I was coming home at 130 am couple days ago. Riding home after work, about a 40 minute ride. I went thru a town and picking up speed on the highway going over saylorville lake. There is a Levee/dam with wire cable guards along both sides. I slowed down half way across, they had a road construction sign for a BUMP in the road, they recently repaired the highway and there was a dip. So about the same time/spot a deer jumps over the cables on the highway right into my motorcycle. I was slowing down from 50ish to 30-40mph when I hit. I went over the top sailing superman style and landed on the highway in the same position. I kept my arms straight ahead of me and flat to the ground while sliding along. I feared the bike would be on top of me, so out of my left side I could see sparks flying in the left lane next to me. I tucked my chin down and let the helmet do its job, grinding along the highway. When I finally came to a stop I just laid there and didn't feel anything wrong with my body. I wore a Sparx helmet, Joe Rocket textile 5 jacket, leather gloves with carbon fiber knuckles, and Cortech DSX Denim Pants with knee pads, and leather boots.
I stood up and was amazed that I could do that, and seen my bike had slid across the highway and on the right of way. I turned the key off, and fuel off. It was leaking a little fuel, engine not running. I lifted it back up on the stand. I had my phone in my front pocket of the jacket, and pulled it out, well that was riding along the highway and also smashed. Pitch dark, and I remembered I had a maglite in the seat. Pulled it out, looked at bike, flagged down a vehicle to call 911 for me.
Damage to bike was headlight smashed, windscreen smashed, horn assembly apart, I have Moto Frame Sliders and they worked!! It slid on the right side the whole way and that frame slider ground down quite a bit! The heat shield was scratched, right side handlebar end and right brake lever also ground slightly. I think the biggest expense may be the black rear cowl, with the 599 on it. There is a shall white spot where it was rubbing on the highway, and a crack along the underside. Also the rear brake lever is bent in.
Cops pulled up and deer in ditch, rear end was hit and it was struggling, so they fired a few rounds in the deer. They were amazed that I was up and walking after that!
I have both elbows with road rash and forearms also took a scrape. The jacket did its job, and there was big holes in the elbows and chest where I was sliding. Both the elbows where the body armor is at was wore thru good. Denim jeans, with armor knee pads. No rips at all on pants, but my knees have slight scratches, knee pads may have been rubbing them, since the pads are loose inside a pocket inside the knee area.
My biggest pain is right foot and right shoulder. I have nothing broken but just a dull pain. Dr said good shape for what happened and cops were glad I had on all the riding gear! 8)

Sheriff dept stuck around and my wife came with my truck and ramp and they helped load it. Never started it yet, and I took it to Garvis Honda for the insurance quote.
I noticed on the carbon fiber knuckles on the gloves that they also had some scrapes, so glad I had them!
REMEMBER TO WEAR YOUR GEAR. :ride

:shock: Damn, you're lucky! Sorry to hear about the bike, and I hope everything turns out ok.

Wow, glad that you are ok after that. I've had a couple close calls with deers out here and they always scare me a bit.

+1 on the gear - how's the helmet look?

i want everybody on this forum to read your story and learn how IMPORTANT GEAR IS.

Imagine if you would had been in a teeshirt, ouch! But anyways, sucks for the bike, but glad you're ok man.

Did you eat the deer?

:shock:

Happy to know you're in good shape (all things considered)! Thank you for reminding everyone how important gear is.

Thank you for posting this, it makes me glad I gear up every time I go for even a 5 minute ride. Good choice wearing all of your gear, it sounds like you could have been far worse off sliding down the road at 30mph.

You were pretty fortunate I think, hopefully the bike gets fixed soon and you can get back out there!

Glad you came out ok. It's got to be such a relief to stand up and know that you made it through ok.

Sucks about the bike, and the deer for that matter. Sounds like deer sausage time to me. Might as well make the best of it. :P

Dude, one of my biggest fears is hitting one of those pesky critters, they seem to show no sense of self preservation when they jump in the road and you can't seem to predict where they will go. Last time I saw one jump onto the road I grabbed the front brake so hard that my nuts smashed into the tank but I got off lucky compared to you. I'm happy you made it thru with minor injuries, kudos for wearing your gear. Good luck getting her back on the road.

Oh Deer!

Heal up fast, both you and the bike! I'm glad your injuries were pretty minimal.

Glad to hear you're mostly unscathed, IA. Hang in there.

The only critters I have to dodge around here are pedestrians - which on the positive side, weigh less than a deer. The negative side is that I can't put two rounds into one if I injure it in a collision. :D

That's as good as it gets, man. If that were me, with my luck, the bike would have flipped on top of me and smacked me on the ass just to add insult to injury.

Good call on the gear. Glad to hear things worked out as well as they did. Most stories involving deer have much worse endings.

Three cheers for gear! (and survival)

IA - amazing story. And thank you for posting it. I will be sure to share this with many who just don't think gear is worth wearing.

Very glad you are okay. Hitting a dear/bear/mountain lion (hey we have crazy f'in animals in Cali) basically anything big as or bigger than a dog is something I often worry about. Already hit a wascaly wabbit, so the smaller critters dont' worry me. But damn, a DEER!!!

Thanks for all the support! It hasn't sunk in yet, how lucky I was to be able to walk away from that! I was back at work today, light duty, and everyone mentioned that fact!
Going to the Honda dealership tomorrow to check out what the estimate is. The insurance company doesn't even send a claim agent out, just takes a quote! See how that goes!
Going to upgrade to a perforated leather jacket whenever I decide to go back riding!
Sparx helmet has a replacement policy on their helmets that were involved in an accident! So hopefully get another helmet! The front chin area is all scraped away and the face shield is also scraped. Basically just went face down on the highway!
Later! 8)

I'm really, really glad to gear that you're OK after that. I hope you get on well soon and get back on the bike. :ride

I quote Homer Simpson "mmmm Geeer". I suspect that since the adrenaline has worn off the aches and pain from hitting the road at speed are giving you some grief. Glad your alright and good to hear stories of gear doing it's job. I think I need to invest in some riding pants soon.

I just received the estimate back today for repairing the bike.... :(
$3500 damage done. Biggest $$ expense is the gauges, exhaust, the cowl, and headlight assembly. Lots of small parts, they basically listed every thing with a scratch. Faxed this info tonight to the insurance company. Guess they will salvage it. Any opinions, first time having to deal with insurance company on options?
Thanks! 8)

man, $3500 is all it takes to total it? I thought the bikes were worth more.

I'm still waiting on the insurance man to decide what to do. I brought the bike back from the dealership, and started it to hear it. It idles ok, but when you rev it, it sounds BAD. Rough and vibration. The frame slider is bent on the right slide where it slid. The bike was on it's side for maybe 5 minutes and not running when I walked to it. I shut the fuel off and lifted it up. Never started it.
Dealership mentioned that it sounded rough, that might need carb work? Do you think any other damage is possible to engine?

man, $3500 is all it takes to total it? I thought the bikes were worth more.

I believe they declare it a "total" if the repair costs 70% of the bike or more.

You must be correct Alex! I received the check in the mail from the insurance company to repair the bike! I'm going to order the two brothers exhaust instead of the factory one. Just waiting on parts now!
Honda Dealership said they repaired a CBR for the THIRD time, and this time the damage was around $9000! He mentioned that some bikes total at different rates.
Sent my SPARX helmet back for the crash helmet policy, hopefully get another one out of the deal!
Can't wait to ride again!
8)

glad to hear your ok man. hopefully you get the bike back before it gets too cold out. I almost hit one of those bastards on my way home tonight, it jumped right out of a cornfield about 10 feet from me.

I tell ya, I have no problem with hunting but it's not something I would enjoy. But I REALLY wouldn't mind a group of hunters coming to the county where I live to really bring down the deer population. I see them all the time on the side of the two lane road I take home in the evening. They really scare the heck out of me but no close calls yet although there have been some panic braking moments. From the stats I read on motorcycle/deer collisions you really had fate on your side. Good on ya for wearing gear as well.

I know a guy who glued two deer whistles on the front fender of his Vespa. We rode across the country and he didn't hit any deer, but then again no one else did either so who knows if it worked or not.

Deer whistles = useless. You might try installing one of those stebel air horns to try and scare them off but the deer are so unpredictable that I'm not sure it would work. It might be fun though.

I found an "electronic" version of the deer whistle on the internet! Might give this a try!
http://www.homeproductsnmore.com/v/vspfiles/V4_Backup/deer-whistles/motorcycles.htm
Interesting that it has a switch to turn on/off, may try it out on some pets! :lol:

Ouch, sorry to hear about your mishap IA! It's getting to be that time of year when I spend more time scanning off to the sides of the road than straight ahead when I'm riding out in the country.

Sounds like you've decided to fix your bike, but I just wanted to let you know there is an '04 yellow for sale on the bulletin board in the lobby of Dahl's on NW 86th St in Johnston.

Garvis called and the parts are in! So should be fixed by next week!
SPARX helmets rock!! I sent them my crashed one and within the week they sent a brand new one back! :o
Should be back on the road in no time now!
Seattle, I wonder if thats the yellow one that struthers had sold this spring? Had like 10,000 miles!
8)

Could be the same one, I know Struthers did sell it. That would probably mean someone bought it and decided they didn't like it, which I can't even fathom. Or it could be a completely different one, I've been very surprised by how many 599's there are here in our relatively small population base! Me, you, TonyMK4 and another guy that doesn't list his location but posted about riding on I-80 when it was closed due to flooding.

Anyways, glad to hear you're getting it back together relatively quickly. I was hit by an uninsured driver on my first bike, totalled it, and was off the horse for several years. That sucked.

Before it gets too late, call the insurance company and ask about your gear. I'm told they will usually pay for it.