Glad I Bought Some Gear

Shaun · Post by **Shaun** » Sat May 10, 2008 11:20 pm

So it was my very first day riding my new Buddy 150 on a street with a speed limit above 25 (still breaking in). A car going the other way threw up a rock before it went by me (I guess the rock went almost straight up in the air), and a few seconds after going by the car, I impacted the rock on its descent, and it hit me right in the face! Now I understand why I'm wearing this full face helmet in 90 degree weather, and will never ride without it.

Has anyone else had this happen? Is it a very common occurrence? I'm surprised something so nasty happened on my very first ride on slightly faster roads! I'm also very glad I had a helmet on, or I would have one less eye!

On a related note, I can't wait for the jacket I bought to get here to cover my arms. They're very sunburned! Also, what do you all do to keep the sun off of the skin between your helmet and your shirt?

-Shaun

kazoo · Post by **kazoo** » Sat May 10, 2008 11:32 pm

Okay, my experience that I won't ever forget.

Traveling around 55 mph I had a tire-iron get kicked up from the second vehicle ahead of me. I saw the thing coming (like in slow motion and everything) at me spinning and then finally thud and scrape right over the top of my beloved, Nova. Later inspection revealed that it hit right above where the metal rolls under to form the beginning of the window channel (Thickest part of metal). It left a substantial dent.

Cripes, that hurts!

Kaz

Post by **ericalm** » Sat May 10, 2008 11:37 pm

Yep, I get hit by small pebbles all the time. In the summer, I can sometimes hear the bugs splatting on my helmet.

In the warm months, I carry a bottle of SPF 45 sunscreen with me when riding. Aside from burning, I also tan easily so have to cover my face to avoid getting raccoon eyes form the helmet.

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Sun May 11, 2008 12:34 am

Wait till a rock hits your chest.

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:47 am

ooo... I got hit in the bare neck with an acorn at 50mph!!! That SMARTS! I bet it must've looked like a hickey.

ScooterMcGee · Post by **ScooterMcGee** » Sun May 11, 2008 4:01 am

I've seen a guy take a sparrow to the chest at 80mph almost killed the poor guy I was on the back of my dads bike and we met up with this guy at a gas station and we rode a few miles into town and everything was fine then BOOM!!! he got flung off his bike. It was crazy the power of enertia (SP) is a wonderous thing.

MarsR · Post by **MarsR** » Sun May 11, 2008 5:25 am

I got hit in the chest by a bull elephant falling off a flatbed truck right in front of me at 80mph. Man, am I glad for that FF helmet! Saved me from getting skewered through the left ear by a 6' tusk.

Kinda bent my mirror tho...

StL_Stadtroller · Post by **StL_Stadtroller** » Sun May 11, 2008 5:39 am

I know a guy that once got hit by a bird, square in the chest. It's beak pierced his jacket and embedded in his sternum. He had to ride himself to the emergency room and have surgery to get it removed!

I've been hit by rocks, a hunk of a brick to the shin (ouch!!!!) and countless stinging insects. Once a wasp went right into the armpit vent o my Aerostich suit, resulting in a VERY fast pull-over and roadside spaz-striptease.

A junebug to the face-shield at 50mph will give you whiplash! lol

brimstone · Post by **brimstone** » Sun May 11, 2008 8:48 am

hehehe...looking foward to dragon fly season here. that'll be fun at 50 mph.

Dibber · Post by **Dibber** » Sun May 11, 2008 1:29 pm

Wait until you hit not one bird, but two. I was at highway speeds for both and it almost pulled me right off my bike. One hit me in the low chest area, knocking the wind out of me causing a large bruise, the second caught me in the left elbow and my entire arm went numb for a few minuets. Also be ware of bee boxes those little buggers go down your shirt stinging you all the way down and stick in your neck too. Last Spring, during the duck mating season two mallards flew down the road straight at me. I ducked and they lifted at the same time or I would have taken both of them in the face. So far no rocks in the face or deer or other furry critters. (Note: I have been riding for 25 years and feel lucky that these are my only real collisions!)

brimstone · Post by **brimstone** » Sun May 11, 2008 1:33 pm

luckily bald eagles don't fly low to the ground. i'd hate to get hit doing 50 by a bird with a 5 foot wingspan.

MarsR · Post by **MarsR** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:03 pm

brimstone wrote:luckily bald eagles don't fly low to the ground. i'd hate to get hit doing 50 by a bird with a 5 foot wingspan.

My cousin drove past a bald eagle just as it was lifting a rabbit off the side of the road. It dropped the rabbit right through her windsheild.

brimstone · Post by **brimstone** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:08 pm

nasty.....mostly they just eat fish up here....but occasionally they have been known to swoop down and snagg small dogs from people who live on the beachs and water front properties. i've seen that before, it's pretty gruesome. the dogs all barking and yelping.

MarsR · Post by **MarsR** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:24 pm

brimstone wrote:nasty.....mostly they just eat fish up here....but occasionally they have been known to swoop down and snagg small dogs from people who live on the beachs and water front properties. i've seen that before, it's pretty gruesome. the dogs all barking and yelping.

brimstone · Post by **brimstone** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:32 pm

yeah...it's been about 5 years since i've actually seen it....but once or twice a year i always hear about someone losing a pug or poodle, something....you'd thing people would learn not have small dogs around the bald eagle's prime hunting territory. especially since we've got more bald eagles then anywhere in the world. i'll hear about a dog that gets eatin by a bear in the spring or fall too, but that's pretty rare.

alaska is an intersting place, you'll have to come visit sometime. hehehe

Post by **ericalm** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:47 pm

MarsR wrote:
brimstone wrote:luckily bald eagles don't fly low to the ground. i'd hate to get hit doing 50 by a bird with a 5 foot wingspan.
My cousin drove past a bald eagle just as it was lifting a rabbit off the side of the road. It dropped the rabbit right through her windsheild.

Rabbit bombs away! When the eagles declare war on humans, we'll all need rabbit deflectors on our cars and scooters.

brimstone · Post by **brimstone** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:49 pm

we'll have to invent carrot chaff so they can't lock on to us.

Post by **jmazza** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:51 pm

ericalm wrote: Rabbit bombs away! When the eagles declare war on humans, we'll all need rabbit deflectors on our cars and scooters.

THAT will be a scary day!

brimstone · Post by **brimstone** » Sun May 11, 2008 3:53 pm

i like how this thread started out as a "gear" topic and quickly dissolved into bald eagles and carrot chaff....hehehe....how'd that happen.

MarsR · Post by **MarsR** » Sun May 11, 2008 5:29 pm

brimstone wrote:i like how this thread started out as a "gear" topic and quickly dissolved into bald eagles and carrot chaff....hehehe....how'd that happen.

Sorry about that...

BOT: But yes, I do like having some gear at least. I have taken a couple of rocks to the face (one pretty big one) where my helmet has saved me. I can't even imagine riding without it.

mandyscoots · Post by **mandyscoots** » Sun May 11, 2008 5:44 pm

I have had several pebbles hit me in the face (well in the full face helmet). And one bug the size of texas! NO seriously it like threw my head back and I had to pull over to wash my face shield!
Every single time something likes this happens I always say to myself, what do people with those half helmets do?!

DennisD · Post by **DennisD** » Sun May 11, 2008 6:02 pm

Got hit in the face shield by a palmetto bug one night. He was so big I had to pull over and clean off the yellow bug gunk so I could see out of my left eye. YUCK! If you don't know what a palmetto bug is, its a great big flying roach that flys with no direction. Its like they're drunk and go with the wind.
I have several marks on my helmet where rocks have hit. One on the face shield just below where my eye would have been. That one would have been a big OUCH!

Dennis

Post by **jmazza** » Sun May 11, 2008 8:07 pm

DennisD wrote: If you don't know what a palmetto bug is...

...they are scarier than eagles!!

riancurtis · Post by **riancurtis** » Sun May 11, 2008 9:01 pm

geez guys. i thought the dreaking bumblebee i took to the chest the other day was tough.
should i sell my new buddy before i get hit by a tire iron?!

kazoo · Post by **kazoo** » Mon May 12, 2008 12:21 am

riancurtis wrote:geez guys. i thought the dreaking bumblebee i took to the chest the other day was tough.
should i sell my new buddy before i get hit by a tire iron?!

If you are that prescient, I would say yes, or just don't ride it till after the feeling passes.

kaz

pugbuddy · Post by **pugbuddy** » Mon May 12, 2008 1:12 am

but once or twice a year i always hear about someone losing a pug or poodle

SAVE THE PUGS!!!!!

Small rocks and bugs hit me, mostly. No major objects of doom have made the attempt yet....

brimstone · Post by **brimstone** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:57 am

riancurtis wrote:geez guys. i thought the dreaking bumblebee i took to the chest the other day was tough.
should i sell my new buddy before i get hit by a tire iron?!

you guys saw the episode of mythbusters where the semi retread took the dummies' head off right.

ScooterMcGee · Post by **ScooterMcGee** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:58 am

you guys saw the episode of mythbusters where the semi retread took the dummies' head off right.

Oh Geez you had to bring that up.......

brimstone · Post by **brimstone** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:04 am

hehehe..sorry, that was truely a shocking episode, i didn't think it would do THAT much damage.

iinigma7 · Post by **iinigma7** » Mon May 12, 2008 2:43 pm

I followed a dump truck that pulled out of a quarry once. Sandblasted. Ouch.

sunshinen · Post by **sunshinen** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:05 pm

i'm a big fan of my tall windshield...

Eddy Merckx · Post by **Eddy Merckx** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:06 pm

brimstone wrote:
riancurtis wrote:geez guys. i thought the dreaking bumblebee i took to the chest the other day was tough.
should i sell my new buddy before i get hit by a tire iron?!

you guys saw the episode of mythbusters where the semi retread took the dummies' head off right.

The Fullface helmet allows for identification when that happens....

Yea its always those things that happen suddenly that startle the hell out of us, luckily those sorts of things don't happen with any actual frequency to any of us, unless your really unlucky..............

ERik3tb · Post by **ERik3tb** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:13 pm

brimstone wrote:luckily bald eagles don't fly low to the ground. i'd hate to get hit doing 50 by a bird with a 5 foot wingspan.

they do. Especially if they are launching off of a roadkill meal.

I had to brake hard to not hit one in the backside. Got a view you normally don't get to see even on the national geographic channel. He flew straight down the road trying to gain altitude and speed and I missed him by inches off my windshield.

The county sheriff in the car behind me pulled over to see if I was all right. I had to stop and laugh for several minutes before I was safe to drive again.

ERik3tb · Post by **ERik3tb** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:17 pm

you guys saw the episode of mythbusters where the semi retread took the dummies' head off right.

That has happened in Salt Lake City. A guy in his yard that borders I-15 was killed that way when a Semi lost the tread off one tire and it flew into his yard.

He died instantly. I e-mailed the newspaper article into MythBusters when I saw that episode.[/quote][/quote]

Valgal20 · Post by **Valgal20** » Mon May 12, 2008 3:32 pm

Well, I must admit I havent hit anything too big, but out on my first scooter rally, crossing open desert I drove through 2 swarms of bees (Its like walking through a paintball fight) and june bugs (right on the knee

) , moderate size pebbles, one in the neck (I know, I know, but I like my 3/4 face helmet) Plus random stuff, I was attacked by a plastic grocery bag around the neck, good thing it didnt go over my helmet!

heavypetting · Post by **heavypetting** » Mon May 12, 2008 6:45 pm

I got a 2 ft. piece of rebar flung into my car bumper missing my radiator by an inch! I had to get someone to help me unscrew it from my plastic bumper.