barncat

it was bound to happen sooner or later where i live, out on some PA back road. had less than 2 seconds to react, from about 65mph to maybe 45 at impact. full size deer- direct hit at 45 degrees from the left. snapped the footpeg, snapped off the bar end mirror, pushed the left fairing forward 2 inches, busted the headlight lens, bent the clutch lever...

i'm here to say you can ride one of these out. didn't lay it down. stuck my knee into it's ribs and leaned the bike into it like hip checking a hockey player. it's critical to not freak out or do anything sudden. i was lucky it wasn't a t-bone... got pushed to the rough, off camber right shoulder that was about 1 foot wide and rode the ragged edge for a couple hundred feet- woods over the bank on right... i credit calm nerves, the suspension and the tires for the save.

time to go do some repairs...

Tweety

Heh... You got out of that lightly... I hit a deer on a CBR600F3i about 10 years ago... Also a fullsize deer, and I did T-bone it, a solid hit... I didn't go down, or at least I didn't until I got the bike stopped and found the kickstand missing, at which point I just dumped it... I really, really wanted to get the deer guts of my face quickly at that point...

I spent some 2 hours on a backroad in the middle of nowhere, tearing off loose parts and deer remains, enough that I could limp the bike back to civilization... No cell signal, and the deer took out the gauges, lights, and ignition cabling... So I had to hotwire my own bike to get home...

And it doesn't take much to figure out that the bike was a total write off, since the forks where bent, and the headstock cracked... My nearly new leathers was also a complete write off, the smell of deer insides isn't nice...

mopar_man

Glad to hear that your ok! Sucks for the bike damage, but it could always be worst. On the bright side if you stuffed the head and put the bent clutch lever in its mouth, that would look awesome in a man cave, good conversation piece too lol. All jokes aside, glad your still with us.

matt365

lol...

I'm sorry man, but I have to laugh at that.

wow. Kinda feel bad about it, but that makes for one crazy story.

I've came close a few times, but luckily the only things I've cut in half with a bike were smaller critters.

Had a chipmunk try and jump between my rotor and the rim... that was like it jumped into a moving fan... Crudded up my rim pretty good.


OP, that sucks, but it could have been so much worse. Theres a fine line between luck and skill. Good on ya.

NHSH

I'm sorry to hear that, but at list you are ok. The bike you can always fix!
These encounters can be really dangerous, had a few close calls upstate NY near bear mountain and seven lake area, but my worst yet was actually in Australia... Mid air collision with a grey kangaroo on an afternoon solo off road ride with my brand new XR650L west of Sydney, not the biggest Kangaroo, but can still hit you hard! Dislocated fingers and deep cuts and bruises, felt like a looser, as the Kangaroo didn't even fall, twist of the tail landed on his feet and was gone into the forest in an instant...

NHSH

With all of that said, cagers are still the worst of all the animals!!!

barncat

yeah, it's ironic. bought this bike because i'm tiring of working on vintage project rides. and it looked practically showroom.... anyway, minor damage and obviously could have been far worse. i've always said- it's not going to be me, but some damn animal or another driver. the former being more prevalent on my usual rides. used up another of my nine.

really was not in the mood to pull the whole swingarm bolt just to get the left footpeg bracket off, plus the cast aluminum can't be welded anyway without weakening it substantially. fabbed up a bolt on steel peg that will also hang the exhaust as per original. now to fix the smashed headlight and tweaked fairing...

NHSH

Not bad as a temporary solution looks almost like an aftermarket foot peg

twist

You are one lucky dude! Good job you didn't panic and rode it out. My best friend hit a deer some years ago. It jumped out in front of him while he was doing about 65 or 70. He spent time in hospital, bike was a total loss. Killed the deer. One of the things that makes me pucker enough to rip the seat cover!
Glad you're OK, close call that could have been worse.

8541Hawk

As an FYI someone has removed the swingarm bolt in the past and re-installed it the wrong way.

The nut should be on that side as you need to remove that rearset in order to pull the chain without cutting it.

barncat

this was one of those incidents we hope will never happen to us, but animals are Threat #1 in rural areas. oh well, live to ride another day. hopefully the law of averages will be on my side for a while now. it was pretty strange to be slamming my left side right into it. don't even have any bruises... the deer was not there when i looped back around after assessing the bike damage. probably went off into the woods to die slowly. unfortunate but just the way it is. they are extremely dumb animals when confronted by motor vehicles.

JPP