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Common Tread

Harley technician survives hit-and-run driver with some help from his gear

Jun 09, 2014

Zac Hahn had just ridden through a torrential downpour in Portland, Ore., and was amazed that his Rokker Revolution waterproof jeans had kept him dry. Then a power failure caused the traffic signals to go out, a pickup truck blew through an intersection, smashing into his 2000 Harley-Davidson Springer and his right leg, sending him flying across four lanes. Then he had something much more important to be amazed about.

"The next thing I knew I was on the ground thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m still alive,’ " Hahn says, remembering the force of the impact.

Zac Hahn.
The pickup driver took off, and Hahn’s customized Springer was a total loss. Hahn suffered a broken left shoulder and a broken rib, plus bruises, but no road rash. The jeans suffered no damage, except for the hip pocket being torn off where Hahn had his wallet. Unfortunately, the medics cut the jeans off him as they were evaluating his condition.

“I'm almost more upset about my best jeans being ruined than my favorite Harley being totaled,” he says. In appreciation for sharing his story, Rokker and RevZilla are providing a replacement pair.

A certified Harley-Davidson master technician who works at Sound Harley-Davidson in Marysville, Wash., Hahn says he had never heard of the Rokker jeans until he saw them during a trip last year to Germany. The brand is fairly new in the United States. But when he saw riding jeans that were waterproof, in addition to being abrasion-resistant and offering the safety of modern armor, he knew he had to have them for his daily riding in the rainy Northwest.

“It rains almost every day, it seems. You never know when you’re going to get caught in it,” he says.

You never know when a hit-and-run driver can materialize at your 3 o’clock, either. Ride safe out there.