no, not much improvement since getting the cast off and into a walking boot 3 weeks back. Foot keeps swelling up every time I do the physio exercises. It's slow going and really annoying. But it could be worse, could be summer!
@chizel You must be soft mate, my Missus is bouncing round like a goodun', her broken foot is just a memory .
chiz's own 300kph stack, on his way to the local offy, was a nightmare but at least he hasn't broken a toe this time. The tales I could tell you about broken toes ...more than couple ... you don't want to know.
Wow, very sobering stuff. Like others, i have ridden at very silly speeds when I was younger as you just dont really think about the consequences. It all seems to go out of the window once you get on the bike. The biggest "off" I had was a high-side at around 120mph (from what I can remember, it was a very long time ago). I was fully dainese`d up and I remember after hitting the road I slid for what seemed a very long time. I remember thinking "my god my backside is getting a bit warm". Luckily the bike flew off away from me as I slid, but it bounced back off the crash barrier and came back after me. Sliding took all the momentum out of the crash and I walked away just a bit sore & bruised. Leathers were all shredded thru to the kevlar underneath, and there was a hole in the back of my suit going though to the back protector where something had stabbed through it. Possibly footpeg off the bike or something. Made me realise how lucky I was to have worn one. Had I hit anything like the crash barrier or a sign or a tree whilst sliding then it would have been a very different story. Now much much older & wiser, me & my old biker mates shudder at some of the stuff we did and got away with.
Heh - yeah....20 odd years ago we used to meet on a sunday morning in town (bristol) and ride out to RAF Hullavington where they used to do club racing. We all agreed to meet the night before and the next morning we were all there bar one....we hung on for 30 odd minutes and proceeded to curse the missing Member (Si, your probably not reading this but its about you). We got there late, had to que etc etc etc didnt get a good spot, spent the day cursing him. I went round his house to have a playful "where the fuck were you then?..." he answered the door with a pair of shorts on and his arms and legs in plastic bags as most of the skin has been taken off. Tankslapper at 60mph. Went into the garage to take a look at his gamma 250 with 2/3'rds of the tail pipe worn away along with missing clip on etc etc.....no protective clothing apart from gloves... Never even contemplate riding now without all of it on no matter what the weather....
110mph in a 30 I was pillion on gixer 1100E .I had no gloves on no leathers just farahs and converse. Apparently I slid for 300 feet went between lamppost and a tree missing them .(my guardian angel just kept up ) my scars aren't that bad considering 113 stitches in my leg plus a skin graft for my knee lost several finger nails , they grew back .didn't break any bones .I did get a terrible infection from all the dirt and shit that got in my wounds. High fever etc .moral of my story wear all your kit .this was a short trip to get a kebab . I'm so lucky
Yes the guy was going too fast and he was the author of his own misfortune, as judges like to say, but all the same Armco is lethal to motorcyclists. As Jolley says its the posts that do the damage when you get tangled up in them which would appear to be what happened in this case. Armco was designed to deflect cars to prevent them careering across the carriageway. The barrier should reach to ground level so there is no gap at the bottom. That presumably is what the bike-safe ones are like. Had this rider bounced off a ground level barrier and carried on sliding you have to wonder whether he would have survived. A tall order to survive an impact with a solid barrier at that speed, its true, but I bet if you slid under an Armco barrier at legal speeds and got tangled up in the legs the result would be much the same. Did speed kill this rider or a lethal piece of road furniture? Bike-safe designs should be mandatory. Design engineers and road planners everywhere should watch that video.
No, speed had nothing to do with it, he could've safely gone at 500 MPH there, it was just a badly designed road.
Speed doesn't kill, its impact. Speed might cause you to bin it but its what your body hits as a consequence that kills you. You can jump out of a plane and fall at 122 mph terminal velocity and you'll be absolutely fine. Its the sudden stop at the bottom that does the damage. Did he crash because he was going too fast, or because one of his mates or an oncoming vehicle hit something or had a blow-out and the debris caused him to crash? Don't know. But I'd be prepared to bet that if someone riding at a legal and perfectly reasonable 70 mph in the same circumstances lost control and took a slide through no fault of their own and they were thrown against the steel legs of a section of Armco, their body would be torn apart as well. There's plenty of footage online of people who've been cut in half or dismembered by striking immovable roadside objects at speeds far slower than these guys were doing. If you lose it for whatever reason and die from hitting a tree or a lamp post, that might conceivably be considered bad luck. You could have missed the tree or slid between the lamp posts but unfortunately you did not. A continuous run of Armco isn't like a solitary tree or intermittent lamp posts. If you come off and you're thrown towards the Armco you are certain to hit it. There is no avoiding it and its not a random or a natural hazard, its been placed there deliberately. It should therefore be designed to minimise the chances of death if a motorcyclist, whether by misfortune or their own negligence, comes off and is thrown into it.
I know this is a slight deviation, but a couple of people referred to my comment. Yes, the bike safe stuff is just an infil panel that can be retro fitted to the legs of any safety barrier. It deflects them around the barrier to stop them getting tangled in the legs. Below is just a google image search example: As tragic as this sort of accident is, statistically it does not happen enough to justify the cost of adding it. Although they seem to be going away from this to continuous concrete barriers as the whole life costs (repairs mainly) are cheaper, which is better for us anyway.
Just a point of note re terminal velocity: Terminal velocity follows Newton's first law of physics, which states that every object does not move or continues moving in a straight line unless it is forced to change by an outside force. An object starts at rest, then when released, the object begins free fall and accelerates with the force of gravity acting upon it. The air resistance, or drag, increases until it equals the weight of the object. Terminal velocity magnitude depends on the weight, drag coefficient, air density and size of the object. I used to fall at 130mph in a belly to earth attitude and about 145 in head up. Witnessed some fatalities too and you're right it's the sudden stop that kills
I didn't look at the gory videos, just the first one. I know bad shit is happening all the time. I don't want to look at it. It's not entertainment. Ever since I did a few track days it cured me of having to test myself out and out on the road. That is what the track is for. It's a safer environment. The bikers involved were knobs in any case. Not because of the speeds, but because there was traffic around. If you want to amuse yourself seeing what the bike will do and you can't be bothered to organise a track day, then at least have to decency to do it when there are no other vehicles about. Looked to me like a blow-out or a blow-up and the camera bike hit it. But there you go. At least if you are on your own and your tyres blow out because they were worn or not properly inflated you have only yourself to blame. If you want to indulge in any kind of extreme behaviour, you really need to take all the precautions you can: bike is spot on, you are protected head to toe with the best and no one is around. Armco will still kill you so it's best not to tempt fate.
Guy with the blowout was probably running Pirelli Supercorsa tyres. We've all been there with them when one ride, everything looks fine and then next you've got wire showing. Those tyres properly sneak up on you :tearsofjoy:
Thanks JH, you've settled'a debate I was having with myself: put another set of M7RRs on the Superduke for next year or give Supercorsas a go. I'll stick with the Metzelers.
