How to gracefully dismount a motorcycle at 115 mph

[Holyground]

I met this kid back in the 70's that had that same Kawasaki 1000. He and his buddy were racing them, had them opened up when he hit some gravel and went down face first. He slid, on his chin, until he stopped. His buddy came running over, took one look at his face, screamed, turned, ran, jumped on his bike and blasted out of there. The kid had completely erased his entire bottom lip all the way down to the bottom of his chin. When I saw him, all of the surgery he could get was done. It looked like someone tried to rebuild it with a hot scar tissue colored glue gun but ran out of glue when they reached the bottom of his lower gums. I would rather get shot out of a canon into an aligator pond than get into a high speed bike wreck. Serious.

 

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[Holyground]

Terry, those Kawi 3 bangers were one of the most dangerous bikes ever made. Lucky you survived unscathed...LOL
Jim

AMEN!

 

[T.C.]

When our youngest son went in the Marine Corp., he asked me if I would ride his Suzuki GSXR 750 across town to his brothers house and store it there. He must have figured if I rode it once, I would be out trying to kill myself, so store it over at the other son's house.
This biggest thing I had ever rode before was an old 305 Honda Scrambler I owned about 20 years ago. I took his bike out on a four lane highway and cracked the throttle to see what kind of power she had...boy howdy! I could feel the cheeks on my face being pulled back and two horns started to grow out of my skull. I went through about three gears and backed off...what a rush tho!! Parked it at the oldest son's house and never rode it again. I figured I could get myself in some real trouble with a machine like that.

 

[dirtlooter]

After reading the recent story by dirtlooter, it brought to mind an incident I had back in 1977. I had a 1977 Kawasaki 1000. It was dubbed the fastest production street bike in the world.
Remembering how cold it was yesterday morning on the way to work, I wore my snowmobile mittens and a jacket. As I was going down the ramp to the interstate, I wondered what this bike would do and opened it up. I saw the speedometer registering 115, then it began to wobble. I chopped the throttle, and Immediately I thought I don't want to get into roll and go into the guard rails. I hit the pavement, then quickly rolled over on my belly and went spread eagle on my tippy toes and hands. I noticed what a funny sound that made going down the road feet first at maybe 100mph while looking up to see if any cars were coming. After coming to a stop, I stood up and turned around to see the bike still sliding, then flip over to do the other side.I walked down to the bike, picked it up and rolled it over to the guard rail.
It wasn't five minuets later when a State Trooper arrived. He noticed the long skid mark on the road and wanted to know how fast I was going. I said maybe around 50. I just got on the highway and my pants leg blew up. I was trying to pull it down and lost control.
My only injury's were pride, followed by a 2" patch of skin tore from my left hip from the initial impact, and a blood blister on my right pointer finger. My guardian angel must have been looking after me that day.
Much earlier than this, a wise old farmer told me that once I felt I could handle the bike well, it was a sign that it was getting ready to kill me. As I think about it now, the farmer was right.
After getting the bike all fixed up and sold, I bought a Honda Gold Wing

I just wanted to add this, I write a lot of my experiences because it brings both a possible laugh or your own memories which can be very funny too or possibly a reminder of how fortunate you are to still be alive. We all need a laugh, just saying

 

[TommyB]

Back in the early eighties, when I was road racing (asphalt track) me and a bunch of racing buddies were traveling up the coast road from Los Angeles to Monterey to help a friend during his Racing School classes at Laguna Seca Raceway. There were about 10 or 12 of us on this trip. Mostly speeding while wearing our flashy racing leathers.
Two CHP pulled our entire group over. One in the front and one at the back. An old cop and a young cop. We asked what the problem was and the young cop said you were speeding. One of our guys said "honest officer, the only guy speeding was the guy in front. We were trying to catch him to make a citizen's arrest" The old cop laughed and said the judge would probably believe that. Only wrote us for 70 in a 55. We were probably doing about 95 - 100.

 

[tinpan]

Hi , Back in 84 I had a Ducati 600 SL Pantah . Half way threw a tight hair pin bend on hilly road , a driver coming down the hill in the other direction , misjudged how tight the bend was. Had the bike right over ,he clipped the back wheel. Bike slide away to the right and I went straight into the guard rail post. Broken collar bone ,4 fractured ribs and passed out. I was only doing 20 mph and he was going 35mph. Never again just dirt bikes for me TP

 

[Mudflap]

Late 60s was in Japan and my buddy bought one of the first Ya ha ha 650 4 strokers. I had just got in country and could not speak any Japanese. Any how, he took me for a ride and we were doing a good 150k (95mph) or so and out of no where a Wankel powered Mazda police car pulls up behind us lights and siren blazing. My buddy sez. Don't say anything. I'll show you handle these guys. Just make like you don't understand anything their saying....... The cop comes up to us and in perfect english says "You boys going to a fire?" 50 years ago and i'm still LMAO!!!

 

[JohnWhite]

I just wanted to add this, I write a lot of my experiences because it brings both a possible laugh or your own memories which can be very funny too or possibly a reminder of how fortunate you are to still be alive. We all need a laugh, just saying

When I think about how stupid I was back then...IF anything would have gone wrong i would have been a long red streak along the highway...

Thank God I outgrew those early years...lol

Ed T

 

[JohnWhite]

Late 60s was in Japan and my buddy bought one of the first Ya ha ha 650 4 strokers. I had just got in country and could not speak any Japanese. Any how, he took me for a ride and we were doing a good 150k (95mph) or so and out of no where a Wankel powered Mazda police car pulls up behind us lights and siren blazing. My buddy sez. Don't say anything. I'll show you handle these guys. Just make like you don't understand anything their saying....... The cop comes up to us and in perfect english says "You boys going to a fire?" 50 years ago and i'm still LMAO!!!

One of my old friends had a Vmax...I believe that was the fastest bike i was ever a passenger on...He gave me a ride from Oceanside, CA to Las Pulgas on Camp Pendleton...We must have been cruising at 120 m.p.h. easily...

My poor little Gpz had some nuts though...My ex brother-in-law had a kz1000 and I used to smoke him handily...lol...Even he was surprised at the little 550 speed...It had one heck of a 2nd gear hole shot too...

Ed T

 

[Butler]

Had a Kawi Z1 900 that I tricked out when I was a kid. I got it up to 130-135 mph. Kind of hard to tell with the needle gauge fluctuating though. Ended badly for the bike, my collar bone, ribs, and left leg. Still rode other bikes after that well into my 30's (a bit slower though) and to this day I still "feel" that fall when it gets cold outside!

 

[sandchip]

...My guardian angel must have been looking after me that day...

Perhaps, but I think the Prof hit it on the button...

Thank God you are OK!

After all, it had to come down the chain of command. Glad you're still here to tell us the story.

 

[Truth]

These we’re the best. Even in the early 80’s when I have my Yamaha YZ80 my 70 was awesome because you could just cruse the street at 12 years of age. Go ride to the Time Saver get you lg Icee, no clutch just cruising with no shirt, cut offs and striped socks up to your knees. Man those where the days not a care in the world.

 

[T.C.]

When I think about how stupid I was back then...IF anything would have gone wrong i would have been a long red streak along the highway...

Thank God I outgrew those early years...lol

Ed T

The Good Lord watches over little kids and fools...he was workin' overtime with me growin' up.

 

[JohnWhite]

One of these days I think I'll get me a nice shiny new Italika...lol...And a Steppenwolf cd..."Get your motor running"..."Born to be wild"...rofl

Ed T

 

[chub]

I had a 350 Kawasaki triple and later the 500 triple. 3 Cyl 2 stroke.... they came equipped with rubber forks drum front end and FIXED foot pegs The front brake didnt matter anyway because the front wheel wasnt on the road that much .... Pulled up at the garage for petrol and everyone was staring....turns out two of the baffles had fallen out. Seemed to use more oil than petrol. Had a sticker on the speedo that said "FASTER YOU FOOL".... Glad to have experienced and lived all the madness (that seems normal when you are 20) also glad those days are over. I would have a siezure if my kids did half the stuff I did. Hands are still numb from vibration as I type.... that said, I do miss two strokes in general these days. They just had so much personality

Chub

 

[sandchip]

These we’re the best. Even in the early 80’s when I have my Yamaha YZ80 my 70 was awesome because you could just cruse the street at 12 years of age. Go ride to the Time Saver get you lg Icee, no clutch just cruising with no shirt, cut offs and striped socks up to your knees. Man those where the days not a care in the world. View attachment 1661081

That is awesome. I always wanted one of those so bad. And 12 years old was the best age of all to me. Old enough to be out from under the parents, but not in those baggage-laden teen years, followed by adulthood and bills and taxes, just rambling all over the place having fun all day long.

 

[Truth]

That is awesome. I always wanted one of those so bad. And 12 years old was the best age of all to me. Old enough to be out from under the parents, but not in those baggage-laden teen years, followed by adulthood and bills and taxes, just rambling all over the place having fun all day long.

My childhood was awesome. I had the best Mother in the world. [emoji1317]

sandchip I also had this exact go kart except mine had no governor and a shoe string I would have to pull to work my throttle (redneck ingenuity). Country living was awesome 50 miles out of New Orleans. My poor momma use to catch heat from the neighbors. I guess they didn’t like me putting dents in their metal trash cans on garbage day of cranking up my YZ to go riding the trails at 6:30am lmao. I was 10 but not like the 10 year olds today, 10 with street smarts playing in the canal catching water moccasins, alligator snapping turtles, speckle king snakes and of course crawfish that my mama would cook up for me and my friends.

P.S. Canal crawfish had a different flavor then swamp crawfish [emoji3081] LOL You got me reminiscing hard I miss that little boy and my mama.

 

[Truth]

I had a 350 Kawasaki triple and later the 500 triple. 3 Cyl 2 stroke.... they came equipped with rubber forks drum front end and FIXED foot pegs The front brake didnt matter anyway because the front wheel wasnt on the road that much .... Pulled up at the garage for petrol and everyone was staring....turns out two of the baffles had fallen out. Seemed to use more oil than petrol. Had a sticker on the speedo that said "FASTER YOU FOOL".... Glad to have experienced and lived all the madness (that seems normal when you are 20) also glad those days are over. I would have a siezure if my kids did half the stuff I did. Hands are still numb from vibration as I type.... that said, I do miss two strokes in general these days. They just had so much personality

Chub

There’s nothing like the smell of a 2 stroke.

 

[JohnWhite]

https://www.elektra.com.mx/italika-infantil-80cc-negroanaranjado-34001774/p?idsku=34001774

One of these days I'll be out looking for that long lost trail on one of these...lol...I'd snap it like a twig...

Ed T

 

[Truth]

https://www.elektra.com.mx/italika-infantil-80cc-negroanaranjado-34001774/p?idsku=34001774

One of these days I'll be out looking for that long lost trail on one of these...lol...I'd snap it like a twig...

Ed T

Not sure how old you are but we had these. 3 speed automatic