Went down...

[Gas Pumper]

Met the pavement on my way to work last Friday.

The scene: Was heading down Iliff towards 225 in the right-hand lane. For anyone unfamiliar with the area, they have closed some lanes while building the new elevated light rail line. Needless to say, people (read: douchebags) race in the left hand lanes (that eventually close) to get past as many cars as possible. One of these fellow humans in a 1/2 ton pickup decided to do just that, and jerked his truck into my lane about a half of a car length in front of me, then slam on the brakes due to a car turning right at Blackhawk.

Option 1: Accident avoidance; Can't do right, theres a sidewalk. Can't go left, there is a car in the lane next to me. Option hosed.
Option 2: Eat this guys tailgate. I wasn't very hungry. Option hosed.
Option 3: "Grab" everything. Winner! (fail)

I "grabbed " everything. By "grab" I mean front and rear brakes, while downshifting. Next thing I know, I'm rolling down Iliff...

I stand-up, survey myself real quick (thanking God I ride ATGATT... well, mostly), then pick up the bike, throw broken off pieces of the fairings, turn signal, etc off the road and onto the sidewalk, and proceed to push my bike to the intersection to get out of the road. Did a quick damage assessment of the bike, phoned the wife to bring things to pry with. Breathe.

While I was waiting, I thought about what I did wrong. I "grabbed" the front too hard, too fast? I answered that as plausible, but unlikely. I've grabbed the front plenty harder to see what the limits were... I've always easy-on/easy-off, even in panic-y situations before.

Fast forward a couple of days, and I return to the scene (found the gouges in the pavement). There was crap everywhere, but it was mostly sand and dirt. I think I went went down with too much front brake for the loss in traction. Or, I just simply grabbed too much front brake, period. Don't know, but I'm almost certain if I didn't go down, I was going to get a nice Chevrolet breakfast.

Damage? Front, left-side main and rear fairings busted, bent handlebar, broken-ish clutch lever, mangled shift-linkage, missing front left turn signal, bruised mirror and foot pegs, leather jacket scuffed (leather is awesome, btw), couple marks on the Shoei, and a sore leg, hip, wrist and shoulder. Not a mark on me.

Truck took off (don't even know if they realized what happened), first 4 cars behind me went around, then finally someone asked if I was OK.

Lessons? Increase my bubble. Could this have been prevented if I gave myself a little more room between myself and traffic? Maybe... worth the change regardless. Also, people are asshats. The driver for wanting to save a whole 20 seconds of traffic to the people who just went around a downed rider.

Anyways, that's the tale of Gas Pumper this past week (not to mention the bike falling over due to wind, and of course it was on the other side of the bike). Any of this happen to any one of you?

[birchyboy]

That sucks man. That area of Iliff is difficult at best right now. With the two left lanes closed, and the far right lane often being mistaken/used as a through lane for Iliff, even though it is an I225 onramp, there is always a bunch of douchcanoes speeding up to get in front of others.

Glad you're relatively OK.

[Generic]

Glad you are mostly OK and didn't get beat up to bad. Sorry about the bike man

[j0ker]

So glad you are OK. Sounds like you were in as much control of your ride that day as you could be. Awesome you walked away from that instead of eating the trucks tailgate!

[Gas Pumper]

I always cringe when I see riders not wear a helmet. I cringe, then shake my head when I see riders with a helmet... in the helmet lock or otherwise strapped to the bike.

Seriously, why? My helmet got a couple nicks but that tells me it saved my face. I just don't get it.

Anywho, I consider myself "lucky" if there is such a thing as luck when riding.

[Sully]

I think I've seen you riding on Iliff in the morning, usually around 7:30ish, maybe? I agree, total douchebags speeding up in the left lanes to cut over in front of everyone else.. annoying.. I often turn left at the light right before and head over to Yale, but it depends on how much traffic is backed up at that time. I try to avoid that area as much as possible, especially during the afternoon rush hour!

Glad you're ok and had your gear on!

[Gas Pumper]

I think I've seen you riding on Iliff in the morning, usually around 7:30ish, maybe?

It would be closer to 6:20-6:30. Still nice and dark this time of year... may have compounded this whole issue (Didn't see me?)

[j0ker]

It would be closer to 6:20-6:30. Still nice and dark this time of year... may have compounded this whole issue (Didn't see me?)

Time to go HiViz.

[~Barn~]

I'm very happy to hear you were wearing the right gear and things didn't go much worse!

[Nolan]

Time to go HiViz.

If a truck with 90' of trailers gets cut off (me) then I seriously doubt much else is going to get them to pay attention. I bounce through that area at around 50 and let the f-tards play with themselves.
Glad you don't have a Chevy imprint on your noggin!

[Lomax]

Sorry to hear about your getoff. My only advice would be more space and expecting the asshats to do the dumb thing.

Marc

[FZRguy]

GP do you cover the front brake with one or two fingers? Huge help with progressive braking to max and having a good chance of staying upright (assuming no one piles into you from the rear). Like you said, grabbing a fist-full of front brake will over-load the tire and put you on your ass in a heartbeat. Glad you're mostly okay.

[Bueller]

I am assuming this happened on the 250? If so you don't have enough front brake for an instant "over grab". Not that you can't slide the front on cold pavement and/or debris on the surface, but the brake is not nearly as strong as a dual disk front on larger cc size bikes.
Leave yourself more room and expect stupidity, especially it traffic chokes, people are total idiots when they think they can get a few more car lengths. With experience you can predict drivers actions and plan ahead to either give them space or get past them. I try to plan escapes ahead of time, it is a survey and self awareness that I practice when riding in traffic.

[Slo]

Sucks about your getoff, karma will get that other cager some day. Glad you werent hurt....

[lth]

Sorry about your accident. Sounds like you are doing a good post-crash analysis. I think Bueller's advice to "leave room, expect stupidity, plan escapes ahead of time" is excellent.

[Gas Pumper]

Thanks all. I'm pretty much healed up. About $100 in parts... Not replacing the fairings until I sell it.

Most of the parts got here today. Hopefully have it back together early Saturday. Looks like a couple good riding days this weekend... I'd like to enjoy them on two.

[Aaron]

Glad you're ok, and don't take the following the wrong way. For those of you who have ABS, leave it on. And if you're looking at bikes, and ABS is an option, get it. Two out of my 3 street crashes would've been prevented with it, and this accident likely would have too.

I'm sure you're a fantastic rider, and I'm serious about that. But the sand and chemicals on the roads here are nothing short of Russian Roulette every time we ride. Be careful guys.

Wow $100 is cheap. My Dad recently low speed low-sided the Tiger in my sig, and we are up to $700 in parts.

[Gas Pumper]

I'm fixing the things that "need" to be fixed... Still going to be some battle scars. Do agree with the ABS, but I do have to correct you: I am by no means a fantastic rider. Only been on two for about 7 months (7500 miles or so). Always learning... But I have to admit I enjoying learning more when it doesn't hurt.

[Aaron]

Nothing wrong with learning the hard way. I'd say I do, but I never learn, just keep doing it the hard way over and over expecting different results. They have a name for that I think.

[FZRguy]

Yeah, called broken bones. I'll keep learning the "easy way."

[Gas Pumper]

Back on two... Great day to ride. I put on the new handlebar, levers and fixed the busted turn signal. All works. Knee still is bugging me, so I kept the test ride short.

Have a good one, all.

[Drama2]

Wow no fear...be safe.