Stepson passed his CBT a couple of months ago and got a new Honda
CB125F. He's been out for a few rides on it, not a huge amount though.
SWMBO rang me earlier today when I was out at the rehearsal studio to
tell me he'd come off the bike and hurt his shoulder. She ran him up to
A&E, I came home and then she picked me up and took me to retrieve the
bike. He'd only been going slowly, down a narrow country lane, and some
twat in a large 4x4 had come at high speed round a bend on the wrong
side of the road and he'd had to move to the edge of the road to avoid
it. Unfortunately the road is one of those country roads with frayed
edges, and he hit a bit of absent road and finished up in the ditch.

An elderly couple stopped but weren't really able to help, then someone
else stopped for him and put him in a sling. Ambulance would have been
three and a half hours so he rang SWMBO, and now we're back to where I
came in. She took me to the bike. Right hand trim panel round the
headlight is broken, and the right hand footpeg is bent back somewhat.
Mirrors were swivelled round but just need putting back into position
properly, and there was mud in various places on the right hand side. I
had no problem riding it back (other than coping with something that
can't move my bulk at more than 50mph).

SWMBO has now gone to pick up stepson, who has a non-displaced proximal
humerus fracture and is in collar and cuff. Rather an unlucky outcome,
given his low speed, and worse than I'd expect from a fall like that
(typically a Colles fracture of the radius or a broken collarbone).

On 07/05/2022 17:25, Mike Fleming wrote:
> Stepson passed his CBT a couple of months ago and got a new Honda
> CB125F. He's been out for a few rides on it, not a huge amount though.
> SWMBO rang me earlier today when I was out at the rehearsal studio to
> tell me he'd come off the bike and hurt his shoulder. She ran him up to
> A&E, I came home and then she picked me up and took me to retrieve the
> bike. He'd only been going slowly, down a narrow country lane, and some
> twat in a large 4x4 had come at high speed round a bend on the wrong
> side of the road and he'd had to move to the edge of the road to avoid
> it. Unfortunately the road is one of those country roads with frayed
> edges, and he hit a bit of absent road and finished up in the ditch.
>
> An elderly couple stopped but weren't really able to help, then someone
> else stopped for him and put him in a sling. Ambulance would have been
> three and a half hours so he rang SWMBO, and now we're back to where I
> came in. She took me to the bike. Right hand trim panel round the
> headlight is broken, and the right hand footpeg is bent back somewhat.
> Mirrors were swivelled round but just need putting back into position
> properly, and there was mud in various places on the right hand side. I
> had no problem riding it back (other than coping with something that
> can't move my bulk at more than 50mph).
>
> SWMBO has now gone to pick up stepson, who has a non-displaced proximal
> humerus fracture and is in collar and cuff. Rather an unlucky outcome,
> given his low speed, and worse than I'd expect from a fall like that
> (typically a Colles fracture of the radius or a broken collarbone).

A large vehicle approaching at injudicious speed is a scenario we fairly
often encounter on local VMCC runs. Some of the lanes used have grass
growing down the middle and much loose gravel. Some locals adopt a
'nobody ever comes down here' attitude. Quite dicey occasionally,
particularly on something with 'tobacco tin' brakes.

Last time out on the Sunbeam I met a Clarkson's Farm sized tractor with
a FOAD agricultural attachment of some kind on the front with quite
sharp looking bits. It hove in to view round a bend at a pace that meant
even with the 250 just chuffing along resulted in a fair old closing
speed. I did actually end up locking the wheels and sliding on gravel
towards an ever closing gap between the sharp bits and the verge. I
might have got away with it if the very low left hand footrest on the
'Beam hadn't dug in to the fairly high edge of the grass verge,
precipitating a sideways descent at about 1mph. Luckily the verge was
wide enough to accommodate me and the bike with room for the tractor to
pass.

I managed to pick it up and get it started again OK and a relatively
soft landing left me unscathed.

I'm glad he wasn't more badly bent.

--
Moto Morini 2C/375, Moto Morini 2C/350
Gilera 175 Sport, Husqvarna 401 Svartpilen
1937 Sunbeam Model 14 250 Sports
"Do not adjust your mind, there is a fault in the reality"