Although I often shock people when I tell them my age of 46, when they expect less than 36... I have to keep reminding myself that I'm only 3.5 years shy of a HALF CENTURY! I don't try the fearless hero hill climbs (those with high consequence, particularly for an ejected bike...), but I do gravitate towards the hard enduro type terrain, and the modified KDX220 platform is INCREDIBLE at this type of riding, doing nearly everything that any modern 300cc 2-stroke Euro bike can do... I also ride at a fairly swift pace in contrast to the guys a few years to 15 years younger than me, who all but two or three struggle to keep me in sight in the flowing mid speed woods trails, even on their 300's, 250 SX's, and 500 EXCF's...
I always pride myself in my hyper focus hawk's eye on the terrain and trail ahead, which is aided by the amount of adrenaline my body seems to feed me when riding in these fast flowing scenarios.
Riding one of my 2 favorite trail systems in the entire Eastern USA, the Redbird Crest / Elisha Creek trail system in Daniel Boone national Forest in a very remote and desolate area in the far Southeastern corner of Kentucky, a new 200 buddy drove 9+ hrs from Chicago for his 2nd trip to Redbird Crest in 3 weeks, as he was immediately in love with the rugged trails upon his first brief visit. I brought my wife and a KTM 200 buddy as well. I'm typically everyone's guide for these vast trails, although nowhere near on the level of singletrack knowledge as the locals of course (we're 5 hours drive away).
The original dates got postponed due to the remnants of Hurricane Helene sweeping through the area, only 140 miles Southeast of Redbird was the border of the "Catastrophic Flooding" zone on the weather maps in Eastern Tennessee (& Western North Carolina). Several days of moderate rain, then 5.5"-7.5" in 24 hours with 45mph winds and 60mph gusts....
We waited 2 additional weekends for the rescheduled dates, to get word of trail conditions and allow some time for some of the locals to clear out some of the expected downed tree blockages. The terrain is so steep that the steepest of the official climbs are almost always washed out mega rock gardens, which is part of the appeal of this place - an incredible mix of flowing mid speed trails, goat trails, insanely steep hills, and big medium-difficulty rock sections...
My (previous owner's install) Chinese blue silicone radiator hose showed me it'd sprung a pinhole leak on the first warmup ride Saturday morning, sadly, so I sent the crew on an easily navigable half day trail run, and drove to civilization, where I picked up some automotive 3/4" heater hose and 5 hose clamps to have a makeshift radiator hose for the weekend. The 3 extra clamps really helped out, as curving the lower left radiator hose path with this straight hose wanted to induce some kinking in the hose, and the extra hose clamps and some electrical tape protection kept the hose round...
I went on 2 solo test rides waiting for their return, and when they finally got back, I spoke too soon "Alright! You're all in one piece still!"
Jorge had hurt his knee and hand on the rocks, and my wife was hot dogging it hard immediately after passing a group of 8-10 slower riders, and blasted an off camber bedrock corner and low sided, slamming the bike on her leg and her twisting on top of it... A very swollen foot ensued, she says it's just a severe sprain called Turf Toe, according to Dr. Google... She's very frugal and 98% of the time refuses medical treatments lol...
So they're all whooped, and I head out with my new 13" Forester brand arborist saw (direct clone of a more costly Silky saw) to clear some tree blockages I'd found. I returned after clearing a big one on a critical singletrack, and two of the three of them were in tents taking an afternoon nap...
So I headed out again,telling Andy I'd do a quick 6.5-7 mile loop and come back and pick them up.... The first half of those miles blew by real fast, as someone had cleared a few downed trees already, and I was thirsting for more of my favorite trails around, and headed further away rather than back towards camp. I came across a front fender height downed tree suspended above the trail, 8.5"-9.5" diameter, tried cutting all limbs holding it up off the ground to drop it more, but the remaining broken vertical trunk wouldn't let it drop, so I cut the main trunk almost 10" diameter down to 7" in 3 spots to clear the trail. After venturing off south and hitting 2 moderately difficult rock sections both directions, I was floored at finally getting back to my favorite trail system, and was hurriedly making my way back to pick up the wife and buddies to show them around more...
Well, now that I'd opened up the blockages, I was really cruising along, and came into a faster but winding trail section. I suppose I was thinking mostly of just getting back to camp so the rest of the crew didn't miss out on anything more, and had let my guard down and was not scanning the trail with my usual hawk's eye razor focus... All I remember was blazing along, then a split second of out of control feeling and looking at a trailside log pile and a tree that the trail hooked left around... My only thoughts were "OH $#!+, I'm going to hit this tree!!!!!!!" SLAM....
I must've hit a large potato/grapefruit sized loose rock that can be very common here, and gotten tossed off course very instantly at a very bad time. It could have been an arm sized couple foot section of dead tree limb also, as I'd ridden around a few of those earlier...
I believe my bike mostly slammed down sideways prior to impacting the front tire on the tree, into the stacked tree trunk long log pile to the right, but my face (full face helmet and goggles, luckily!) SLAMMED the tree trunk....Ouch. I immediately thought "oh no,my wife's gonna be so pissed at me!" with a big fat lip.... Then I realized I'm covered in gasoline, OH NO!!!! Looking down, I somehow split my fuel tank from the frame by the fork tubes up to the fuel filler threads, almost entirely ripping off the fuel filler neck!!!!
"NO!!! MY BELOVED PURPLE OEM TANK!!!!!!!"
I was panicking hardcore at this point, losing so much gas and smacking my face, and remember my primary concern was immediately heading back towards camp as fast as possible before I leak out all my fuel.... Descending and climbing three rock sections on the way back (my crazy @$$ still decided to opt out of the road shortcut, as to not miss additional trail time), I was getting some pains from my wrist, but still able to ride rather effectively. Oddly, never did it occur to me that gasoline was flammable, all while my lap and chest were covered in it... Luckily 2-strokes don't run terribly hot vs a 4-stroke, and luckily everything was still damp to keep any forest fire hazard down, and provide the nice tacky moist "hero dirt" as it's called.
By the time I was rolling down the bank from the road into our campsite, I'd definitely acknowledged that I likely had 2 or 3 minor fractures in my wrist. I was reluctant to tell my wife, until the adrenaline had fully worn off and my wrist began feeling basically unusable... They suggested I try to rent a bike locally, due to my broken fuel tank, but I had to tell them that I was out for the next day's ride....
Despite having my barkbuster hand guards rolled down a fair bit to avoid this, I potentially might've gotten my hand tangled up in it as my bike slammed to a halt, while my body's separate momentum carried me rapidly forward to slam my face on the tree. I cannot confirm this, as I was pinned in 2nd gear or somewhere midrange in 3rd when this happened (It happened so quickly), but for this reason - I'll still continue to keep the hand guard aluminum portions tilted lower unless I ever find a branch scenario where I smack my hand hard in it's absence of direct frontal coverage for smaller horizontal hanging limbs/roots...
Luckily I had a spare older retired rugged MilSpec Android phone with the incredible Android-only Locus Map GPS app, and already had all of my Redbird tracks loaded into it. Andy and Jorge made quite a lot of references off of it as I'd sent them out solo with verbal directions + the Android phone with my very highly color coded and organized GPS tracks of this region.
I had a nice time hanging out at our gorgeous campsite and hiking the vicinity the following day, while my wife also stayed back at camp due to her foot being too swollen to fit into boots... It's doing much better now, by the way!
Urgent Care visit the following night after driving home shifting the ol' Toyota Xtracab pickup with my left hand while steering with my knee, and they confirmed two fractures.
Visit to the hand specialist at the Ohio State University Hospital's Sports Medicine location, and I was advised I had a complete break, not just a partial fracture as I'd done on BMX bike and street bike motorcycles previously to my left wrist, which mind you, those two partial fractures were TERRIBLY PAINFUL, unlike this far worse fracture which was a total break!
1.2mm displaced scaphoid wrist fracture, plus 1 other notable but lesser fracture on the right side of my hand/wrist, and a potential slight fracture showing up my my radius or ulna ((?) one of the two main long bones in our forearms) nearing the wrist.
The options were either a large full plaster cast and fairly restricted activity for 2-3 months, or a surgical realignment and a surgical screw installed to affix the bones back together in proper alignment, with 2 weeks in splinted wrapped up psuedo cast, + 4 weeks in a removable brace... The doctor was enthusiastic about surgical outcomes, but also was quite overly optimistic about healing it without surgery, and just a plaster cast. I know myself too well, I'd be banging it on everything accidentally and purposefully overusing it as I can't sit idle for 2-3 months! The internet basically told me the doc's optimism was undue in general, with only a 50% successful full recovery with a cast, vs me agreeing with the doc about the surgical screw being 97% likely to succeed in a quick and full recovery... Screw it was!
Sadly, I also wrecked the NLA right side '96 KLX650R violet purple fork guard... The left side was still available OEM last time I placed an order. Purple vinyl wrap on black KLX/KDX250 guards may suffice in it's absence.
So now I'm learning to do everything left handed! I'll have a lot of good time in trying to organize and better set up my basement amateur machine shop workshop, and perhaps get some good time in cleaning up the cramped crammed full garage workshop mess of bikes, engines, Toyota truck and Suzuki Samurai parts, and a still disabled Samurai....
Come December, I hope to be tearing into my spare KDX's engine and my very ambitious Showa fork revalving / triple clamp machining and VStrom aluminum stem swap, and my "FrankenShowa" hybrid/mongrel 50mm Showa KDX shock build. I'll likely be cutting and relocating/welding my upper shock mount slightly, 16mm up and 5-6mm rearward, for the DRZ400/98-04 RM125 shock fitment.
Return trip to redeem myself at Redbird Crest and hopefully slow my pace down a bit is already looking at mid-March, pending the 15 day long term weather forecasts late February! Southern KY near the TN/VA/KY Tri-State border warms up pretty good by early March!
Slow Down!!!
- Chuck78
- Gold Member
- Posts: 896
- Joined: 06:20 pm Nov 30 2016
- Country: USA
- Location: Columbus, OH
Slow Down!!!
'97 KDX220R - purple/green! - KLX forks, Lectron, FMF, Tubliss
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
- billie_morini
- Gold Member
- Posts: 282
- Joined: 04:31 pm Aug 02 2020
- Country: Central Coast California
Re: Slow Down!!!
Chuck: Wow! Relieved it's not worse. Hoping you achieve 97% to 100% recovery. As far as leaning to do all things left handed, join my club. It's been necessary twice in my life to do this (year 2009 & 2024). Hang in there!
PS. I'll try my formally paralyzed right hand on a motorcycle within 1 week for 1st time since 5 May 2024
PS. I'll try my formally paralyzed right hand on a motorcycle within 1 week for 1st time since 5 May 2024
- KDXGarage
- KDXRider.net
- Posts: 14335
- Joined: 06:45 am Nov 01 2004
- Country: United States of America
- Location: AL, USA
- Contact:
Re: Slow Down!!!
DAMN. Sorry to hear that. You messed up your bike and body as thoroughly as your parts investigations. :-) How did you type all that?
I broke my wrist in 2013. I got a screw. I am glad I chose that way. Just be very thorough with the rehab. Mine was a clean break of the scaphoid.
Did you damage any parts that were not purple? For a guy that says he loves the purple parts, you have a funny way of showing it. :-)
I broke my wrist in 2013. I got a screw. I am glad I chose that way. Just be very thorough with the rehab. Mine was a clean break of the scaphoid.
Did you damage any parts that were not purple? For a guy that says he loves the purple parts, you have a funny way of showing it. :-)
Thank you for participating on kdxrider.net.
To post pictures from a device: viewtopic.php?f=88&t=24128
To post pictures from a device: viewtopic.php?f=88&t=24128
- Chuck78
- Gold Member
- Posts: 896
- Joined: 06:20 pm Nov 30 2016
- Country: USA
- Location: Columbus, OH
Re: Slow Down!!!
KDXGarage wrote: ↑11:30 pm Oct 25 2024 DAMN. Sorry to hear that. You messed up your bike and body as thoroughly as your parts investigations. :-) How did you type all that?
I broke my wrist in 2013. I got a screw. I am glad I chose that way. Just be very thorough with the rehab. Mine was a clean break of the scaphoid.
Did you damage any parts that were not purple? For a guy that says he loves the purple parts, you have a funny way of showing it. :-)
Fortunately (Unfortunately?) the only carnage on the bike was of purple parts...
I gave away my '99's original green tank, & sold my green IMS tank when I scored this rare purple IMS oversized tank pictured on the '99 220... But between 2 KDX's, I still have 3 tanks,
IMS purple oversized
Clarke Mfg black oversized
Old neglected badly faded OEM purple tank
I'm skeptical of the old dry-stored faded tank's integrity, as especially with 35+ year old tanks, it seems if they're stored long term without fuel, the plastic dries out from being wetted to it's core molecular structure for decades, and some, upon reintroducing gasoline after many years of being dried out, will split and crack overnight from the rapid shock of reintroducing gasoline...
I've read of some people using oil and diesel or kerosene mixture to more slowly introduce petroleum based products back to the brittle plastics in attempt to lessen the chance of splitting, but I'd kinda figured it might be best to just buy a new Gilimoto.com.br purple tank. He makes them now with self tapping plastic auger type screws like KTM formerly used, for the petcock threads only, which I don't like. He did say he'd make one-offs with the brass inserts for the petcock, but at an upcharge....
I might try to do a vinyl wrap of my black Clarke Mfg oversized fuel tank, but it'll require perforations, and still may bubble... Perhaps not the best aesthetic approach. The IMS are nicer quality, but I always felt the proprietary shroud design looked goofy in comparison to the OEM shrouds.
Last edited by Chuck78 on 06:34 pm Nov 01 2024, edited 3 times in total.
'97 KDX220R - purple/green! - KLX forks, Lectron, FMF, Tubliss
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
- SS109
- KDXRider.net
- Posts: 5945
- Joined: 05:11 am Aug 23 2009
- Country: USA
- Location: Tucson, AZ, USA
- Contact:
Re: Slow Down!!!
Dude, so glad it wasn't more serious. Hoping for a full and speedy recovery. I also agree with following your doctor's orders to the T, do the full rehab, and like you said, "slow down" and let yourself heal up.
Youtube Channel: WildAzzRacing
AZ State Parks & Trails OHV Ambassador - Trail Riders of Southern AZ
Current KDX: '98 KDX220
Old KDX: '90 KDX200 -White/Blue
'11 GasGas EC250R
AZ State Parks & Trails OHV Ambassador - Trail Riders of Southern AZ
Current KDX: '98 KDX220
Old KDX: '90 KDX200 -White/Blue
'11 GasGas EC250R
- Chuck78
- Gold Member
- Posts: 896
- Joined: 06:20 pm Nov 30 2016
- Country: USA
- Location: Columbus, OH
Re: Slow Down!!!
The Doctor told me that being such a simple surgery, there would be very minimal needs for Physical Therapy stretching etc. I expect a small amount of scar tissue, but I get the gauze wrapped "splint" cast off only 2 weeks after surgery, and move to a removable brace, so I should be able to combat the formation of much in the way of surgical scar tissue fairly well, unlike my 8 week immobilized shattered kneecap in 2018, which was absolutely HORRIBLE in terms of almost total loss of range of motion and muscle atrophy.... Being able to start lightly moving muscular tissues shortly after a surgery is HUGE in terms of recovery.
I beat the odds with my knee surgery recovery, and achieved full range of motion again, over 145 degrees roughly, whereas people with lesser knee surgeries sometimes are considered lucky to achieve 115 degrees of range! I really hit it hard with nonstop scar tissue stretching and PT exercises as it was obvious I'd never be the same again otherwise!
'97 KDX220R - purple/green! - KLX forks, Lectron, FMF, Tubliss
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
- Chuck78
- Gold Member
- Posts: 896
- Joined: 06:20 pm Nov 30 2016
- Country: USA
- Location: Columbus, OH
Re: Slow Down!!!
Our crew is just plain bad luck this October!
First Reda messed up her foot on day 1 of our epic fall road trip ride, then late that same day, I broke my wrist & gas tank.
A few days later, our friend Alan bashed his face in & badly broke his thumb.
Now today, our new Redbird Crest buddy Jorge bailed on a hill climb, grabbed a boulder, & had his bike flop down on him with his bark buster/handlebar smashing and breaking his first and second metacarpals I believe, significantly displaced fractures...
I've never had so many friends have riding injuries in one year, let alone 2 weeks time! Maybe every other year, one of our riding crew might have a substantial injury normally... There's something in the air in October 2024....
First Reda messed up her foot on day 1 of our epic fall road trip ride, then late that same day, I broke my wrist & gas tank.
A few days later, our friend Alan bashed his face in & badly broke his thumb.
Now today, our new Redbird Crest buddy Jorge bailed on a hill climb, grabbed a boulder, & had his bike flop down on him with his bark buster/handlebar smashing and breaking his first and second metacarpals I believe, significantly displaced fractures...
I've never had so many friends have riding injuries in one year, let alone 2 weeks time! Maybe every other year, one of our riding crew might have a substantial injury normally... There's something in the air in October 2024....
'97 KDX220R - purple/green! - KLX forks, Lectron, FMF, Tubliss
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
- KDXGarage
- KDXRider.net
- Posts: 14335
- Joined: 06:45 am Nov 01 2004
- Country: United States of America
- Location: AL, USA
- Contact:
Re: Slow Down!!!
Good luck on the recovery. Don't rush it. As your thread states, SLOW DOWN. :-)
Thank you for participating on kdxrider.net.
To post pictures from a device: viewtopic.php?f=88&t=24128
To post pictures from a device: viewtopic.php?f=88&t=24128
- Chuck78
- Gold Member
- Posts: 896
- Joined: 06:20 pm Nov 30 2016
- Country: USA
- Location: Columbus, OH
Re: Slow Down!!!
Thanks fellas...
Perhaps the worst thing to come out of this is that my wife has banned me from ever riding solo again!!!! DARNIT!!!!! Maybe if I'm on good behavior and ride like someone my age would...perhaps that can be negotiated!
'97 KDX220R - purple/green! - KLX forks, Lectron, FMF, Tubliss
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup
'99 KDX220R project - '98/'01 RM125 suspension, Titanium hardware, Lectron Billetron Pro, Tubliss
'77 Suzuki PE250 & '83 Suzuki PE175 Full Floater - restomod projects
'77 Suzuki GS750-844cc, '77 GS400/489cc & '77 GS550/740cc projects
'62 GMC 1000 Panel Truck
'88 Suzuki Samurai TDI/Toyota swaps
'88 Toyota 4x4 pickup