been riding since 1991, (i was Four...) racing dirt since i was 14, as well as the street off-and-on from the same time. (my first bike, a 1984 SL125 when i was a Sophomore, spent more time under the wrench than actually running

)
You can't count the Motocross or Desert wrecks, but on pavement i've been down once- and it led to me buying the Savage i was riding. See i was house-sitting for a friend while he was away, and he told me to "ride the $#!7 out of that little thing" - the 'little thing', of course, being the scuffed up, already-been-dropped-several-times, not so pretty 2001 Savage he got for his wife to learn on. I thought what the heck, it will be cheaper than my truck on gas, and it's excellent riding weather in Georgia in the summer time! only problem was all that gravel and dirt in the flat left hander at fifty-five miles an hour. i got slowed down a little, but by the time i got in the sand/gravel death mix, the ol' savage wasn't wanting to turn any more and that barb-wire fence was coming up fast. So I hit the eject button. Well, all my moto training paid off in learning how to crash, because before the bike stopped rolling i was on my feet chasing after it. it landed upside down on the handlebars like you used to do when you needed to change a tire on a bicycle, and wouldn't you know, it was still trying to run. i flipped it over, kicked the bars straight and stabbed the start button to get it re-lit after flipping it back over, kicked down to first gear and took off out of there to get back to the house before anyone saw me. the bars were mangled, the right mirror wouldn't stay up, it kept swinging down and smacking my hurt wrist, the left footpeg was permanently folded up, and it broke off the steering stop. got 'er home and laid in bed for the next day and a half. I somehow got road rash through my jeans, even though there wasn't a mark on them. Tee shirt wasn't much protection, but my excellent tuck-and-roll tactics kept the abrasion to a minimum. Leather steel-toes didn't do much for a 350 pound hunk of steel landing on my foot, xrays proved later i cracked something called a "tarsal", whatever that is

i also sprained a wrist and "bruised" a rib. all this would be fine and dandy, if i didn't have to do my M4 qualification that monday, my wrist didn't like the abuse at ALL. after all was said and done, i fixed what i broke but there were some scratches on the metal and a dent in the tank, plus the steering stop broken, that i couldn't fix at the time. My friend had no problem with me dumping it, but wanted it fixed so he could sell it. I simply offered to buy it for the cheap transportation- and now i'm here! funny how stuff works like that.
Moral of the story: Don't ride a cruiser like a sportbike, especially in limited traction conditions!

Rob