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Riding in the dark

motorboy618707

motorboy618707

Member
Member
Tonight was my first time riding at night on my C10. I don’t like riding at night mostly because I live in a rural area with plenty of wildlife meaning plenty of chances for an accident. Anyway, I was riding home from a friends house at full dark when a freaking raccoon darts directly into my path from the right. I immediately hit the brakes and briefly locked up the rear tire. Upon realizing that I was going to collide with said raccoon, I let off the brakes and simply blazed that sucker at about 60 mph. I whacked it head on with my front wheel and just kept on going without even a wobble. Amazing! Thought I was a goner. When I got back to the shop I could find no damage. That’s some good ass luck I think. Ride safe.
 
Wow, that is wild. Good thing it wasn't the front brake locking up.

Worst I've hit was a pigeon, which caught across my brake lever and glove, and splattered onto my jacket shoulder. Aside from making a mess and the startled, it wasn't so bad.

A friend of mine hit a hawk once. It cracked the visor on his full-face helmet!
 
motorboy618707 said:
Tonight was my first time riding at night on my C10. I don’t like riding at night mostly because I live in a rural area with plenty of wildlife meaning plenty of chances for an accident. Anyway, I was riding home from a friends house at full dark when a freaking raccoon darts directly into my path from the right. I immediately hit the brakes and briefly locked up the rear tire. Upon realizing that I was going to collide with said raccoon, I let off the brakes and simply blazed that sucker at about 60 mph. I whacked it head on with my front wheel and just kept on going without even a wobble. Amazing! Thought I was a goner. When I got back to the shop I could find no damage. That’s some good ass luck I think. Ride safe.
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Practice emergency stops. Bad things happen when one locks up either wheel. Locking up the rear wheel can lead to a high side that can be devastating. Practice practice practice. Glad it worked out and you're ok!
 
I hit a smaller cat in a similar situation. I could see our paths were going to intersect so I let off the brakes and held on tight. My speed at impact was below 25.

The jolt through the handlebars was surprisingly hard. Of course, poor kitty didn't make it.
 
I hit a possum at night once, in mid curve, at high speed, all I could do was let off the gas, stand it up straight for the impact and throw it back over to finish the curve. Close call.
Too close

That was 1987.
Im not a great rider. Don’t ride enough to be. So, I have slowed my a$$ down at night since that little episode.
 
ONOBob said:
Yep. Deer are huge issue here too
I only ride at night when I absolutely have to
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The deer in my area are very thick. I have counted over 50 in a herd on many occasions. And by count I mean underestimating every time. Every vehicle I’ve owned in the last twenty years has had a deer collision of some sort. The only way to avoid it is to not ride at night. I try not to ride at night but I had no choice last night.
 
motorboy618707 said:
The deer in my area are very thick. I have counted over 50 in a herd on many occasions. And by count I mean underestimating every time. Every vehicle I’ve owned in the last twenty years has had a deer collision of some sort. The only way to avoid it is to not ride at night. I try not to ride at night but I had no choice last night.
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Sometimes I get forced into it too. The only way to guarantee that I don't ride at night is to ride by myself. I like early morning rides but the deer are out then as well. I don't plan on firing my guardian angel anytime soon.
 
I read somewhere long ago that any critter a motorcyclist hits that is too big to eat in one sitting can cause a wreck. High noon at a COG rally in the early '90's at Mesa Verde about 12 of us were riding in the park when an equal number of deer crossed the road amidst us. Not a single strike. Critters are the wild card there's no way to escape from.
 
I don't do much riding at night. Without going into a long dissertation...get LED headlamp bulbs. Ones that keep the good psttern, 25W (actual Watts) or more.
 
Jorge said:
I don't do much riding at night. Without going into a long dissertation...get LED headlamp bulbs. Ones that keep the good psttern, 25W (actual Watts) or more.
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LED really make wildlife's eyes reflect back too. I used to walk in the woods every morning before sunrise and before work. For a while I used an LED headlamp but started to see all these eyes in the woods looking back at me. Creeped me out and I stopped wearing that LED headlamp. But on the road any early warning is a good thing.
 
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