My Buddy Crashed - Motorcycle-Journal Forums

jaydog19833 · 08-02-2005, 04:33 AM

First off I don't want anyone judging me or my friend with this occurrance.....bad things happen to even the most responsible riders.

So we have been riding for many hours and decide to wait at a Mobil station while a friend comes to meet us. It was 3 motorcycles, and 2 of us had passengers. Me on my bike and my friend on his 05 R6 were riding double. When we stopped it was on a quiet back road area and while we waited my friend to show up, my other friend wanted to prcatice a few wheelies. He has been learning how to do them. Well he went by twice in front of the station barely getting the front wheel up at all. After his second try I walked out to the road to wave him in because we didn't want to draw any more attention to ourselves. I waited a minute and he was still down the road....so I said F-it and walked back to my friends and started talking. A moment later he comes down the road......I'll try to write this like a novel to better escribe the event:

He slowly rounded the corner and opened up the throttle. The front wheel raised just a foot or so then proceeded to raise higher and higer towards the sky. In a moments notice and the blink of an eye I heard plastic rip into the pavement. Less than an instant later the tailpipe hit, lighting up the road like the 4th of July as the sparking machine ground down the steel off the back of the bike. I see my friend hanging onto the handlebars for his life only to fall face down on his chest and grind his body into the pavement. The bike then collapsed onto its right side with incredible force, whipping in a clockwise motion until it lay rest in a pile of debris on the sandy shoulder.
Before the incident....before he hit I was already running. As I approached all I could see in the night light was him laying face down and his bike laying mangled on its side; 70 yards from contact; its still burning headlight shining in my eyes. I kept yelling to my friend but there was no answer. I finally reached him yelling if he was OK. Finally he moves, slowly rolling onto his side. My other friend standing next to me says, "He's not wearing his gloves." At that comment my crashed friend turns his palms up exposing crimson red holes in his hands. His entire palm was torn away with the loose skin hanging lifeless. His fingertips were all shaved down 1/4 inch. We told him immediately to get to the side of the road and lay on his back. The next moment I'm running to Mobil to ask for any type of medical supplies......which the lady working the counter only had a wet handcloth. I returned with the cloth and cover up his wounds as best I can. A second later he mumbled, "My knee hurts." We ripped open his jeans (more than ther were already ripped) to expose 2 gray and yellow knee caps. This was no slide into first base. His right knee in particular was so large it looked like it would explode. Needless to say he was in shock. He wasn't showing signs of pain and was cold even though we was entirely covered up. Once we realized he was coming back to consciousness we immediately brought him to the hospital.
Despite the desctiption of his injuries he was going to be ok. We decided not to call an amblance but rather drove him there. Looking at his gear; he wore an Icon textile jacket with leather forearms. The jacket was SHREDDED like cheese all along his right arm.....the textile totally separated. All along the chest of the coat there were holes and tears. I remember when his body hit the pavement we thought he hit a bird but it was actually particles of cotton and textile blowing off his body. His helmet; particularly his visor was grinded down to the white. Heres the kicker. He always wore his leather riding gloves but just wasn't tonight because it was chilly and he let his female passenger wear them. Thank God she wasn't on with him but it just goes to figure the one time he didn't have gloves on he went down. If he hadn't been wearing a helmet he would be dead. If he wasn't wearing the jacket he would have been in a world of pain or even dead again.
After being drugged up and rolled into a emergency room the doctor was forced to use the plastic scrub brush on his raw and exposed skin. Despite the pain killers my friend still screamed having the dirt and road debris scrubbed out of his open wounds. He is now taking Vikatin like M&M's and still hurts too much to work or hang out.
His 2005 Yamaha R6 susained the most trouble. Despite the fact the tail section melted when it made contact with the road all the weight of the bike landed on the right hand side, tearing off the right clip on, ripping open the brake cables, severely twisting the subframe, blowing out the headlight, grinding off the muffler and breaking/scratching every piece of plastic on that side. His bike it totalled and his insurance doesn't cover "no-fault" accidents.
This whole story goes to show you what CAN happen with inexperienced riders trying stunts and the importance of wearing safety gear. His hands would have been fine if he wore his gloves. His knees would have still been hurt but its better to save your hands too.

I plan on getting some pics of his bike....and him if he doesn't mind. Either way he is in pain....physically and emotionally. He has a very expensive bike to pay for for not really having it anymore. Heres a pic of the bike before the accident though. (It's the black one).