What happens when a Motorcycle and Pot Hole meet?

Zuhaib

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2003
Messages
855
Location
San Francisco, CA
Car(s)
19 BMW X3
This:

and

I found my old photos for the city i took when i hit a pot hole on my motorcycle at the time so i threw them up on flickr. I was riding (at the time) a 2003 HD Sportster 883C doing about, 30ish mph. The pot hole was cause by some job they where doing and they just left it there uncovered and i did not see it (road was shaded so everything just looked black). I was actually able to keep the bike up and ROAD HOME. At the time did not notice anything but that the bike started to wander like a b*tch at speed on the way home. City ended up paying me for new rims and tires front and back and i took the money and got some nice aftermarket rims. too bad a year after that i got in an accident with a dog that totaled the bike and the rims =(
Since i know we have a few riders on the forum, let this be a lession learned about pot holes, stay away! Then agian, in SF, that is pretty hard to do.
 
sinkhole.jpg

Living in New England, our potholes usually look something like that.

When I read the thread title, I expected lots of blood and gore...thankfully there wasn't any. So since I'm planning for a bike myself, thanks for the heads up. :cheers:
 
Ouch.

Got any pics of the overall bike?
 
The bike itself was ok as i was able to keep her up (something even i was shocked after i saw the wheels). I do have pics of the bike after i got her back with the new wheels
here:


I also have a set of pics of my bike on flickr.
Too bad she got totaled a year later when i hit a dog. The dealer has my pics after the accident (and so does the insurance company i would assume) but i never picked them up, that being the fact i was banged up after wards. The bike look bad there as the whole front end was bent, with rims, pipes where all gone, and tank had a big dent in it from my arm. I guess i was just happy to be walking away that time.
 
Consider yourself lucky. I flipped over my bike going 30 MPH. Damn pothole the size of a moon.
 
One of the reasons I'll probably never buy a bike. :(
 
One of the reasons I'll probably never buy a bike. :(

Its not that bad, really the day i got my insurance check for my bike i totaled, i went to the dealer and placed the down on my current bike a Softail Standard. To me the freedom a motorcycle, even a 'simple' Harley provides is something a car cant. Its just something totally new to go in to the hills on the coast.
My accident with the dog sent me to the ER but all that came from it was a lot of bruising and one bruised knee that had me off the floor for about a week. I was very lucky there to have nothing broken, i thank my gear as i was wearing leather jacket, jeans, and my trusty Red Wing boots.
To zeoniks, Sucks man you flipped, a lot of people told me i was luck i did not go over also. These pot holes are really banging up bikers and cars, i mean they say they even waste more gas because of it, and, causes more car problems. I know at my Merc dealer they see a lot of Mercs with Aftermarket bent rims (tho the key is Aftermarket, the dealer is always quick to point out Merc rims will never bend) and other suspension issues caused by them.
 
Yeah, but I don't wanna risk it. No crumple zones on a bike. ;)
 
you are the crumple zone on a bike...
 
Heheh.

Haven't hit any crazy potholes on mine yet, but have hit quite a few speedbumps; there was a fantastic road for riding near where I was, nice twisty road, with a couple of mile-long straits. On one of those straits, right in the middle, there were three possibly unintentional bumps, probably made from a tree root or shoddy paving....they were hard to see, since there was a break in the trees there, and the shadows played tricks on you. I would usually hit one or two of them, think i had avoided the third, and crank it open....only to hit the next one at a good clip, and launch the front wheel into the air.
 
Where i live we have pot-holes with a little bit of road between them..
 
i'll have to take a couple of shots of my front wheel post "fun wih flats on a bike"

the pothole was only the second part - first, i hit a nail that punctured my tire and blew a hole through the wheel. then i hit a pothole, or probably more acurately, an 8 inch crevice in the road, and bent the rim good. not a single problem staying runner side down, going about 35 mph, 2-up, on 10" wheels....
 
My mom always tells me, "in a car, you're surrounded by metal. On a motorcycle, you surround the metal."

...meh, I still want one, for all the reasons you said there. :D Nice Harley as well.
 
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