Never wrecked a street vehicle at all. Caught a tree on the inside arm of a z400 quad once and believe me, the one thing in my mind as I tumbled through the woods was, "why didn't that thing shut off with my rip cord, and where is it headed...god I hope it's not chasing me." I think If I ever have the sad fortune to lay mine down on the road, I will promptly get away from it. Hmmm...unless I low side towards some of those nasty I-beam guard rails...or a bear.

Originally Posted by danp203

+1, also I find that frame sliders protect your bike as well as your legs. I lowsided my old sv1000s in a 90 degree turn, when the bike hit the ground I was able to pull my leg out from under it because of the frame slider propping the bike up.

It happens real fast so you probably wont have time to put your hands down (which is a good thing), make sure to get away from the bike if you can, ROLL, not slide, and above all else BUY THE BEST SAFETY EQUIPMENT YOU CAN AFFORD.

All true and excellent advice except for the "roll don't slide" part, in my humble opinion you are much better off sliding. The reason is that the twisting force breaks your neck and centrifugal force causes serious damage to internal organs, tendons, ligament, muscle and bone (in extremities). Road rash is bad but preferable. This is a great thread and I think it helps to consider things like this beforehand even if the odds are against having time to do anything about it. I've wrecked twice (one dirt, one street) and both times was VERY lucky. My .02 worth is just to remember to treat the other motorists as hostiles, or at least potentially so, as soon as you put it in gear -distrust and suspicion are your friends, and don't let your reach exceed your grasp.