the manual when I first got the bike). I had to have one friend hold on to the passenger bars and help push down/pull forward the bike as I walked it back up onto the road. I called my insurance and let them know I was in an accident, etc. My friends and I had to bend the frame for the fairing out of the way of the control as it was pushed all the way back up on to the left controls. We got it so that I could make reasonable left and right turns and set out on our way back home. It seemed that anything over 30mph I felt a little wiggle or like the front end would shoot out from under me. After talking with a few people they thought the forks may be screwed up in the triple tree.
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I got home safe and the bike goes into the shop tomorrow to start the whole insurance process. I have full coverage including accessory coverage which will include my windscreen, helmet, maybe jacket and bag I was wearing.
As for damage to the motorcycle:
The fairing was all mashed up into the left hand controls. My friends and I had to pull it out of the way to get the bike on the road to get it home. There is a big crack in the left side of the fairing. Windshield is destroyed in half, I just put on a smoke MRA vario touring screen like 5 days ago. Left mirror is gone and the arm is all tweaked up right mirror is cracked. The speedo doesn't sit right in the fairing any more because of tweaking. There is a dent in the radiator where the hose is at on the left side and the plastic cover is cracked. The tank has a little chunk of paint taken out of it but looks okay otherwise. The frame is all scuffed up on the left side. Amazingly the frame slider looks like it hardly got touched. At speed on the freeway home I would get this unexplained wobble every now and then where it just seemed like the bike would get away from me. Thank god it didn't otherwise I would have to explain how it went down twice in one day. My horn no longer works as well. Seat has a huge gouge in it. Right fender has a little scuff in. Front wheel fender (?) is all scuffed up.
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Honestly I hope they total it, because it was in perfect condition with only 8,500 miles on it. The dealer I go to has a 2009 Black Fz6 with a puig touring windscreen, frame sliders, fork sliders and swing arm spools (if they still have it, it was there on Friday). Basically everything I want. I almost want to pull the new iridum plugs and put in the originals before I take it into the shop, lol
I keep going over the situation in my mind and I really can't come up with much I could have done different. I mean we could have left 30 minutes earlier with a little more light in the sky. But, I think I still would have chosen that same line on the corner and made the same adjustments (my friends had to look closely to find the loose road/gravel but once they did they were amazed they didn't hit it, I was just on a slightly tighter line than they were). I could have gone slower but any slower and wouldn't have felt like i was going at enough speed to sit the suspension down and grip the corner, like they teach at MSF BRC. I think if had waited and ordered the Racetech Springs for my forks I was looking at just the night before the accident it may have helped. But, I just had a good ride the day before through a lot more technically challenging set of twisty's and made it home safe (I'll be posting youtube video of this ride after I finish editing). I probably target fixated as I was trying to slow and keep from going off the edge, but at one point in my memory i remember picking my eyes up from the white line and tryin to look at the middle of the road but it was right about that point that the shoulder grabbed me and took me off the road.
All things considered I am pretty lucky. I'm glad I had made a conscious effort to slow down before that corner or if I was going the slightest bit faster I would have shot off that cliff quicker than I could have reacted and I would not be writing this "close call" story right now and be either dead or laid up in pieces in a hospital. Instead, I've been sore all day and I have some sypmtoms of a post concussion syndrome and a little whiplash (i'm a doctor and have doctor friends so it helps to get immediate advice).
I'm a mix bags of feelings right now. I still have the itch and want to get my bike back on the road:Sport:. I'm still thinking about the mods that I would do to prevent anything like this from happening again (new Racetech fork springs and rear spring/shock, I am 245-250 pounds and the factory is for someone 150). I know that the springs wouldn't have fixed the gravel issue but I know anything that makes me more stable will allow recovery and accomodating obstacles easier. This is now going to take top priority over the desire for TwoBrothers CF exhaust and Power Commander. I am a little mad that such a small thing as a little gravel in the road could mess me up so bad
. I did talk to a friend today that told me the local drift race car drivers like to use that road to train on, so they help rip it up:Flip:. I am worried/anxious about dealing with the insurance and hoping to get my bike as close to the level of awesome it was before.
I have been throwing my story in other threads a few times already and sorry for that, if it was out of line. The community support has been awesome and I've never actually bothered to participate in a forum community before.
Thank you everyone, blessings on you and be safe out there.
View attachment 45848
As we started our trek back up the side of the hill we were on the side of the road that was exposed to the how to say open air, or cliff side. About 1/4 mile in I felt my rear tire give way a little coming out of a corner. I made a conscious decision to slow down and go at or below the speed limit 25 from there on out. About another 1/4 mile up the road I began to enter a sharp left sweeping curve at about 25-20 mph. About mid curve the road had the asphalt worn away to concrete and it was directly in my line. The patch of worn away road was to wide to swerve wide and if I had leaned in sharper it would have put me at an odd angle engaging the uneven surface. So, I decided to stay the course and aim right through the middle off the patch. As I was hitting the apex of the curve and starting to roll on the back tire hit a patch of loose road/gravel and skipped out about a foot, maybe a foot and a half. When the back tire grabbed it basically stood me up (reminded me of riding bmx as a kid and skidding the backtire to a semi stop and popping up and riding again). I was now aimed dead straight at the edge of a cliff bout 20-30 feet in front of me. I immediately let off the throttle and attempted to lean back in. I was able to ride the white line for a second but as there was no real shoulder and I couldn't adjust and lean in hard enough at the speed of now 10ish mph for fear of automatically landing on my side the front tire grabbed the side and pulled me off the road. I immediately grabbed the front brake and hit the rear (i'm not sure of this but the skid mark in gravel suggested it). As the bike was now within a foot maybe two of a 100-150 foot embankement/cliff. I leaned as hard as I could into the hillside. Thank god the bike fairing and left fork snagged into a bush bringing the bike to a dead stop. I was propelled over the handlebars head first into a bush (I believe sage now that I think about it but I thought mesquite at first but it wasn't a tree). The bush seemed to slow my face down and I think I was still hanging on to the bike so my feet began to go over the top. As I was in mid air over the bike I was in a matrix direct view down at my new MRA vario windshield snapping in half by a tree/bush branch. I believe my left hand was still holding on to the bike at this point so it whipped me left shoulder/head first down into the ground. I remember my helmet smacking the ground as I'm now looking at my front end upside down. Immediately I roll over and check to make sure the bike is not going the rest of the way off the cliff. There is maybe a foot or 2 at the most from where me and the bike came to rest and the road grading rock ended and the sharp decline began.
View attachment 45851
My friends then came up behind me and pulled over to see if I was ok. We figured out how to reset the bike and get it started (I honestly never thought I would have to use that procedure after reading the manual when I first got the bike). I had to have one friend hold on to the passenger bars and help push down/pull forward the bike as I walked it back up onto the road. I called my insurance and let them know I was in an accident, etc. My friends and I had to bend the frame for the fairing out of the way of the control as it was pushed all the way back up on to the left controls. We got it so that I could make reasonable left and right turns and set out on our way back home. It seemed that anything over 30mph I felt a little wiggle or like the front end would shoot out from under me. After talking with a few people they thought the forks may be screwed up in the triple tree.
View attachment 45850
I got home safe and the bike goes into the shop tomorrow to start the whole insurance process. I have full coverage including accessory coverage which will include my windscreen, helmet, maybe jacket and bag I was wearing.
As for damage to the motorcycle:
The fairing was all mashed up into the left hand controls. My friends and I had to pull it out of the way to get the bike on the road to get it home. There is a big crack in the left side of the fairing. Windshield is destroyed in half, I just put on a smoke MRA vario touring screen like 5 days ago. Left mirror is gone and the arm is all tweaked up right mirror is cracked. The speedo doesn't sit right in the fairing any more because of tweaking. There is a dent in the radiator where the hose is at on the left side and the plastic cover is cracked. The tank has a little chunk of paint taken out of it but looks okay otherwise. The frame is all scuffed up on the left side. Amazingly the frame slider looks like it hardly got touched. At speed on the freeway home I would get this unexplained wobble every now and then where it just seemed like the bike would get away from me. Thank god it didn't otherwise I would have to explain how it went down twice in one day. My horn no longer works as well. Seat has a huge gouge in it. Right fender has a little scuff in. Front wheel fender (?) is all scuffed up.
View attachment 45849
Honestly I hope they total it, because it was in perfect condition with only 8,500 miles on it. The dealer I go to has a 2009 Black Fz6 with a puig touring windscreen, frame sliders, fork sliders and swing arm spools (if they still have it, it was there on Friday). Basically everything I want. I almost want to pull the new iridum plugs and put in the originals before I take it into the shop, lol
I keep going over the situation in my mind and I really can't come up with much I could have done different. I mean we could have left 30 minutes earlier with a little more light in the sky. But, I think I still would have chosen that same line on the corner and made the same adjustments (my friends had to look closely to find the loose road/gravel but once they did they were amazed they didn't hit it, I was just on a slightly tighter line than they were). I could have gone slower but any slower and wouldn't have felt like i was going at enough speed to sit the suspension down and grip the corner, like they teach at MSF BRC. I think if had waited and ordered the Racetech Springs for my forks I was looking at just the night before the accident it may have helped. But, I just had a good ride the day before through a lot more technically challenging set of twisty's and made it home safe (I'll be posting youtube video of this ride after I finish editing). I probably target fixated as I was trying to slow and keep from going off the edge, but at one point in my memory i remember picking my eyes up from the white line and tryin to look at the middle of the road but it was right about that point that the shoulder grabbed me and took me off the road.
All things considered I am pretty lucky. I'm glad I had made a conscious effort to slow down before that corner or if I was going the slightest bit faster I would have shot off that cliff quicker than I could have reacted and I would not be writing this "close call" story right now and be either dead or laid up in pieces in a hospital. Instead, I've been sore all day and I have some sypmtoms of a post concussion syndrome and a little whiplash (i'm a doctor and have doctor friends so it helps to get immediate advice).
I'm a mix bags of feelings right now. I still have the itch and want to get my bike back on the road:Sport:. I'm still thinking about the mods that I would do to prevent anything like this from happening again (new Racetech fork springs and rear spring/shock, I am 245-250 pounds and the factory is for someone 150). I know that the springs wouldn't have fixed the gravel issue but I know anything that makes me more stable will allow recovery and accomodating obstacles easier. This is now going to take top priority over the desire for TwoBrothers CF exhaust and Power Commander. I am a little mad that such a small thing as a little gravel in the road could mess me up so bad
. I did talk to a friend today that told me the local drift race car drivers like to use that road to train on, so they help rip it up:Flip:. I am worried/anxious about dealing with the insurance and hoping to get my bike as close to the level of awesome it was before. I have been throwing my story in other threads a few times already and sorry for that, if it was out of line. The community support has been awesome and I've never actually bothered to participate in a forum community before.
Thank you everyone, blessings on you and be safe out there.
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