[ebonho]

Originally Posted by saket77

However, falling in front of the girls of your colony at the age of 19 is not a thing you dream of everyday!

Well some things dont change. Ever.

The tightest most banked cornering at the highest speed is attempted on the corner outside the girl's hostel.

And most falls also happen there.

Good for the ego. LOL

[sourabhzen]

I rode two wheeler for a long time, from 1990 to 2005 and then I got married. I was extremely irresponsible and fearless rider. Had a few falls but nothing serious ever happened.

The following incident is worth mentioning here: I bought a Bajaj Wind 125 in 2002 and used it primarily for office commute. I was going to office when the bike was 3 weeks old. It was in its running in period and I ensured that it does not cross 50 KMPH mark.

There was a long empty stretch in front of Jamia Milia Islamia University and there was absolutely no one on the road. I just looked down at the speedometer to ensure that speed limit is not violated and suddenly three college going guys emerged from a perpendicular narrow street. Since I was looking at the speedometer, the bike hit the scooter at a right angle at 50 KMPH. The bike overturned, throwing me some 15 ft away and I broke one of the riders leg. Surprisingly they accepted my apologies and did not harm me. The repair cost of my bike was 18k, almost 40% of the original cost.

[JediKnight]

I am writing this post with my right hand encased in plaster.

After spending 10 years plus driving to office i decided to chuck my car and got a fancy bicycle for my office commute in spite of protests from my family.
Things went well for a a few weeks until last week. On my way to office i was doing around 20 kmph on a downward slope. I decided to check the time and lifted one hand of he bicycle to see my wrist watch. At the same time my bike went into a ditch with soft mud and stopped dead. I got flung off the cycle and hit hard ground in front of it. So severe was the impact that my chest compressed and i could not breathe for few seconds. My helmet cracked and by right elbow broke. I thank my stars that i was wearing helmet that day.

[D4D]

Driven 6k km in my bike and 2k in friends' bikes. (All city driving only)

Fell only once, thanks to an Indica(yes, a cabbie) who touched my exhaust when overtaking me. No Injuries at all. Just an aching left shoulder which was ok after a night's sleep with painkillers.

And yes, a few scratches on the handlebar weight and the headlight fairing. Noticeable, but it's something I can ignore and live with. Maybe it makes me ride safer whenever I see it.

[Swapnil_Alto]

I've been riding from the past few years, 3 years to be precise. I will admit that I was a very irresponsible rider initially and had many close calls during those days. But due to God's grace, I've never kissed the tarmac while riding myself till now and I hope to do the same further as I've started riding responsibly now, all thanks to Team-BHP.
However, when I was in class 11th, A friend got a Yamaha FZ-S as a gift from his parents. He came to my house one fine day and we were about to go for a ride, I was sitting behind him. As soon as we went further, don't know what came to his mind, he popped a wheelie. Being unaware of it, I was just holding the rod which is placed behind the seat. The whellie was quite high and I was unable to control myself and as a result, I fell down on the road pretty hard. Thankfully, my head didn't get hurt but I got bruises all over my right hand. It started bleeding profusely. I lost consciousness for few seconds and everything went black. He applied water on my face and I gained my senses. Thankfuly, we were not far away from my house. Reached home and then mom took care of my wound. I will never forget that day because 2 days after that incident, I had my maths exam and I was unable to write properly because of my hand being bandaged.

[munchy_cool]

Driving two wheelers since 1999. I still remember all my falls.

First One - 2000

Going to tuition on my champagne gold Bajaj Super at 6am in the morning. A dog comes running out of a house and slams into my scooter. I fall, was wearing a helmet so not much damage to the brain but a few bruises on my hand. The scooter had damages on the right panel which covers the engine.

Lesson
helmets save lifes.

Second One - 2000
3 months later, same scooter. Was driving on an empty road and overtook a tractor. Never did i notice that the tractor was a water tanker and as it happens in India, it was spilling water all over the road. The rear end of the scooter gave way and i went sliding across the street gripping my scooter.

Was wearing the helmet, this time around no injuries to me. The right panel on the scooter was damaged again. Got it re-painted right away so Dad doesn't come to know about it.


Lesson Learnt
helmets save lifes.
A scooter saves your legs as well

Third One - 2001
Coming back after giving my board exams on my scooter. On a street, a kid suddenly jumps on the road giving me no time to react. His head hits the headlight and I fall. Again, was wearing my helmet. get up and check on the kid, by this time a crowd had gathered and mob mentality was kicking in, what do I do. Well, I shouted on top of my voice "$#%#% check out the kid first, and then you peeps can beat me up". Luckily for me a friend of mine lived nearby and he saw the crowd, he came to see what had happened. He saw me and hushed me away, called by Dad. My dad came and took care of the medical expenses for the kid. He got 2-3 stitches on his head, but his parents knew it was not my fault.

Lesson Learnt
helmets save lives.
You need to aware of your surroundings and especially when kids are around.

Fourth One - 2002
Going to Mussoorie on the same scooter, see a stone on the middle of the road. I think i will manoeuvre past it, I did but the engine of the scooter didn't. Bam, the engine hit the stone and the casing broke. towed by scooter for a good 17-18 kms back to Dehradun and went to an uncle's shop who repaired my dad's scooter. Gave it to him for repairs and heard my dad's wrath for atleast a month for the damages on the scooter. Was again wearing a helmet which by now had marks for all my falls.

Lesson learnt
Helmets are a necessity.
Don't try to act smart on the road when the thing in front of you is dumb.

Fifth One - 2003
Went to mussoorie on a friends bike. A red cbz with clip on handle bars, round head light and dual exhausts. Was descending down the hills and enjoying the view. Misjudged a turn and applied the front brake. Boom, the front end slipped and I was down. Got up , picked the bike , started it and came back down.

Was wearing a helmet but the dual chrome exhausts on the bike were had multiple scratches. Went to my friends place, parked the bike and told him what happened.

Lesson Learnt

When you are driving dont enjoy the view, concentrate on the road.
And of course, wear a helmet.
Bikes don't save your legs from being bruised.

Sixth One - 2009
Going back to home from work, Noida to Delhi. At around 7pm near Apollo hospital in Sarita Vihar, a cabbie hits me and runs away. i am down on the road again, this time around bleeding from my right hand. The bike has major damages, the handle is bent and the gear liver as well. A crowd helps me and my bike to my feet. I call 100 to file a hit and run as someone had noted the number of the cab, but you know call waiting on 100. After a few minutes I give up. Wrap a handkerchief around my wound, start the bike and read my home. My roommate calls a doctor who gives me tetnas shots and says I would need stitches on wound. I refuse to get stitches and still carry the mark on my right hand.

Lesson Learnt
Always wear a helmet.
be on the lookout for crazy cabbies.

Even after all the falls over the years, I have not let go of driving two-wheelers. In fact I still love them and that's why even after coming back from US in 2013, I got a Duke 200.

[poised2drive]

A Daily bike Rider just like every other Indian and I am surprised to say that I have never faced any mishap till date.

My ride- Pulsar 150 - 3rd Gen.
bought in the year Oct 2008 in Hyderabad when I was in my Engg. 3rd year.
I am a careful driver, nonetheless I switch on to racing mode at times but the everlasting fear in back of my mind ensures I don't perform any crazy stunts.

Till date, I rode 34000 Km on my bike and some 1000km on other bikes and I usually wear Helmet.

And the only mishap [ an overshot to call it a mishap because it is an accident at its lowest limit] I faced was I almost fell off the bike while maneuvering a street end with speed >30 kmph when an other biker came in from the opposite side [ it should have been around 5-10 kmph] and it was because I was hurrying to my college as the news of distributing answer sheets [ for 'Steel Structure Design - a subject that most of the Civil Engineers dread] reached me.

And absolutely no injuries, but the brake pedal got bent due to its collision with the tarmac .

In the later part of my ride, my post-traumatic stress overshadowed my fear of the exam results.


But I consider myself lucky that even after 34k km of biking, I have not seen any grievous of situations [ and not wanting to see any] , thanks to my luck and other careful drivers who shared the road with me.

[pawarsw]

Hi,

I want to share my experience.
I purchased my black beauty Pulsar 180 in March 2008.
After running in period, I always used to drive at 60-80 kmph on open road.

It was start of monsoon, and roads in wet, I was on the way of my office morning at 8 am,
Very sparse traffic, driving in left lane, while overtaking a parked roadside truck, a woman suddenly came from left to cross the road.
I was barely at distance of 10 m, to avoid the hit i just hard pressed both the brakes, due to wet road bike just slipped and I trashed at least 20-25 feet. Few passing people help me to stand with my bike. I was in jeans and monsoon jacket (studs full face helmet also).
Bike leg guard really save my leg that day, but then I realize some pain in my wrist. Somehow I again start my bike and reached to office. But after 3-4 hrs in office my wrist got swollen and pain turn to severe.
Reached to orthopedic hospital and diagnosed as hairline fracture in wrist bone, which forced to have plaster for 45 days.

Lesson Learnt: be cautious while overtaking roadside parked vehicles.

[ramprakashr]

Ok, mine's going to be a very different experience. Leaving apart all the instances of fall when learning to ride, this one was a fall, that has still left scars on me!

It was my 7th grade and I was riding bicycle (A hercules AXN DX 26) to school. It was the day of exams (Tamil exam to be precise), and I was confident of scoring a centum. I had my exam writing pad wrapped in a cloth bag (The famous manja pai) and fastened to the handle bar. There's an empty stretch where I do my time trials. My school allowed us to wear watches only for exams and in comes exams, I would be more happy during the exams, for I can do time trials on the way with accuracy tuned to a second

But, unfortunately that day, my pad got stuck between my thighs and the handle bar and I fell head first, with the cycle over me. As I said, it being an empty road, luckily there was a kind lady, who just asked me directions to my home and helped my way back (Perks of living in a small town may be...). More than the fall, it was the very thought that I'm going to miss the exam for which I've been stupendously ready was daunting me.

The prime lesson learnt was that, never land your face to the tarmac. I got one half of my face scratched. Thankfully, our family doctor handled it in such a way that the marks weren't permanent. However, I still have a scar below my nose and a little part of my front tooth has been scraped off. Also even today, if I'm tying something to my handle bar on my bike, I make sure to take extreme care of it, in such a way that it doesn't block my limb movement.

Fast forward to 2015, I'm in a cushy job now and I'm allowed to wear a watch every day to work . But the time-trial interest is gone now. I choose my commute to office based on the time I leave house and the time I intend to get back and alternate between my fluidic verna and my FZ-S. My fz has around 16K kms on the odo and is well maintained. I was cruising at around 40 (The road being an interior one), I can see some one on a blue TVS XL Super, and talking to some one behind. He was in my vision of sight for so long, and never thought he would move on. But then, all of a sudden, as I drew closer, the gentle man just tried to cross the road.

Bam, he was an old chap, I hit his front wheel and I made it a point to land with my heads up, I got the whole of my palm scratched and it was blood all over my palm. But what shit scared me was the old guys condition. I've seen bikers getting beaten up for hitting some one (This is around 4kms from Guduvanchery, on the nellikuppam main road.) But luckily, the folks around attributed the mistake to the old man, and made sure I was comfortable. He had minimal damage, but he being an old man, found it very difficult to get up.Thanks to my Vega, my head and face, safe!

Touch-wood, never want to kiss the tarmac again!

[sandeepmohan]

I am sure FM tharian remembers this day. The day I popped two back to back wheelies.

It was the holidays, I was visiting my grandmother in Bangalore. My grandmother used to keep paying guests when she was much younger. The paying guests who lived with her, especially the male folks were automobile enthusiasts. Grandmothers garage has seen a Royal Enfield Standard 350, two Yamaha RD350's, Yamaha RX series and a Tata Sierra, owned by the paying guests, as they come and go. tharian may know more as he was the next door neighbour. I was probably between the age of 8-10 when the paying guest who owned the RD used to take me for joy rides. A blast down Hutchins road.

The paying guest who owned the Sierra had an RX too. Tharian and myself took turns on the RX. While tharian figured out riding a motorcycle much earlier, I was stryggling. We must have been 15. It took a long while for me to figure out the clutch and throttle relationship on a snappy motorcycle like the RX. My dad had warned me not to ride the bike as it was owned by someone else and he was right. It was my turn to take the bike for a short spin down the street. Got on the bike, fired her up and then was that scary moment after slotting 1st. Slowly release the clutch and give some throttle. This time around, I was probably not concentrating well enough and the front wheel was in the air, landed and then again in the air. Two back to back wheelies. The last wheelie landed in the drain. I had no idea what had happened or how I even reached that drain cause the first time I was off the ground, I had already lost focus on what was going on. No lid by the way. I was lucky that it was only a couple of minor bruises. I was still sitting on the bike except that I was inside a drain and not on the road. Thankfully it was a dried up drain. There were spectators too. tharian laughing his head off (We still do when we talk about this), the girl I was trying real hard to impress (failed miserably), my dad, the paying guest who owned the RX and couple of other folks. Damage to the bike was minimal. Some scratches on the instrument console and exhaust, as far as I can remember. I was zapped and that was the last time I got astride that RX. I rode a motorcycle again only after a good 7 years.

That is the story of my first tumble. A funny one.

[--9--]

I have completed more than 35000 k.m. on my Honda Unicorn (Vibrant Sport Edition.)
Till now - I have had one good mishap. It was caused by man's best friend - Dog. Fortunately my helmet saved me from grave injury that day.
July 2009.
It was around 7:45 in morning. It had rained some time back and roads were still wet. I was riding to my office and was maintaining steady 50 kmph speed on four lane road. A stray dog was crossing the road. Seeing that he had already crossed left lane from some 100 meters away - I switched to that lane. When I was about 15-20 meters away from dog - he suddenly changed his mind and came back running towards left lane. To save his life - I opted for sudden brakes. Thanks to slippery surface - Bike skidded off and I got dragged with bike for 10-15 meters before letting it go. Thankfully there was no one behind me as it was early in the morning. One auto driver who reached few minutes after fall helped me pick up bike and gave me some water to drink. Meanwhile - that wet rotten dog had come back and was barking away at us. I thanked auto wala for steadying my nerves and then noticed bloody knees and elbow. Long story short - one hairline fracture in palm, bloody knees and right elbow and badly scratched helmet that saved my head from any injury.

Lesson learnt - never trust a wet dog and always wear a helmet.

[trumpet]

Hello all,

This reminds me of a horrific accident that happened when i just completed my 12th.

I was lazing at home and my dad had just exchanged our old Vijay Super for a brand new 150 cc Bajaj Chetak scooter. The scooter had just finished a service, complete with silencer decarbonizing as well. I managed to collect Rs.1000 then as i wanted to buy a pair of headphones and i was on my way to purchase them when the unthinkable happened.

I am in Chennai and i wanted to go to Spencer's , so i started off from home and i wa on the kilpauk garden road. The road is a 2 lane road with the Kilpauk cemetery to the left. Today, there is a divider for the whole stretch. As usual a guy who's in his teens, having a 150 cc scooter decides to test it - and with good reason as it was empty.

i hit the road at 65km and i notice a girl (probably in her 5th std or 6th) looking to her right and crossing the road. I am approaching her from the left side, and since she is crossing the road not looking left, she is encroaching my lane!, seeing this I start to honk. I honk all the way, but no response. I slam the brakes, and as you all know those puny tires lock up instantly. I would have probably reduced to 40 or 30 km and went straight at her.
In the impact, i am thrown off the seat, but unfortunately the power still drags me on and i scrape my face on the hard tarmac! and then dust settles.
I smell petrol everywhere, lots of dust and a crowd gathers. One of the guys takes away the key. I am sitting down there in shock. On the corner of my eye i can see something white and i feel cool breeze on my face. To my horror i see my cheekbone. My skin has been ripped through.

Then, immediately the uncle of the girl comes and says that I have to take her to the doctor to see if there's a fracture and other expenses have to be met. I take the gang in an auto, go to KMC get an injection for myself. The rear wheel ran over her left leg during the accident. However, there was no fracture. It's only after i came back i realize that the girl was deaf and dumb. That literally shook me.

Finally, we decided to go for an out of court settlement and i ended up paying for her ear device which was cracked beyond operation as a result of the accident. Now the best part. The accident site is at the junction of the where you turn into the kilpauk cemetery.

Still reminds me of the site even as i cross this stretch.

Lesson learnt:
Honk your way through, if people don't respond honk again!!
Understand the guy on the other side is a moron and has half the interest to live than you
Never over estimate mechanics!

[fiesta1.6]

Interesting thread. I used to drive Suzuki Samurai when I was in college. If I remember it correctly, it was March 2003 when I was riding back home with my friend. There was a car in opposite lane trying to overtake a bike in front. But he misjudged the distance/time and everything else and drove straight at me which made me to apply both the brakes resulting in wheel lock and I came down crashing on earth. My pillion friend was like why didn't you swerve away as it was empty road and I was like yes that was possible.

[trtraj]

It was 2010 - with the 12000 kms ran Thunderbird on a sweaty day in Chennai, removed helmet by 8:10 PM after a severe sweating in a signal where i stood for almost 3 ~ 5 minutes..

Mistake I did
------------

Removed helmet to feel fresh. drove 3 kms + overtaking a scorpio at the speed of 60 ~ 65,

All of the sudden a Kawasaki 4S appeared, yes he crossed the road without noticing the Scorpio he crossed, God was with him, if a fraction of second he delayed he would have been killed by Scorpio, if the same fraction of second he was early he would have crossed the road too.

Badly hit, no reflex time to brake the vehicle too...

Lost four front tooth, lip got cut after a stone poke in- undergone some 8 ~9 surgeries, implanted and with artificial tooth now.

Loss
----

No more bullet (family restriction)
Four tooth
hell lot of time
and that bad feel, regrets...
now i cannot whistle to songs

Lessons learned
---------------

Its better to sweat rather bleeding !! (wear helmet)
Reaching home is not just about your driving, its also about how you anticipate the stupids on the road.

[SunnyBoi]

Back in 2004 Helmets weren't compulsory. My dad bought my sister a Studds helmet but she never used it, I used to wear the helmet and ride around to look fancy and show off

One fine evening after attending the college annual function, I was heading back home at 10.30PM. On the way back, there was a road with a metal divider separating the lanes. Couple of dogs ran in front of me and till date I don't know what happened. All I know is when I opened my eyes, my leg was stuck in the rear wheel and I was being dragged by the bike.

Bystanders quickly helped me out and they called my parents. They told me that the dogs ran in front of me, I panic braked, fell to the right and my first impact was the helmet hitting the metal divider.

The only thing I used to wear for showoof actually saved my life. Since then I have a severe helmet fetish! My collection consists of an Arai Corsair V, Suomy Expreme Spec 1R, AGV K4 Evo and a few others