I've been remiss in posting about my recent mishap and some people have been asking what's up, so here's the lowdown. Last Tuesday, I had just left my house and was riding down a street in my neighborhood on my 300 Super, when a woman pulled out from a side street without looking, directly into my path. The road curves to the right where I was riding, and the side street was on the right side, so it is difficult to see around the curve from that vantage point. I wasn't traveling particularly fast, it's a 25 mph zone, but the driver definitely did not look to her left as she was pulling out, as I was already coming around the curve. I hit my brakes, the front wheel locked up, the front end went into a violent shake, and the bike went down, landing on top of my right ankle and ended up sliding along the ground with my foot pinned beneath it. My right foot got pulled around so that the left side of my boot got shaved down by the pavement, giving me a bad sprain and I got a nice patch of road rash on my right knee. My right side got a decent whack when I hit the ground, particularly my shoulder. However, I thankfully did not hit her car, and I did not break anything. That was the thought that raced through my mind as I lifted the bike off my leg, 9 days before I was planning to leave for Vancouver, "please don't be broken!"
Fortunately, the woman was at least conscientious and did not flee the scene, but instead she got out and helped me and the bike up. A bystander who saw the incident ran and got me a glass of water and some ice in a towel for my foot. I took my shoe off and was relieved that I was able to move my foot and feel my toes, and that I didn't feel anything grinding inside there. The driver and I exchanged insurance info and I rode myself to the doctor, which was only a mile from there. They cleaned and bandaged me up, took three x-rays of my foot and confirmed that nothing appeared to be broken or fractured, gave me a brace and sent me off to pick up some prescriptions, then rest and ice my ankle at home. I did capture the whole thing on video, but I haven't had a chance to edit it yet. That may need to wait until I'm up in Vancouver, I still have too much to do, to get ready for the trip up there and the Cannonball.
Over the last 6 days, I've made a remarkable recovery and I'm up and walking around again, though my ankle is still a bit tender. It's still showing some pretty funky colors too, though that's no surprise after what it went through. My clubmate Rich (glassaye) gave me this kick ass ankle brace that he used after he had a similar incident a couple years ago, and it's worked wonders at getting me moving and getting my ankle working well again. Although the spill has slowed me down, it hasn't knocked me out, far from it. I'm still planning on leaving for Vancouver on Thursday and riding in the Cannonball the following week.
As for my Super, the majority of damage is easily replaceable: mirror, crash bar, legshield trim, front fender, windscreen, brake lever, topcase, etc. The only point where the metal of the frame touched the ground was the underside of the frame, just below the front curve of the floorboard, where it has about a 2" scrape. Major props to the FACO crash bars for doing their job and protecting that right cowl from any damage to those fancy fake vents!
The thing that still gets me is why my bike went into such a violent shake that threw me during an otherwise normal low-speed panic stop. Was it the pavement being slightly slick on a hot day while the tires were still cold, since it happened only 1/2 mile from my house? Could it be that the front shock is worn out after only 15,000 miles? Maybe the headset bearings have gotten a bit loose and need to be tightened? All of the above? True, I hadn't had my coffee yet so perhaps I wasn't as alert as I could have been, but I don't feel that my reactions to the situation were out of the ordinary, and I certainly did not expect that kind of a violent wobble and be thrown the way that I was. Has anyone else experienced anything like this before? If so, what information can you share about your experience that might help me understand what happened here?