British Motorcycle Gear

Everybody who’s ever thrown a leg over a motorcycle has a story about when they crashed.  This guy (who’s name I do not know) has us all beat.  Last Thursday night, our unnamed hero was riding his Harley-Davidson across the Oakland Bay Bridge (the other big bridge connecting San Francisco to the mainland) when some dweeb in a Mini Cooper merged into his lane.  A crash ensued, the rider came off the bike and suffered minor injuries, but the Harley kept going.  And going.  And going.  Until it hit the rail and (you guessed it) went over the side.

The Oakland Bay Bridge is 190 feet above the Bay.

This fellow sounds like one tough (and lucky) dude.  According to the news reports, he transported himself to the hospital, where he was treated and released.  Also according to the news reports, no citations were issued to either our would-be U-boat commander or the Mini pilot.

The CHP and the Fire Department say they know exactly where the bike is.  (So do I.  It’s in San Francisco Bay.)  The emergency responders will attempt to recover the motorcycle at a later date (the water under the bridge is about 100 feet deep).  They are worried about it leaking gas and oil into the Bay.  There’s a joke in there somewhere.   Harleys are known to leak both, you know.  I know Harley is moving to liquid cooling, but this is ridiculous.  There’s got to be more.  Let’s hear ’em.

As motorcycle crash stories go, this has to be one for the ages.  I’m glad our hero (whoever he is) came through it with only minor injuries.  Ah, the stories he’ll be able to tell.


So, here’s an invitation.  Recognizing it’s not likely any of us will ever be able to top this story, what’s yours?  Got a good crash story?  We’d love to hear it.


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Joe Berk

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