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[Fretless33]

Other than drinking and riding back in the 80s (causing the worst crash I've ever had), I just did one of the craziest things ever in my life of riding...

I've had some pretty insane wipe outs growing up dirt riding, but tonight I caused the most insane thing ever to happen...it was high speed and something that would have brought an inexperienced rider down into a horrific crash!

Let me set the scene; it's three AM, I'm foggy from a long day at work and I meet up with a friend who I was goofing around with on the freeway. I would let him catch up then drop down a few gears and zip off into the hundreds and slow down again and let him catch up again. He was zipping in his Saturn laughing and having fun, so I dropped down some gears again and tore off and glanced down, forgetting that I'm going probably 200 feet per second and went over two lanes...I think "no big deal, the freeway's mine right now" because no other cars were around, so I let him catch up and here's where it gets freaky!

I let my buddy catch up again and drop down a few again and rip away from him and what did I do, but glanced down at the spedo again going over 130 mph and found that I was headed towards the center divider. It was on a sweeping turn and at the point on the freeway where the road branches off and it has a mound of grass as high as the median in it (that partially saved me).

Here's where it gets freakier!

I start to pray, because about this point I'm thinking I'm toast and I hit the divider (about 4' tall) around 100 mph and brace for impact and the fucking bike rode up the divider! I was riding on the cement divider four feet up on concrete not much wider than my rear tire at around 90 mph! I kept on the throttle and thought how can I do this without crashing? So I hit the gas and literally jumped off of the divider! The bike scraped down the cement, hit the road with a big thud, the handle bars wen from stop to stop three times and I began to roll to a stop!

I PULLED OFF SOME OF THE CRAZIEST SHIT THAT EVER HAPPEND TO ME ON A MOTORCYCLE!!!!!

I've got a scrape across my lower faring and I think I bent my front rim, but I'm not sure...I have to take it off when I get up!

I'm positive that God helped me through this stupidity I caused and if I didn't have over 20 years riding experience I would have crashed for sure!

Things I did wrong:

1) rode like an idiot...I rode exactly like I tell people to not ride on this forum!
2) glanced down to see how fast I was going when I was traveling nearly 200 ft/sec
3) goofing around when I'm not alert and tired from work

Things I did right:

1) Stayed calm in the face of disaster!
2) Stayed loose on the bars and held the gas steady
3) Pulled my dirt riding experience out of my ass to land my 4 ft jump (at around 70 mph)

I thought I was going to die or get fucked up real bad and if I saw that happen to anyone else I would be in disbelief! I struggled with whether I wanted to tell you guys about this incident or not because I totally caused it to happen by riding like an idiot, but it's so fucking strange I just have to!

There but for the grace of god go I...

[StoicDude]

Glad you are ok and that everythin went fine. Well, maybe not for the rim, but that stuff can be repaired.
It is amazing how people react in critical situations.

On the side note, should this be in the General Motorcycle discussion part Forum Nazi?

[OveRReV]

it' a perfect example of the old adage 'do as i say not as i do'. thank heavens your still alive to see another day, must be your worst nightmare come true.

[V-Rob]

   you and your bike should be toast but what a frigging amazing story.  I'm glad you are ok Fret   So I your going to try it again?  Sounds like a pretty cool trick.  Please post pics of any damage to the bike.  As for you doing stupid shit...it was 300 A.M. and not a soul on the road...the only mistake I really see is you looking at the speedo a split second too long...if not for that, it would have never happened.  Thanks for sharing amigo

[Tibbett]

Good to hear you're ok though Fret..

[Fretless33]

I think I'm going to take the digi camera tonight and try to find my tire mark going up the divider, I'm still shaken up by this and I amazed that I pulled through that incident without crashing. God was really looking out for me!

I did a lot wrong V-Rob and something like that should make a person want to give up motorcycling...it scared the shit out of me!

[madmanu]

I'm glad that you saved what could have been an inevitable fatal accident and thank God you're ok. Clear roads or not, alert or not, confident or not, please do not go triple digits on any public roads and that goes for everybody.

[Fretless33]

I agree madman!

I had a weak moment which is no excuse and i almost paid the ultimate price...I have no excuses for what I did, but I'm thankful I didn't get hurt...or worse!

Here's some bike damage pictures:













Any one know where to get rims straightened in Michigan?

[Craig04RR]

 

[madmanu]

Any one know where to get rims straightened in Michigan?

I don't know how much it is to get them straightened but I was able to buy a used <500mi 05 rims, straight, no dents or scratches for $575, complete with rotors, sprocket, spacers and tires. Try find some used rims first as it might be a better deal. You can always get these straightened later and they can be your spare for trackdays.

[laxrider04]

fret, i did a quick google search and found two places

www.rimpro.com  - they're in traverse city but i don't know if they do bike rims
www.mcwheel.com  -  they do motorcycle rims, but they're in new hampshire.  they said it would typically not be much more than $200

sucks about what happened man, i'm glad to hear your ok

[TGalaraga]

Fret,

That's one bad-ass story.  Not that you intended it to be, but either way, it's a fucking amazing story.  Most important, however, is that you came out alright, which is another amazing story in itself. 

You forgot to mention one huge mistake you made during this incident, and that is, once you were up on the divider, you should have popped up the front end and wheelied the length of the divider... But I guess that comes after 30 years riding experience 

Glad to hear that you are ok...  And yes, anyone with less experience wouldn't be able to write about it later. 

You are one lucky/skilled/blessed individual, now go play the lottery!!!

TGalaraga

[Fretless33]

Fret,

That's one bad-ass story. Not that you intended it to be, but either way, it's a fucking amazing story. Most important, however, is that you came out alright, which is another amazing story in itself.

You forgot to mention one huge mistake you made during this incident, and that is, once you were up on the divider, you should have popped up the front end and wheelied the length of the divider... But I guess that comes after 30 years riding experience

Glad to hear that you are ok... And yes, anyone with less experience wouldn't be able to write about it later.

You are one lucky/skilled/blessed individual, now go play the lottery!!!

TGalaraga

LOL! Yea, I forgot about the wheelie...3hole will be disapointed!

fret, i did a quick google search and found two places

www.rimpro.com - they're in traverse city but i don't know if they do bike rims
www.mcwheel.com - they do motorcycle rims, but they're in new hampshire. they said it would typically not be much more than $200

sucks about what happened man, i'm glad to hear your ok

I found a place in Ypsilanti called Reflections that will do it for 125.oo per bend.

[frankie]

I found a place in Ypsilanti called Reflections that will do it for 125.oo per bend.

yea but ypsi is the GHETTO!   When you are there stop by Deja' Vu!

[Fretless33]

Here's some pictures of the area where it happened, it was night, so I had to enhance the pics: