Been on a motocross bike since I was 8, but I left the dirt and started my sportbike years around age 25 (Mom - enough said). I've done a couple a endurance races with some buddies on 250s (yep - a had a blast on a small displacement bike). Two highsides on the track and one acting a fool on the back roads. Luckily, I believe in AGATT, I walked away with just some bruises and a tweaked ankle (good gear is worth the investment). I would love to get back into the dirt sometime soon before any of the youth still residing in a 45 year old body is totally gone.
Nothing wrong with small displacement bikes. They'll make a better rider of someone than a 1000cc bike ever will.
I also believe in ATGATT. My uncle and father drilled it into me from the first time I swung my leg over a KX80 at 10 years old, and it's saved my ass more than once.
Since we're all telling war stories, just a few of mine....
At about 12, on that KX80, I came bombing out of the woods on a downhill trail, with a vine of some sort wrapped around the throttle (I was basically WOT in 3rd or 4th gear). Just out of the treeline, there was a small hump in the trail that launched me about 15' in the air, at which point the bike and I went separate ways. I landed on my back about 35' from where I launched the bike into space (It bight still be orbiting the earth). It was the first time I'd ever knocked the wind out of me, and I thought I'd never breath again! Luckily, I was wearing a chest protector which probably kept me from breaking my back. The helmet also had a big chunk taken out of the outer shell, but it kept my skull in one piece. This would not be the last helmet I'd wright off over the years, but it's the one that solidified the importance of protecting my head!
At about 22, I was climbing a hill on a CR125 (always loved a 125 for tight trails, but that CR was geared too high for climbing). I ran out of gear, and torque, for the hill, and me and the bike tumbled back down. In the process, the handlebar end came down directly on my right index finger, breaking it in two places. The glove probably kept the bar from severing the finger clear off, because when I pulled it off, the finger was in the shape of a 'Z'. It took 6 pins to put it back together, and to this day, 25 years later, that finger is still crooked and swollen from scar tissue.
On the street, sometime in the early 90's (it's been a while) I was riding an old Honda CB650 to work. Guy in a Buick pulled out of an intersection without looking, and I T-boned him, rolling over the hood of the car, and landing in some ladies yard. Leather and boots save my skin, and it was the second helmet to sacrifice it's shell for my skull. I walked away unscratched because of my gear, the bike - not so much, but it was fixable.
Sent an early 70's KTM 495 (brute of a bike) into a tree at about 70 mph, when I couldn't slow it down fast enough running down a dirt road before turning into the trail head. Gear saved me, but the forks on the bike were toasted. Replaced them and immediately sold the beast. Just too much bike for a 17 y/o kid, who only weighed 150 lbs at the time, to go bombing through the woods on.
In the late 90's, I stuffed a GSXR-750 into a guardrail at close to 100mph. Was coming through a high speed sweeper on a road I knew well, but somehow washed out the front end, and low-sided the bike. My leathers slowed me down well before following the bike into the guardrail, where we both came to rest. Bike was totaled (bent frame), but other than being a little sore, I was fine. The leathers were toast, but they did exactly what they were meant to. I will add the caveat that, while I consider myself an excellent rider, and was NOT in over my head that day, it is extremely stupid to ride on the street the way I used to, even if it's just back roads with just you and your riding buddies - I got extremely lucky that day! If I still rode on the street the way I did in my 20's, I might not be typing all this out.
Finally, about 3 years ago, I was coming home from work on my cruiser. Just riding sedately. Came around a semi-tight, low speed corner, and didn't see the patch of gravel midway through. Rear tire stepped out, the footage touched down, and sent the bike out from under me. I was only doing 15-20 mph luckily, so the bike only slid about 20', and I just hit the ground and rolled. Unfortunately, I landed on my shoulder, instantly snapping my collar bone. The leather jacket was only mildly scuffed. The boot kept the bike from crushing my foot or ankle. And helmet #3 was sacrificed for the sake of my skull. I now have a steel plate and screws holding my collar bone together, proving that even a slow-speed , unremarkable 'off' can hurt you.
Been on two-wheels now, in one form or another, for 37 years now. Between dirt and street bikes, I've probably owned at least 25-30 over the years, and hundreds of thousand of miles in the saddle. Just goes to show that no matter how good you are - or THINK you are - you're still always at the mercy of physics!
Ride safe.
