Scared to ride again!

[Hotsam]

I was in an accident this summer and suffered very serious injuries, I am undecided weather or not to ride again. Anyone out there gone through something like this? I have a lot of friends that ride but no one has ever had a major crash so they say "when you fall off the horse you must get back on" The question is should I?

 

[bomber43]

Riding again

I was in an accident this summer and suffered very serious injuries, I am undecided weather or not to ride again. Anyone out there gone through something like this? I have a lot of friends that ride but no one has ever had a major crash so they say "when you fall off the horse you must get back on" The question is should I?

If your afraid of the bike don't get on it again

 

[Bikerbozo]

I've had a bad accident (on 2 wheels, never 3. Knock on my wooden block head). So, me personally, I got back on the horse. Trying to avoid rain now when on 2. And night time. On 3, no restrictions. It takes a while to get back your comfort levels. Depending on what cause of accident was. Learn from it. If it was an idiot in a car. Get an air horn and beep anyone who even looks like they might pull across your path. If cause was your fault (as in my case. Who knew you couldn't make a super tight turn on rain wet road at high speed. Hello woods), always keep it in mind. If you even think you will forget cause, well, my wife and mother constantly remind me I am a Bozo! :qpnmt:

 

[rhino 2]

It depends, Was the accident on a Trike or Two wheeler... Also do you have a wife and young children , If so that might be some of your fear to ride again.. You can only get back on the horse when your ready to get back on... Riding scared isn't fun and riding is suppose to be fun and relaxing... Give it time you'll know when your ready....ThumbUp

 

[Steve on 3]

Had a woman pull oout of a driveway and hit me then knocked me into a car head on. Luckily I was doing about 35 but when I hit the car head on , I flew 35 feet over the car, which proves that fat guys can fly but we don't land well. Herniated disk, lost some hearing lin left ear (wearing a helmet) and generally banged up. As soon as my ike was ready, I started small rides like Fuzzy said. I still go through that intersection with my head on a swivel, hand and foot covering the brake and heart pumping.

Only you can answer for you. Try it and see what happens

Good luck

Steve

 

[cavie]

Ever get in an auto wreck?? Did you stop driving???? It's a personal choice.

 

[hogcowboy]

I nearly died in mine. Fortunately I have no memory of it. So I like a fool couldn't wait to start riding again. But that ride home on the new/used bike was the scariest ride I've ever had. It really hit hard once the bike started moving but it was too late then as far as I was concerned. So I twisted the throttle and started praying. I'm glad I did it but I'm honestly not sure I would do it again. I swear there are 100 times more idiots on the road than before the accident.

 

[Gorilla]

personal choice. Did it happen on 2 and your are looking at 3 as a way back into the wind? Most all of us say that 3 wheels are safer then 2. But bottom line is it's your decision. Good Luck be safe.

 

[tomg]

I was t-boned while on the trike in May '09. As I worn a DOT helmet it probably saved my life. I had short term memory for about 3 months, broken ribs front and back, broken collar bone and lots of road rash. I have been riding since 1960 (under age) and was also an instructor for M/C and vehicle safety while in the Air Force in the 70s. I feel that it is going to be totally up to you on riding again. From one rider to another I hope you can get back on and ride. It really felt good when I did get back on!! And remember that there are chances for everything in life. You can be run over walking across the street in a crosswalk!!
Good luck and there is no right or wrong choice with your decision!! It is yours.

Tomg

 

[Hotsam]

I was very lucky to be in the shape I'm in. My right wheel fell off my trike at 110 km/h (I'm Canadian) the rear end dipped down and sent me down a steep ditch straight toward a barbed wire fence. I managed to reduce some speed but I still hit the fence. I'm still recovering, I broke all the ribs on my left side, broke my sternum, killed the left kidney and only have 38% function on the right one. They had to remove part of my pancreas and completely remove my spleen. They also had to re inflate my collapsed left lung. My first question to my husband was how's my trike.
Thank you for sharing all of your stories with me, I'm almost sure I'll ride again, riding is something my husband and I love to do.
P. S. I think I'll try Independant suspension this time since my solid axle actually broke.

 

[Gold Rush]

I was in an accident this summer and suffered very serious injuries, I am undecided weather or not to ride again. Anyone out there gone through something like this? I have a lot of friends that ride but no one has ever had a major crash so they say "when you fall off the horse you must get back on" The question is should I?

Good Morning Sheri. Welcome to TT. Lots of "Sage Advice" here because many of us have gone through what you are experiencing. Fear is a very powerful thing but if you have the desire to ride again and patience to overcome the fear it is doable. Some jump right back on while others take a bit longer. It's not all the same because we don't all process that fear the same. You may never feel fully comfortable riding again but that is not necessary a bad thing. That fear just may keep you more aware of the dangers. Don't let it beat you down. Fretting over not feeling comfortable just adds to the frustration.

We all hope you can get by this but if not you'll be OK. There was life before riding and will be after. Just be glad, as we are, that you survived the accident.

God's speed...... :xszpv::xszpv:

 

[Keystone]

I can completely understand what you went through. In 2011 I lost my left wheel on my 2009 Tri-Glide. Somehow I managed to bring it to a stop without getting injured. Not a fun ordeal. I've put allot of miles on since then. Took awhile not to think about that event while riding.

 

[KBot]

Scared to ride again

I had a relative minor accident on two wheels. I got a broken collarbone which required a plate and 7 screws. Wife got a little road rash. About two weeks after the surgery when shoulder was stable I got on the bike for a short ride to see if I was scared of it or not. (wife was not happy when she came home and saw the motorcycle wasn't in the garage) I was OK with riding but wife was very uncomfortable riding after that although she did ride a few times. That's when we decided if we were going to continue riding we'd get a Trike. Best decision I ever made. I feel totally comfortable on the Trike.

 

[Gorilla]

WOW you really got banged up badly. Now I'm curious as to if you had a TRI-Glide or a conversion that it happened to? All things that are man made can fail. You can only hope that when it does the results are minor. Not so in your case. Heal fast and it sounds like you will be getting back out there.

For you folks that don't know the conversion 110 KMH is about 68 MPH.

 

[Hotsam]

WOW you really got banged up badly. Now I'm curious as to if you had a TRI-Glide or a conversion that it happened to? All things that are man made can fail. You can only hope that when it does the results are minor. Not so in your case. Heal fast and it sounds like you will be getting back out there. For you folks that don't know the conversion 110 KMH is about 68 MPH.

It was a conversion. Harley sportster with a Lehman raider model.

 

[Gorilla]

That's a quality conversion so I expect there was a flaw in the axle metal when it was made. Axle breaks are very rare so don't write off straight axle's for one failure. Now your personal comfort you might well be best to go with a TRI-Glide or Freewheeler even though they are straight axle, it is manufactured the way it comes and is not an adapted rear end. There is far less chance of an issue that way. The IRS conversions are also made as a unit and not an adaption of something else so you should also be more comfortable mind wise. If you really liked the sporty conversion then when the time comes give a freewheeler a look see. Good Luck

 

[nova]

best advice i can give is to let yourself decide. there is no shame in discontinuing something that is fearful or produces anxiety. the main reason i am buying a trike is because i got flat scared riding with my wife. she was an excellent passenger, as she had ridden backseat for years before we met. i had never had a problem with fear riding alone and hadn't ridden 2 up since i was a younger man, so no problem i thought. after about a year and 6 -8 medium length trips, i was not having fun...not enjoying the ride i loved. so i put the bike away and finally figured if we had a trike we could get back on the road and enjoy the life we both love. so you will have to ultimately decide if you can still ride and still love it.....i hope you can. ThumbUp

 

[consitter]

Try riding somewhere there's no traffic, then ease your way into it. It's what I did 30 years ago. I was scared for awhile. It's not good to ride scared. In fact, that alone can get you into an accident because of overreacting.

 

[Retired Army]

Cycle operation is a activity with out comes determined by risk management. Analyze your skills in this area and make an educated decision based on that.

 

[SMSgt]

Ever get in an auto wreck?? Did you stop driving???? It's a personal choice.

:Agree::Agree::Agree:

 

[Nurzo]

Bike smash

I T bone a car whilst riding a sports bike ended up with a open book fracture of my pelvis. After 5 months i return to work with a lot of pain and after 20 month hat a CT scan and discovered my pelvis where it joins the spine had not rejoined 2 screws holding it 1 was broken the other was loose. Had surgery again to fix it and came out of surgery with drop foot on the left leg. 3 months later it dawned on me I wasn't getting better and was actually going backwards. more xrays and CT scans and it's discovered the pelvis ant the pubis was loose as well and back int surgery Wednesday to fuse it with a bone graft.
So aside from all my mishaps I was back riding 2 wheels after 3 months but really didn't feel comfortable on 2 wheels and I the discovered 3 wheeled mobility scooters first the can-am spyder and then converted my harley low rider.

I'm still broken for now but hopefully after 3 months on crutches will see me mended and properly mobile.

 

[Doug D.]

I was in an accident this summer and suffered very serious injuries, I am undecided weather or not to ride again. Anyone out there gone through something like this? I have a lot of friends that ride but no one has ever had a major crash so they say "when you fall off the horse you must get back on" The question is should I?

It's not a question you can ask of anyone but yourself. The decision to ride again after an accident is yours and yours alone. I was in a pretty bad one Labor Day of last year. Some serious injuries and complications afterwards left me pretty apprehensive about getting back in the saddle, but I knew in my heart that the only way to know for sure was to try it see how I felt about it then. It took eleven months for me to get the trike and myself back into some kind of shape so I could ride again. Even though I still have moments of anxiety in certain conditions, I've been riding almost daily, weather permitting. I've never regretted the choice to get back on.

To ride again is a choice you have to make for yourself. Just follow your heart and remember, there's no shame in whatever you decide to do.

PEACE and travel well! orag: ThumbUp