40MPH FZ6 slide vs F150, with frame slider pictures

Brackson

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I have been riding for a few years, but I had only owned this beautiful machine for a week when this happened. I was out for a ride on a beautiful Saturday morning in April. I had ridden up to Gettysburg and spend the day checking out the battlefields. I had been on the bike for the better part of 8 hours at the time of the accident. I was leaving Gettysburg heading home and I was stuck behind three vehicles. The front one (a minivan) was doing about 40-45 MPH in a 55, and had been for miles. Behind the minivan was a Ford F150, and between the F150 and myself was a Nissan Murano.

After a few miles of this very slow pace on very beautiful winding roads we reached a passing zone with no oncoming traffic. I went to pass the Nissan and as I was next to it, the F150 starts turning left into a driveway. What I couldn't see from behind the Murano was that the F150 had its left turn signal on. I was boxed in with no where to go.

I immediately applied both brakes and the clutch but I was heading straight towards the side of the F150 and would end up launching over it at the rate I was going so I leaned towards the small gap between the Nissan and the F150 and laid it down. The bike and I slid part way under the F150 but mostly between it and the Nissan. I palmed the bumper of the F150 to try and redirect myself and the bike from hitting his rear tire. The whole thing happened so fast I still can't believe all that I experienced, considered, and acted on in such a short window of time.

In the end the damage from the trailer hitch to the high side caused the bike to be a total loss, but the frame slider prevented nearly all damage to the low side of the bike. I walked away with a sprained wrist (from palming the bumper of the F150), a foot with deep tissue bruising (from having a boot ripped off the foot by what I believe was the chain of my bike), and a small amount of road rash around my knee (the armored pants I had ordered arrived in the mail three days AFTER the get off).

This is why I have not been on the forums for the last month. It takes alot of time to deal with the insurance company, the bank, and a dealership, but I finally replaced the bike with a newer FZ6 about a week ago!

7JbI8Wn.jpg

This is the high side damage, from what I can tell it was all caused by the trailer hitch of the F150.

6QmyLh9.jpg

This is the frame slider on the low side. This was the only significant damage on the low side. The low side front turn signal broke, the bar end, brake lever and mirror all had minor scratches, but the tank, engine, and frame were spotless on the low side. It really shows what the frame sliders can do.

Pb25NA9.jpg

Alpinestars CR-4 Goretex XCR Boots, I love them and if I had not been wearing them I probably would not be walking right now. That cut (I am pretty sure it was from my chain) is right behind my Achilles tendon and it went fairly deep into an armored Alpinestars boot. You do the math.
 

elus1ve

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That sounds like it was a rough incident and and rough month. Glad u made it out without any major injuries. How about showing us that new baby now? :)

BTW, is it total loss because of that hole in the frame?
 

Brackson

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Yes, the hole in the frame single handedly totaled the bike, the total damage was pretty low otherwise.

Ya it was pretty rough at first, I limped into work the next day (I do car electronics installs right now). Luckily the two guys I work with helped pick up the slack for the first couple weeks until my hand was usable again. I had no health insurance and couldn't afford to take time off work. That was the worst part of all.

It is great to finally be 95% healed and back in the saddle again though.

I only have one quick picture so far of the new bike.
WxVLIJ4.jpg


2009 Black FZ6 purchased with about 1400 miles on it. Already added about 400 more miles in a little over a week.

Purchased with the Shad SH40 case on the back (missing the key so I cant remove it right now) I already ordered the SH43 side cases and they are sending me an extra key cylinder to make the side cases key so soon it will be all luggaged out and ready for my 6 weeks of camping from the bike this summer.

Other than the luggage and frame sliders it is bone stock.
 

FinalImpact

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Wow, that's rough! Considering the Storm you were caught in "you" came out pretty well!

Somewhere on this forum are posts of the times I've nearly been take out. Both were left hand passes and both were others popping out of line not seeing me there running me into the ditch!

Here's to the the kids in Black! :thumbup:
 

iviyth0s

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Glad your reflexes were sharp and came out fairly unscathed, could have been far worse.

New FZ looks great, your old one looked like an R6 or something more aggressive for some reason. Maybe it's the cherry red color of it (used to seeing the darker/metallic red but not candy)
 

FIZZER6

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Wow, glad you are ok!

Could have been worse and without health insurance you might have been in debt for years or declaring bankruptcy, neither of which is desirable!

This kind of accident is why I'm very hesitant to pass more than one vehicle. I almost always "leap-frog" them passing only one at a time which is much safer.
 

VEGASRIDER

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Your not the first victim on this forum that has become victim to a Ford F-150. Were you on a two lane road?

That's one thing riders have to be careful of when a pass attempt is going to be executed. People might be going slow for a reason, they might be turning off into another street or driveway. You have to make sure you are aware of where all the entry/exit points are before the pass, you can't assume everyone will be going straight. I don't trust any vehicle in front of me or besides me during a pass, so I will always pass with my horn covered, not that it may have prevented it from happening in your situation, but you never know.

Glad you had your gear on. Any crash that you can walk away from, you have to consider yourself lucky. Great example of what gear can do which is preventing or minimizing your injuries. Thanks for sharing, looks like you came out okay, with a new bike and all.
 

Brackson

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Your not the first victim on this forum that has become victim to a Ford F-150. Were you on a two lane road?

That's one thing riders have to be careful of when a pass attempt is going to be executed. People might be going slow for a reason, they might be turning off into another street or driveway. You have to make sure you are aware of where all the entry/exit points are before the pass, you can't assume everyone will be going straight. I don't trust any vehicle in front of me or besides me during a pass, so I will always pass with my horn covered, not that it may have prevented it from happening in your situation, but you never know.

Glad you had your gear on. Any crash that you can walk away from, you have to consider yourself lucky. Great example of what gear can do which is preventing or minimizing your injuries. Thanks for sharing, looks like you came out okay, with a new bike and all.


I agree completely with this. The road was one lane in each direction. The fact that we had been significantly under the speed limit for so long caused me to dismiss the fact that we were slowing further (not rapidly slowing either), second I had been looking for oncoming traffic, and side streets that people might turn into, but driveways were not even on my mind.

Most of all this has been a learning experience for me, and you hit the summary of that lesson right on the head.

Thank you all for the kind words. I am just glad to be back with all of you, with 600ccs of Yamaha goodness under me.

On a related note, the last of my replacement gear arrived today. New Alpinestars jacket to replace the damaged Joe Rocket I was wearing during the slide. I just got home from the test ride and wow, A* always manages to impress me.
 

Cloggy

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Sorry to hear about your off, but luckily it sounds like your gear did it's job. Shame about the bike but that's replaceble, pleased you're here to tell the tale, take it easy out there :thumbup:
 

VEGASRIDER

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Please get health insurance. If you get your expenses paid by the other party's coverage, great if it's their fault. But in the event that you crash on your own, or it's your fault or even if the other party has no or is underinsured, you're screwed. FYI....I tore my ACL back in January making a U-turn, slipped on some ice. Although I have health insurance, I was still out of pocket minimum $3k. The ACL surgery was almost $40k. 35K for the hospital, which was an outpatient procedure that took half a day and the surgeon was only $4k.
 

Brackson

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Please get health insurance. If you get your expenses paid by the other party's coverage, great if it's their fault. But in the event that you crash on your own, or it's your fault or even if the other party has no or is underinsured, you're screwed. FYI....I tore my ACL back in January making a U-turn, slipped on some ice. Although I have health insurance, I was still out of pocket minimum $3k. The ACL surgery was almost $40k. 35K for the hospital, which was an outpatient procedure that took half a day and the surgeon was only $4k.

You are preaching to the choir man. I start nursing school in the fall, I know how important it is. I now work part time and so it was no longer available through work, and I had been fighting the stupid state Affordable Care Act website. It was not intentional that I did not have coverage, and it will not continue long. I only mentioned it because of the context of going in to work injured.
 

Brackson

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Yikes. Shame about the bike but a distant 2nd to your health! I hear the black version isn't too bad. :D Ride safe.

Haha, very true. It always cracks me up when people joke about which color is best on here. It just seems so silly to argue something so subjective. I know they are kidding around, but it does make me wonder how it started.
 

TownsendsFJR1300

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Haha, very true. It always cracks me up when people joke about which color is best on here. It just seems so silly to argue something so subjective. I know they are kidding around, but it does make me wonder how it started.

Because BLUE, being the fastest, is much easier to out maneauver most cages, everyone knows that!!!:thumbup:
 

Wildcat_drvr

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But Raven is so sexy! :thumbup:
Chicks are always jumping in front of Felix and I wanting a ride!:rockon:
I guess we're like the song says "Simply Irresistible"lol! :rolleyes:
I guess Great GrandPaws are just sexy senior citizens!;)
Don't tell me it's just Felix,I'm the handsome one! Blah

Rich
 

payneib

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Because BLUE, being the fastest, is much easier to out maneauver most cages, everyone knows that!!!:thumbup:

Blue may be faster, but black will always be the new black! Scientifically proven to give 97% more women fizzy knickers than any other colour..........

Sent from my D5503 using Tapatalk
 
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