| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
'nother motorcycle myth on Mythbusters. "Guy was killed by a bug strike on a bike" They're riding a Victory with a hack at 85mph into a rig holding...bugs. Housefly? 10psi impact on the force gauge. Cicada? 34psi or some such. They're building another bug now...good stuff! | ||
| Jaimec |
Well, I had a June bug (that's a rock with wings, for those of you unfamiliar with them buggers) bounce off my exposed Adam's apple one Spring. Barely made it to the shoulder where I could stop and GAG for almost ten minutes. SH*T that hurt!!! | ||
| Ratbuell |
Ya, they said (according to an MD) that something like 70psi to the jugular would kill a human. 10psi out of a HOUSEFLY? wow...and OW | ||
| Wolfridgerider |
South Park is on... they are making fun of NASCAR.... | ||
| Oddball |
They should have been down here a couple months ago with the love bugs. My brother and I looked like that scene in wild hogs. Wonder how hard those juicy bastards hit? | ||
| Aesquire |
Had a honeybee fly in a vent at 60, and when he crawled inside the visor in front of my nose... pulled g's stopping and then very calmly let him go. June bugs hit like bb's to gravel, depending on speed. | ||
| Fahren |
Bugs hurt, and can be dangerously distracting. ATGATT ! :-) | ||
| Danger_dave |
HTFU. | ||
| Danger_dave |
Oops - that was a general swipe - not meaning mr f in particular :-P | ||
| Ourdee |
I ran into the back of a bee with my visor up. Had to pull the stinger out of my cheek. OOUCH. | ||
| Iman501 |
most painful but i've encountered was a dragon fly.....it tasted better than other bugs that decided they wanted to be my mid-motorcycle ride snack! | ||
| Fast1075 |
I took a Junebug strike to the neck in the semi-finals at the Prostar finals in Gainseville in 2004....hit that sucker in the traps at 158 on my Pro-ET bike. | ||
| Glitch |
Y'all should have seen Charlie's eye after a ride during BTF. It was swollen for a day or two, we don't know what hit him. Ann's helmet got hit just above the visor, it chipped the paint. We think that was a rock. | ||
| Rwven |
Joe, How did you enjoy riding during the cicada outbreak a few years ago? I'm from New England and it was my first exposure to the phenomenon. Those suckers will leave a mark.... | ||
| Sayitaintso |
Bugs hurt on bare skin...really really hurt, but with gear on it aint so bad. Birds on the other hand, it doesn't matter what you're wearing. I'd love to know the psi of a smallish sized song bird at 70mph. One hit me (or I hit it) just below my right shoulder pad. If I'd been a little more relaxed or sitting upright it probably would have made me wreck. I cant imagine hitting a crow or bigger. I bet it would take you clean off the back of the bike. | ||
| Stirz007 |
I was blasting down Hwy 71 in South Louisiana one night years ago and watched this cicada (I think) come at me for what seemed like a few seconds. I was wearing open face helmet (this was like '77) with flyer goggles. That thing zeroed in on my left eye - the bug guts completely covered one lens and most of the other - this on a two-lane elevated road with sketchy shoulders, opposing truck traffic and swamp on both sides - and me doing about 70. Yellow-green chunky stuff. Damn near dropped me off the bike from the hit, so yeah - a bug strike could've killed me. (furiously wiping goggles - hope I'm going straight - slow down - rip off goggles - shut er down and wipe the poo from my britches). Buddy of mine lived in Tunisia for a while -he was telling me that they have really big flying beetles there, big enough to bust a windshield - yowza!! | ||
| Jaimec |
Speaking of birds... Many years ago we were on a Suzuki Demo Ride at Americade. We were ripping along one of the many beautiful back roads in the Adirondacks when we came around a bend and there was a flock of geese taking off across the road. My only thought was: "Oh SH*T this is gonna HURT!!" I ducked down as low as I could and tried to crawl under the paint on the gas tank. I felt something brush across my shoulders but that was it. When we got back I had to go back to my hotel room to change my underwear. | ||
| Etennuly |
I have been struck by june bugs at over 110 mph, to where it hit just above the collar of my leather jacket. I thought I had been hit by a rock. Got a bumble bee down the collar of my riding jacket a few years back while laid down on the air box of the Uly. That left a mark! Those love bugs from Florida aren't so hard, but rather make a thick soup of your gear, and they stink! Worst I have seen so far is a short piece of 2x4 shooting up from a truck's front tire that hit my chin at about 80 mph on the Interstate. Lucky we were both going the same direction! Hitting a piece of lumber at 80 isn't so bad if it is doing 70. Many years ago, riding side by side at about 80 mph with a good friend on Halloween night, he hits the throttle pulling away from me, gets around a corner then slams his KZ1000 to a stop. He put down the side stand and fell off the other side clutching his chest. After he got his breath he screamed "I think I have been shot!". It seems his jacket was unzipped half way down, he took a raw egg to the chest, as dark as it was he said it felt like blood when he reached inside his jacket. Hard to believe someone hiding along the side of the road could get an egg inside his jacket square enough to knock the wind out of him, but being very dark out and nothing along the highway to hide behind, someone got in a lucky shot that he never saw coming. A slim fella, it left a welt on his ribs for a few days. No doubt bugs suck, but other things cam be worse. How many of you have had a car fly in front of you? | ||
| Sayitaintso |
I would have done the same thing, a change of britches would have been the first thing when I got back. Birds scare the crap outta me after that hit I took. Buzzards and snowy egrets are my worst nightmares...especially buzzards. They seem to want to use the road as a "runway" rather than just move off to the side. Edit: One more thing....never ride within 1 mile of the back of a truck carying livestock, yellow/green showers aren't very fun. (Message edited by sayitaintso on December 02, 2010) | ||
| Reepicheep |
I was riding during the cicada deal... they didn't hurt as bad as I expected... they are lighter than they look. A grasshopper hurts a lot worse. I'm an ATGATT guy, so about the only skin ever exposed when I ride is a 1" circle over my adams apple. Astounding how many bugs find that target. Lots of things have bounced off the rest of my gear though, and some are loud enough to make me wonder if I just got shot. | ||
| Jaimec |
Reepicheep: That June bug I mentioned earlier hit me right on the exposed Adam's Apple despite me wearing a Roadcrafter Suit with the collar up, and a BMW System II helmet which had a leather "curtain" sealing off the bottom of the helmet. Like you said: "Astounding how many bugs find that target." | ||
| Fordrox |
I once took a June bug on the forehead centered between the eyes at 85mph, it almost took me off the back of the bike, I had to pull over and sit for awhile rubbing my head, damn that hurt. | ||
| Reepicheep |
I did once. As surreal as it was sobering. A minivan with a 16 year old driver and three kids drifted off to the right of the road with a big drop, panicked, overcorrected, and came sliding sideways broadside towards me at 50+ mph. Fortunately, it was probably 1000 yards ahead of me. Fortunately, I saw it all unfolding before she even got sideways, and had already dropped anchor, done the mirror check to make sure nobody is about to rear end me, and was headed for the side of the road. Unfortunately, a woman in a white Mazda 626 (can see it clear as day in my mind still) was also going the opposite direction of the van, and didn't see it coming. I don't think she even touched the brakes. She smacked the Odessey broadside... it tilted to a 45 degree or so angle, and her Mazda was about 4 feet off the ground nose down at about a 50 degree angle. Its still hard to wrap my head around. I made the 911 call, and worked hard to not be mistaken as a firefighter in my jacket. The woman in the mazda was unconcious and did NOT look good. Aid was being rendered by others on the scene, the police was on the way and the 911 operator had my contact information, and there was no good place to park my 9sx that didn't create an additional road hazzard, so I said a prayer and went on my way. Tracked more info down a few days later... the mazda driver had both legs badly broken and had her bell well and truly rung, but otherwise was on track to a full recovery. Thank God for airbags. | ||
| Whisperstealth |
A june bug almost knocked me off one day. I had my head slightly turned and got hit in the temple. That hurt. Sometimes it sounds like rocks hitting my helmet, when I know it's bugs. Being the squid that I am, sometimes I go with out my helmet (When real hot, I know dumb, whatever.) But carry it with me. When the bugs come out, I'll put the helmet on. | ||
| Treefrog |
I once tried to catch a June bug with my forehead at 40mph. I did go off the back of the bike. Young, stupid and no helmet or gear. I was lucky I only got scuffed up tumbling down the road. Had a knot on my forehead the size of half a golf ball for about a week. ATGATT will save your *ss | ||
| Tbolt_pilot |
I had my S3 during the cicada awakening a few years ago here in MD. They bend your head back hitting the visor at 70. Good thing I had the sturdy jacket and not the mesh. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
a bee down my jacket will put me out epi pen ! | ||
| Beugs |
When I was young and stupid I took a june bug dead center on my forehead at 75 on an old yamaha turbo. Had to stop my eyes were watering so bad. Jamiec got it exactly right, it's a rock with wings and they hurt like nothing else. | ||
| Jaimec |
It didn't hurt but... Back in 1989 my buddy and I took our first cross country trip to go to Americade West in Estes Park, CO (anyone remember that event?). While hammering along WAY above the speed limit across Nebraska we saw what we thought was a cloud of brown smoke wafting across the highway up ahead. Couldn't figure out what was causing it. We found out real soon what it was like to slam into a swarm of locusts at 85 mph. Fortunately we were both ATGATT even then, with full face helmets too so there was not much pain involved. However, we quickly found ourselves COVERED in squashed bugs. We had to get over to the side of the road quickly because we couldn't see a blessed thing through our helmet visors either. Probably the single most disgusting thing that ever happened to me on a motorcycle. That night we went over the bikes to see who had the biggest, most recognizable pieces of grasshopper stuck in our radiators and plastered all over our bikes (not to mention our riding gear). Here is a picture of the front of my K100 after a passing rain shower washed MOST of the dried bug guts off of it:  | ||
| Kenm123t |
Aero stich vs Leather Don't the pirates know its silly to wear black leather on road trips out of the city. Because Bug guts are white So your fancy leather looks like it has leprosy! |
