A Motorcycle Thread About Absolutely Nothing!

[Reba]

I have something sad to report:

2 motorcycle riders die in wreck
The Post and Courier
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Mount Pleasant -- Two motorcyclists, one of them 80 years old, were killed on a day trip to Charleston on Tuesday when they stopped in traffic and an SUV plowed into them, according to police.

Charleston County Deputy Coroner Kelly Myers said the 80-year-old man was James Doucette, of Port Charlotte, Fla. James Hines, 50, from Yaphank, N.Y., also was killed. Both men were taken by EMS from the scene on U.S. Highway 17 near Anna Knapp Boulevard to Medical University Hospital. They both died there from their injuries, Myers said.

She will do an autopsy today, Myers said. But the men died from blunt force trauma suffered during the collision, she said.

Capt. Carl Ritchie of the Mount Pleasant Police Department said the men were in the Myrtle Beach area for Bike Week and decided to come to Charleston for the day. They were driving south on U.S. 17 about 11:30 a.m., riding side by side, when they stopped in traffic.

A sport-utility vehicle behind them failed to stop, hit the motorcycles, and pushed them into the back of another vehicle. That vehicle was then forced into another car, Ritchie said.

There were helmets on the scene, Ritchie said, but he's not sure if the men were wearing them when they were hit. He didn't identify the driver of the SUV but said there was no immediate indication that the driver was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

The air bag deployed in the SUV, Ritchie said, and the driver was taken to a hospital for an examination. Charges are pending for the SUV driver, he said, but police need to first interview witnesses and complete an investigation.

The wreck tied up traffic on U.S. 17 for about three hours, Ritchie said. Police had to block the road and have cars drive off the highway to the right of the accident across a small median to a parallel frontage road. Cars could then veer back across the median back onto the highway after they passed the accident. "It was very, very slow," he said.

The Post and Courier - 2 motorcycle riders die in wreck - Charleston SC - postandcourier.com

They were on the same basic route that we rode.

The video on TV news was awful.

I agree with the posted comments following the story at the link.

[Reba]

A comment about the accident:

I got there shortly after they loaded 3 ambulances & headed on south into Charleston. There was a Harley laid over on it's left side with the aft end from the tank back under a large van (with the front of the van mashed......I think the pic in the article is that bike from the reverse angle) and what looked like 3 or 4 others on the ground with all manner of pieces bent & missing. I can't recall ever seeing that much bike debris....it was everywhere. The speed limit in that area (2 stoplights N of the Ravenel Bridge on Hwy 17 S) is 45 and is stop and go any time of the day; but especially that time of day. I'll stop short of speculating what the SUV driver did or didn't do and simply ask for prayers for all concerned. There were at least 6-8 other bikes parked a little beyond the wreck; I'm guessing they were part of a group ride and the 2 that were killed were at the tail end possibly separated from the rest by a car, but I don't know.

All of the radio stations have been doing almost 1/2 hourly PSAs about watching out and reminding people that bikes are out in numbers......it's just not enough. Our presence just doesn't seem to be being made important enough to the rest of the driving public!

2 bikers killed in accident - VentureRider.Org

[Reba]

Update on turkey story:

Arcadia motorcyclist survives collision with turkey

By Billy Cox

Published: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 9:04 p.m.

SARASOTA - When Lori Hansen leaves her digs in rural Arcadia, she rumbles her Harley-Davison onto Armadillo Trail, hits Opossum Road, then swings onto Gator Trail.

So there's really no need to lecture her on the perils of varmints and critters when riding a motorcycle.

"I was coming home one night," said the 42-year-old teacher from her hospital bed in St. Petersburg, "when I had this hog come right at me. It charged me over there, at Horse Creek Road."

But that's not what landed her in Bayfront Medical Center on Saturday afternoon. What flung her like a rag doll at 55 to 60 mph into a webbing of barbed wire as she hurtled west on State Road 72 last weekend was a wild turkey.

"I saw it out of the corner of my eye, for just a millisecond," said Hansen, who never wears a helmet. "I ducked left to avoid it but it hit me in my head, and I lost consciousness."

The bird, whose 20-pound carcass was recovered by a nearby resident and stuffed into a freezer, had bolted from pastureland east of Myakka River State Park shortly before noon. Hansen's fiance, Kurle Gibson, was trailing her in his Harley-Davidson Road King as they rode to Sarasota for his grandson's first birthday party. He'd never seen anything like it.

"Oh, we're infested by wild pigs out there, and it's nothing to see a half-dozen dead hogs or even a couple of dead deer by the side of the road coming out of Arcadia early in the morning," said Gibson, a carpenter. "One time my back tire ran over a raccoon, but that didn't do much except put a bunch of guts in my spokes.

"But I never would've guessed in a million years that a turkey would come out at noon like that."

Gibson watched in horror as Hansen's body tumbled through one fence and came to a stop on a second. Unable to get a signal on his cell phone, he flagged down helpful motorists and proceeded to pry Hansen off the barbs with his pliers.

Hansen, who suffered no broken bones or internal injuries, was helicoptered in serious condition to Bayshore Medical, where she was patched up with staples and stitches. The most serious wounds are from lacerations to her arm. She expects to be released at any day now.

Collisions with animals are not unheard of by experienced motorcyclists, but a wily turkey known for its caginess?

"Well, I've been hit by a bird before as I was going over Ringling Bridge," said Matt Glenn, parts manager for Granny's Motorsports in Manatee County. "But it was a seagull, and I was wearing a helmet. I've never heard of anybody hitting a turkey before."

Jimmy Procopio, a certified Motorcycle Safety Foundation instructor from Sarasota, just gasped at the tale.

"Oh my god! Are you kidding me?" he said. "Hit by a turkey? In the head? Without a helmet?"

Years ago, Procopio says he was tooling along on his motorcycle at 45 mph when a robin smacked into him head-on.

"These birds can fly all day at 40 miles an hour, so the total impact was, like, 80 miles an hour," he said. "Well now, I'm a big guy, and this robin hit me right between my face and the inside of my helmet. I had my sunglasses on, I had all these feathers in my mouth and it was all I could do to keep from wiping out.

"I'd say she had divine intervention going for her."

Gibson said he now wears a helmet everywhere he goes. Despite her close call, Hansen says she'll "have to see how it feels when I get back on" the bike, which escaped with minor damage.

And the dead turkey? "My neighbor, Pat Arthur, says he wants to stuff it for me," she said.

Arcadia motorcyclist survives collision with turkey | HeraldTribune.com

[Jiro]

Originally Posted by Reba

I have something sad to report:


The Post and Courier - 2 motorcycle riders die in wreck - Charleston SC - postandcourier.com

They were on the same basic route that we rode.

The video on TV news was awful.

I agree with the posted comments following the story at the link.

yea - we lost dozens of ADV members exactly like that and tons of others survived but are injured. I believe the typical biker jargon for this is - "somebody tried to make me their hood ornament"

[Jiro]

Because of this kind of common accident where biker gets hit from behind at the red light, there are few safety tips -

1. if you are the last vehicle in the line at red light, keep your gear at 1 so that you're ready to zoom outta here if you notice the driver behind you is approaching dangerously too fast. While idling, keep your brake light on (or you can flash it) until you are no longer the last vehicle in the line. it's crucial to leave a gap between you and the car in front of you.

2. if you are the 2nd or 3rd vehicle in the line, you can slowly lane-split to get to 1st in the line. use your best judgement

3. in the line - position your bike to far left or far right so that you don't get completely crushed in between vehicles like those poor bikers

[Tousi]

Originally Posted by Jiro

Because of this kind of common accident where biker gets hit from behind at the red light, there are few safety tips -

1. if you are the last vehicle in the line at red light, keep your gear at 1 so that you're ready to zoom outta here if you notice the driver behind you is approaching dangerously too fast. While idling, keep your brake light on (or you can flash it) until you are no longer the last vehicle in the line. it's crucial to leave a gap between you and the car in front of you.

2. if you are the 2nd or 3rd vehicle in the line, you can slowly lane-split to get to 1st in the line. use your best judgement

3. in the line - position your bike to far left or far right so that you don't get completely crushed in between vehicles like those poor bikers

GReat strategic suggestions, Jiro; #2 is a problem for my trike, tho..

[Jiro]

Originally Posted by Tousi

GReat strategic suggestions, Jiro; #2 is a problem for my trike, tho..

oh one more thing - the reason why I put #3 as the last one is because it is somewhat risky but it's up to you depending on the situation.

Here's why - when you stay on far left or far right, you are aligning yourself with the car's brake light so you could be "invisible" to inattentive driver approaching from behind. But then.... if the driver is being inattentive - you will still get rear-ended either way - in the center or on the side but at least on the side - you won't get plowed underneath or crushed in between

[Reba]

Comment from the article:

James Hines was my cousin - the man riding with him was his father-in-law. We have been told that there was absolutely no attempt by the SUV driver to stop that car. Regardless of the reason, the SUV driver is responsible for the deaths of 2 wonderful men and for the sorrow and pain the family is going through. It is something that driver will live with the rest of their life and I do not feel sorry for that person one bit. They deserve whatever misery and grief comes their way. It really doesn't matter at this point what distracted that driver - cell phone, texting, daydreaming whatever it was it is inexcusable. New York is a hands free state when it comes to cell phones - and it is enforced -if SC doesn't have those laws in place, maybe it's time.

Both victims were from the same family.

And this:

I didn't know JD well, but I have known JH my entire life. He was a hard working family man who would do anything for anyone. He has (2) beautiful children and a wonderful wife (who lost both her husband and her father in those few moments).

[Reba]

One other thing I discovered at the MB rally--I was the only person there wearing pink.

Bikers are a bunch of conformists, wearing mostly black and leather.

I'm a non-conformist.

I did see one young lady riding on her custom baby blue bike, wearing a very pretty pale blue and white jacket and helmet. Very sharp looking.

[Texan Guy]

Whenever I'm in Mexico, I always see the Mexican bikers can do whatever they want to go. There, it's almost lawless for those motorcyclists.

In Mexico, you're required to be ride on the motorcycle if you want to work as a delivery such as pizza, chinese, and other foods.

[Reba]

TCS and I are now Patriot Guard Riders!

For now, we'll have to limit ourselves to local missions until we get a few more modifications for the bike.

Also, TCS's immediate goal is to take the motorcycle safety course at the Naval Weapons Station. Once he does that, he will be able to ride his bike on military installations. He has all the PPE required (helmet, full gloves, boots, long pants, and long-sleeve shirt) except the reflective vest. We ordered vests a few days ago, so he should be getting that this week.

[Reba]

The Post and Courier - Report names driver in crash - Charleston SC - postandcourier.com

[Reba]

This link includes pictures of the accident:

Driver to Be Charged in Accident That Killed Motorcyclists|ABC News 4

[Jiro]

me on my friend's bike @ Freedom Run rally today



we have been friends for over 20 years

[Reba]

Originally Posted by Jiro

me on my friend's bike @ Freedom Run rally today

we have been friends for over 20 years

Aw, since you were babies!

Great pix!

[Jiro]

this is for someone who would like this bike

[Steinhauer]

Thanks for the pictures Jiro .... I went to Rolling Thunder one year in DC, it was incredible.

[Jiro]

the group is front (my friend), front-left, 2 front-left (the one with flag in back), my left, my back, and back-left.

YouTube - Freedom Run

YouTube - Freedom Run

[The Highlander]

Originally Posted by Jiro

the group is front (my friend), front-left, 2 front-left (the one with flag in back), my left, my back, and back-left.

YouTube - Freedom Run

Nice GPS you have. I am sure it cost over $300.

[Jiro]

Originally Posted by the highlander

nice gps you have. I am sure it cost over $300.

$500+ but I paid $400 used.

[Jiro]

YouTube - Freedom Run Ride

YouTube - Freedom Run Ride

[Endemic]

[Reba]

Originally Posted by Jiro

this is for someone who would like this bike

Cute!

[Reba]

Originally Posted by Steinhauer

Thanks for the pictures Jiro .... I went to Rolling Thunder one year in DC, it was incredible.

Our goal is to ride at least once in Rolling Thunder. Obviously we (well, I) need to work up to that distance.

[Reba]

Originally Posted by Jiro

the group is front (my friend), front-left, 2 front-left (the one with flag in back), my left, my back, and back-left.

Cool video! Crank up the computer speakers!

[cdaigle430]

Originally Posted by Reba

Does anyone here do their own MC oil changes? What do you use to collect the old oil as it drains out?

The oil collecting pan that Hubby uses for our other vehicles is too tall for sliding under the bike. Is there a pan made especially for motorcycles? He improvised today but it was messy and not convenient.

I have a shallow pan and an ATV/motorcycle jack that I use to change mine.

[Jiro]

Originally Posted by Reba

Cool video! Crank up the computer speakers!

I know right?

South Park has a funny skit on this part. I will post a video later.

[Jiro]

Originally Posted by Reba

Our goal is to ride at least once in Rolling Thunder. Obviously we (well, I) need to work up to that distance.

ya'all can always put a bike in the trailer and drive it up to hotel. then ride it to Rolling Thunder.

[Reba]

Originally Posted by Jiro

ya'all can always put a bike in the trailer and drive it up to hotel. then ride it to Rolling Thunder.

Maybe, if we fall into a pile of money.

It was a very tough financial stretch just to buy the bike. We're doing what we can as finances allow.

[Jiro]

Originally Posted by Reba

Maybe, if we fall into a pile of money.

It was a very tough financial stretch just to buy the bike. We're doing what we can as finances allow.

ouch hmmm...... the opportunity will come...