Moto head on collision

[ChipBeck_imp]

Holy mackerel that looks gruesome. Looks like everybody survived though. The Harley riders helmet probably saved his life as he hit his head hard.

Chip

[Inhouse Bob]

I've seen this before and found some of the comments interesting. Some said that the Harley rider should have taken evasive action. But it looks to me like he was almost stopped by the time of the collision because his bike is fully upright, even though it is in the curve. And his passenger seems to fly straight back upon impact. Anyhow, I hope they were all okay.

Something I read a while back has helped me in these situations. The bike is better than I am. That is, it can handle moves that I don't have the guts for. When I find myself a bit too hot into a corner, I remember this and just counter-steer harder and hang on. So far, the bike hasn't flinched. But I also try hard not to get into that situation

[Ulvetanna_imp]

both riders were target fixated - looking directly into one anothers eyes

harley rider did not attempt any evasive action - there was plenty of pavement to his right

both riders locked their front wheels

'the dragon' lol

it is not a racetrack

and there are so many who reject the racetrack but have no problem with the dragon lol

certainly hope no one was injured seriously here

[offroadfx4_imp]

I just hope if I ever go down, it's my fault and not a freak of nature (deer, tree, etc) or someone else's fault (left turn, left of center, etc).

Won't change the outcome, but I'd be more at peace with it.

[Alwin_imp]

The "Dragon" is a road that I won't ride again. Too many blind corners and too many bike and car drivers pushing past their ability and wandering over the center line.

This is the reason i try to avoid those "famos Roads" or motorcycle hotspots,
i was hit by a car 4 years ago, and i don´t need that again.

Looking at the pics it´s easy to say someone should have done this or that,
this happens really fast when it happens.

[postoak_imp]

The ST rider was actually counter-balancing. He should have had his body leaning WAY to the inside at that point.

[LongRanger_imp]

Yep. My GUESS (and it's only speculation) is that the ST rider was not from the area, unaccustomed to riding on curvy roads, and didn't have the necessary skills to properly negotiate turns on his heavy bike. If his rear tire was squared-off from a lot of freeway riding back home ("heck, it wasn't even down to the wear bars"), that would have compounded his problems.

I've taken many organized motorcycling trips to the Alps. A common complaint of the tour guides is when "seasoned, long-time riders" from the U.S. show up and have no clue how to negotiate curves or ride briskly on mountain roads, because their riding experience is mostly from trawling U.S. interstates on a Goldwing. The extent of their experience leaning the bike is on freeway off-ramps. They invariably hold up the group due to inadequate riding skills, and occasionally crash. You can tell they're in trouble when they first leave the hotel -- they ride Fred Flintstone style, with their feet off the pegs, as they leave the parking lot.

[emptysea]

So, the section of US129 called "The Dragon" has about 30,000 vehicles travel over it per month. Motorcycle crashes in the peak months average about 18/month, but the month to month number varies a lot, so let's use the highest monthly number I could find, 30. Now, 1 motorcycle accident per day over any 11 mile stretch is a lot, but the likelihood that an individual rider traveling through this 11 mile stretch will be that one is tiny and that's using the highest monthly crash number and lowest average number of vehicles that I could find. A rider's chance of being in a crash there is really very small. It is reasonable to assume that a rider who stays in his lane, is reasonable experienced, and obeys something close to the posted speed limit reduce their chances of a crash even further.

I believe that there are, indeed, many who treat this road as a race track. I do not know that those people "reject the racetrack"; cannot find any statistics on that. However, if you do not treat it like a racetrack, you will have a fun, challenging, and safe ride over an incredible length of US highway.

I preferred NC28 and Cherohala for the scenery, but I loved "The Dragon" for its the rhythm of its layout.

[4 Paws_imp]

There is a very long on-going thread at ADVrider forum, Killboy Dragon failure in the Perfect Line section, that is full of reminders why avoiding roads that have Tshirts named after them is a good idea.
That picture in particular featured prominently recently, the series of shots was shown and the ST rider made some comments.
Lots of gruesome photos and some plain lousy riding shots featured. The "other guy" is dangerous!
Check out the lack of safety gear in most of the photos.

[Frulk_imp]

[quote='4 Paws'! Check out the lack of safety gear in most of the photos. [/quote]

Dress for the crash, not the ride!