Crashed the Buddy a couple weeks ago

I've been bad about updating lately, so here goes.

A few weeks ago, I was out for a nice summer evening ride on Bud. It was shaping up to be a great ride; hardly any traffic, the right temperature, clear roads.

But on the way home (probably 10 miles away) a deer walked out in front of me. The headlight on the '06 and earlier Buddy 125s is kind of lacking at speeds of more than 35 mph. So I didn't see her in enough time to stop properly.

Instead, adreneline kicked in and I locked up the front brake. The bike washed out from under me and I went flying. I was in shorts, sandals, gloves, helmet, and fleece jacket and reflective vest. The jacket & vest actually saved my arms & torso from getting beaten up too badly. All I got was a rugburn on my left elbow and a jammed right thumb.

Instead of taking up room here, I'll just post links to the pix. The scrapes were worse than they appear here. Here, they look like bloody scrapes from a B horror movie. In reality, the right knee one was almost down to the bone.

http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/buddy1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/buddy2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/buddy3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/bar_end.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/helmet1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/helmet2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/helmet3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/right_knee.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~jzorns/left_knee.jpg

The shorts, with wallet in the cargo pocket acting as armor, saved my outer left thigh from getting scraped.

The sandals.... didn't do anything for me. Both of my ankles had all the skin scraped off where the bones protrude on the outside. One of them even flew off while I was flipping through the air.

The gloves were cheaper, Olympia summer riding gloves. No armor on the back side. So two of my knuckles are scraped up. The leather on the palms and thumb saved me from losing skin in more important areas.

The helmet probably saved my life. I was going 45 mph when I crashed, and it is scraped in three different places: 1) middle top, 2) right front area of the chin bar, 3) left ear. If not for that helmet, I could have had my brains knocked out, my left ear ground off, and my jaw badly broken. I highly encourage scooterists & motorcyclists to wear a full face helmet. A study shows that the highest percentage of head hits during accidents are on the chin. If you think about this, it makes sense. So why do so many scooterists & motorcyclists wear open face helmets? Their brains are worth protecting, but their faces aren't?

I bought that helmet, a Shoei RF-800 seven years ago, when I bought my first bike, a 2000 Suzuki SV650. It has been comfortable and has served me well. I just received my new Shoei RF-1000 in the mail on Friday, and it is brilliant. As comfortable as the RF-800, but with much better ventilation, lighter and smaller. (and more expensive) The deductible for my crash ($250) will be sucked up just in the helmet.

I also ordered some replacement gloves, Icon Super Duty in natural colored deerskin. ^_^ These have perforated leather on the back sides, so they should hold up better than my cheapies did. These were $45 instead of $20. It has been my experience that in safety gear, you get what you pay for. (with helmets, you get more comfort but not necessarily more protection, assuming you buy a DOT/Snell model)

Now, three weeks later, all my scabs except one are healed up, and I'm left with that tender red skin where they once were. The bike is still in the shop and I'm still awaiting an estimate and availability of parts. I have this sinking feeling that since the Buddy is a Taiwanese scooter, (made by PGO) they're going to tell me it'll take over a month for parts. If that's the case, I'll probably buy something else. Maybe a Yamaha Vino 125, Honda Helix, or a Ninja 250. I just hope I can talk the insurance company into making the check out to ME, not to me AND the estimating bike dealer.

So in the meantime, I've been sweating my butt off riding the FJR. I love that bike, but it sure is a hot one to ride in the summertime. It's much better in spring, fall, and early winter. My wife and I did 312 miles on it yesterday. More on that in another post.