Dumbest riding mistake - what's yours?

Getting married! It cut my riding time in half!! (J/K)

 

Mello Dude:

Hmmm...this an interesting topic, and I hope this forum does not turn into a bragging contest, or who's the dumbest. If anybody posts, we already know you did something dumb!

When I first bought my 93 in August of 2000, I became alittle arrogant. I thought it would be fun to do 105mph on Route 6 in southern Maryland. Route 6 is open in spots, its a nice country road, but it is not the Daytona Speedway. But my 25 year old ass thought so! Anyway, I was approaching an intersection with a blinking light at the high rate of speed. I realized I needed to slow because the person making the left hand turn and the person making a right onto 6, in front of me, could not tell me approach speed, and they had started to pull in front of me. I got on the brakes hard, and locked up the back break at about 80mph.

Well God was watching over my foolish ass that day and the person making the left stopped half way and it happened to be young kid making the right stopped too. I blew right through the opening they left. They realized I wasn't going to be able to stop. Apparently the smoke coming off my back tire let them know.

When I did finally stop, I pulled over onto the shoulder and began the humbling process. The kid pulled up and asked if I was OK. I just said yes. But his face said it all. Nothing like a 16-17 year old kid whose face says "What a dumbass!

Looking back I am still thankful. I have a little prayer that goes "God, let me learn from mistakes as effortlessly and painlessly as possible."

God was listening.

BZ

 

And I hoped your lesson was more front brake ... less rear :biggrin:

 

slovfr:

Dude, no kidding! I look back at my early riding habits, learnings, etc. and realize how little I knew about riding, how a motorcycle turns, proper brake application, you name it. By know means am I an expert now, but I feel a little bit of the proper information makes motorcycling much more safe and fun.

My lesson was: Route 6 is not Laguna Seca, and I am anything but Nicky Hayden LOL!

BZ

 

I know the feeling, most of what I "learned" about riding in my younger days came from laying on my back in the middle of the street thinking "Damn, that didn't work."
I think I stopped the first time around mostly out of self preservation.

 

When I get approached now by people who want to ride, or what's it like to ride? I tell them that to learn to ride a motorcycle correctly is one of the hardest things you will ever learn, if you want to learn it at all. And the learning never stops. You need to keep reading good books, go to riding schools, the learning keeps going.

I was blessed with the opportunity to become an MSF Coach last year. It is amazing the miscoceptions people have about motorcycling when they come to class. I used to share in some of those ideas and its a scary reflection of what type of rider I used to be. I have told participants: "The small fee and 3 days will teach you more than you thought possible, and you may find motorcycling is not for you, the inexpensive way".

BZ

 

Dumbest mistake riding. To be honest there are to many to pick a dumbest. I just find as I get older I make fewer of them and get less uptight when I do.

 

My dumbest mistake was buying a Harley...

 

Oh my GAWD, even I don't type fast enought to list all my dumb mistakes! ;-)

 

OK, now that is BIG!
But technically does it count? I mean the title of the thread was dumbest riding mistakes. Can you really make a mistake on what is in the shop?:biggrin:
Heck, you get such little riding in, a Hardly might be the safest bike out there!

 

My dumbest riding mistake occured in 93' just back from an 11k mile cross-country trek to Vancouver. I was near Smith Mtn Lake in Virginia on a fast left handed sweeper going about 60/10over. A big red Van was coming other way as I approached intersection on my Nighthawk S, no stop my way.

You know how this goes... I wasn't far enough to the right, I assumed he MUST SEE me. He turned at worst possible moment. I tossed to right and barely hit near his right headlight. I almost made it. I flew about 25 feet bounced once and thankfully landed in high grass on shoulder. One broken foot, one knee surgery, ripped rotator cuff...Priceless LESSON on Riding LIKE WE ARE INVISIBLE. The guy at scene admitted to complete fault until State Police showed up, it got ugly, I won court battle. I still sometimes dream about the wreck and plunging strait through both plate glass windows.:censored:

My trip had made me a little cocky... If I can survive cross-country nothing can stop me, yeah right Rich...

So far my only get off in about 100K miles... I'm knocking my head on wood desk!!!!!!!!!!!:hail:

 

My dumbest mistake: I was at my girlfriend's house and started feeling sick and feverish. She was getting on my nerves and even though it was a cold semi-windy day I wanted to go home. I had the cold sweats and my eyes were hurting, but I was determined to get home. I was on my Suzuki Intruder and it was a 45min or so ride to my house and I had to go over the Throgs Neck bridge (from the Bronx to Queens). I was careful and took it easy (mainly because I did not want to hear "I told you not to go"). I was at the corner of my block when I got happy and relaxed causing me to be a little careless. When I turned the corner I was going real slow (too slow) and while the bike was still slightly leaned over I hit a recessed manhole cover (about 4 - 5 inches recessed). I went down soooo fast I could not believe I was on the ground with the bike still running and leaking gas. I felt like a little boy who fell off his bike and needed my mommie to come pick me up (up til this incident I had never been down). I tried to move and that is when I realized my left foot was caught under the rear wheel. No one was anywhere around to help. To make a long story short - I got the bike off my foot and made it into the house. I soaked my foot while I was shivering with a blanket over me. I do not like going to the doctor and was ready to deal with the pain. My girlfriend was upset to hear I took a fall and was nagging me to go to the doctor and get my swollen foot checked. About two weeks after my fall a good friend invited me over to watch some basketball and have dinner. My friend and his wife waited until I fell asleep while watching the game and took my keys and wallet. They woke me up and took me to the hospital emergency room to have my foot checked (guess they got tired of seeing me walk around looking like the Fly). The X-rays showed I had a broken toe and two fractures in my foot. Well I already knew I was hurt and the only thing the doctor offered was a soft cast and some drugs along with instructions to stay off my foot and an appointment to come back. I did not need the soft cast, I do not like taking drugs and needless to say I did not go back to the doctor. My foot did heal ok but my toe is a little crooked - big deal.

 

After riding up to nyc from southern new jersey to see the motorcycle show a couple of weekends ago, I decided to ride home even though it was already 27 degrees out, getting dark, and there were snow showers in the forcast.

I made it through the city traffic lane splitting from Astoria to the Verezano. I made it down the turnpike. As soon as I got off, there was snow on the road. I took it real slow after I slipped through the first intersection before my house.

I went to turn into my driveway, hit the half inch riser from the street to the concrete, and it was like a hand reached up from the ground, grabbed my front tire and pulled it to the side, forcing my vfr to fall onto my right foot and twisting my foot backward after I had tried to put it out to make the save.

A visit to the hospital confirmed a sprained knee and ankle.
Minor scratches on the vfr will be left as a reminder to stay away from the snow. But given the same circumstances, I would probably see the same outcomes. Next time I will beat mother nature! In fact, I'm going out in the snow next time just to practice... on my '85 atc 350x.

 

Ahh....been there @ roughly the same age; did it to the snowmobile too. Want to see something funny, watch a chubby kid dressed in full winter riding gear chasing his snowmobile across a frozen lake because he slid off seat banking a corner to fast:redface:

 

Without a doubt my dumbest mistake would be about five years ago. I was still a new rider and I was riding with a friend who had taken several racing classes. He was riding a GSXR-1000. I was riding a 1982 Yamaha Vision 550. Thnking about it now, it was a accident waitng to happen. We were on a highway onramp which had a sharp turn on it. He made the turn nice and smooth, but I did notice that his bike was leaned over really far. At that point I new that I was in trouble. I started letting off the throttle but when I hit the turn I was going way too fast. I leaned it over till the footpeg was shooting off sparks behind me. I don't know if my peg hit a pothole or if the bike just started the wobble on its own, but it began to shake violently while I was still in the turn. I held in the clutch and by some miracle the bike righted itself and coasted out of the turn. I spent the rest of the ride home thinking how lucky I was. I also made the decision not to ride with that friend anymore. (He still rides like he's on the track.) From that day on I have been very careful who I ride with and what my limits are.

 

My dumbest mistake was riding my Harley through a rainstorm at 35 Degrees from Nashville to B'ham and dropping at an exit North of B'ham. When you get tired, pull over! Never had that ArmorAll problem. Used it for decades!

By the way, my Harley has never broken down. All of my Hondas have at least twice in less mileage.

 

While I was stationed in Vegas a few years ago I was riding home from somewhere (can't remember now), the streets were fairly crowded (DUH!!!). I was following a little too close to the car in front of me. The car in front of her made an un-announced left turn, causing the car in front of me to panic brake. So what did I do??? I also applied the brakes to the best of my ability, looking to my left, and right for a possible escape route. There wasn't one. I ended up hitting her cars rear bumper at about 10mph. There was no damage to her, me, or either vehicle. It taught me to stay even further back than I used to. You never know what's going on a few cars in front of you. I also try to look further ahead now as well. It could have ended up worse that it did. I was being cautious, but not enough.

 

I pushed it travelling in a car and almost fell asleep at the wheel. That was a dumb mistake I have not made on a bike. Hey I guess some lucky people are just meant to ride a Harley. Not me, my old Harley was always breaking down and I even had some parts fall off while I was riding (Harley bikes vibrate way too much for me and are way tooooo loud for me). I have not broken down on any of my Suzukis or Hondas yet. Harley's still have the best clearence for a crusier and when fully dressed are some of the prettiest crusiers.