Saw a real nut today.

[TripleDigitRide]

Will the insurance companies pay out if the accident happened while stunt riding?

[The Average Joe]

BUT, you're alive. Your equipment saved your life. Guys at work give me crap for having a motorcycle and not riding it to work all the time. (I work downtown)

When i ride i wear a full faced snell cert as well as Joe Rocket's ballistic pants and jacket. The guys at work give me hell about that one too... but hey, in a crash, the odds of me surviving are a lot better than theirs. Never understood people on sport bikes and just a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals. They're already dead.

Agreed. I used to drive mine to work. From the Kingston Springs area to Murfreesburo Road area around Spence lane. My trek included I-40 East and I-440 East to M'buro Road. Many a morning I got off my bike jittery from the near miss I'd experienced. It's amazing how invisible I'd become once my tail hit the seat.

NOBODY gets hassle from me about leaving their bike at home during the work week.

If I had another, I love to take it down Natches Trace.

Edited August 16, 2008 by The Average Joe
spelling

[Smith]

Will the insurance companies pay out if the accident happened while stunt riding?

As quoted to me from Baptist Hospital, there are only three companies that will cover an auto accident.

[Fallguy]

Will the insurance companies pay out if the accident happened while stunt riding?

They may not, if the somehow knew. Doubt the rider would tell them that though.

[deerslayer]

I wear a Snell helmet, leather Joe Rocket jacket, leather gloves, and Setup riding boots, whether it's 15 or 95. As long as I'm moving, it's not bad. Get caught in traffic, and I burn up (when the temp is in the 90s). When people ask me, "doesn't that jacket get hot?" I say "not as hot as asphalt at 40 mph."

[Guest price g]

A couple of weeks ago, in front of my shop, on hwy 11/64, a guy layed down his new Harley trying to dodge an old tire that fell out of the back of a pickup going to the dump. He was well outfitted and avoided the road rash, but still broke his ankle. Go figure..........

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

I wear a Snell helmet, leather Joe Rocket jacket, leather gloves, and Setup riding boots, whether it's 15 or 95. As long as I'm moving, it's not bad. Get caught in traffic, and I burn up (when the temp is in the 90s). When people ask me, "doesn't that jacket get hot?" I say "not as hot as asphalt at 40 mph."

It's bad enough sitting still in the middle of a sea of asphalt when it's 100 out, and having an air-cooled engine between your legs doesn't exactly help either.

Once, coming back home to Raleigh from visiting out here in Chatt, I got caught in road construction around Durham on I-40. I had the full outfit on, including my overpants, and there I was sitting in stop and go traffic for probably 45 minutes during the hottest part of the day. Towards the end I really was starting to feel dehydrated, so much so that I saw an exit about a quarter-mile up ahead, and ducked into the closed lane with the intention of hitting the exit and stopping for a drink.

Wouldn't you know it, there was a Durham PD officer sitting in his car in the closed lane keeping an eye on things. He was waiting for me when I got to the car, and the encounter was made even more uncomfortable when I had to give him the "hold on a second" gesture while I dug my iPod out of the jacket and paused it. While he seemed somewhat sympathetic to my plight and didn't icket me or anything, he did tell me to get back in traffic. Luckily, it turned out that the bottle neck was clearing right at that point, so I was rolling at highway speed again pretty soon.

I can only imagine how many drivers saw my maneuver and subsequently laughed their ass off when I ended up talking to the cop. I mean, we've all used that "where's a cop when you need one" line, and every now and again you get delicious satisfaction.

[Fivestring63]

Whats the difference between a vacuum cleaner and a motorcycle???

A vacuum cleaner has a dirtbag inside it. A motorcycle has one on it.

Come on guys, just a joke.

[clipslinger]

Five years ago a little old woman locked em up on andrew jackson parkway. I had jeans and a t shirt on. Laid the bike down and shattered my tibial platau, i know i misspelled that.Got a little rash and scraped the hell out of my fullface. Spent two months in the hospital, had three surgeries and thank god every day for that helmet. I am now the proud owner of two plates and nine screws holding my knee. I choose not to ride in town anymore. Insurance paid 90% my part was 40,000 dollars. Yall be careful it hurts ya to wreck for a long long time. Oh and granny never even looked back. probably didnt even know i wrecked.

[Marswolf]

You can tell the quality of a man by his scars....

I just made that up. Maybe you can tell how dumb a guys is by his scars.

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

Five years ago a little old woman locked em up on andrew jackson parkway. I had jeans and a t shirt on. Laid the bike down and shattered my tibial platau, i know i misspelled that.Got a little rash and scraped the hell out of my fullface. Spent two months in the hospital, had three surgeries and thank god every day for that helmet. I am now the proud owner of two plates and nine screws holding my knee. I choose not to ride in town anymore. Insurance paid 90% my part was 40,000 dollars. Yall be careful it hurts ya to wreck for a long long time. Oh and granny never even looked back. probably didnt even know i wrecked.

This is the kind of behavior that scares me the most with drivers. I see lot of people do dumb stuff like pull out in front of people, coast through red lights into traffic, try to merge into other cars... and sometimes it seems like they're not even aware of what just nearly happened; they're just driving around in a sort of fog.

That woman probably never had any idea you even existed.

For my part, I managed to get my wreck out of the way about a month after I started riding. I learned about the joys of target fixation, and I was lucky enough to fixate on a ******* curb. Was coming out of a turn on a four-lane at about 50 mph, drifted out a little, looked at the curb, and just went straight to it. There was a short period of time in which I scrubbed along the curb, and then I found myself parting ways with the bike.

To this day, I can recall with complete clarity watching that mulch-covered median surface coming up towards my face. The time between the moment I contacted the ground and when I finally stopped rolling is just a jumble of blurry images.

Besides learning just what a powerful force target fixation was, I also learned that day just how effective adrenaline is. When I stopped rolling, I hopped back up, took off my helmet and gloves, looked at my bike lying in the street, and cussed up a storm. There were already a couple cars stopped by the time I got up, and a lady came over to see if I was OK while another guy called 911. I didn't feel a bit of pain until about ten minutes later, about the time the ambulance arrived. By the time I got to the ER, I was very ready for some ******* morphine.

The results of my excursion were a separated left shoulder, broken left shoulder blade, and a broken right pinky finger. The finger eventually had to be surgically repaired, so now I have three screws in there, and the second joint is pretty much nonfunctional due to scar tissue. Thanks to my gear, I didn't break the skin anywhere on my body. Bills weren't that bad, but my preinsurance ER bill came to about 20 grand. The main reason for that was that apparently a broken shoulder is indicative of internal injuries, so they did a CT scan of my entire torso. About $13k right there.

That wreck made me thankful for two things: medical insurance and Percocet.

[Marswolf]

For my part, I managed to get my wreck out of the way about a month after I started riding.

In my experience, if you ride a bike for enough years, your "wreck" isn't told until you have at least a couple of pins in your skeletal structure. . Most of my "rider" friends have about five.

I have a rule. I ride when the temperature is at least 80 and the sun is shining. And I wear as little clothing as I can get away with and feel comfortable. Yes, I know it is stupid, but then that is what motorcycles are for. Fun-fun-fun!

I seem to have this history of doing stuff that jeopardizes my life but is emotionally rewarding. I plan to continue until walkers or morticians come into play.

Edited August 17, 2008 by Marswolf

[Guest GT_Rat]

I have a lump on my clavical (left collar bone) from going over the handlebars 3 months after purchasing my first bike. In a traffic jam on the interstate doing about 20-30mph and looked over my shoulder to see if I could change lanes. Looked back and the lady in front had stopped. I full fisted the front brake and took a header over the handlebars. Rolled out of it but broke my collarbone and ripped my thumbnail off. I think the thumbnail hurt worse. Little to no rash because I was wearing a jacket and the speed was fairly slow.

[Guest Mugster]

On a motorcycle, protect your hands and feet first. A helmet's a good idea, but your noggin is pretty hard. Protecting your chin and face is probably more important. Road rash can be bad, but its the impact that really hurts you. A little padding might help. Lifting weights probably helps more.

I usually wear an old mesh joe rocket jacket in the summer. I always wear leather boots and the best leather gloves I can get. In the winter, you need all the clothes you can get anyway.

It always cracks me up that people that don't ride or don't ride much laugh at wearing jackets or whatever. Regardless of crashing, a bird or flying rocks at 75 will leave a mark. Or a cigarette butt, sometimes a thrown beer can, or chunks of tire rubber. Its rough out there if you commute.

[Smith]

On a motorcycle, protect your hands and feet first. A helmet's a good idea, but your noggin is pretty hard. Protecting your chin and face is probably more important. Road rash can be bad, but its the impact that really hurts you. A little padding might help. Lifting weights probably helps more.

I usually wear an old mesh joe rocket jacket in the summer. I always wear leather boots and the best leather gloves I can get. In the winter, you need all the clothes you can get anyway.

It always cracks me up that people that don't ride or don't ride much laugh at wearing jackets or whatever. Regardless of crashing, a bird or flying rocks at 75 will leave a mark. Or a cigarette butt, sometimes a thrown beer can, or chunks of tire rubber. Its rough out there if you commute.

Gloves are a must, in addition. I was using some Ironclad work gloves from Ace Hardware and they were awesome. Cool, fit well, have grips panles, and are tough as nails. I looked at them after my wreck and they looked brand new. BTW I slide on them the whole way. I burned through my pants and light jacket, but the gloves were fine.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=1275615&cp=1254884.1255148.1260304&parentPage=family

[strickj]

You can tell the quality of a man by his scars....

I just made that up. Maybe you can tell how dumb a guys is by his scars.

I'm ether one helluva man,or a one dumb sumbiotch with all my scars.

I prefer the first

I dont have any pins.If your gonna do it might as well do it right,so I went and got my self some drywall screws

[Smith]

Yeah, I got 5 of those plus the plate they are holding!

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

Uh-oh, the battle scar gauntlet has been thrown down!

Here's what my finger looks like now:

And a cool 3D rendering from a CT of my shoulder a couple weeks after the wreck:

I was a bit surprised that treatment for the shoulder essentially consisted of putting me in a sling for a few weeks. That was it. Didn't even do PT or anything for it.

[Marswolf]

I normally wear a a non-DOT helmet and have rode in a Tank Top or Sleeveless shirt....and on the rare occasion shorts.

The way I see it, it is my skin grafts or funeral so no one else need worry about it.

Assuming you are paying for all you medical costs out of pocket you are perfectly correct.

This idea that the government can tell you what to wear or smoke or whatever because of government subsidized medical stuff is really repugnant to me. We had a lot more freedom before Medicare and other government programs.

[The Average Joe]

This idea that the government can tell you what to wear or smoke or whatever because of government subsidized medical stuff is really repugnant to me. We had a lot more freedom before Medicare and other government programs.

It's not neccessarily the government. The insurance companies are the ones calling the shots. That's the reason we have airbags, helmet laws, seatbelt laws, front wheel drive, and smoking restrictions.

The insurace companies tell us that if everybody would do these things they want us to do, their rates would go down. The government in turn make a law so that everyone will...kinda of a team effort...or gang effort.

But, look at it from their side....They gotta keep those insurance rates down so they can tax you more.

[TripleDigitRide]

It's not neccessarily the government. The insurance companies are the ones calling the shots. That's the reason we have airbags, helmet laws, seatbelt laws, front wheel drive, and smoking restrictions.

The insurace companies tell us that if everybody would do these things they want us to do, their rates would go down. The government in turn make a law so that everyone will...kinda of a team effort...or gang effort.

But, look at it from their side....They gotta keep those insurance rates down so they can tax you more.

That would make perfect sense, but I have yet to see insurance rates go anywhere but up.

[The Average Joe]

That would make perfect sense, but I have yet to see insurance rates go anywhere but up.

You're catching on.

[Guest GT_Rat]

This idea that the government can tell you what to wear or smoke or whatever because of government subsidized medical stuff is really repugnant to me. We had a lot more freedom before Medicare and other government programs.

Who said anything about government subsidies. I'm talking about regular insurance premiums that you pay either on your own or through work. If you don't think paying for others irresponsible actions don't affect your premiums you are seriously deluding yourself.

[Guest grimel]

+1

Just hope I ain't around to see it!

Looks like egg salad spilled on the road.

[Guest grimel]

I once read something that has stayed with me, "Leathers are cheaper than skin grafts."

Dress for the slide, not the ride.

ATGATT == All the Gear All The Time

I may be crazy, but, I ain't stupid. While I was hurrying home today I was wearing my Snell approved full face helmet, armored riding jacket, and armored riding overpants as I zipped through traffic (really, if you aren't going to go at least the speed limit stay in the right lane) on my power cruiser.