Originally Posted by
livedarklions
Well, that's wrong. From experience, if you go over the handlebars, you arc into the ground combining forward momentum and gravity. The ground is not just stopping your fall, it's also stopping your forward momentum. It hurts a whole hell of lot more than a relatively straight drop.
I'm surprised you made this mistake--the logical conclusion from your statement is that it makes no difference if you fall from a standing position or get thrown from a motorcycle at 50 mph.
When you go over the bars, the ground is NOT the same distance down. As the front wheel is slowed, you get tossed UP so you come down further. Think about it. The bike is acting as a lever, actually a catapult. The exception is when the fork fails completely of its own accord or before energy is impartted. Then it cannot toss you up. The vertical impact will be the same as that of a lower speed crash, but the total deceleration will be higher if there is friction between you and the road. (You do better going over the bars when you ride on ice, but accomplishing that is a challenge. I've never succeeded and I've crashed many times on ice and snow.)
Ben