it turns out that suspension matters...

Oh boy—sometimes there are things a guy just doesn't need! Whatever the reason may have been—perhaps a build-up of oscillation, a classic "shimmy"? Whatever it was... I wish you a good and complete recovery!       

As you a see, there is a great deal of sympathy for you around here. Nearly all of us have experienced an unexpected get-off or three. 

I have been able to look back and identify the decisions that led me to run short of skill. Except for one. 

It was a beautiful, warm, sunny springtime day. The bike was in excellent shape, the asphalt was nearly new. I was at an intersection preparing to make a left turn. There was only one other vehicle in sight, across the intersection waiting for me to clear the area. I pulled out in a very leisurely fashion and suddenly found myself sitting in the middle of the intersection with my 750 LTD a few feet ahead of me, on its side. The driver of the car ran over to see if I was injured or in need of help. As it turned out, I was fine and the bike suffered only very minor scratches. 
After moving the bike to the side of the road and thanking the concerned motorist, I carefully searched the intersection for the cause of this accident. I could find no puddle of slippery liquid, no wet leaves or banana peels. Both tires were properly inflated. I was and remain baffled. In every other case, I could clearly see my mistake.I have learned from them, but this very minor incident haunts me because I cannot see or understand the cause. Knowing brings me peace, wondering does not.
i hope your recovery is swift and smooth and that reflection will make you a better rider. We all need to be better.

hardrockminer wrote:

If you want to understand what happened....google The Tacoma Narrows Bridge incident.
 

I don't think a consistent breeze blowing on the bike at its resonant freq caused it to oscillate destructively

Thanks everyone for the support! I appreciate all of the stories and experiences. For the record, I don't feel like anyone is shaming me or criticizing me unnecessarily, if anything I'm used to it. What do the call it, "tough love"? 

I like all of the theories and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in incident might take the weight off my shoulders if it was true  . I still think the cause was my front forks because you could better describe them as pogo sticks, and they would even rebound back like a bouncy ball. I planned on addressing them but a combination of excitement and impatience led me to take them on the one and only ride.

I underestimated the suspention. I'm young and inexperienced with a lack of risk assessment. I couldn't have imagined that something so severe could have happened from soft front forks. If only I could learn the importance of suspention in a safer way 

Anyways, I plan on going up north for a couple days and go fishing with my family to burn off some stress. I think I've been healing well, although I made a mistake and put on the wrong pads for my road rash and now they are scabbing over the gauze 

Jeez tough break, Hope you heal quickly.  

Yep, as others have stated, we have all been there, once or twice, or perhaps three times. My last 'event' involved my previous GPz1100, really trashed it and myself...ER Doc said I could treat my own road rash by taking a bath with a large dose of added bleach. I did so and it was memorable...but ultimately no infections. Learn from this and you will be a better rider. Still, I wouldn't wish these learning experiences on  anyone.

bound wrote:

I made a mistake and put on the wrong pads for my road rash and now they are scabbing over the gauze 

 

Sit in a cool bath and let the scabs dissolve a bit before you try to remove the bandages, or put dripping wet washcloths on them to achieve the same effect

Maybe my anecdote will be helpful, maybe not.  My only major riding incident was in about 1989 on my KZ1000 (which I still have, it fixed up nicely). I had bought it in the spring as essentially a barn find in a town outside of Cleveland, but it didn’t take much to get it up and running. I bought it as a favor to a buddy of mine who was going to buy it from me as soon as he saved up the cash. He was killed in a car accident before he could do that, so I figured I would just keep the bike.

It was just a recreational ride on a weekday afternoon in early September of that same year. I had previously owned a GPz750 and KZ900 so this bike really wasn’t much of a stretch for me, experience-wise. I was working in one of the maintenance departments at Cedar Point and the park was closed on weekdays in September back then so I had a lot of free time to just fart around with the bike. Anywho, I had a helmet, leather jacket, and leather gloves but just jeans and tennis shoes. I was going 30 in a 35MPH zone (honestly, I was!) on a two lane, paved country road with essentially no traffic. I crested a gradual hill, and the next thing I know the bike is wedged underneath a Chevy S10 and I’m on the opposite side of the road laying in the grass. I missed being underneath the pickup truck myself by maybe 6 inches or so. The helmet and jacket took most of the damage, but I had pretty decent road rash from the waist down, including my toes. I took the expected ambulance ride to the hospital where they scrubbed the denim and rocks out of the wounds as best they could but the whole time I was healing I continued to sprout blue jean residue. No broken bones, but pretty sore all over for several days. 

As soon as I could I revisited the scene and pieced together what had happened as best as I could. There was a shallow dished depression in the lane - basically a hidden pothole. I obviously hit that, but it was the front tire being out of balance that added to the problem. Maybe me being only about 125lb at the time was also a factor. Combined with going down the hill, those other factors set up a low speed tank slapper and I went down on my left and skidded into oncoming traffic. Turns out when I had bought the bike it had been sitting on a deflated front tire for a while, and I failed to appreciate that the resulting “once around” vibration, although barely perceptible, was going to be a Problem. So now I’m very careful to have a well-balanced ground wheel on all my bikes.