My buddy, known to many of you as "Upstairs Will" crashed his R6 today on the way to work. I don't know the details yet, but his mom called and said he was awaiting surgery on his arm and leg. She says he'll be okay but he needs to get some bones set or something.

As far as what happened, all I was told was that he got kind of trapped between parked cars and a tow truck and laid it down. I assume that means he was lane-splitting, in a matter of speaking, along an edge lane and the tow truck made a turn. He was cited, so he did something wrong. But I'm working with very little information right now and I'm trying to paint the picture while filling a lot of gaps. I guess I will find out more later tonight or tomorrow. He only had liability on the bike, and it's toast. I'm guessing he's going to stay out of the game after this, but maybe he'll surprise me. He just bought a house too, so I seriously doubt he'll have the cash to replace that bike with anything even close to what he had.

It made my ride home from working overtime even more sobering. Rubber down, kids.

Man, that sucks. Best wishes to your bud for a speedy recovery and hey...let's be careful out there!!

Sucks, man. Sounds like this might be another lesson of how you can at least reduce your risk of biting slab if you don't do shit you shouldn't be doing.

Still, wish him well for me. Hope he comes back better than ever and rides again.

Yeah, lane-sharing is dangerous. I had a friend on the Bay Bridge go down when a car turned into him as he went by. Thankfully, it's legal here and a CHP officer was behind him and cited the driver instead of both of them.

But if you lane-share in a state where it's illegal (all but CA) and you go down, you have no one to blame but yourself. Illegal maneuvers deserve no leniency.

I sound like a hard-ass for some reason... I feel bad for the guy, for sure. I know he'll be feeling those injuries for a long time.

I don't think I'd ride in congestion that would make lane splitting feasible but now that I'm used to riding again I can see how riding a bike in urban areas would be fun. Lane splitting in the NYC metro area would definitely get you killed. But we all know the risks and the fun and I hope your bud heals up quick.

I got a little more info... hard to describe without knowing the street.

It's one of those 6-lane roads that occasionally has parking on the curb lane. Know what I mean?

So I guess he was in the curb lane coming up on some parked cars, about to switch over to the middle lane when a tow truck in the far inside lane decided he wanted the middle. By the time my buddy realized the window for escape was closing and hit the brakes to try and let the tow truck slide past him, he ran out of real estate. The tried to "thread the needle" and didn't make it. Again... I'm still kind of interpolating here.

He called last night at 2am. He had gotten out of surgery earlier and in a morphine daze he figured he would see "what was up". I about reached through the phone and smacked his loopy ass. I told him to go back to bed, but he said he had been sleeping all day and was bored.

At any rate, they put some plates and pins and his arm (he was wearing his jacket and I assume his helmet as well) and had to clean out his leg because it got sliced and diced and needed protection from infectious nasties. He should be okay - but he'll be in the hospital a while and will need 8-10 weeks to heal and then assess the situation further.

He got a ticket - and I assume he got a ticket for hitting a parked vehicle. Tow truck continued driving off. A lady behind Will called 911 right away and stayed with him until the cavalry arrived.

Once he gets better and feels like talking about other things besides recovery and physical therapy... I'll see what happened to the bike. My understanding is that he's done. Period. Both him and his mom said that. He might burn the bike, knowing him. But if it is salvageable I might see if he wants to sell it to me and I might make a project track bike. But his mom said the bike... "hit a house". So... :shock:

Long story short.... he hurts a lot, but will eventually be ok. They might re-do his arm surgery tomorrow, but I don't know for sure yet.

Hope he recovers quickly. If he wants to saddle up again, good for him. If not, it's still his call. Although the mental image of setting the bike on fire does have some amusement factor.

From the way you are describing it, the tow truck should have at least stopped. Hard to say though since this is a reconstruction based on the accounts of others.

Hey JBarx,

Sorry to changed the topic, but I was reading some old posts of yours...
Not to bring up a "sore" subject, but I read the entire log of your "Chipolte" mishap. Last report was that the bike was in the shop awaiting parts, and you were waiting on checks. Sorry that its been over a year, but I was wondering if you picked up a new 599 or salvaged the original? Saw where you were looking at 919's as well...

Still riding in OH? A little nasty here now in IN.

But if you lane-share in a state where it's illegal (all but CA) and you go down, you have no one to blame but yourself. Illegal maneuvers deserve no leniency.

not be a stickler, but lane sharing and lane splitting are two different terms used

lane splitting is when one split lanes, lane sharing is when two or more vehicles are in the same lane, like when one creeps by on the right side for the right turn red when the car infront of you is going straight, that's technically lane sharing since two vehicles are in the same lane

motorcyclist are allowed to lane split and lane share, but only with other motorcyclist, not with cars

just puttin the info out there

anyways, i hope your buddy's doing well

Hey JBarx,

Sorry to changed the topic, but I was reading some old posts of yours...
Not to bring up a "sore" subject, but I read the entire log of your "Chipolte" mishap. Last report was that the bike was in the shop awaiting parts, and you were waiting on checks. Sorry that its been over a year, but I was wondering if you picked up a new 599 or salvaged the original? Saw where you were looking at 919's as well...

Still riding in OH? A little nasty here now in IN.
No I salvaged it. I think there's another thread on the rebuild/repair/mod process. It spent about a month in the shop mostly waiting on parts. The total bill was just over $700. Then I bought my own stuff and did the rest. I added more mods over time.

When you factor the totaled payout, plus personal property reimbursement, minus $1600 for buyback and $700 in the shop... that leaves a lot for mods.

http://www.honda599.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4416

At this point, just about the only things left stock are the frame and sub-assemblies, body/tank, headlight, gauges, motor and clutch. Even the chain and sprockets are about to get swapped out too.