View Full Version : Airborne hazards...
Biker
05-25-2008, 09:46 AM
Some of the worst I've come across...
1. June bugs (just one word.. OUCH!!!!)
2. Butterflies (ever try to get that mess off your glasses AS you're riding?)
3. Buzzards (center punched one between San Antonio and Del Rio. Believe me, they taste as bad as they look :sick: )
4. Bees (I've ridden into a swarm. Sounded like the windshield was being peppered by a machine gun!)
ethics
05-25-2008, 10:03 AM
It's funny you brought this on. My helmet has 4 explosions yesterday, all from some bug type or another and it made me realize I will ALWAYS wear a full face helmet. :)
MNeedham73
05-25-2008, 10:04 AM
/e loves the windshield on his bike.
Helmet hasn't taken any hits yet, but my windshield definitely has bug splatters all over it.
Biker
05-25-2008, 10:07 AM
Windshield doesn't always help, especially when the insect is a kamakazie and manages to hit the slipstream perfectly.
MNeedham73
05-25-2008, 10:10 AM
Oh I know. I got whacked with a dragonfly last weekend. Nailed me in the shoulder. Even with a leather jacket on, I felt it pretty good. ;)
Biker
05-25-2008, 10:13 AM
Forgot one.... Grasshoppers... I remember one year they were so bad in West Texas that there were some spots in the road that were slicker than goose shit. Lot of folks dumped the bikes on that run...
ShinyTop
05-25-2008, 11:44 AM
I always thought you could tell a happy rider from the bugs on his teeth.
ethics
05-25-2008, 01:07 PM
LOL!
Piobaireachd
05-25-2008, 02:05 PM
I rode through a Mayfly hatching swarm in Wisconsin one spring. There is a low spot on Highway 51 about halfway between Madison and Stoughton that is somewhat swampy/marshy.
Those suckers:
1. Stink when they splatter
2. Are kind of oily. Very difficult to wipe away from the helmet windscreen.\
3. Are slippery as hell.
cmhbob
05-25-2008, 04:49 PM
Rock salt. When I was riding escort, I was riding in all kinds of weather, and one snowy day, I was passed by an ODOT salt truck. He wasn't spreading, but he hit a bump, and salt fell from the dispener. Big honking nugget, at least 1/4 inch, hit me in the safety glasses. :eek:
Biker
05-25-2008, 04:52 PM
Feh.. Try a hail storm and the nearest overpass is about a mile away. OWWWWWIE!!!!!!!!!
cmhbob
05-25-2008, 05:03 PM
Never been blessed with hail, but I've done sleet more times than I care to remember. Only mask that will stop that stuff is a BMX mask.
Kluge
05-25-2008, 05:21 PM
1. Contents of a large slurpee, tossed off a bridge.
2. lit stogies.
MNeedham73
05-25-2008, 05:56 PM
I rode through a Mayfly hatching swarm in Wisconsin one spring. There is a low spot on Highway 51 about halfway between Madison and Stoughton that is somewhat swampy/marshy.
Heh, was just up that way last weekend.
I remember when I was a kid and dad was stationed at Selfridge ANGB outside Detroit. Just MASSIVE mayfly hatchings there (we called them fishflies, IIRC). So bad that sometimes they would bring out the snowplows to clear the streets and we would have to hose off the cars before we could go anywhere.
No one in their right mind would be out on two wheels during that time :)