The Bike Accident 11th Feb 2011

Ok, so here it is the lead up to the accident. This might sound a bit like a police report, and that is because some of it is.

On Friday 11^th Feb 2011, I was traveling home from work on the A361 from Beckington towards Southwick. I travelled through most of Rode passing Church Fields on the left hand side. The two cars in front indicated to turn left onto the B3109, and then turned as indicated.

As I was moving across the junction a white transit van, pulled out of the junction. It was turning right to travel towards Beckington. There was no time for me to be able to avoid the van.

The front of the van hit me on the left hand side, crushing my left leg between the bike and the front of the van. I was thrown off my bike. I rolled along the road, finally stopping on the wrong side of the road alongside the bike (about 2 meters away from the bike).

The bike slid along the road on its right hand side and stopped on the grass verge.

I thought about getting up but looking at my leg and the pain I was in I decided not to move.

So here is a diagram.

Key Road from bottom left to top right is A361 Road from top down is B3109 Dotted white line is path of van Dotted blue line is path of bike Dotted red line is my path after leaving the bike.

A number of people stopped (including the driver of the white van,) and gave assistance.

During the time waiting for the police and ambulance the driver of the white van came up to me, asked how I was and said the classic; ‘sorry I did not see you’

Whilst waiting for the police and ambulance I was able to phone Emma  and Deb and inform them of what had happened.

Within a few minutes uniformed police arrived and an ambulance followed soon after.

So what of the bike?

So here is a before. This was back in June just after I had put it back on the road after it had been SORN'ed for a years.

And here it is after. These pictures were taken by a friend who works where the bike was taken.

I know it had a strange colour scheme, this is what it looked like when I bought it. But I liked it.

Next will be the hospital

Bikes And Me

So I am now into the second week away from my bike accident.

It was the classic 'SMIDNSY' or 'Sorry mate I did not see you'.

I thought I would start this with the bikes I have owned and have ridden.

Only one of these pictures is mine the rest are from trawling the internet.

1 Yamaha FS1E.

I will start with this I shared with a mate of mine. We carried out some modifications on it and we were able to get almost 70 MPH out of it. I would not tick over. Must have had it for only about a year. It looked to be in about the same condition as this picture.

2 Suzuki TS 100ERN

This was the first proper bike I had. It was bought with some inherentance money and I got it from new. It was a good reliable bike. Not fast and there was very little I could do to speed it up. I had it for 4 years, in it's time it has been stolen when I was in Manchester and almost ruined. Finally was stolen when I parked it up in a lay-by after running out of petrol. Never to be seen again.

3 Honda XL 250 S

Loved that one. I had it nicked when I was in Manchester. It was found a few years later in good condition, but I could not afford to purchase it back from the insurance company. I only had this for a few months.

4 Yamaha RD 200

The yellow peril. Sort of reliable, a nice bit of fun, not too fast. Three years of fun driving.

5 Kawasaki KH750

Now this was fun, in much the same way as an adventure park can be fun but with out the safety features. Its nick name is ‘The Widow Maker’ for obvious reasons. Top speed of some where near 130 mph in a straight line. That was the problem it's handling round bends had a lot to be desired. It needed some work to get it up to a decent condition. I bought it for £100 (in poor condition) and sold it for £400, in not much better condition a few months later.

6 Honda XL 600 V Transalp

Well this is what it should have looked like. However it's colour scheme was something different. 

I admit I bought it looking like this.

This was the bike that has just been in the accident. It was a good bike, Yes it had a few problems, which I fixed and put it back on the road late last year. I bought it in 1998, so I had it for 13 years. There were times I was using it to get to work in Bournmouth, that was a round trip of 120 miles per day.

There were a number of other bikes that I borrowed from friends at different times.

Suzuki ZN85

This was a 650 turbo. You had to be careful with this one. To overtake you usually did the following

• Look 
• Signal
• Twist the grip to accelerate
• Move round vehicle in front

However if you did this you would not have time to move round the vehicle in front. The turbo cut in so quick more that one rider was found stuck to the back of a lorry instead of overtaking it.

Suzuki GS 850

Lovely bike. Belonged to a friend of mine who died of cancer a couple of years ago.

To the future

What do I want next. Not really sure, but something like this

Kawasaki KLZ 250

So answer every one. Yes I will get a other bike at some time. Don't think it will be this year though.