Facing the Monster*

Image: Power Sports Network

Thursday I got the call: Motoprimo's estimate for repairing the bike was in excess of $8,000, which means that the Iron Rooster is totaled. While the folks at Progressive wait for me to decide whether to take the check for the bike's value or attempt to salvage it, the Rooster sits in a Lakeville stable of broken cycles.

The last of Julie's possessions came off the moving truck on Friday afternoon, with the brawny kindness of friends Eric, Jayme and Shawn, my parents and brother Jesse. In recounting the crash story after emptying the truck, Shawn -- pilot, avid rider, and ex-motocross guy -- constructed a plausible account of the accident: If the rear tire locked at speed because of some mechanical trouble, the back end would immediately swing out to one side or the other. When the rear tire locks, you generally don't want to unlock it, or you risk a more dangerous highside crash. Rather, the way to ride out a sudden rear tire lock is to immediately turn the handlebars into the skid, keep pressure on the rear brake and wait until the bike stops. At speed, this means sliding with the rear tire perpendicular to the direction of travel. Tricky, to say the least. (Shawn has walked away from just such a skid.)

He speculated that the rear tire locked, perhaps due to the chain breaking and wrapping around the wheel, kicking the back of the bike out and sending me skidding toward the left edge of the road. At some point (perhaps when leaving the road), the bike dumped, pitched forward, making contact with the ground high on the left side and launching me off the saddle. Instinctively, I reached out with my left hand the stop my fall and, pop, there went the wrist. He suggested that we give the chain and rear wheel a close inspection.

As it turns out, Shawn's theory fits the available evidence better than any other so far.

Friday afternoon, after dropping off the moving truck, Julie and I headed to Lakeville to lay eyes on the Rooster for the first time since the accident. I expected my stomach to be doing flips seeing the bike again, but those came later. As my parents reported the day after the accident, the bike doesn't look heavily damaged, and most of the visible damage is to the tank, instrument cluster, headlight and handlebars. The crankcase, lower exhaust and engine are not even stratched.

Imagining a crash that would scuff the top of the instrument cluster while leaving the guts of the bike unharmed is consistent with Shawn's reconstruction. Since I might have locked the rear wheel trying to slow down if the front brakes failed, I was eager to test them; they seemed to be in working order.

Walking to the rear of the bike, our big a-ha's: The chain seemed intact, the rear wheel's spokes seemed normal, but the rear reflector -- which hovers at the terminus of the bike's floating tail just below the license plate -- was completely folded over, behind the plate. Matt, my insurance agent, asked me about this right after the accident, and, thinking it was made of plastic, I hypothesized that perhaps the span between the plate and reflector melted with the exhaust when the bike was on its side and running after the accident.



But the span is metal, not plastic. It didn't melt. And the deep grooves on the rear tire tell the story: it made contact so forcefully and so suddenly with the rear tire to fold the metal in half, score the back tire around its circumference and then likely caused the rear tire to lock or at least hop, triggering the crash.

What remains unexplained is: how on earth did the tire make contact with the reflector -- normally several inches away? Did I hit a pothole that bottomed-out the suspension? Did the rear suspension fail? Did the reflector get bent inward (toward the tire) without my knowledge?

When we asked the the mechanic at Motoprimo for a possible explanation, he asked whether someone was following me too closely. (!) I was traveling alone, but is it possible I got hit from behind by something?

Clearly, there are many more questions, and full-fledged answers might elude me forever, but the evidence appears to be converging and a problem with the rear tire seems the likeliest explanation.

I go back to Motoprimo in a couple of days, after the mechanic has had time to inspect the rear suspension and tire more thoroughly. I'll have my camera in hand to document what we learn.

In the meantime, I continue recuperating (having nearly kicked the pain meds and made progress with my physical therapy) and am enjoying settling into a newly shared home with Julie and seeing friends and family.

And feeling the wind again. After bustin' ass on Friday helping unload the truck, Shawn and Lucas invited us to a delicious, inventive meal at their place. As though that weren't sweet enough, when I arrived, Shawn offered to take me for a spin in the sidecar of their stunning red and white Indian, the only practical way for me to ride with my broken wing. I can't tell you how good it felt to fly again.**



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*Thanks, Eric H.
**A Mike and the Mechanics reference is simply unavoidable.