The last two weeks I have been out on the road visiting 12 states and doing about 5000 miles on the sporty with various people. In one state I was unfortunate enough to actually collide with a black bear and I still can't believe I'm still here to type it out.
I was exiting a blind curve when I saw an adult black bear lunging out from the left side of the road out of the forest heading toward the right side. I was amazed an animal this large could move so fast and I stared in disbelief thinking this was a dream. I first tried to swerve to the right, but I ran out of road quickly and I was about to go off into the woods so I straightened out the bike and hit the brakes hard, but it was too late. At that point all I remember seeing was a black fur surrounding me feet away from my face. Then came the impact and it was nothing like I have ever felt or heard before. The bike started to wobble, but I managed to straighten it out and keep it upright. As I was riding away in amazement after the impact I saw the bear rolling in the opposing lane out of my rear view mirror.
My cousin was following me on his Road King and although I didn't see this part here is his account. He said that he saw the bear stand up after the incident. It was taller than his windshield and he estimates around 6'5'. He immediately tried to swerve hard around it, but the standing bear was wobbly and dropped to all fours then proceeded to stumble to the other side of the road as if drunk. My cousin had to change the direction of his swerve rapidly with the tires screeching and claimed his bike felt like it was fishtailing, but he manged to keep control and maneuver around the bear.
I pulled over as soon as I could expecting the bike to have suffered extensive damage. My cousin was yelling in excitement high fiving me from all the adrenaline and he said that I just stood there with my eyes opened wider than he ever saw before.
I inspected the bike. So far things looked normal. The wheel didn't seem bent. The fender seemed intact. The forks by some miracle were still straight and the frame didn't look tweaked, but something seemed off. I mean I did hit a bear.
Hmm I didn't remember the engine guard being so close to the shift lever:
That looks tweaked for sure:
The extent of the damage. Notice the spacing to each foot peg:
I also noticed something that looked like mud that wasn't there before. However, you know what they say. If it looks like crap, if it smells like crap, well I didn't need to taste it. I literally knocked the crap out of the bear and it splattered on the side of my bike. Word of advice: if you can wash it off right away it was almost impossible to wash off after it dried. The bear desecrated my sporty.
I still can't believe that I didn't total my bike or my body. The sporty is one tough bike. I also can't believe the bear walked off from the incident although he probably looked like Mike Tyson punched him.
I did another 1000 miles or so with the bent crash bar only having a half of an inch of the shift lever to operate throughout the journey. I'm very thankful to still be able to type this out at all and even more thankful I'm not sipping through a straw.
I Hit A Bear!!!
I bet that was one mad bruin!
glad you are ok
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