An e-mail I received from my Neighbour in Scotland:
'Keith,
I was driving to Glentress on Sunday to do some riding with a friend.
I was explaining the background to my bike and how it was built to be
tough and able to take big hits. We were going along the M8 at about
85mph at the time when I looked in my mirror and saw a bike do a back
flip about 20 feet in the air before landing on the front wheel in the
outside lane of the M8. After bouncing a few times the bike finally
came to rest near the crash barrier of the outside lane.
After the initial shock I slammed on the breaks and pulled up on the
hard shoulder then ran as fast as I could to retrieve my bike before
someone ran over it. At this point I expected the bike to be a total
write off (I wonder how I would have explained that to the insurance
company????). However, when I got it off the motorway it turned out
that other than the handlebars being knocked out of line and the seat
being lowered and slightly torn there was no visible damage. I loaded
back on to the roof rack and drove (very carefully) to Glentress. When
I got there the chain wasn't catching properly so I asked the mechanic
to look over the bike and make sure it was safe to ride. It turns out
that the only damage was a bent outer chain ring which he straightened
for me. I went out and rode the Red run and hit some small jumps and
the bike felt absolutely brand new.
I know you said it was tough but that is taking things to extremes.
Alan'
(I'll protect his identity just in case the traffic cops cath wind of this... haha)
