Motorcycle vs. Deer (vid)

[KineticPoet]

http://www.streetbikeworld.com/visit_entry.asp?EntryID=55 (right click, "save as") the site is very slow, so it may take a while. you may need a codec such as divx to view it. I'm not sure, but it played in windows media player 9 just fine for me.

There is a little controversy floating around about whether this video is real or faked. It certainly looks real to me.
Edit: pictures of the wreck. It's definitely real.
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/hornskeith/deerwreck/
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/hornskeith/gear/

here's the post from the rider.

Before I begin, let me apologize in advance for the typos or grammar mistakes I'm going to make- I only have about 3 working fingers that I can type with. I'd make this post longer, and of course wittier, but I don't want to spend the next hour typing. In addition, the breaks to wipe blood off my keyboard are slowing me down... but I digress.

It was a nice morning for a ride. A group of riders from the local sportbike organization headed out to try and "beat the heat" by starting at about 7:30. It wasn't going to be a fast ride by any means, and I had even pondered wearing jeans due to the impending heat. I mean, I'm an experienced track rider and all around fast guy- what could go wrong? I wisely chose full leathers.

I was second in line following the leader up Smithson Valley road in Comal county. As we came through a straight fenced section, I saw a deer up on the right side of the road. I instinctively moved a bit left to try to give him a little space. It wasn't enough.

Spooked by the first rider, he darted into the road right in front of me. His timing was impeccable- I would have liked to brake, swerve, something... but there was no time. My last thought as I hit him was to grab for the front brake, try to brake hard enough to let him get by. It was not to be.

As the front tire plowed into him, it lifted the rear tire off the ground and threw me, superman-style, over the front bars. From the accounts of those behind me, the rear tire continued to travel in this path as the bike did a poetic flip in the air and came down on its tail section. I flew for what seemed like a long time (where's my cape?) and came down on my right knee and right shoulder. From there it was a blur or tumbling and flipping as I scrubbed off speed. The bike fell over on its right side and left a series of chalk-like marks in the pavement as it slid down the road.

My fellow rider Barron was behind me on his VFR. Too close to avoid the deer, he chose the next best option- he ran over its neck. Apparently, it was only a small bump for the VFR to soak up, and likely put the dumb animal out of its misery. Or, as I'm told, two dumb animals. It was pregnant. Darwin says: no breeding for you.

Did I mention I had the camcorder running?

Here's the injury report. Pretty badly sprained right knee- I'm sure falling on it after being bucked off the bike wasn't the best. Sprained right wrist and fingers. Chewed up left hand- I had just bought some Joe Rocket phoenix summer gloves made of mesh and leather. They disintegrated on contact with the ground, and I had actual road rash in my left hand. Not fun. Other than that, a bunch of the usual raspberries on my arms and legs.

The gear is what saved me.

Jacket- full perf Vanson. Excellent. Noticeably worn down, it held together and cushioned the blow on my shoulder well. Virtually no upper body damage outside of my hands.

Pants- Teknic Thunder. Decent. They didn't come with knee armor, and I didn't add any. This was a mistake on my part. Knee armor would probably have made my right knee injury much less severe. They wore through in small sections, but my leg was clean.

Helmet- Arai Quantum/f. Excellent. It did its job- took a nasty blow on the ground and left my head none the worse for wear. Worth every penny.

Gloves- Joe Rocket Phoenix. Complete and total crap. They fell apart like a chinese motorcycle. My hands would have thanked me for wearing my real race gloves, and not these mesh and leather POS's. Don't ever buy them. No idea if this trait extends to the phoenix jackets and pants that are so popular right now. For the sake of the people wearing 'em, I sure hope not.

Boots- Sidi Vertebra II. Perfect. My ankles have never been better.

In addition, I was wearing an AlpineStars Tech Series back protector. No idea if it helped protect my back, but I wouldn't doubt it. No spine or back pain whatsover.

I'm spent. Gotta go put the heat pad back on my knee.

Ride safe out there, folks.


__________________
Keith
02 CBR600 F4i- in several pieces

 

[Smit-Dog]

I think that clip is the real deal, speaking from experience.

I hit a deer on my dirtbike when I was around 14 (see bike here: Suzuki DS 185). My step-dad and I were riding side-by-side on a very wide two-track; probably 5th gear or so.

My step-dad was on the left, and I was on the right. Evidently the deer darted out of the woods on the lefthand side, and immediately started running parallel with us. I never saw the deer come out, as it was on the other side of my step-dad and slightly behind him. Suddenly the deer decides to race us, speeds ahead of my step-dad, and crosses perpendicular right in front of us. The deer barely gets past my step-dad's bike, and I center punch the deer right in the side. This was before steering dampers (;)), and my front wheel was whipped hard to a full lock position upon impact. I went down immediately, and the deer hobbled around in a circle bent in half for a few minutes, then died.

The front wheel had a wad of deer fur wedged between the tire and the rim. Other than that a broken clutch and shift lever, and a lot of dirt rash.

 

[Offroadr]

Yea I know all about deer and bikes!!

Not fun

 

[MX-727]

I've hit two deer in cars. Didn't see one, and saw the other one late. If I see a deer along side the road now, I can't go slow enough around them. They really do seem to have a suicide/death wish. Slowing from 60 to 50 probably isn't going to cut it. :(

 

[dead]

I saw this vid on Localriders . com last week. It looks real to me.

 

[Jon K.]

:whiner: Poor Bambi!! :whiner:

 

[MX2_motorex]

Didn't Greg Albertyn hit a deer during the mx des nations or something?

 

[clutchcover]

That seems real to me. I hit a deer last year in my truck, and it looked exactly like that. It was raining, and I didn't see the thing till I was almost on top of it. I locked up the brakes, but it slammed head on into my grill and bumper. I was doing about 50. The deer went under my truck and came out the side between my front and rear tires somehow before the rear tire hit it. It slid for about 30 feet, rolled, and landed on it's feet and took off running. I'm sure it died, and I looked for it, but couldn't find it. As a hunter, I wanted to make sure the thing wasn't out there suffering stuck in a fence dying somewhere. Not sure how many are from places that have them, but the mule deer here are about 2 or more times as big as whitetail. The damage to my truck was limited to a slightly bent grill and a cracked headlight. Thank goodness my truck was made when they used real metal. I can't imagine hitting a deer on a crotchrocket. Just makes you think how fast something can happen and how much damage can be caused.

 

[Smit-Dog]

I think that in this case though the crotch-rocket ended up better off compared to this deer encounter:

http://www.snopes.com/photos/durango.asp

 

[KiwiBird]

MX2_motorex - you are correct!

 

[Camstyn]

I came within inches of hitting a deer on the local MX track on my KX500. If I had been a split second quicker I would have center-punched it wide open in 3rd gear. A couple of years before that happened a guy I rode with hit a deer on that same track.

I hit an elk in my van in February, did $11k damage to the front end, everything in front of the engine was wrecked except for the left side fender.

I hit a deer again in May and did another $4k damage to the front end.

There's really nothing you can do, by the time I saw either of them it was too late. If you panic-swerve and miss the deer but hit something else, there's no proof and the accident is considered your fault.

:whiner:

 

[JasonJ]

I have been lucky in my years of driving and riding in suberban Pa to have seen MANY deer on or near the road but never hitting one. The only White tail I ever hit was on a dirt bike as I was riding near the edge about 4 rows in the field, a deer got spoked at the edge of the field and tried to leap into the field, I cought his rump square on the fork tubes just above the fender, the deer rotated in the air and I swear I could have kissed him on the lips as I continued straight while he rotated. We both stopped, stared at each other for a split second before he took off, out of the field. No damage to me or my bike, looked about the same for him beisides a sore rump.
The key to avoiding deer is looking for them and knowing the areas they frequent. Apon seeing a deer, I JAM my brakes to all but a stop no matter how far away the deer is, they usally travel in groups, there is no telling what the animal will do, they usally zig zag when running scared much like a rabit, if a deer is running next to you, there is a good chance he will jump in front of you. So I just slow to about 15 mph, lay on the horn, look on both sides of the rode and ride on. Deer are the thing that scare me the most. I did hit an 80 lb dog at night on my VFR, bumped me off the rode and tore the left side body work off the bike, I was lucky I was bumped into a wet field with no trees and was able to recover the bike to the rode after a water phlume like 100 ft or so slow down in the grass. The dog was killed :( .