Had this KTM rider swerved a tad right or left, he probably wouldn’t be around to share this hair-raising video.
If you want to see one of the many reasons bikers hate to ride in groups, this video illustrates a big one. A KTM Duke 390 rider in Belgium, who uploads under the name Piston on Youtube, shared a helmet cam video from earlier this week showing the death defying moment two racing bikers come straight at him and split between him coming literally within millimeters of his wrists. There’s a twist at the end of the video, so strap in.
Check out the unbelievable bit of footage below.
Piston and his other fellow KTM rider are out in the Belgium countryside enjoying their country’s fine roads at a fast pace. Their speedos dance around 150-160 KMH which is awfully close to 100 MPH and near the bike’s top speed, 103 MPH.
At those speeds your reaction to oncoming obstacles and road obstructions must be lightning quick and precise. Unbeknownst to Piston, up ahead, there are half a dozen sport bike riders with something over 600 cc’s between their legs going at breakneck speeds. Two of the bikers are having a serious go at it, racing each other and splitting lanes.
Both bikes approach Piston in his lane, one goes right, and the other goes farther left into the opposite lane to avoid hitting him. Had Piston moved either way, as mentioned, a head on collision would’ve combined the speeds between both riders resulting in a horrific crash that both would statistically not have survived without serious injury.
It’s a miracle no one got hurt.
Ironically enough, Piston circles back to see if he could catch up with them to have a couple of words and discovers that a rider crashed. One commenter clarifies that,
“…the biker that crashed is actually the fourth motorcycle after the car. He hit the back of the black car. He’s alive and fine, in appearance he’s only suffering from a broken arm. See you on the road, V.“
Many commenters mention that group rides bring out the inner competitive a**h*** in riders. Although lots of riders intend to ride safe, when you’re goaded on to race, you make poor choices that often end in close calls, injury, or someone even losing their life.
As one commenter put it,
People stop thinking about riding safe and are just worried about keeping up or going faster than their buddies.
“A 2 doigts de la mort” roughly translates to “a close call with death” but its literal translation means “two fingers from death.” Here, the literal translation fits this experience well enough.
