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It was a Perfect day ripping up the dunes at Winchester Bay Oregon.
Which instantly changed to a totaled KRX when I launched off an un-seen 20 foot tall sand dune drop off at 40 mph.
I was traveling Left to Right when I flew off this drop off, landed nose first, and tumbled end over end. All I remember is seeing sand, then the windshield and roof exploding around me. There is a lot of detail in this next photo, you can see where I nosed-in with a splat mark, then rolled end-over-end where the roof dug in imprint, to flip me again. Cage held up great but was compressed in a couple inches.
I finished up on my drivers side dazed and confused. THE KAWI CLICK 6 HARNESSES SAVED MY ASS, AND NECK AND BODY. IF YOU DON'T HAVE THEM, BUY THEM NOWWWWWWWW.
We pushed it back over to start to survey the damaged cage and suspension. OH SHEET, the front suspension is ripped off at the inner a-arm pivot point.
No the front passenger A-arm isn't going to allow us to drive this thing out. Cage crushed in a couple inches, light bar ripped off, the windshield and roof a shattered mess.
I was in shock, dazed and confused, BUT EVERYONE WAS OKAY, WEARING HELMETS, AND DID I MENTION HOW AWESOME THE CLICK 6 HARNESSES ARE!!!!!!!! LITERALLY A LIFE SAVER. So buddies got on the phone and we called a ATV/SXS rental place and told them we needed a tow, out comes a pickup truck and trailer, all tires aired down and it handled the soft sand fine, this wasn't their first dead machine recovery being a rental place. I used my KRX winch to drag the dead machine up onto the trailer. Notice how far back the front passenger side tire is. Ripped the lower a-arm completely off.
Got back to camp in another buddies SXS, and picked up (literally) the dead machine the next day to be loaded onto my trailer.
The insurance company totaled it out, and the frame was tweeked enough that I just let them have the whole machine and didn't buy it back. I took off all my accessories and left them a bare roller chassis on some cheap RZR rims/tires.
Lessons learned. I'm an experienced duner of 25 years, but everyone can get bit. The drop-off came out of no-where. BE SURE TO HAVE ENOUGH INSURANCE TO COVER ALL YOUR ACCESSORIES. I had $12K in add-ons, but only had $5K of insurance covering them. I was able to take off the paddle tires and other items, but in case of machine theft, you really need a list of all parts and prices paid and GET ENOUGH INSURANCE! A buddy just added up all his numerous items and it came to $17K of stuff. That large amount of coverage only added $52 a year on his insurance policy. WEAR YOUR HELMET, AND BUY THE CLICK 6 HARNESSES!!!
It was my birthday weekend, and I killed my machine, but everyone walked away with no injuries so that is the important part. I did this a month ago, and only now am telling my tale of woah. I had $32K of machine that was my pride and joy, and I'm still gutted and depressed to see it go away. BUT, I've got a deposit on a new 2021 eS live valve suspension model that should be showing up next week! So one machine died, for a better machine to show up. Machine is gone and I didn't feel like buying it back (these machines even busted up hold their value, $12,600 was the buy-back price tag) I wasn't going to part it out as I stripped off all my good goodies anyway.
Wear your Helmet
BUY a click 6 comfortable to wear and save your ass harness set
Always be aware of your riding area surrounding.
Have enough insurance to cover EVERYTHING in case of theft or totaling your machine.
It was a glorious day for my machine to die, we'd been ripping up the dunes and having a ball. My new eS machine is coming in a week, and for sure I'm going to have stickers on it that say "But did you DIE?
Duner Dave.
Which instantly changed to a totaled KRX when I launched off an un-seen 20 foot tall sand dune drop off at 40 mph.
I was traveling Left to Right when I flew off this drop off, landed nose first, and tumbled end over end. All I remember is seeing sand, then the windshield and roof exploding around me. There is a lot of detail in this next photo, you can see where I nosed-in with a splat mark, then rolled end-over-end where the roof dug in imprint, to flip me again. Cage held up great but was compressed in a couple inches.
I finished up on my drivers side dazed and confused. THE KAWI CLICK 6 HARNESSES SAVED MY ASS, AND NECK AND BODY. IF YOU DON'T HAVE THEM, BUY THEM NOWWWWWWWW.
We pushed it back over to start to survey the damaged cage and suspension. OH SHEET, the front suspension is ripped off at the inner a-arm pivot point.
No the front passenger A-arm isn't going to allow us to drive this thing out. Cage crushed in a couple inches, light bar ripped off, the windshield and roof a shattered mess.
I was in shock, dazed and confused, BUT EVERYONE WAS OKAY, WEARING HELMETS, AND DID I MENTION HOW AWESOME THE CLICK 6 HARNESSES ARE!!!!!!!! LITERALLY A LIFE SAVER. So buddies got on the phone and we called a ATV/SXS rental place and told them we needed a tow, out comes a pickup truck and trailer, all tires aired down and it handled the soft sand fine, this wasn't their first dead machine recovery being a rental place. I used my KRX winch to drag the dead machine up onto the trailer. Notice how far back the front passenger side tire is. Ripped the lower a-arm completely off.
Got back to camp in another buddies SXS, and picked up (literally) the dead machine the next day to be loaded onto my trailer.
The insurance company totaled it out, and the frame was tweeked enough that I just let them have the whole machine and didn't buy it back. I took off all my accessories and left them a bare roller chassis on some cheap RZR rims/tires.
Lessons learned. I'm an experienced duner of 25 years, but everyone can get bit. The drop-off came out of no-where. BE SURE TO HAVE ENOUGH INSURANCE TO COVER ALL YOUR ACCESSORIES. I had $12K in add-ons, but only had $5K of insurance covering them. I was able to take off the paddle tires and other items, but in case of machine theft, you really need a list of all parts and prices paid and GET ENOUGH INSURANCE! A buddy just added up all his numerous items and it came to $17K of stuff. That large amount of coverage only added $52 a year on his insurance policy. WEAR YOUR HELMET, AND BUY THE CLICK 6 HARNESSES!!!
It was my birthday weekend, and I killed my machine, but everyone walked away with no injuries so that is the important part. I did this a month ago, and only now am telling my tale of woah. I had $32K of machine that was my pride and joy, and I'm still gutted and depressed to see it go away. BUT, I've got a deposit on a new 2021 eS live valve suspension model that should be showing up next week! So one machine died, for a better machine to show up. Machine is gone and I didn't feel like buying it back (these machines even busted up hold their value, $12,600 was the buy-back price tag) I wasn't going to part it out as I stripped off all my good goodies anyway.
Wear your Helmet
BUY a click 6 comfortable to wear and save your ass harness set
Always be aware of your riding area surrounding.
Have enough insurance to cover EVERYTHING in case of theft or totaling your machine.
It was a glorious day for my machine to die, we'd been ripping up the dunes and having a ball. My new eS machine is coming in a week, and for sure I'm going to have stickers on it that say "But did you DIE?
Duner Dave.