Roadkill

[lakezahl]

Ok, this is probably a dumb question. It's usually easy to miss a dead skunk on 2 wheels or 4, but what about 3? Hasn't happened yet as I've ridden so little on the trike but it is high season for it.

Hate to leave her outside like a sprayed dog till the smell goes away, don't much like the idea of washing her with tomato juice either.

 

[rhino 2]

Ok, this is probably a dumb question. It's usually easy to miss a dead skunk on 2 wheels or 4, but what about 3? Hasn't happened yet as I've ridden so little on the trike but it is high season for it.

Hate to leave her outside like a sprayed dog till the smell goes away, don't much like the idea of washing her with tomato juice either.

Its a chinch to avoid any dead animal on two wheels... Four wheels you can straddle them... With three wheels you can't straddle them' one wheel is gonna get them... You have to completely steer around them.. When i had a Spyder [two wheels in front] A few times i had a squirrel run out in front of me and the front wheels would straddle them only to become asphalt pizza when the rear would nail them..
Don't know how new you are to riding But theres a thing called, ''Target Fixation''... Stare at something in the road , and you'll hit it..

 

[CrystalPistol]

Well ..... if the road kill isn't over a foot wide and if you just miss it with the front wheel on one side, often the rear wheel will skim it on the other side. Much over a foot, one of the three tracks will hit it .... or a pot hole, etc. On Blue Ridge Parkway I watch closely for the pot holes and try to ride around or straddle. It is far easier on 2 or 4 wheels.

You could set up some empty pop cans or colored plastic bottles in a parking lot and practice avoidance? Try single cans and work up to two cans 12" apart. Put a little water in them so windage from the trike doesn't blow them over.

 

[paws]

Hate to leave her outside like a sprayed dog till the smell goes away, don't much like the idea of washing her with tomato juice either. [/QUOTE]

We had a skunk die next to the dryer vent on the side of the house. Poured a whole bottle of Odor Out or Odo Ban, (can't remember which product it was - bought it at Sam's CLub) on the ground where it died. Also poured a bottle of Nature's Miracle (buy it at Petsmart to kill dog urine odor - or you can use any enzyme product for the purpose of destroying urine/feces odor). HAd no idea if any of it would have any effect against the odor.
But thankfully one or both products worked to kill the smell and it worked very well. Would think if you ran over a skunk you could spray this stuff under the trike and kill the smell. Good luck to you.

 

[LadyonaMission]

Once upon a time, I was riding my Road King on a narrow 2 lane country road, just as I came down a slight incline I saw 3 buzzards eating a skunk. It had just started drizzling so I didn't dare cram on the brakes, but I did let off of the gas and lowed my head behind the windshield. Two flew off in the opposite direction. One flew up toward me, hit my headlight, was slung around to the side, repositioned my turn light, kept going and erupted all over my engine guard.

The really bad part was the smell of the meat cooking on my engine. I had skunk-eating buzzard guts all over me and my motorcycle. I kept riding because I really had no choice. When I approached the next town I stopped at a car wash and was assisted by a nice couple who owned a T-shirt shop next to the car wash and also rode motorcycles.

The man reminded me not to spray my hot pipes so we started cleaning my leather jacket, chaps, helmet and sunglasses with misprinted T-shirts and a bucket of hot soapy water. After a while he washed my Road King and repositioned my turn light. When I made it home, after dark, I put my Road King in the garage along with everything I had on. The next day I tossed my helmet, washed my Road King by hand, cleaned my leathers twice with the best leather cleaner I had and everything went back to normal.

The trim around the headlight was bent slightly, but everything else was fine.

 

[Bikerbozo]

It's easy to avoid any roadkill. Just aim front wheel right at it and.....pop a wheelie!!!

 

[lakezahl]

Thanks for your replies. I really like the soda can idea.

 

[Doug D.]

Mine's wide enough (6'6" fender to fender) that I can aim the front tire just left or right of the "target" and straddle it on one side or the other with the rear wheels. Depending on how bad they're splattered, I can usually miss the whole works. If I'm lucky, they're far enough to one side of the lane or the other that I miss 'em all together!

But even worse than skunks around here, are armadillos. Damn things are everywhere, and they're friggin' huge! And the buzzards just love 'em! Can't round a corner without finding a ditch turkey grazing on a pile of 'dillo guts!

 

[Ed Hobgood]

I guess I'm lucky, most of the time I see the road kill far enough out that I can move to one side of the road or the other and miss it. I have hit road kill and it must have been there long enough that it hasn't sent anything flying. You will get to where you see something in the road and you will be able to straddle it. On several occasions there has been that big rock or limb in the road and some how I missed it. Like I said I must be lucky that I haven't hit a skunk... now that I've said this just wait until my next ride and I will:AGGHH:.

 

[Gold Rush]

I'm sure you have all heard the riding theory about looking ahead of where you want to turn and your reaction will automatically steer you that way. For me a very similar philosophy works for road kill avoidance. If I fixate on the critter I will hit it!! If I fixate on a spot just to the left or right of it I'll miss. Same thing works for missing other debris in the road. Plenty of room to miss a skunk or squirrel even on a narrow Motor Trike. :xszpv: :xszpv: