Before
This was last Wednesday when Tyler brought the Pan by to work out a few bugs with the shifter...I took it apart and straightened it out and it was shifting like a dream...
After...
Hit by a drunk left turning into a bar parking lot...
Bent bars, broken headlight...
Twisted up the air cleaner...and who knows what else...
bent the brake pivot stud...
Caved in the oil tank...
Doc's got a lot of work to do!
Damn...
For the record, Tyler (who just turned 30) has been riding Harleys since he was a teenager...his dad and grandfather rode Harleys and his brother and cousins all ride Harleys. My point is that he is not a novice and that this kind of thing can happen to anybody anytime...be fuckin' wary of the cycleblind assholes out there!
It was about 5pm or so in the afternoon and Tyler was working in his garage. The weather had cleared up and he decided to take the Black Panhead out to get a burger... He was a mile or two into the trip when he pulled up to a stop sign. As he pulled away from the stop sign and just about into 2nd gear, a guy in an SUV coming toward him, "left turned" at the last minute and slam...no signal, no time and no skid marks...
Tyler was "bleeding out" in the street (he literally told me the blood was pouring out of his right leg like a faucet!) and the guy just kept saying "I don't wanna go to jail", apparently he was between bar stops at the time...luckily a bystander had the wherewithal to tear off his own shirt and tie a tourniquet around Tyler's leg, at the same time a woman, who was behind the SUV and happened to be a nurse, applied pressure to the gusher pouring out of Tyler's leg until the paramedics arrived...
He was rushed to the trauma center and operated on immediately and late into the night.
When I arrived at the hospital early Saturday morning it was looking doubtful that he would keep his leg...as the doctor explained it...his leg exploded on impact...Tyler was in remarkably good spirits considering his situation. We all hoped for the best possible outcome.
In the hours and days that ensued Tyler began to get feeling back in his foot along with a stronger pulse...
Well a few days have passed and I'm glad to say that the doctors are now optimistic that Tyler will keep his leg! He has been having surgery almost every day to clean things out. This Friday it looks like they will operate to start the reconstruction of his shattered bones....
Tyler was planning on riding the Panhead out to the Oley PA meet this week and camp out for a couple of days. It would have been his first Antique Meet (AMCA) since the completion of the bike and he was looking forward to it.
Well, I'll fix the Panhead and have it ready for him when he's ready for it...until then I'm sure he'll be focused on getting better...he was already trying to figure out how to kick start it with his left leg...good sign!
That's all for now...keep you posted.
Wish Tyler well for me and hope to see him (and you) soon.
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