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BMW: Near Death Experience due to Bungees



Everyone that rides a motorcycle needs to read this.

A very dear friend of mine is recuperating from going down and being run
over by a semi-truck because of a bungee cord.

He was 1500 miles from home traveling on a multi-lane highway with traffic
on his K1200RS.  Good tires, nice day,  full riding gear.  BMW bags were on
the back, and on top of the bags he had bungeed a small soft sided duffel
with some items like clothes, a jacket, etc.  He has traveled over 12,000
miles with that setup, and never had a problem.  He used the heavy duty
bungees, and had developed a system that he "knew" was safe.

It all happened in about 7 seconds.  He realized that his rear wheel had
locked up.  The big 1200 was fishtailing from side to side for about 3 or 4
cycles before it went down on the right side,  sliding down the road with
him pinned under it.  He said he actually had time to think that he was
better off without the bike, so he somehow consciously managed to get out
from under the bike,  all this while still sliding at about 60 mph.  With
the bike off of him, he started to slow down very quickly, but things were
not over yet.

The semi behind him saw the whole event and tried to avoid running him over,
but as hard as he tried to swerve that truck to safety, the driver could not
avoid running over his feet.  My friend remembers  sliding on the pavement,
slowing down much faster after getting out from under the bike, and then the
big whoosh of air that was the semi's trailer wheels barely missing his
face.  He thought at that time that he lucked out.  He never felt the tires
run over his feet.

The K1200RS continued on down the highway on its side.  Of course it was
slowing due to friction with the roadway, but it did not appear to slow.  It
actually appeared to speed up.  Witnesses said that after my friend got it
off of him, it pretty quickly began to tumble and bounce down the road
before coming to rest.  The trooper that pulled the bike off the road found
that the small duffel that was formerly so securely lashed onto the luggage
was now jammed into the rear wheel spokes.  Witnesses confirmed that it was
what stopped the rear wheel.

How is my friend??
Well, he is home now.  But his slide down the road wore completely through
his riding pants, his jeans and his underwear.  He is nursing a pretty big
road rash on his right hip.  He says that saucer sized wound is still very
painful. Both ankles are miraculously not broken, but severely 
sprained, with one in
a special cast that can accommodate swelling.  Anyone who has had a severely
sprained ankle can attest that a broken bone may be the better choice.   He
also has been suffering psychologically, having flashbacks that are very
troubling.  They are getting better over the last week or so.
He is very lucky to be alive.  The semi could have gone over his head just
as easily as his feet.  He had his helmet on, but I don't think any helmet
is a match for a semi.

My message here is not to scare.  It is to say that we all need to minimize
risk when riding.
One piece of that minimization is to not lash gear on your bike with
bungees.  Use the same care as if you were lashing the bike itself to a
trailer.


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