My first motorcycle "crash" today

[Dia1Up]

Generally when people show crashes, the internet goes off about how stupid they were, should never ride a bike again ect ect ect...
But let's be real, there are 2 types of riders. Riders who have gone down, and riders who will go down.

I don't really want to consider my fall today a full "going down" with how minor it was, but it did still result in damage and injury.

So what happened?
There's a trail right behind my house I only discovered since I got the bike. It's not too technical, and very popular. There are always people up there. So for me it was a perfect place to learn to ride a bike. Challenging enough, (with rocks, steep sections, gravel, water crossings, when it isn't dry) close to my house, and if something happened, lots of people around.

It has been very dry here lately, the trail has been extra dusty. For those with ct125s on stock tires, Im sure you can see where this is going

I'm still new at riding in general, and have quickly learned the 4 inches of suspension travel (even less with the droop from the soft suspension) doesn't go very far. This CT125 is my first motorcycle ever, and I've had it for a month.

I swerved to avoid a rock, only to not get my weight back where it should be, I rolled off the side of the road into the ditch. Which normally wouldn't be a big deal, but the 90-10 tires and the extra dusty conditions, my front tire slide off the road sideways into the ditch throwing me over the front left. I did see it coming, but couldn't do anything about it. I only had time to hit the rear brake (which didn't do anything in the end). I was only going 15 km/h or so thankfully

Most important part, I'm ok, second most important part, what did I learn?

1: Conditions matter. Not just wet. It's been very dry here and that layer of slippery dust is no better than water with the stock tires

2: Shoes. I was wearing quality jeans, my riding jacket with armor, nice helmet, gloves. And my nice full leather, tough as nails climbing shoes (they are actually a hybrid of hiker/climbing shoes they are VERY good). But they are shoes, not boots. My ankle is torn up exactly below the jeans, and above my shoes. This is the worst injury by far. My ankle being crushed inbetween the bike and dirt and dragged slightly. I'm thankful I learned this lesson with this minor of a crash.

3: The stock tires are better than expected, but really shouldn't be used for as rough as a trail as this is. I ordered 241s the moment I got home.

4: What gear I have (even my shoes) preformed very well. Even just my jeans did absolute wonders. Thankfully not a single mark of any kind on my helmet, so it doesn't seem like I hit it, no replacement needed.

(I forgot to take pictures of the accident site because you know.... Pain.... And embarrassment)

Injury: Torn up ankle, light chest bruise, tiny amount of rug burn from the inside of my riding jacket on my arm

The damage: Bent shift lever (of course), small scrape on headlight, mirror. The worse is the switch for the kick stand to kill the engine if it's in gear, that is completely broken. I had to bend the inside of the switch in the trail just to get it to stay running. Overall not bad

 

[Chinjab]

Glad you are alright. Good lessons - thanks for passing them on.

And now you can buy a nice, black folding shifter from Honda to replace yours!

 

[Second Chance]

Chinjab stole the first three words of my thoughts without reading his post with an "ok" substituted for "alright." Your comments include advanced concepts like droop and treating the bike like a gimbal. May I suggest a serious pair of motocross boots. I don't particularly like wearing them as opposed to my road boots however I wouldn't venture on anything past a well kept dirt road without them. One stick kicked up can ruin your day and possibly the next two or three months. Glad you're ok!

A giant size adjustable wrench combined with a smaller one would be a quick trail fix for the shift lever, Knipex's ride in my possibles kit.

Heal fast and ride well. You're attitude indicates this is a given.

 

[Cpd419]

Headlight and tail light guards are a must imo. Don’t ask me how I know…..

 

[BaldRider]

As offs go, this one was good to start with. Learned some lessons, no permanent damage and live to tell about it.

The best thing about a scuffed up bike is that you don’t feel so bad the next time it happens.

 

[bukwessul]

Falling down is part of learning.
Most grown ups are too proud to admit it, much less learn from it.
Kudos to you being relatively alright and sharing.

 

[Dia1Up]

As offs go, this one was good to start with. Learned some lessons, no permanent damage and live to tell about it.

The best thing about a scuffed up bike is that you don’t feel so bad the next time it happens.

Heh absolutely. I mean I bought it as a trail bike, to use it as a trail bike. It will get scratched. Heck I even bought the one that had a bike long scrape down the heat guard from the showroom. The sales guy was stoked someone took it off of their hands without complaining heh

 

[Dia1Up]

Update time!

Bruises are super bright now, which means they are almost done healing already.

-Turns out its a minor cracked rib. I may not have been going too quickly, but it seemed to be at the exact correct angle to transfer all of that forward motion, into a perfect catapult into the ground. I have a bruise on my chest now (really showing as it's healing heh) that's the perfect outline of my arm with the cracked rib in the middle.

-My elbow/arm has a massive bruise in the perfect shape of my elbow armor (makes me think what might have happened without the armor)

-Ankle is swollen from the crush, but no tendon injury it looks like. Doesn't hurt at all actually. So probably just soft tissue.

Spent a good amount of time getting the soft lever somewhat back in place with no rubbing. Still feels odd, but considering it was bent back above the foot peg (prior to that photo) I consider it a win

I unplugged the kickstand sensor and shorted the female side with with a piece of wire and bright yellow electrical tape, and slowly road the back road to the gas station. All good! Engine took a bit of time to burn off the oil that made its way into the cylinder when it was on its side running before I quickly thought to turn it off.

 

[pinehiker]

Last week I was moving out of a muddy rut, lost forwatd motion and flopped over. It was just enough to pull the release on my Helite vest. It was the first time it had actuated and I just eased onto the ground due to the airbag. It really wasn’t needed but it was a good learning experience. I have found it comfortable on the hottest days. My main concern is hitting a sand patch and getting thrown into a tree.

 

[bukwessul]

I've wondered how those worked in the wild. Thanks for sharing what happened and glad you weren't scuffed up.

 

[Texan]

Yikes! Sounds like quite a "learning experience".

 

[DeadguyAle]

Little late to the party but good on you for sharing your crash experience and glad to hear you are doing ok.
Serves as a reminder that anything can happen at any time so be as prepared as possible or
ATGATT all the gear all the time as the saying goes.
I sometimes feel a bit silly taking 30 minutes to suit up for a ride but having crashed more times than I care to remember (used to race motocross and flat track) I have too much appreciation for how well protective gear works!
Get yourself some proper boots and riding pants and get back on that horse.

 

[Dia1Up]

I guess I will do a final update before I post a video of the trail I ride!

Update 2 on the rib: I finally got it checked out in person (last doctors appt was over the phone) Not fractured, it was actually dislocated. I didn't even know it was possible for ribs to do that. It's back in place now, but even almost 8 weeks later, still a tad sore. Pretty wild!

It must have been a harder spill than I was letting myself believe

Ankle has some good scars, but my scars tend to fade to almost nothing. But I suspect they will be around for a year or two heh

 

[George S.]

The rib will heal quicker than whatever connective tissue was torn. It can cause pain or discomfort for seemingly no reason for a very long time.

 

[bukwessul]

Never think about ribs until you think about them every time one breathes or laughs.

 

[bukwessul]

Then you think of them a lot.

 

[Umbre]

I'll never forget my first crash! I overcooked it on a gravel road having too much fun and not leaning enough and lowsided in a corner! Same side as yours. I was on lunch break and dressed for work, so dress pants. My leg was pinned under the bike, hurt like hell. I couldn't see to turn the bike off till the dust cleared. My leg was tore up but usable. My barkbuster tanked the hit to the bars nicely. The foot peg was wedged against the shifter and I was stuck in second the whole way home! I put the bike back, patched myself up, and went back to work in the car like nothing happened! I hit my peg with a hammer and straightened out the shifter with a large wrench that night and was out again the next day.