Well this actually happened last Saturday the 14th. I was hosting my monthly Concours Owners group Meet & Greet. Afterwards if the weather is nice, we try to go for a ride. So I lead a couple of bikes on a nice trip towards one of the riders home. He was 2+ hours from home. So I figured I would cut down his ride home when our ride is over.
So were heading along rt 9D which runs along the Hudson river, for the first part of the journey. Well all of a sudden a Honda Civic coming the other way makes a left turn 20 feet or so in front of me. I can't go right since that is her direction and I'm in the left side of the lane. She has the lane totally blocked and there are cars behind her in the on coming lane. So I contorted quite a bit and kissed my butt good-bye. Some how I managed to run down the double yellow to try to avoid her car. I almost made it but wound up hitting the back of her car since my bike was somewhat on a left angel trying to maneuver around her.. I caught the right upper fairing (under the mirror) on her rear tail light. The lower fairing hit the bumper. The slider hit the side of her bumper and followed it around the bumper which kicked the bike out to the left side.
When the bike kicked out, it saved my right leg from striking the car as well as the rest of the bike hitting. I was lucky that I managed to keep control and not go down or into the oncoming cars. I pulled over at the other end of the parking area where they were going canoeing! The other riders made it through OK, but dealt with their own emergency maneuvers.
The young girl of 20 was more shaken up than I was. So I actually tried to calm her down, even though she could have killed me and possible the guys behind me. She admitted that it was totally her fault, but I don't think the police officer gave her a ticket. My bike will be getting a new upper cowling. But the lower cowling seems to be just marked and will probably buff out. The slider and directional have a slight mark in them, but I also think that they will be usable.
IMO, the slider actually saved my butt here. And the bike didn't even go down. I will attribute this to the fact that obviously she didn't see me/us. Over the last 5+ years I have been conducting an experiment. On my last few bikes I have been paying attention to how many people pull in front of me when I don't use a headlight modulator. I have found that the number of people is unbelievable when I don't use a headlight modulator. But as soon as I install one on the bike, the instances almost totally stop. I did this on the last three bikes now. People are constantly pulling in front of me at an alarming rate. Then once I install the modulator, it almost totally stops. I obviously still have to ride defensively because every once and a while, it still could happen.
Now fast forward to the new FJR. I didn't have a modulator on the bike. It was brand new and I took it to a Vermont Rally for the Concours Owners Group. That week of the rally and my own extended personal rally, I again found quite a few incidents and close calls. Then a few days after I get back, this happens, which I truly consider more than an incident. I already had new higher output bulbs on order to install with the modulator. I guess they didn't get here soon enough! So here is the bike already smacked up with 1,400 miles on her. But I can make her new again, plus a little extra farkle money courtesy of Progressive!
Bob
So were heading along rt 9D which runs along the Hudson river, for the first part of the journey. Well all of a sudden a Honda Civic coming the other way makes a left turn 20 feet or so in front of me. I can't go right since that is her direction and I'm in the left side of the lane. She has the lane totally blocked and there are cars behind her in the on coming lane. So I contorted quite a bit and kissed my butt good-bye. Some how I managed to run down the double yellow to try to avoid her car. I almost made it but wound up hitting the back of her car since my bike was somewhat on a left angel trying to maneuver around her.. I caught the right upper fairing (under the mirror) on her rear tail light. The lower fairing hit the bumper. The slider hit the side of her bumper and followed it around the bumper which kicked the bike out to the left side.
When the bike kicked out, it saved my right leg from striking the car as well as the rest of the bike hitting. I was lucky that I managed to keep control and not go down or into the oncoming cars. I pulled over at the other end of the parking area where they were going canoeing! The other riders made it through OK, but dealt with their own emergency maneuvers.
The young girl of 20 was more shaken up than I was. So I actually tried to calm her down, even though she could have killed me and possible the guys behind me. She admitted that it was totally her fault, but I don't think the police officer gave her a ticket. My bike will be getting a new upper cowling. But the lower cowling seems to be just marked and will probably buff out. The slider and directional have a slight mark in them, but I also think that they will be usable.
IMO, the slider actually saved my butt here. And the bike didn't even go down. I will attribute this to the fact that obviously she didn't see me/us. Over the last 5+ years I have been conducting an experiment. On my last few bikes I have been paying attention to how many people pull in front of me when I don't use a headlight modulator. I have found that the number of people is unbelievable when I don't use a headlight modulator. But as soon as I install one on the bike, the instances almost totally stop. I did this on the last three bikes now. People are constantly pulling in front of me at an alarming rate. Then once I install the modulator, it almost totally stops. I obviously still have to ride defensively because every once and a while, it still could happen.
Now fast forward to the new FJR. I didn't have a modulator on the bike. It was brand new and I took it to a Vermont Rally for the Concours Owners Group. That week of the rally and my own extended personal rally, I again found quite a few incidents and close calls. Then a few days after I get back, this happens, which I truly consider more than an incident. I already had new higher output bulbs on order to install with the modulator. I guess they didn't get here soon enough! So here is the bike already smacked up with 1,400 miles on her. But I can make her new again, plus a little extra farkle money courtesy of Progressive!
Bob
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