[chris0055]

On my way home around 11 pm.

Wide open 3 lanes, and I was about 1km away from sweet home.

No cars in front of me and no cars close to me. I was cruising about 50 km/h, and then..

SUDDENLY, a big ass raccoon tried to go across the street(probably on the way home too). He stopped in front of my lane and I needed to swerve to right lane to avoid crashing him.

As I got to the right lane, the raccoon decided to go back to where he came from and then my vision changes as following:
raccoon, front tire, road surface, road surface, road surface.

I stand up after sliding and two witness stopped by and helped me to get my bike up. My thumb hurts since but nothing major. Cosmetic damage on left side and insurance company quote 2g to fix.

Lesson learn: No need to swirl if a raccoon came out. Just go straight and he'll run away. I'll post some pix when I got home.

 

[COBRA90GT]

"Swirl" = swerve?

Glad you're OK...

 

[spiritofkaos1]

sucks to hear. next time, if the critter is smaller than your tire, your tire wins.

 

[Jim Moore]

If it will fit in your microwave, hit it.

 

[Str8_Lurkin]

Lesson learn: No need to swirl if a raccoon came out. Just go straight and he'll run away. I'll post some pix when I got home.

That is the rule of thumb for any animal, if it is not larger than a deer. Never try to avoid it. Also fyi the animal is more likely to retreat in the same direction it came from.

Glad you are okay... hope the thumb heals asap. Did you get it checked out?

 

[chris0055]

 

[chris0055]

"Swirl" = swerve?

Glad you're OK...

Forgive my vocab!

 

[Coondawg_07]

Time for some flushmounts anyway. You have to have your mind made up that you're going to hit it before the situation presents itself. When the armadillo is in your lane, it's too late to decide. Hope you and your bike get healed up fast!

 

[DepPravacion]

looking at the damage i think i could make it work with the 2g's

what about your riding gear, helmet jacket etc, does your insurance cover that too?

 

[Gashuffer]

Have you filed a claim yet? Because there is a huge dif between you hitting/crashing because if the racoon and him hitting you. One is ur fault, the other is not at all. Just something to think about.

 

[carl22]

that sucks... now for some sliders
same thing happened to me yesterday too, cept instead of a raccoon, it was a gigantic peacock!

 

[spacecadet]

yeh frame sliders wouldve kept that to almost nothing.

even if the animal doesnt get out the way, high likely hood of staying up if its small and you hit it

 

[pbeaul]

Have you filed a claim yet? Because there is a huge dif between you hitting/crashing because if the racoon and him hitting you. One is ur fault, the other is not at all. Just something to think about.

LOL, how do you go about explaining that the raccoon hit you? I was cruising along and all of a sudden I got t-boned by a raccoon?

 

[Gashuffer]

LOL, how do you go about explaining that the raccoon hit you? I was cruising along and all of a sudden I got t-boned by a raccoon?

Yup. A coyote hit me and caused my wreck. State Farm called the accident caused by wildlife or something like that. Forget the exact term. But it came out to be zero my fault and rates didnt go up.

 

[chris0055]

Time for some flushmounts anyway. You have to have your mind made up that you're going to hit it before the situation presents itself. When the armadillo is in your lane, it's too late to decide. Hope you and your bike get healed up fast!

Thanks!

The reason that I haven't put the flushmount on yet is that I'm woriried that the visibility is too low during day time. I commute to work and do mostly city ridings.

Any recommendation on flushmount brands?

 

[chris0055]

looking at the damage i think i could make it work with the 2g's

what about your riding gear, helmet jacket etc, does your insurance cover that too?

The insurance company covers my gears up to 1k. Funny thing is that i only have scratches on my visor. Not on the helmet itself at all. Some minor scuff on jacket and the glove. I pretty much walked away from this one yet my right thumb still hurts a little.

It doesn't bother me that serious, but I think I'll get doc to check up soon.

I have private company for my collision and comprehensive, so no worries I guess. At least they didn't bother to get witness names from me. I assume it should be raccoon's fault.

 

[chris0055]

yeh frame sliders wouldve kept that to almost nothing.

even if the animal doesnt get out the way, high likely hood of staying up if its small and you hit it

My friends and I are debating that frame slider does no good for sliding as they tend to pull the frame and it might have some impact on the overall bike structure.

I don't know, I have slider but haven't put on yet, maybe its time.

 

[Coondawg_07]

There is a thread somewhere in the vast tombs of .NET about how different sliders perform. You should be able to find it. It is what led me to the woodcrafts that I'm running now. Pretty interesting actually.

 

[COBRA90GT]

Thanks!

The reason that I haven't put the flushmount on yet is that I'm woriried that the visibility is too low during day time. I commute to work and do mostly city ridings.

Any recommendation on flushmount brands?

I hear ya on losing some of the visibility when switching to flushmounts during daytime riding (because there's no "stalk" pushing the actual lit bulb further out/away from the bike to increase "head-on" visibility to other motorists - ie think of an approaching left turn with oncoming traffic).


Don't forget that you can also use hand signals in conjunction with your turn signals (helps while riding in the city - at least in my area) to indicate your intentions to other motorists (no, not the 1-finger salute, even though we all want to at times LOL).


Love my Watsens - there's a few other brands out there if you run a search for "flushmount" or visit some of the site vendors' websites too.

G'luck !

 

[Irish_12]

I think the general consensus is watsens or protons. I have protons and they're very bright even in the day, but like cobra said, hand signals never hurt to add.