Crashed! On my inherited 85 R80RT :-(

[tpet]

I'm so bummed! I crashed on my 85 BMW R80RT, inherited from my father (monort on this forum). It was just about to hit 272k miles! On Tuesday I was riding home from work when things felt all...wobbly. I was in the carpool lane on the 91 so once I realized something was definitely not right, I started making my way over to the shoulder. I got to the shoulder but hadn't come to a complete stop when the wobbles got much more extreme, and I knew I was gonna be going down. I was probably slowed down to 30 mph or so when I couldn't hang on any longer. Next thing I knew, I was waking up on my back on the pavement with paramedics and CHP asking me questions. My Apple Watch also called my wife when it detected my fall, and I apparently had a conversation with her but don't remember it very well from my end. Pretty soon, I was loaded into an ambulance and headed to UCI Medical Center. They looked me over, did a CT scan, and told me it looked like I had fractured ribs and broken my clavicle in two places. Joy. All I know is, breathing was pretty painful! They got me transported finally to a room where I spent the night.

The next day, I begged every nurse and doctor I saw to let me go home. My wish was granted around noon, after they had seen me piss, walk around, eat, and drink. And pay the bill, of course. Fortunately, I have good insurance. We should be able to scrape by and I’ll heal up as soon as possible.

Sadly, I think this means my days of street riding are over for now. I'll figure out what to do with the (surprisingly ok!) BMW and my other bike (a 91 Honda Hawk GT) when I'm healed a bit more. Motorcycles have always been such a source of joy for me, so I'll probably get the itch again and eventually end up buying a race bike or something! Let me know if you or someone you know wants to do a stripped down R80RT build… all the important mechanical stuff is still good, just needs a rear rim and left side valve cover.

See you all around, I'll still lurk on the forums for a while because I just love these bikes so much. Keep the shiny side up, and try not to get sudden unexplained flat tires...

-Tim

 

[pglaves]

I'm so bummed! I crashed on my 85 BMW R80RT, inherited from my father (monort on this forum). It was just about to hit 272k miles! On Tuesday I was riding home from work when things felt all...wobbly.

I am sorry this happened to you. Do you know what caused the bike to wobble? You hinted about a flat tire.

 

[tpet]

I am sorry this happened to you. Do you know what caused the bike to wobble? You hinted about a flat tire.

I don’t know for sure whether the hit that caused a large dent in the lip of the rear rim happened while I was riding and made the tire go flat, or if the tire was flat due to other causes and the damage to the rim was from the ensuing crash. When I’m more mobile I’ll spend some more time looking at the bike, it’s back in my garage as of Friday morning.

 

[bluehole]

Sorry you had this accident. Glad you are already up and around, although full healing will take time. I am sure it is also painful to lose the RT. I am sure it was a "connect" to your father. Heal well.

 

[gtgt_bangbang]

I don’t know for sure whether the hit that caused a large dent in the lip of the rear rim happened while I was riding and made the tire go flat, or if the tire was flat due to other causes and the damage to the rim was from the ensuing crash. When I’m more mobile I’ll spend some more time looking at the bike, it’s back in my garage as of Friday morning.

first and foremost God Speed & Good Wishes


then look at the individual dents ; are they smooth ( rubber padded) or scratched & narly ( bare metal took the brunt), jsut for instance .

Puncture points ( nails , glass , metal shards for instance) present ?



With a mind for some post -destructive (!) analysis , would be very curious to see some pix when then time comes

with no particular insight, your desription sounds like a sudden deflation ( puncture) & rapid dis-mount.



Interesting info-oids from the inner tube folks; butyl rubber is less leaky ( requires less pressure monitoring / regular top up) but when it blows, it sort of shreads / explodes

while genuine rubber leaks more ,(requires top-up more often due to slow diffusion / leaks ) , but when it fails, it fails more slowly & controllably


I put fresh rubber tubes in some 5 year old New tires for jsut that reason

 

[tpet]

Yeah, I’ll get to more in-depth inspection and failure analysis once I can easily crouch/bend over to get a closer look. I’ve gotten flat rear tires a couple times on my 91 Honda Hawk GT, but I run a 160/60R17 on that so it’s considerably wider and shorter than the Metzeler I have on the RT. The Hawk was squirrelly but still rideable with a mostly flat rear tire, but the RT became very determined to throw me off within about a minute of noticing something was up.

first and foremost God Speed & Good Wishes


then look at the individual dents ; are they smooth ( rubber padded) or scratched & narly ( bare metal took the brunt), jsut for instance .

Puncture points ( nails , glass , metal shards for instance) present ?



With a mind for some post -destructive (!) analysis , would be very curious to see some pix when then time comes

with no particular insight, your desription sounds like a sudden deflation ( puncture) & rapid dis-mount.



Interesting info-oids from the inner tube folks; butyl rubber is less leaky ( requires less pressure monitoring / regular top up) but when it blows, it sort of shreads / explodes

while genuine rubber leaks more ,(requires top-up more often due to slow diffusion / leaks ) , but when it fails, it fails more slowly & controllably


I put fresh rubber tubes in some 5 year old New tires for jsut that reason

 

[tpet]

Sorry you had this accident. Glad you are already up and around, although full healing will take time. I am sure it is also painful to lose the RT. I am sure it was a "connect" to your father. Heal well.

Thanks, it is sad to lose the connection to my father but I do still have the bike in my possession for now, just with some damage. Not sure what I’ll do with it in the long run, since I don’t plan on riding. Maybe someone local wants to fix it up and I could still see it riding around. Would also be a good candidate for a fairing removal conversion, if someone wants to turn it into a regular R80 or something. It’s got the upgraded charging system from EME and the optional oil cooler, plus the starter was upgraded to whatever car starter people usually put in these. I don’t know all the details but my dad did mention those.

 

[kbasa]

I'm so bummed! I crashed on my 85 BMW R80RT, inherited from my father (monort on this forum). It was just about to hit 272k miles! On Tuesday I was riding home from work when things felt all...wobbly. I was in the carpool lane on the 91 so once I realized something was definitely not right, I started making my way over to the shoulder. I got to the shoulder but hadn't come to a complete stop when the wobbles got much more extreme, and I knew I was gonna be going down. I was probably slowed down to 30 mph or so when I couldn't hang on any longer. Next thing I knew, I was waking up on my back on the pavement with paramedics and CHP asking me questions. My Apple Watch also called my wife when it detected my fall, and I apparently had a conversation with her but don't remember it very well from my end. Pretty soon, I was loaded into an ambulance and headed to UCI Medical Center. They looked me over, did a CT scan, and told me it looked like I had fractured ribs and broken my clavicle in two places. Joy. All I know is, breathing was pretty painful! They got me transported finally to a room where I spent the night.

The next day, I begged every nurse and doctor I saw to let me go home. My wish was granted around noon, after they had seen me piss, walk around, eat, and drink. And pay the bill, of course. Fortunately, I have good insurance. We should be able to scrape by and I’ll heal up as soon as possible.

Sadly, I think this means my days of street riding are over for now. I'll figure out what to do with the (surprisingly ok!) BMW and my other bike (a 91 Honda Hawk GT) when I'm healed a bit more. Motorcycles have always been such a source of joy for me, so I'll probably get the itch again and eventually end up buying a race bike or something! Let me know if you or someone you know wants to do a stripped down R80RT build… all the important mechanical stuff is still good, just needs a rear rim and left side valve cover.

See you all around, I'll still lurk on the forums for a while because I just love these bikes so much. Keep the shiny side up, and try not to get sudden unexplained flat tires...

-Tim

Blacked out? You had a concussion, my man. You want to take it easy for a while.

 

[nickrides]

Thats a bizarre story.
Glad you're OK
Did you figure out why you went down?
FWIW I've had flats front and rear on my 78 R80 at high speed, 80+ and came to a stop no problem.
Just got kind of mushy.
Nick

 

[pglaves]

FWIW I've had flats front and rear on my 78 R80 at high speed, 80+ and came to a stop no problem.
Just got kind of mushy.
Nick

That depends entirely on the brand and type of tires mounted. Some stay stiff and the proper shape; others go limp and squishy and flop around - sometimes even coming off the wheel rim.

 

[classicvw]

Thats a bizarre story.
Glad you're OK
Did you figure out why you went down?
FWIW I've had flats front and rear on my 78 R80 at high speed, 80+ and came to a stop no problem.
Just got kind of mushy.
Nick

I imagine you were traveling straight ahead. If you had gone flat and tried to turn it would have dumped itself and you in the process. DAMHIK.

 

[tpet]

That depends entirely on the brand and type of tires mounted. Some stay stiff and the proper shape; others go limp and squishy and flop around - sometimes even coming off the wheel rim.

I had Metzeler tires mounted. The rear tire is no longer on the rim, and I suspect it was coming off already when the bike tossed me to the ground. The wobble became exponentially worse in a matter of a few seconds as I attempted to pull over and stop on the shoulder.