Some time ago I read a post with attached video showing how to turn your Versys around, in the garage, so it's facing out for your next departure. I thought it looked pretty "trick", and started doing it. Seemed like a VERY handy thing to do.
At least it did, until I turned my V around on the 29th July. :badidea:
What happened, was the rear wheel contacted something (it'd happened before) as I was half-way round and I pushed the bike forward slightly - STILL LEANED ONTO THE SIDESTAND... an EXTREMELY STUPID thing to do!!! (The other times I'd straightened it up, then forward, then back onto the stand, and turned again.) I suppose I was under the miss-apprehension that I could hold up 450 pounds of Versys leaned towards me.... :thumbdown:
In an incredibly quick movement the 'stand folded back, the Versys fell towards and onto me knocking me backward SUPER-FAST!
I wasn't knocked unconscious, but the back of my head hurt like hell as I pushed the Green Hornet off my right foot (thank God for my S-W crash bars! ), and as I stood up I saw blood splashing onto it. Not good.
So - STUPID #2 - I tried to pick it up and wrenched my back immediately, blood now everywhere. I hobbled over to the door, called for my wife - "Help!" and grabbed a clean shop rag and put it over the top of my scalp.
She came in, turned white - guess I looked pretty awful..., and took me to Emergency at our hospital. The nurse observed - "Looks like you scalped yourself!" then got me set-up for the doctor, who, saying it ...MIGHT hurt... re-attached it with a staple. YUP- it hurt !
Once we got home I hobbled out to survey the "scene of the crime". When I fell backwards my head hit the bottom 'shelf' on my workbench which is 1/2" plywood, about 9" above the floor which has a carpet remnant there. The hit was a 'glancing' hit, probably only overlapping the shelf by half to 3/4 of an inch, and a lot of the force of my fall was absorbed as my head crushed the plywood over about 3" width, 3/4" of depth, and peeled back the back of my scalp.
After thinking over my accident, I have to say that I believe I was VERY LUCKY. :goodluck: Had my head hit the shelf further from the front edge, with 9" to the floor and 450# of V on me, I may have broken my neck. :badidea:
Had I totally MISSED that edge, at the speed I fell I think I might have fractured my skull when I hit the concrete (even with the rug...).
Some may wonder why I'm telling this gruesome story, but there are several reasons. In the original thread someone mentioned that their sidestand nut was almost totally backed-out, so this could have happened to HIM; and I still have trouble with HOW FAST I fell backwards, my Versys ramming me back onto my head instantly, and I've now stopped spinning it around because of this. :goodidea:
I was STUPID, but also VERY LUCKY! YOU might NOT be...! :goodluck:
The pictures show where I hit the bench, and what the top of my head looked like a week later. Incidentally - it STILL looks pretty much the same, and when I ride I put a face-cloth on my head under the helmet to absorb my "leakage".
:sorry:
At least it did, until I turned my V around on the 29th July. :badidea:
What happened, was the rear wheel contacted something (it'd happened before) as I was half-way round and I pushed the bike forward slightly - STILL LEANED ONTO THE SIDESTAND... an EXTREMELY STUPID thing to do!!! (The other times I'd straightened it up, then forward, then back onto the stand, and turned again.) I suppose I was under the miss-apprehension that I could hold up 450 pounds of Versys leaned towards me.... :thumbdown:
In an incredibly quick movement the 'stand folded back, the Versys fell towards and onto me knocking me backward SUPER-FAST!
I wasn't knocked unconscious, but the back of my head hurt like hell as I pushed the Green Hornet off my right foot (thank God for my S-W crash bars! ), and as I stood up I saw blood splashing onto it. Not good.
So - STUPID #2 - I tried to pick it up and wrenched my back immediately, blood now everywhere. I hobbled over to the door, called for my wife - "Help!" and grabbed a clean shop rag and put it over the top of my scalp.
She came in, turned white - guess I looked pretty awful..., and took me to Emergency at our hospital. The nurse observed - "Looks like you scalped yourself!" then got me set-up for the doctor, who, saying it ...MIGHT hurt... re-attached it with a staple. YUP- it hurt !
Once we got home I hobbled out to survey the "scene of the crime". When I fell backwards my head hit the bottom 'shelf' on my workbench which is 1/2" plywood, about 9" above the floor which has a carpet remnant there. The hit was a 'glancing' hit, probably only overlapping the shelf by half to 3/4 of an inch, and a lot of the force of my fall was absorbed as my head crushed the plywood over about 3" width, 3/4" of depth, and peeled back the back of my scalp.
After thinking over my accident, I have to say that I believe I was VERY LUCKY. :goodluck: Had my head hit the shelf further from the front edge, with 9" to the floor and 450# of V on me, I may have broken my neck. :badidea:
Had I totally MISSED that edge, at the speed I fell I think I might have fractured my skull when I hit the concrete (even with the rug...).
Some may wonder why I'm telling this gruesome story, but there are several reasons. In the original thread someone mentioned that their sidestand nut was almost totally backed-out, so this could have happened to HIM; and I still have trouble with HOW FAST I fell backwards, my Versys ramming me back onto my head instantly, and I've now stopped spinning it around because of this. :goodidea:
I was STUPID, but also VERY LUCKY! YOU might NOT be...! :goodluck:
The pictures show where I hit the bench, and what the top of my head looked like a week later. Incidentally - it STILL looks pretty much the same, and when I ride I put a face-cloth on my head under the helmet to absorb my "leakage".
:sorry: