Jump to content

Weirdest thing(s) that ever happened to you while riding


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 61
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

going out of house, very slow, a group of chicken crossed and one got struck for a couple of seconds between the wheel and the front suspension! no consequences for anyone, just plain fun! looked like a scene from a comic movie!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seedy's wasp story reminded me of one. I was riding a rigid triumph w/6" extension down the highway somewhere in the deep south of the USA. Back then I traditionally tore the sleeves off my t-shirts (kind of a homemade wife-beater I guess). Unfortunately, I had taken to leaving the rather tight collars on them. Anyway, one day I am blasting along at about 80KPH or so, and I see one of the blue-black wasps, with stinger hanging pretty low, come across from my left. As luck would have it, he flew into the left cutoff sleeve and across my chest, where the cotton material was flapping pretty energetically. Of course the wasp assumed it was being attacked and commenced to stinging the living crap out of me, feeling much like having cigars stubbed out from west to east. Maintaining focus while slowing down and easing onto the soft shoulder was no walk in the park. I eventually brought the bike to a stop in the thick sand, without laying it down, miraculously enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was riding my Honda shadow 600 in the south of Cebu Island when a coconut fell from a tree and hit the top of my helmet. I was doing about 60 KM at the time and if it had hit just a few inches forward, I'm sure it would have killed me.

Another time I was riding near Vientaine Laos when a dog standing in the oncoming lane watched my approach. I was doing about 40 KM and at the last moment the dog leaped in front of me. I was pealed like a grape from the road rash but otherwise not badly hurt. It taught me all about protective clothing. When I tell that story, people always ask "what about the dog?". Unfortunately the dog trotted off unharmed.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Coming back to Pattaya from a border run to Poipet many years ago, we were on a long, straight bit of road and I noticed something strange coming towards me in the distance. It looked like a large tortoise on a moped. When it went past, it turned out to be an elderly Thai couple presumably on their way home from the local cock fighting accessories shop. The chap was in front and his lady was behind holding a large size wicker chicken coop thingy that they keep their fighting birds under. The basket was large enough to enclose both of them entirely and all that was visible was the bottom half of the motorbike and 4 legs. Wish I'd had a camera - looked very bizarre!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me and a mate riding thru the Fens in East Anglia one balmy sunny evening to a do, me on my T140, him on his Sportster chop. Both wearing open face helmets and shades. Sitting at a 70mph cruise speed. See this bug thing approaching rapidly. Hits me smack in the face. Explodes. We had to pull over, him laughing so much, no word of a lie, it looked like someone had thrown the complete contents of an Ambrosia custard tin over my head and utter torso. What a mess from an insect.

On my way to a temp job one morning on another Triumph of mine, a unit 650 with an iron head top end on (!), with a rigid hardtail frame and recently attached very nice rigid wheel sidecar. Still learning sidecar driver ropes, went too fast round a left hander, went straight on, into the bushes and up a tree. A few minutes later, a fellow employee runs the same route, sees me and the combo, continues to work, to get several more pairs of hands to bring back. Everyone is laughing because the combo is actually up the tree, about 3 foot off the ground.

Same combo, several years later, and by now i am an experienced excellent sidecar driver/nutter and had got pretty good at going insanely fast on right handers and doing doughnuts etc. Because the bike was rigid and the sidecar wheel also had no suspension, you could drift it on wet right hand bends and especially on roundabouts just on the throttle, with the back wheel spinning like mad. It was at the time possibly one of the fastest vehicles on the road round a wet roundabout or r/h bend. Anyway, one night picked up a mate who did'nt want to go out, off his tits on ecstasy, we are all pissed up on our way to a party. get him in the sidecar, off we go. On the Norwich ringroad, gone one turn off too far, do a doughnut/u-turn in TOP GEAR (4th). No it will not doughnut in 4th. Highsides, yes on a combo, spits me off and i land about 10 yards away, on my knees on the road. Get up, run to the upside down bike and sidecar, my mate squashed up inside the chair, we turn it over and he's grinning from ear to ear. Pull a couple of bent bits back, re-start and continue to the party. My knees have never been the same since...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just after I bought my first motorcycle, a Honda 250 Superdream, I was riding downhill in bitterly cold weather. I gently applied the back brake and wondered why the oil pressure light came on. It took me a while to realise the back wheel had locked up on ice. Mild panic as the bike went sideways and I continued down the hill at about 60mph. Somehow I stayed on and continued to the pub. About half an hour later two friends arrived telling how they had just fallen off at the same spot.

The next day I paced out the length of the slide.....150 metres and no idea how I stayed upright.

Similar thing happened to me while driving in the dark.

All of a sudden I lost control over the car on a stretch of ice in a curve. A steep slope on the left. Cannot really remember how I managed to stay on the street. But I know I went over the shoulder of the road on the left and right side. Lucky me and lucky me again there was no oncoming traffic. So called "blitz ice" on a road that was hardly wet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adventures on a bike....Hmmmm...many years ago in 1976 I had a Harley Davidson Sturgis Lowrider
which I bought at the Navy exchange in Yokosuka Japan. I was stationed at Camp Zama a bit north
of Yokosuka (pronounced Yo-Kuska BTW). It was a 1975 model & cost me $4,995, big money for
a GI back then..even being a Captain...but I had to have all it.

Out on a ride one day I had just exited the Disan Kehin Expressway for the back way to Zama
and picked up a cop in his car tailing me. Not far after the exit there was a stop light, the first of
6 enroute to the base and the light had just turned red when I get to it...and forget to put my foot
down. Bike & I leaned a bit to far left of centre and tipped over. Cop exits the car, helps me
get the beast off my leg, asks "You OK?" I nod my head in affirmation, cop walks back to
his car and drives off laughing.

The next winter I was heading up a small but steep hill in Kamakura going to a buddy's rented
house. He had told me the hill gets iced over in winter but from my POV looking up from the
bottom it looked OK. Gave the beast some gas and started sliding back down the hill. Repeated
the process about 6 times & eventually chained the bike to a lamp pole and tried walking up it.
With some difficulty I eventually made it up on foot.

In the following late Spring a bunch of us went on a "Round Honshu Bike Ride"...about a dozen of
us guys from all branches of the military. On the northbound leg following the east coast (beautiful
scenics) I had a flight of huge Japanese beetles slam into my chest while I was doing around 70mph.
These beetles were very large, about golf ball size and the pain was larger than the beetles were big.
Thanks to the jacket I was wearing I managed not to come off the bike but the jacket was a mess
of yellow-green-red beetle juice/guts. And it hurt...it hurt a lot...welts for days from each impact.
The jacket was a USAF flight jacket..nylon jobber...a life saver.

In the Summer I was riding in Tokyo one night heading to the party district of Shinjuku to rev the
big HD donk a bit and check out the chicks. At one traffic light I became surrounded by all these
Japanese bikers wearing white bike riding jumpsuits with green & red flash trimming and slogans
in Japanese on their backs. They all had big Japanese bikes of at least 750cc's. When they revved
em up it sounded like a swarm of giant hornets & wasps & bumble bees let lose on mankind in
a Z grade Japanese horror movie. So I revved up me HD to add some base to the din...we missed
the light changing and had a bit of fun making music with our rides. People on the sidewalks clapped
in approval. When the light changed again off we went & found a place to have a beer & check out
each others bikes. If you were not in Japan back then you will never know just how popular a "Harry
Davason" was....even to Kawasaki 1000cc or larger bike owners...or how expensive they were
to buy off base in Japan at the time....Mega-Yen.

I bought a Honda 250cc Enduro bike in Cambodia in the early 90's to get around Phnom Penh
and into the countryside before I got my Land Rover. One day after a rain I was going down
110 Street from Norodom Blvd, a ride I did many times and knew every pothole on 110 St
by heart & exactly how deep they were. So I drove into one that the day before was only
about 2 inches deep...no problem for a dirt bike right? Well...that hole somehow got deeper
and when my front wheel was completely in it, just before I came off the bike and slid chest
down along 110 St for about 15 meters I noticed the top of the wheel was under water.
Lesson learned...avoid all potholes at all costs. It was hard to get new forks in Kampooch
at the time along with rims & big fat knobby tires. At least I had combat boots on & the rest
of me healed up all in due time.

On a mountain bike trip down to Singapore back in 2006, in Malaysia, on Hwy 1 (old highway
before the N-S expressway was built) I was passed by this one car with the back passenger
window rolled down and as the car was just a tad bit in front of me this woman tossed out
a disposable baby diaper. It smacked me in the chest and baby shit went everywhere.
A few kilometers down the road, after a hasty t-shrt change I noticed the same car in
the parking space of a roadside food stall. I gave the people in the car the diaper back
in the most unkind way. This was noticed by two cops pulling into the same roadside
stall for some nosh so they made their presence known and of course the cars occupants
denied the story. After a very brief investigation that took into account the baby had a fresh
nappy on and there was a bag of nappies of the same brand that I had the encounter with,
It was deemed that the occupants of the car were guilty of not only littering but some offensive

action I had never heard of before...hitting someone with fecal matter.

The cops wrote up a bunch of tickets and handed them to the driver of the car, took all their

particulars down, jammed the woman & baby plus nappy bag & nappy of assault into the back

of their car and after asking me to follow them..off we all went to the local police lockup in a town

named Jitra. The head copper there showed me where the showers were and simpy said...

Please...as he pointed to the showers. After a good hot shower I was able to continue my pedal

into Alor Star all clean & fresh & into a 1 star hotel without wreaking of babyshit.

Apparently it is a severe offense to hit somebody, accidental or otherwise, with a nappy full of poop

in Malaysia...as it should be worldwide!

Upon arrival in Singapore I talked my way out of a $500 SD fine for pedaling along
some road the wrong way by explaining I didn't know the roads in the city. The cop
must have been in a fairly decent mood, unusual for Singapore cops, as he asked me
to follow him to the proper road that would lead me to my hotel...Westin Raffles.
With a handshake & hearty farewell he was off and I managed to save some bucks.

Not a story but a nice soft joke I like...

The Lord and the Biker...

A biker was riding along a California beach when suddenly the sky clouded above his head
and, in a booming voice, the Lord said, "Because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways,
I will grant you one wish."

The biker pulled over and said, "Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can ride over anytime I want."

The Lord said, "Your request is materialistic, think of the enormous challenges for that kind of
undertaking. The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel
it would take! It will nearly exhaust several natural resources. I can do it, but it is hard for me
to justify your desire for worldly things.

Take a little more time and think of something that would honor and glorify me."

The biker thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "Lord, I wish that I could understand
my wife. I want to know how she feels inside, what she's thinking when she gives me the silent
treatment, why she cries, what she means when she says nothing's wrong, and how I can make
a woman truly happy."

The Lord replied,

"Do you want two lanes or four on that bridge?"

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Me and a mate riding thru the Fens in East Anglia one balmy sunny evening to a do, me on my T140,

Did you know anyone from the Colchester Triumph riders? A ’76 T140V with breadbox tank was my first Triumph.

My bikes there in the mid 80’s

’52 Ariel VH Red Hunter - 500 single

Moto Guzzi Le Mans II (with Crossbow Equipe fairing) 850 V twin

TriBsa - ’58 T110 in A10 Frame with Triumph Conical hub front end (& green Ferodo linings) -650 vertical twin

Honda C90 90 single smile.png

BSA A7 500 vertical twin

post-219414-0-55924800-1412832943_thumb.

Edited by Cuppa
Link to comment
Share on other sites

on a rideout in the early years i was part of a group of 60+ riding through rayong, it was a large group of harleys which were passing this big white mutt on the side of the road. the dog was going mental at the noise, running back and forth barking like a mad thing.....

then i arrived on my ER6 with my white legs hanging out my shorts, he decided it was chicken time and came right at me. he impacted the bike right at the crash bung/alternator area and tore my foot off the peg, the bike went into a huge tank slapper with me hanging off it like some geriactric X fighter.

in my mirror i saw a red and white shape spinning in the road behind me and i stopped to check out my bike. my left foot hurt like mad, the crash bung was bent back at 45 degrees and there was a lot of white fur hanging out of the side pod which was flapping about.

realising that id had a near wipe-out i did a little jig in the road while giving the finger in the direction of the dog. the sweeper arrived to inform me the dog was almost in 2 pieces and that we should go quickly as the owner had appeared waving a machette and ranting about paying for the mutt!

ive also done the bat thing,

the hornet thing,

a hooooooge cobra which slithered through my front wheel while i was stopped

and a hoooge butterfly that wedged in the gap in my face mask on my shark raw helmet and its wings blocked my view while doing 140kph.......i love riding in thailand!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was in a car in Perth Aus. Just hit the first set of lights coming into town off the hiway. Big Harley pulled up beside me, rider was a club member with the typical leather jacket and patches, tough looking dude. He slowed down, pulled alongside and then proceded to just fall over, I guess he had been on a long ride and simply forgot to put his feet down.

I'm not a bike rider but this happened to a friend.

He worked at a hospital in Saudi and lived off the hospital grounds in an accommodation complex. On the bus coming through the gates they saw a Saudi in full robes on a small bike. I don't think at the time they were allowed bigger bikes than the police but I may be wrong. He came to a stop and fell over just as you mentioned. My mate said he probably forgot he wasn't on a camel but then he was never very complimentary about them. Everyone on the bus burst out laughing which didn't go down very well and they were taken off the bus and told not to laugh at Saudis again.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

maybe not so weird for thailand but weird for me. A couple of years ago driving down Sukhumvit in Central Pattaya in moderately heavy Saturday morning traffic. i was sticking as far left as possible, not something i like doing but my pillion would give me a thump between the shoulder blades if i drove too fast or do something deemed remotely wrong. Just flowing with the traffic when a Honda CRV on red plates next to me decides to prop and cut across to stop at a 7. Luckily there was enough room to violently swerve towards the parked cars and squeeze through. Without thinking i hit the horn. I check the mirror and see him stopped in the middle of the road, i kept a watery eye on him and then after a little while he takes off. So i was ready for him when he tried to force me off the road. Okay, not so weird so far. The passenger window is down and he is screaming something in Thai (later translated to me as "Do you want to die or what!!) and waving a silver revolver around. At this stage my legs get a little shakey! He continuely tried to get across to me, but luckily there was a baht bus going slow (that is weird!) so i kept it between us. Even when we pulled into the Highway Patrol complex, he stopped and waited for a while. BTW the cops just laughed when we told them what happened, didn't even want to try and look into it; typical. i later found out that probably what set him off was that my pillion gave the guy the middle finger. At least whenever pillion gave me a hard time about my driving style, i could retort with "the only time we were nearly killed was because of you!" :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been a biker for 52 years but never had anything like the experiences you guys have had. But sure that in the next few days this forum will have many posts by those living in Pattaya given the state of 2nd Road during the current road repairs (ongoing two weeks now) dust storm when dry, mud bath after rain , surface been planed off, but more potholes and craters appearing by the hour. On the sections that have been resurfaced they haven't bothered to raise the metal grids to be level with the new road surface. Sorry I see its becoming a bit off topic.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is not my story, but it is a true story (as far as I know) and the reason why my M/C driving test was postponed in the

UK in July of 1973.

A rider taking his test before mine was on a bright red Vespa scooter. He received his instructions from the examiner

which included a set route around town which had to be completed 4 times. The examiner would observe the

m/cyclist at various points around the route. "At some stage", said the examiner, "I will step into the road in front of

you and raise my clipboard. This is the signal for you to carry out an emergency stop".

On his fourth circuit of the test route the testee (on his bright red Vespa, remember) became became stuck behind a traffic jam. At the head of the queue of traffic was a chap sprawled out on the road next to a bright red Vespa. A clipboard was lying in the gutter nearby.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The absolute weirdest thing ever while riding...was to come upon Thai drivers...all staying in their lanes...not driving into on-coming traffic...not crowding and bunching up at intersections...wearing MC helmets...and being courteous responsible drivers....I was so happy...until I woke up from my nap...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a copy/paste about my motorbike incident from a larger story I wrote about my first trip up to Issan:

Looking at Google Maps with an incongruously-strong data signal, we spotted a large reservoir on the "other side of town", so we headed over on scooters, rented at the charmingly Farang double-the-normal-rate. We passed charming homes, farmland and mud. Lots and lots of red mud, recently moved around by heavy rains. We arrived at the reservoir which was of course, charming and beautiful. The spillway was a 10-foot wide, 30-foot long flat concrete span, linking to more charming and beautiful jungle on the other side. We saw a scooter parked in the grass on the far side and thought "What Could Possibly Go Wrong?" and headed across the trickling water without incident. We proceeded across the grassy levee until we hit a dead-end defined by actual impenetrable jungle. We turned around and came back to the spillway. Martin proceeded across while I waited. I then started across. This is where I encountered my several minutes of not enjoying my trip at all. I naively thought the scooter's tires would have enough traction on the concrete but at 2 mph, I hit a patch of mud / slime and the scooter instantly rotated 90 degrees to the left, about its longitudinal axis. For a split second, I was one with the scooter, frozen in the driving position, hanging in the air in exactly the same way that bricks don't. Sorry, I stole that one from Douglas Adams. We, the scooter and I, then became very brick-like, landing in a couple of inches of water. I could hear Martin howling with laughter as I struggled to squirm out from under the scooter and get it upright again. Summoning all of my dignity, which was running at an all time low, I made it back to the other side. Upon my arrival I discovered an elderly Thai gentleman spending a relaxing afternoon under a tree. He also was laughing at my misfortune. Being trapped under a scooter in two inches of muddy water on the spillway of a reservoir in the middle of the Thai jungle must have a universal what-a-moron humor quotient. I imagine his retelling of the story will be the highlight of the next few weeks in town. If he has a computer, you'll probably be able to read about it in a stupid-Farang-story Thai web site somewhere.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had 2 issues with animals...

1.Riding through Khao Yai I got stung by some huge thing that looked like a cross between a wasp and a dragonfly. It left an inch long barb in me (Insect still attached) and hurt really bad. Had to stop the bike and pull it out. My whole chest flared up red and spotty within the hour (I get really bad reactions to insect bites). I've got a picture of it somewhere before I took my revenge but never found out what it was. Still have a small scar from the puncture mark in my neck.

2. Narrowly avoided what I'm 99% sure was a cobra at the bottom of Patong Hill heading into Patong. Came slowly around the left hand bend and saw it (quite small, maybe 2-3 feet long) raise it's head in that classic pose ready to strike. Swerved a bit and gritted my teeth expecting a bite but fortunately it never struck. Got my heart racing though, not a big fan of snakes.

1. Ouch! Sounds like a Jurassic Park kinda wasp! And from the stories so far, it sounds like wasps and the like are one of the biggest (non-human) riding dangers here.

2. Had a similar experience with a cobra or some other kind of snake not sure it was -- but can go one further on the reptilian scale, which I forgot to mention in original post: late at night on some Cherng Thalay back roads I almost hit a monitor lizard the size of which I've never seen before -- incl. his/her tail it was more than 2 meters long -- despite this size I was shocked how fast it moved and blitzed off into the bushes. That was definitely a lucky/smart lizard to have avoided the local's cooking pots so long and get to that monster size.

3. One other animal encounter of note: late night on a back road in Kamala about 10 years ago I came across some kind of jungle cat -- not sure what kind but for sure it certainly wasn't an overgrown or wild household kinda cat -- it was nearly as big as my Labrador, had really long whiskers and beautiful spots! Anyone know what species it might have been? It was crossing and in the middle of the road; I stopped a ways in front but then it took off. Amazing that there must be at least some population of these larger cats that still live up in the hills but come down at night to get chickens, rats, etc.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Two up with the wife just after dark and I see a swarm of bugs up ahead in the headlight beams. Then one much larger goes by the helmet and the wife screams in pain. Ends up it was a Tiger Hornet invading a bee nest and it went up in her visor and got her on the lip. Two nights in the hospital from that, but no complaints as one friend had an acquaintance die from a Tiger Hornet sting. I carry Benedryl all the time now.

Thx for sharing. Suppose I could google it but what's Benedryl and is it an over the counter med?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Worth a re-post!

Note: Rifle exhaust and buffalo skull.

Wow, I wonder how she trained it to do that?! Looks like it's having a blast...That's in Phuket; don't know the name of the road but it's the one with the big weekend market. Good little bike shop, Bike Saloon is located near the market too.

Edited by Gforcejunkypkt
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was riding in Naklua one evening and the front tyre had a puncture.

Okay - nothing strange here, took it to a shop nearby and the guy fixed it for 100 baht.

THE NEXT DAY - believe it ot not - at exactly the same spot, the back tyre went flat.

That made me go "hmmmmm"

The guy at the repair shop was laughing his ass off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some great stories coming up here.......keep them coming great reading.....they are just making my day..........(I have never been on a m/bike in my life not even a Bangkok M/C taxi)

Yep, thanks guys for sharing, glad to see so many contributing -- painful, scary or just mind boggling, these are the anecdotes that make life (and of course biking) interesting and memorable!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One time in the late 80's I was riding my SR 500 from my parents house to my college room some 90 km away.

At my parents house the roads was dry but very very close to zero deg.C so I was dressed up like the Michelin man.

15 km before I reached my destination I rode up a small hill and when I came to the top I saw to my horror that the road ahead was covered in thick snow.

I somehow managed to slow down without crashing and the bike felt very very loose in the snow whilst I slowed down.

The rest of the trip took about one hour and my hands and feet had no feeling in them.

Riding a middle size road bike in thick snow on road tires are not fun at all man and you can't use the front brake at all (if you do you go down) and rear brake only used very gentle.

I will never in my life forget that trip.

had a similar experience in a car - very scary.

I was traveling at about 140 Kph between Belgium and Germany during the winter, the highway was clear of snow and had been salted.

The highway then went over a hill - the top of the hill is the border between Belgium and Germany and probably also the boundary of highway maintenance service areas... At the top of the hill, I saw that all the downhill sloping road behind it was all white, some parts glittering. at the same time I noticed headlights of vehicles in places where they don't belong - dozens of cars, transporters and trucks were stuck in the snow off the road in various positions, on the side, on the roof, etc. with people wading through the snow.

But my attention was immedialty focused on a truck laying on its side, across the road, about 200 or 300 meters in front of me, I was scared shitless, I knew, if I brake I die !

There was a passage that seemed tiny to me between the truck and the central safety rail, I figured it was just large enough for my car, so I gently slowed down and tried to steer the car towards the opening. I had managed to slow down to around 110 when my right mirror was scratched as I passed the truck, my left wheels almost touching the security rail.

oooooof

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The security in our moobaan have an electric boom. Cars need to open it with a card but for motorbikes the guard has to push a button.

One day we had new guards at the gate, i approad the gate but he had allready opened it for another motorbike and he gives me a handsignal to come. Exactly when i drove under the boom it came down and hit me right on the helmet.. The guards were shocked but i wasn't hurt.

Then exactly the next day at another gate in our moobaan the same thing happened but this time i stopped a few cm infront of the boom.

So the lesson i learned is that if they change the guards (like once a year or so) then be carefull at the gate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.








×
×
  • Create New...