Crash and Burn (Part 1)

This is a project I've meant to start for quite some time.  Why the sudden end to my procrastination?  A few reasons, but first among them is that I find myself with time on my hands.

On Saturday July 20^th 2013, I was in a motorcycle crash on Old NC Highway 18 near Morganton, NC.  I went down after contact with road debris at corner entry.  I just missed seeing a stick about the size of a toilet paper tube that took me down.  It's humbling to an experienced rider to be taken out by a piece of kindling, but that's the way of things sometimes.  On the bright-side, though the bike was totaled, my injuries will be nothing but a memory in a couple of months.  I broke my clavicle, and a couple of ribs, and suffered a couple of tiny compression fractures in my back.  What I don't have is any road rash aside from a little scrape on my pinky finger., because I was in full safety gear at the time of the crash.  

Ouch!

 

Enough about the crash, that’s just background for why I’m writing today.  The real reason I’m typing one-handed with my other arm still in a sling is to review the performance of the gear I was wearing at the time of the crash.  If there is a good side to what happened, it is an opportunity to provide the motorcycle community with a review of my gear’s performance when it really counted.

Never, ever go without a helmet.  A low-speed crash can still crack stronger-than-steel carbon fiber!

 Keep in mind that this is done with a sample size of one, and your results may vary.  Hopefully the only part of my reviews you will ever get to validate are the pre-crash opinions.  In cases where I have found a product did not meet my expectations, I have contacted the manufacturer to offer them the opportunity to respond or request the item for analysis.  Those responses will be posted when and if they are available.

Stay tuned for Part 2, where I will begin the reviews with the Bell Star Carbon helmet pictured above.