After a restless night of playing it over and over, I'm convinced the pickup driver would have hit me and kept going.  Let me try to explain the set-up a little better. 

It is not a typical cloverleaf offramp.  The lane you merge onto is actually a couple of hundred yards (meters for Don) long.  The lane actually starts behind you as you merge onto it and there is traffic coming from an intersection back there that is speeding up and trying to merge onto the freeway.  You have two opposite events happening:  I'm coming off the freeway, slowing down to get into a lane where the cars that are already there are speeding up for their merge into my lane.  It is a convoluted set-up but both lanes know to look over their shoulders for the inevitable overtake and swap out.  999 out of 1000 cars coming from the right will merge left.  Every blue moon one car will stay in that lane and continue straight for the cloverleaf.  That car is not really a factor because they know the cloverleaf is coming up so they don't accellerate nearly as hard as the ones that want to merge left and get up to freeway speed.

When I came off the freeway, there was no one in the offramp lane but a white truck was turning onto it, probably 100 yards behind me.  No big deal, I'm headed for the cloverleaf and he's headed for the lane I'm just coming out of so I'll be out of his way.  I down-shifted to 3rd gear and eased onto the lefthand edge of the cloverleaf lane and set up for my turn.  Just as I commit and start to lean, I look in my righthand mirror and the white truck is not only not merging left, he is coming onto the cloverleaf like a scalded dog!  Most cars take the cloverleaf at about 25-30 mph.  I can take it at about 45-50 max.  He was at freeway speed coming up on the right.  It's too late for me to bail back to the lane I just came out of and I was commited to the turn.  The only thing that saved me was the fact that the guardrail didn't start until about 1/3 of the way around the cloverleaf.  The fact that it was already bent back from a previous collision gave me some more room also.

Once I made the decision to bail out, it was all or nothing.  I can't believe I didn't slide full into the guardrail once I hit the gravel and grass.

Thanks again for all the well wishes but please remember our brother here, handyhiker, for a full recovery.  Live and learn guys.

Ok, everything happens from right to left.  I'm coming off of 240 (far right) where the little green 21 exit is.  It's a two lane offramp.  The right lane goes to Cherokee Blvd, the left lane continues towards the cloverleaf (far left).  You can't merge onto the cloverleaf lane until you pass that triangle.  That's where you are scanning for cars that have come through the intersection at Prescott and are going to merge with you.  Once the two lanes merge at the left side of the triangle, you start jockeying for the swapout.  I was right about where the two white arrows are when I saw the white truck coming onto the merge lane from the Cherokee/Prescott intersection.

Here you see the cloverleaf with the guardrail slightly bent back already.  The ramp has been repaved and the guardrail is now bent at about 45 degrees.  The red car left of the cloverleaf is where I was aiming once I departed.

I haven't looked at the pictures yet in detail, but my son and wife is at exit 14 on I-40 on their way to Fort Bless, TX. lol. I was helping them find a place to stop when they decided on Wendy's.

Okay, thanks Tom, the situation is so much clearer in my mind.  I can understand the intimidation from overbearing cagers and I've let them pass when I have room, usually I find they were trying to get a closer look at the bike and find myself getting past them when they slow down.  In the exit ramp, however, I don't think that is what was happening.  I think you said the truck did not stop to render assistance, which that is an indicator that he was a Harley rider who was jealous he wasn't riding and you were, on a Victory, no less.  (I'll hear it now I'm sure)  Glad you're okay and you missed any objects in the road.  What did the guy in the red car think when you came at him?  (I know, I'm just trying to be funny)

fnvision - 2012-08-27 7:07 AM
Keeping at least a peripheral view in your mirrors at all times is extremely important when riding on public roads, but that is the big problem I have with my vision. I can't tell you how many times cars have gotten hidden from my view due to the handgrips and my hands blocking out that critical part of my mirrors. I've yet to find a convex mirror of the appropriate size and shape to remedy this problem and wish victory would make a replacement mirror with a convex section built in or at least a stick on with a larger size and shape that would fit the odd shaped mirror.
This is EXACTLY why I have had regular mirrors mounted on all three Visions so far. It completely eliminates the blind spots. The edge of the mirror's view overlaps with the edge of my peripheral vision. I know they don't look cool but I can't tell you how many times they've saved my ass from some jerk merging into me while texting, etc. If your bike is equipped with predrilled holes please, please give it some thought. The mirrors were something like $30 for the pair and you can cover the original ones, run them both or stick a speaker in there or something else creative. Anyway, just consider it because they actually work.

Marc

Bike had still not been delivered as of 3:00 today. 

My preference at this point would be to just call it totalled and move along.  The Vision is so finicky on geometry and set up that I just can't believe it would be put back together good as new.  Heck, it's the only bike I've ever owned that I can tell when the air in the tires drops 2psi.  That bike was a high watermark in my life but I'm totally ready to let it go under these circumstances.

My second favorite add on (after the turbine tips) was the Clearwater LEDs.  The left one got torn off.  As far as keeping anything for a future project, all I'm keeping is the tips.  Everything else is fair game and between you and Denny if it gets to that point. 

I knew about the red '08 Street they have there but I'm thinking if I start fresh, I'm going ABS.  Might have made a difference in the gravel and grass.  ABS is one of those "button" subjects guys like to push but I'm a huge fan of that technology.  Wasn't offered in '08 so all things considered, I'll take it on my next one.

I know ABS might take a little bit longer on a perfectly dry road but I like to plan for worse case scenarios.

http://www.youtube.com/v/M3MfLcJLaCs

http://www.youtube.com/v/Mk7b2oWQPR0

Po, not sure about the controller working with other LEDs.  I'm sure you could rig it to work.  The Clearwater LED's are high-intensity, made in Sweden, so the components are top notch.  (That's another $475 I'll have Denny add to the estimate.)

Well, Secretariat is totaled.  My mechanic (Denny) called me and said $15,000 in parts and labor to put it back the way it was.  He felt sick about having to deliver that news but I told him I was expecting that and it was better for me in the long run just getting a new one and moving on from there.  I'll sit tight until the insurance company calls back and see what I'm dealing with to move on with.  It's USAA and they've always been very fair with me. 

I'm forced to retire in little over a year so I may just take the money and upgrade the house (new high efficiency windows) instead of taking it out of my retirement later.  By that time the 2014 Vision will be out and I might be first in line for whatever comes out. 

While I was talking to Denny, I mentioned that I knew about the '08 Vision Street they have left over and could really get a smoking deal on it but I wanted to go with ABS next.  He said, "Tom, you just come in here and order what you want and we'll take care of you."

As bad as all of this sounds on the surface, I'm in a pretty good place.  We'll see how it plays out.....

fnvision - 2012-08-27 11:07 AM Glad you're okay and appreciate you sharing your experience; I think you sharing this helps us all by reminding us to stay alert at all times and could possibly save someones life in the future with your wreck embedded in the back of their mind. Keeping at least a peripheral view in your mirrors at all times is extremely important when riding on public roads, but that is the big problem I have with my vision. I can't tell you how many times cars have gotten hidden from my view due to the handgrips and my hands blocking out that critical part of my mirrors. I've yet to find a convex mirror of the appropriate size and shape to remedy this problem and wish victory would make a replacement mirror with a convex section built in or at least a stick on with a larger size and shape that would fit the odd shaped mirror.

I'll try to get a picture in of the mirrors I got from Camper World (for R.V.'s) (thier in my pictures). I use the bike mirror for the side vission & the clipped on's on the front panel to see behind me. Works great and also have caught someone sneaking up beside me. Best side vision I've ever had on a bike.

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