Crashed hitting a deer at about 55mph

EDIT:
Here is the video:




I had a great day.
Rode the full length of Mulholland Highway to the beach and had a really great day kitesurfing.
Great conditions... perfect wind and big waves.
I was heading home and about 10 minutes from home a deer shot out of nowhere in a full sprint.
About 1/3 second warning.

I went down hard at 55mph

Slid about 200 feet and the bike went further.

I went down hard on my right side hitting shoulder, head and hips.

At some point during the slide the bike hit me. I saw it coming at me, thought it was going to hit me in the face/head.
It hit my hand sparks flying.
I felt like a huge bee sting on my hand. I think the crash guard took a little chunk out of my thumb.

Anyway the most important thing I want to share is that my airbag vest went off and protected me
incredibly well! Apart from the hand injury I ONLY HAVE A 1in x 1/2in subtle bruise.

My motoport pants and jacket protected my skin. Both are trashed, but did their job really well. Apart from my hand NOT A SCRATCH!!!!
The main damage areas of the jacket are where I hit hard and mainly on the top of my left sleeve.

Helmet has some rear damage from the initial impact and side/visor grinding from the slide.
Shoei Helmets are built like tanks! Keep in mind the Air-bag vest and helmet worked in tandem.
I don't even have a stiff neck!

I also have to mention my Motoport Gloves. Despite me sliding palms down the gloves have virtually no damage on the palms.
Some stitching gave way and I think that was from the force of the initial impact.
The first thing I looked at even before getting up were my hands / gloves because of the long slide and the harsh blacktop there. Best $169 I have ever spent.

I've gone down before. Once when I was 14 on road and other times riding MX. Those falls felt sort of like being attacked by 5 people with base ball bats.

This fall with the Air-Bag vest I would describe as feeling like I was having a good pillow fight with
Shaq O'Niel and he got me really good with a big ass heavy pillow full of heavy feathers. A big dull WOOOOMMMP and two or three knocks.
The knocks were from my helmet and shoulder armor.

I got it all on helmet cam with my helmet light on. I'll post at some point.
As well as photos of the gear.

After chilling with two good samaritans for 15 or 20 minutes and doing some balance tests etc and checking the bike I got back in the bike and rode it home slowly with the two good samaritans escorting me ... both of us with out 4 turn signals flashing.

About the bike all I remember is giving it gas when I was hit to not go highside..... Old MX habit.
The deer hit the wheel from the side at full sprint and threw the steering all the way to the right totally braking the tire traction with the ground leaving a skid mark.
Bike threatened to highside, but ended lowsided and the engine crash guard took the brunt of it along with the left side case.
Road surface was so abrasive that the crash guard almost ground through the thickness of the tubing in two places. Crazy thing is that durring my slide I noticed two colors of sparks ..... kind of trippy......
I also had a big ass duffel bag sticking out a bit over the case. It helped dampen the drop.

The bike itself is frigging PERFECT!!!!!! And believe it or not my surfboard didn't even get scratched or fly off or anything.

I also have to give a shout out to Otterbox. My phone flew the farthest and protected my phone perfectly so I was able to send out an emergency buy pressing the power button three times. (a Samsung/Android function).

I'm glad to still be around and "celebrating" the outcome. Apart from my thumb, the pain in the rest of my body I would best describe as the pain you might get by getting over ambitious working out at the gym.

Ride Safe.

wow!

wear your gear!

I had no idea these air bag vests even existed. Might have to look into getting one.

Sorry to hear of the collision, but glad you made it through like you did! Way to survive!

Glad you walked away thats awesome! Really curious about the details of your riding gear. I have the motoport gear as well and love it. Curious about the airbag set up.

The Airbag vest is a Hit-Air MLV-P


Uniflated


Inflated


Inflated side view

Wow glad your ok! So you wear the vest over your riding jacket?

Yes that is how it should be worn. It all has to have room to expand. When it goes off it tightens everything up.
Not only does it protect you from hitting something, but it also stabilizes the neck and spinal column.
Really reduces hyper extension of the neck. It's crazy that I have absolutely no stiffness in my neck.

Hit-Air also makes jackets with built in Air-bag vests with the same or very similar neck protection







There is another company that even makes a stylish somewhat retro leather jacket with an air-bag vest in it.
Helite.

Holy fuck

Glad your okay.

Shitty deal, Fred, glad to hear you and the bike were ok. I think everyone would love to see photos of your gear after the get-off as it sounds like it really held up well.

Is it too soon to make a car tire joke?

Good on ya! Thanks for posting!!

How did you hear about / decide to get one of those?



Its not the slide per se with good gear doin a number on ya - its the blunt force trauma. Upper body protection is a concern/worry. I've got a good armored jacket (elbow,back,shoulder) but nothing in there to protect the chest. Glad you didn't have to test that part out!

What was the traffic like? Did you stay in your lane when you slid or wander a bit? I've driven that road... kinda fast and curvy.

I'm very interested in the motoport pictures. At least if they can't fix it the new replacement set is free!

The motoport jackets do have chest armor El Duque

What time today (Wednesday) morning did you go down?

Using this calculator, as an estimate to your skid distance. I do not think you or your bike skidded over 200 feet. http://www.forensicdynamics.com/stopping-braking-distance-calculator........also an interesting brief on their testing in motorcycle accidents.

Wow that's nuts! Glad your okay. I had heard about air bag systems, but haven't seen anyone actually use it. Glad it worked, I'll have to look into it when I pick up my first bike. Being a newbie rider, I know I could benefit from it.

Glad you are OK.

What sort of bike were you on?

Man, Fred, glad you are alright. Glad all the gear worked for you.

I don't feel bad about dropping the coin on my airbag. I'm thinking you don't either.

I don't think that calculator is for either motorcycles or for sliding down asphalt on a crash bar, side case and nylon slider.

We did go back and measure it all out.

It says braking and sliding distance and it looks like it is for cars.....

I'm pretty sure one would stop much quicker with two tires on the ground and ABS doing it's thing.

I did not have the luxury of even touching the brakes.

One thing I know for sure after this is that due disk brakes work much better than hand brakes... by hand brakes I mean my left and right hand palms down while body surfing on asphalt. Jokes aside.... My gloves really worked wonders in protecting my palms.
Not a scratch on my palms, no burns, NOTHING.

Accident was about 10pm Saturday 20th.

Yamaha Super Tenere. It's a tank on two wheels. Not a scratch on the bike. Alt Rider crash guard on it as well as nylon sliders on the wheel axels. Left side case and a duffle bag on top of it sticking out a bit protected the bike completely. Tip over switch cut the engine instantly.