[ksameer1234]

That's a disaster. Were there two RCs involved? The bike with fairing has rear mud guard while the other one without any fairing doesn't have any.

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by Akhilash95

Not the best of start for the RC test bikes in Bengaluru.

Not at All. Any idea wher this happened. The rider must have been in some velocity to cause such damage to the car - look at the top of the A pillar

I really hope the rider is OK.

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[Roomy]

Originally Posted by ebonho

Sorry to say, and I sincerely pray he is still breathing and in one piece, but what a friggin moron.

Doc, before you jump into any form on conclusion on who a moron is or how big a moron he is I think it would be better if you get to know the complete story instead of just a couple of pics that shows the aftermath, not what/how it happened.
For all you know, it could be a stray dog, a rogue/careless biker that caused him to swerve/lose control.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by Roomy

Doc, before you jump into any form on conclusion on who a moron is or how big a moron he is I think it would be better if you get to know the complete story instead of just a couple of pics that shows the aftermath, not what/how it happened.
For all you know, it could be a stray dog, a rogue/careless biker that caused him to swerve/lose control.

Agree, better to know what happened first. Am sorry if he's a friend or someone known to you, or someone else here.

BUT on the basis of what I do know, i.e. its a public road in a crazy crowded city, its a test bike, its new to the community at large, and the photos of the car of the unsuspecting chap that's been smashed, which can only happen at a significant velocity as Ram correctly pointed out ......

What a friggin moron.

P.S. Looking back to my first ride on the test 390, and I recall I even posted as much here on the same, I was expecting exactly this to happen as more and more guys whacked open the throttle to feel the rush.

Simply put, the rate you close on to the traffic in front catches you out. Even experienced riders not used to bikes like this find themselves momentarily quickly recallibrating.

Or it could simply be a throttle that got stuck. Or the car guy swerved into his path.

Either way, what was he doing at that speed on a new untried bike that was not his, but a test bike? On Bangalore roads that too? Enough for the bike to land up in a storm drain?

Lets face it, the guy was moving, and he simply did not have control.

[Akhilash95]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

Not at All. Any idea wher this happened. The rider must have been in some velocity to cause such damage to the car - look at the top of the A pillar

I really hope the rider is OK.

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

They were two separate incidents(I mixed the pictures)
1. Where an RC390 fell into a ditch- dont have any info on this.
2. The RC200 rammed into the hyundai santa fe? resulting in severe front end damage. Dont know who was at fault, but there was a pool of blood near the water bottle which I have blackened. He was severely injured was hospitalized.
Will update when I get more info.

Offtopic- this was a disaster waiting to happen considering that people take the TD to literally test the bike's limit than testing the their ability to handle the bike.

[basuroy]

First of wish him and everyone else involved a speedy physical and mental recovery . But Doc is correct that the damage to the car indicates high speed , a good 20/30kmph higher than speed limit anyways(assuming that is around 40-50kmph mark) .

I myself reflected on this in the duke 390 page , it is very hard to have a sense of speed especially if one is coming from a smaller bike and this is a bike to be shown immense respect - I speak from experience as a couple of times (first 100/150km of riding) I found myself doing a good 20kmph more than I assumed I was at ( all within empty cantoment roads though , no one were to come in the way of harm even if I lost control - just trying to put forward an observation here running the risk of coming off as stupid/callous which I am not , inexperienced with this kind of power - of course )

ps: am I the only one who noticed no cracked alloys ? assuming there was sufficient impact to the front in the rc 200 accident , the rc390 looks at best a case of severe bad luck . Both test ride motorcycles ?

[Sutripta]

Originally Posted by r_nairtvm

The rider must have been in some velocity to cause such damage to the car - look at the top of the A pillar

I really hope the rider is OK.

Fender/ door - bike.
A pillar - rider. If he is OK, it's a miracle.

Was there a pillion rider?

Regards
Sutripta

[giri1.8]

People may strongly disagree, but these incidents confirm that high performance machines within the reach of common man has some negatives too.

[shan_ned]

Originally Posted by giri1.8

People may strongly disagree, but these incidents confirm that high performance machines within the reach of common man has some negatives too.

I am not disagreeing, but rather prefer to have a small correction..

"...but these incidents confirm that high performance machines within the reach of IMMATURED/IRRESPONSIBLE has TOO MANY negatives .."

Of course I am not relating the above statement to these accidents reported.

[giri1.8]

Originally Posted by shan_ned

I am not disagreeing, but rather prefer to have a small correction..

"...but these incidents confirm that high performance machines within the reach of IMMATURED/IRRESPONSIBLE has some negatives too.."

Of course I am not relating the above statement to these accidents reported.

I agree with your perspective, but mine was related to numbers to be frank, more number of fast machines sold = more accidents. Proper awareness can reduce this problem. Some accidents happen because the other party involved miscalculates the speed at which the bike approaches.

[Ricci]

Originally Posted by basuroy

But Doc is correct that the damage to the car indicates high speed , a good 20/30kmph higher than speed limit anyways(assuming that is around 40-50kmph mark) .

ps: am I the only one who noticed no cracked alloys ?

I noticed that too. A car door has more "give" than solid tarmac though. That's why many a frontal crash sees the rim survive unscatched, at least visually undamaged. There's also the probability that the fork bore all the impact, being a thinner, vertical bar in this context.

As for impact speed, it's hard to guess , I'd say 60+ should have resulted in far great damage to the door. Have seen pictures of bigger dents in the door than this from bicycle impacts, the angle of impact , location of impact (bang in the middle of the panel or closer to the edges) also matters. Given people have sustained and died of severe injuries at even 20-30 km/h impacts (not wearing helmets), I wouldn't rely on blood spatter alone.

[basuroy]

Originally Posted by Ricci

I noticed that too. A car door has more "give" than solid tarmac though. That's why many a frontal crash sees the rim survive unscatched, at least visually undamaged. There's also the probability that the fork bore all the impact, being a thinner, vertical bar in this context.

As for impact speed, it's hard to guess , I'd say 60+ should have resulted in far great damage to the door. Have seen pictures of bigger dents in the door than this from bicycle impacts, the angle of impact , location of impact (bang in the middle of the panel or closer to the edges) also matters. Given people have sustained and died of severe injuries at even 20-30 km/h impacts (not wearing helmets), I wouldn't rely on blood spatter alone.

All reasonable observations from you , my estimate of 60+ is accounting for that he probably shed a good 20-40kmph by braking(just an assumption , certain situations I can visualize won't even allow for that action) , impact my guess is between 30-50kmph speed - here your point about angle of impact factors in . Just letting go of the throttle alone will bring down the speed by 20 within a second , the engine braking is that severe in this particular bike .


Blood can be misleading , still recall one chap in college who died 2 days after being discharged following a cursory check , a small accident and had to be asked a few times in the first place to visit a doc because he had hit his head sideways(no bleeding) on a railing while falling from the bike at speed around 10/15kmph . Turned out the person who took him to the hospital fearing internal injuries was right( no helmet as you might have guessed ).

[Silverflash]

That's nasty, and as good a case as any that I have seen for introducing "sport" category driving licenses for bikes and cars above a certain bhp/ton ratio.

Too many people in our country are used to bikes being economy commuting machines, and fail to recognize the differences when making the jump to higher end machines. Heck, some people get high performance sportsbikes as their very first rides, which is nuts.

In many countries, dealers will not even let you onto a bike unless you have gone through a proper riding school course. Time India caught up with the times and entered the 21st century.

[navin_v8]

With regards to the accident "keeping all things equal" these kind of accidents don't happen on a regular commuter bike or even a mid range powerbike in India like Honda CBR 250, Bajaj Avenger 220, Hero Karizma, etc. atleast during the test ride. It may be happening but there might be one or two odd cases I am taking the test ride into consideration only.

Coming back to Duke 390 and 200 in both RC and regular avatar, I go back to the flashback of the early 1980's when one motorcycle called Yamaha RD350 had a similar craze as the Duke twins today have. Those days too common people were used to the likes of Bullet 350, Yezdi 250, one or two other odd motorcycles and hordes of scooters. Them common people when were offered the Yamaha RD 350 went berserk with its humongous power and maddening acceleration and as a result many lost their lives as they couldn't control the motorcycle of that caliber. Infact there is a legend here in Bombay saying that there was a ward in JJ hospital or some other hospital claiming to be the RD 350 ward, which would cater to accident victims of this mighty beautiful motorcyle Yamaha RD 350.

I see a similar scenario today with the same kind of people underestimating the power surge and acceleration of these orange hooligans the game changing world class motorcycle offerings from KTM called Duke 200 and 390 (RC included). There is a saying and someone has already said it before on this very forum, "Ride within your limits; the bike has none." These are not ordinary commuter or regular power motorcycles we are talking these are beasts that have a power to weight ratio of 300 BHP to the Ton and THAT my dear riding buddies is not a joke it is tremendous massive power. As it is said in Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Ride safe

[Silverflash]

Originally Posted by navin_v8

Coming back to Duke 390 and 200 in both RC and regular avatar, I go back to the flashback of the early 1980's when one motorcycle called Yamaha RD350 had a similar craze as the Duke twins today have. Those days too common people were used to the likes of Bullet 350, Yezdi 250, one or two other odd motorcycles and hordes of scooters. Them common people when were offered the Yamaha RD 350 went berserk with its humongous power and maddening acceleration and as a result many lost their lives as they couldn't control the motorcycle of that caliber. Infact there is a legend here in Bombay saying that there was a ward in JJ hospital or some other hospital claiming to be the RD 350 ward, which would cater to accident victims of this mighty beautiful motorcyle Yamaha RD 350.

I see a similar scenario today with the same kind of people underestimating the power surge and acceleration of these orange hooligans the game changing world class motorcycle offerings from KTM called Duke 200 and 390 (RC included). There is a saying and someone has already said it before on this very forum, "Ride within your limits; the bike has none." These are not ordinary commuter or regular power motorcycles we are talking these are beasts that have a power to weight ratio of 300 BHP to the Ton and THAT my dear riding buddies is not a joke it is tremendous massive power. As it is said in Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility."

Ride safe

The bike that I always thought got an unfairly bad reputation because of the idiocy/ignorance of riders in India was the Fury, not the RD350.

The Fury was the first bike in India to come with front discs as standard, IIRC. Excellent feature, but it ironically went on to ruin the bike's reputation as rider after rider crashed it (most of them not knowing how to use front brakes effectively). It is a rare biker who has not had a friend/acquaintance from that time badly hurt or even killed on the Fury. Great bike, but too far ahead of its time for the mostly uneducated rider population of this country. Even today, most commuter bikers have no idea that the front brake is the most effective and should be the most used in normal conditions.

The RD350 was a different proposition altogether. Anyone who doesn't have the sense to be wary of a 350cc two-stroke engine before climbing on it deserves to die before procreating, and good riddance. The human gene pool is stronger for it.