First crash, that was an experience

Decided to round out my first riding season with a trip to the Adirondacks. I'm out for a scenic ride on an unfamiliar road and overcook it on a tight turn. I run wide and go off. I low side it in a very soft and sandy, very wide, run off area. 
 

I'm ok, if sore, and the bike is roughed up on the right, but rideable enough to get home. I can now say I've gone down. I will say a big thanks to HJC helmets, Fly Racing, and TCX Boots. The ride home tomorrow will be the final duty for my helmet. The rest of my gear looks passable, but awaits further inspection. 
 

As my father, a longtime rider and former MSF instructor, said "If you ride long enough, it's a mater of when, not if, you go down".  Overall, I was able to pick it up and ride away. I realize how lucky I was.  Ultimately the biggest inconvenience is creative packing for the trip home, as I lost my 23L hard bag on the right side. 
 

For posterity my gear. 
HJC i90 helmet, ECE/DOT rated

Fly Racing Strata jacket with CE Level 1 shoulder and elbow armor, CE Level 2 back armor 

TCX Staten boots CE Level 1

Basic Wrangler jeans and Joe Rocket/Powertrip leather gloves kept my skin intact along the way as well. 

Glad there was a nice wide open spot for you to lay down in.  Where abouts in the Adirondacks were you?  The place is swarmed by leaf peepers at the moment, hope the traffic wasn't too bad.  

Well, that sucks but it certainly could have been worse.  I'm glad you're OK and that you and your bike will be able to make it home without assistance.  You might consider stopping at a bike shop on your way home and retiring your helmet early.  Chances are you won't have another issue on the return trip but if you do, and your helmet is compromised,  it could suck even more than it needs too.

Figure out what lessons you can learn from this and incorporate them going forward.  Incidentally, the lesson I've had to learn twice is to not ride when I'm tired.

Ride safe and I hope that you can enjoy the rest of your ride.

Dang! Sorry to hear about that. Nice that it was a relatively gentle low side, though.

My one and only off, I lost traction with the rear wheel around a turn. Instead of laying it down on the low side like it was trying to do, I fought to save it, which of course meant I gained traction and ended up tossed off in a high side. I was uninjured and the bike just bent a bar. I rode it to work and borrowed a car to go get a straight junkyard bar, fixed it at work, and rode it home. So it wasn't too bad, but I was probably more sore than if I'd just let it lay down with me.

Gear did its job. Now shudder every time you see a squid in shorts or pirate with just a doo rag. 

Glad you are ok. Can you post pics of the areas of the gear that slid by chance. Always a interesting thing to see. 

In reply to Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) :

No slide, a solid tumble. Only visible signs is scuffs on the chin bar of my helmet. 

In reply to Brian(formerly neon4891) :

Got off extra lucky. I have seen some name brand gear recently get super tore up from low speed slides. I know Ohio MSF course says something like 40% of helmet hits are to the chin bar area. 

In reply to Professor_Brap (Forum Supporter) :

Yup. That's where I smacked my Arai. Right on the chin. Thought to myself,  Jesus,  what would my face look like with 3/4 helmet or a skid lid? 

Glad you're OK! 

I'm a firm believer in full face helmets and love my modular Shoei.  I have been soooo tempted this summer to go out without all my gear but I haven't.  I watched a guy today on the freeway blow by me with t shirt and shorts.  He did have a helmet and gloves though.

In reply to wawazat :

Start cruising Marketplace/CL for used gear. End of the riding season up north means cheap "get this E36 M3 out of my closest " fever is setting in on casual riders.

took almost a month for my back to recover from my low side earlier this year. Lots of stretching, Ibuprophen/alieve will be your friends for a few days. Heal up, stay safe!

Glad it was a little one, and the gear did its job! Plastics can be replaced, and it looks like the bike took the hit pretty well.

In reply to Appleseed :

Agreed on used gear, except for the helmet. You just never know what they've been through, and you often can't tell from the outside. The exception to this would be if buying a used helmet is the difference between having a helmet and not being able to afford having a helmet.

Made it 250 miles back and dropped it off at the shop. Within a minute they spotted frame damage on the steering stops and advised me it's an almost guaranteed totaled. 
 

I should have a definitive answer in a few days. Although the manager was already working me towards a trade in type deal on an NC750DCT. I'll have to look into the numbers, but it does have my interest. 

In reply to Brian(formerly neon4891) :

Ouch, that's not great. The bike didn't look bad in the pictures, but I supposed that wouldn't have shown up. Hopefully things go the way you want. 

Ride a NC750 before you buy. I found that bike to be the dullest of the dull. It's a very clever machine in design and I was totally sold until I rode one.

It's official, the bike is totaled. My chunk of the payout will be sitting in savings until the spring, and I will also be regularly setting aside an amount bigger than the payments I was making. This plan gives me much more purchasing power than I had when I bought the bike earlier this year. It also gives me time to clear my head moving forward. 

What was the extent of the damage?  Did your insurance give you a buy back option? 

There is always a buy-back option, unless your state doesn't allow it. I'd be really hesitant to retain a totaled motorcycle though, unless it's just plastics and you are absolutely certain there are no frame issues.

ddavidv said:

Ride a NC750 before you buy. I found that bike to be the dullest of the dull. It's a very clever machine in design and I was totally sold until I rode one.

+1 on this. 

So between 1979 & 1986 I flung one of my bikes down the road 8 times, one of them was over the bars at 80-85. All of them were caused by riding way to fast on the street (like wanna be IOM TT fast) and the biggest lesson learned was gear matters. While I boke both thumbs in the 80 mph crash, a 40 mph get off left me with some nasty road rash, as i was only wearing jeans and a t-shirt. 

Thankfully I started racing and the track cured me of fast street riding. 

Early on I started wearing full face helmets. I saw a guy crash with an open face, the lense on his glasses got driven into his cheek....ouch.

One of the crashes tweaked the frame on the bike; it only became apparent later, the bike turned faster left than it did right. It wasn't a huge difference but you could tell. Unless you have a really good motorcycle frame shop in your area I would simply say good bye to the bike and not mess with buying it back.

If you don't already have one, find a cheap dirt bike and start riding that. Being comfortably sliding a bike helps a lot.

Besides the NC750 what other bikes have your attention?

Guess I'm riding on borrowed time.  Best part of a decade without so much as a close call.  Hopefully that tends continues although I know the worst could happen at any time. 

As far as buy back, I didn't look into it. I just took the money and went with it. Mostly because I didn't want to deal with the rebuild title, and I think corresponding inspection. Had I decided to fix it myself without insurance getting involved, as I intend to in the future, it would have been half the plastics and probably new forks. Insurance included superficial damage to the radiator and gas tank.  
 

My next bike is up for debate as I change my mind every other day. Options range from an RE Itn 650 up to HD Touring bikes. All I can solidly say about my riding style is I rack up miles.