Soda Can = Weapon
 

I had a dentist's appointment today and, since I'm not dead or otherwise incapacitated, I took the bike as usual.

Pick, pick, whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, and clean. All better.

On my way home, I took a side road to hit some twisties, after which, I returned to the "main" road and proceeded home. Just as I was accelerating from the stop sign (nothing major, just enjoying the day, not winding it out or anything), I spied an SUV headed my way... a glance down at the speedo showed that at this point I was traveling at about 50 (in a 55 zone). Just as I glanced up, I saw something flying out of said SUV (which at a glance was filled with a bunch of teen-agers) and before I could react, it hit and basically exploded into pieces (at which point I could hear the SUV punch it; old POS Blazer from the 90's).

I panic braked (practice really does make perfect) with pure rage on my mind only to find that my braking power was diminishing rapidly - a quick glance explained the reason for this: my front brake reservoir was hanging by the brake line to the lever and brake fluid was leaking from a crack in the plastic. Fuck. Thankfully, by this point I was well under 25 or so and, while I don't remember doing this, I had apparently downshifted earlier while slowing down which afforded me the opportunity to use the engine and rear brake to come to a stop.

I got off the bike and looked around for the SUV and it was nowhere in sight so I jogged back to what appeared to be the point of impact and found a freakin' PEPSI CAN (or what was left of it). The splatter marks lead me to believe that it was either a full/sealed can or a fairly full can when it hit my bike (and not me directly, thankfully since it would most likely have knocked me clean off the bike).

After heading back to the bike, I assessed the damage:

• Some scratches in the fairing on the left side (top) - I think I can buff these out and touch them up

• bent left clip-on (Christ, how fast were they moving when they threw the freakin' thing??

• Front brake reservoir broken from the mounting on the right clip-on and cracked at the top near the cap

• sliced throttle cable (which I can only believe happened when the can shredded

• left glove ripped almost exactly on the seam

I figure if I was at 50mph and they were doing a minimum of 55 that the impact was like my bike getting hit by a full soda can traveling at 105 mph. :tremble:

Things happened so fast I can't even remember the color of the SUV (the term "multiple" comes to mind though). I was able to limp home using the rear brake and the throttle works enough to get going but it no longer snaps back when I release it so the slice appears to be just enough to bind the cables.

Looks like I'll be heading down to Oneida Suzuki early next week to get some new freakin' parts. :rant:

Fairing:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...1/Fairing1.jpg

Base of brake fluid res:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...001/Brake1.jpg

Side of brake fluid res:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...001/Brake2.jpg

:td:

What a bunch of assholes. Glad you stayed safe. Pricks.

Dude, that's horrible. Glad you're OK.

Wow that is fucked up. Glad you are OK. Too bad you couldn't at least get a plate number of your assailant. There is a serious ass whooping that needs to be rained down upon these bitches.

That's messed up....:td:

holy crap, damn, what little bastards.

Good skills whoaing up the bike after you lost the front brakes.

The most dangerous part of riding- other drivers.

I may be too late, but hose off the bike as soon as you can. Brake fluid can eat the shit out of your paint.

Call the police and report the "assault" on yourself and the bike. That way if somebody else gets those rotten bastards , it'll be documented.

I'm quite sure your not the only person they've thrown something at. :td:

Good save, sorry about the assholes.

Jeff

already done and the bars are already fixed... I spent the evening replacing the bars (I was planning on doing it anyhow with SVN bars this weekend)

I honestly don't have that much faith in the local law enforcement... these are people who pulled me over for "wheeling" (someone had called in and reported that a green Kawi Ninja was wheeling up and down the road and I'm on a bike that is fairly different from a Kawi green Ninja).

Ah that sucks man.. I don't get people. They had to have known there was a chance of fucking killing you.. bastards.

Similar thing happened to one of my friends a couple weeks ago. A few wigger ass dudes who were mid 20s swung a golf club at one of my friends as they were passing him a couple of times.

It is only people like that that I wish a horrible firey death upon.
Why can't they rearend a parked pinto?

Would that not prove karma exists?

With how stupid and lacking of common sense people/kids are these days, they probably had/have absolutly no idea what damage could be caused by their actions. :no:

A couple years ago my buddy who is a truck driver had some college kids pass him on interstate and throw a live chicken at him. It smashed through the pass side windshield and landed in the pass seat, still somewhat alive, stunned, and NOT happy. He managed to chase down and stop the kids, got their info and they paid for everything... especially when their parents got involved.

There was a kid waiting to cross the road I was on. He had a buddy with him. The kid was on a skateboard, his friend was on a bicycle. When I got closer, the skateboard kid put his board on the ground and gave it a shove with his foot, stopping it just before it flew out into the street in front of me. I had to brake pretty hard, but nothing panicky.

I went by, then realized how stupid that was of him, and how badly he could have hurt someone that wasn't paying close attention to them. So, I turned around, found him right in front of his house, and chewed his ass. I told him if he does some shit like that to the wrong person, he's liable to cause an accident, or get his ass kicked. I also asked him if he would like to accompany me to his house so we could explain the whole thing to his parents. He didn't really want to do that. He was pretty scared, especially since his iPod was turned up so loud that he never heard me coming until I hit my horn about 2' behind him. I don't think he'll be doing that again.

Actually it still is only like 50mph or less UNLESS the can was accelerating towards you, which in fact it was probably slowing down. lol

Anyway, typical punks. I've had fuckers going the opposite way throw liquids out their windows a few times. Not to mention purposely swerving etc. etc.

good point. I wish someone had told the can that :lol:

Go brush up on your physics :lol: That can didn't instantaneously drop from 55mph to 0. It would have slowed some- and I'm not routing around for a textbook!

No...the force is only equal to the fastest moving object, unless that object is fixed such as a barrier, then you use the speed you are traveling. A car going 60mph hitting a fixed barrier recieves a similar force as hitting another car coming in the opposite direction at 60mph. If the wall deflects though, then the car hitting the wall will sustain less damage, which is usually the case.

I've had Dynamics lol.

You should get your money back. :lol:

Conservation of energy: If the can of soda bounced backwards after hitting his bike, the force of the impact was greater than the force contained in the moving can of soda. Even if the soda were the fastest moving object.

The fastest moving object doesn't always have the most kinetic energy in a collision either. So you're wrong that a moving soda can will not apply more force on a bike than a stationary one.

But will the can achieve enough lift from the treadmill?

Fixed.

JC

Wow, Particle, glad you are OK! I hope those douchebags wrap themselves around a pole or a tree.

I posted to this thread in ADVriders. Too lazy to repeat myself here. :bonk:

Glad you weren't taken out, sucks have things thrown at you.

yeah, was hoping to get the word our over there to watch out for assholes on the road.

All this physics talk is going to give my nightmares :lol:

Parts are on their way at least and when I'm done the bike will be better than before.

On another note, while pulling one of the throttle cables off, I found that there was a kink in it due to the routing through the frame next to the fork and it looks like it was going to fail in the not-too-distant future so this at least prevented something like that from happening on a long ride somewhere.

Silver lining.

Glad you found the kink but sucks that you had to find it that way! Glad your OK!!

Bummer dude! Kids suck.

I got egged once. On Christmas Eve, some kid launched an egg at my door. The body shop guy told me eggs are chosen because the shells work their way into the paint, making for that much more damage.

I also had a kid jump out in front of me with a stick to try to knock me off the bike.

Long story short, kids suck. Kill 'em all. Report it, can't hurt.

Screwed up way to find it, but better now than later.

Was doing my weekly chain lube/clean, and saw my focking chain clip had come off! Talk about freaked! :eek:

fact !!

Glad it didn't hit you James, that would have really sucked!

Damn dude. What a bunch of fucktards. Glad you're ok

glad the damage is fairly minor.

around here they like to "shake out" a large towel or small blanket and try to catch your front end. apparently it is hilarious entertainment. not sure what they'll do if they ever catch one. I"ve had it done to me multiple times, not fun but at least it's more avoidable then a flying can.

I think I would have beat the fuck out of them. perhaps that would be just the event to warrent me pullin the piece on some fucks!

:?: Jebbus, man - that's one of the most randomly malicious things I've ever heard of. Like everyone else, I'm glad it didn't hit YOU - that could have easily been fatal in the wrong spot! :skep: The douchebag deserves the beatdown of his/her life!!

Oh - and you're right about the effective impact speed/kinetic energy being additive (minus decel. due to air resistance). 'Had dynamics' and understanding vector mechanics are obviously two different things. :lol:

phew. I'm glad all those physics classes in college didn't get totally forgotten

Was your route near a school? Go patrol the nearest high school parking lot during school hours for that blazer.

Good plan.

I've looked in a few but haven't seen it.

Wait a couple weeks. They know they got you and may be laying low.

okay, who tagged my thread "look out!" ? :lol:

So, it just 'pop'ped into your line of sight?

:tremble:

Back and better...

New brake fluid reservoir:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...1/BrakeRes.jpg

clip-ons changed out (left one was tweaked slightly):

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...01/NewBars.jpg

While I had stuff apart, I added a new windscreen as well:

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...Windscreen.jpg

Throttle cables haven't arrived yet but I was able to take the kink out of the existing cables so it's ridable

That's not a TWF on that screen. :lmao:

I don't have any to put on there :nee:

Well, this little "incident" may end up ultimately costing me my bike.

In the midst of looking at a new bike (completely unrelated to this incident since my SV is now good-as, if not better-than new), it finally came out that my wife now gets "very worried" about me whenever the bike comes out of the garage and that she feels it's time to put it up for the winter (and from her tone, it's almost somewhat implied that she would prefer that it be even longer than that).

This, compounded with a high school friend of hers hitting a deer and getting killed several months ago may lead to many arguments about riding.

Ugh.

damn man... glad you didn't get hit... but fuck man... that shit's retarded... can't imagine why people just need to be assholes for no reason! honestly those are the ones I'd have no second thoughts about burning off their reproductive organs... then killing with a blow torch

Time to fight fire with fire. What vehicle does she drive? Oh, one of THOSE.

A friend of a friend was driving one of those and died in an accident. I think you should drive this 1969 Buick Electra 225 ( or some other land yacht )because it's a much bigger car and therefore much safer than yours. Don't worry about the shitty paint or that it smokes excessively, it just part of the safety you get with it. :dthumb:

~~~~

Seriously, you can't live your life in fear. EVERYBODY dies, no ifs, ands or buts, it's going to happen.

Do what you enjoy ( safely of course ) because nobody knows how long they're here :yes:

Jeff

Yep, I am going to die no matter what I ride/drive/eat/do.

As Van Wilder says "You shouldn't take life to seriously. You'll never get out alive."

Holy shit dude, glad you made it through physically unscathed. Really wish you could've gotten a license plate or something.

As far as the wife thing goes, you're a serious rider...its part of your identity and its what you love to do. Don't be swayed.

If your kitchen is not near any windows, her chain should not be able to reach a window to see you ride off.

snort

I cant help but laugh, thats a pretty appropriate tag...:lol: