Oops, I suck

[Feirax]

welp today was my first day back in the saddle after being on vacation for 2 weeks.. ride to work was uneventful..

ride home on the other hand.. well *sigh* Did about $1,000 worth of damage to my bike (rough estimate according to www.ronayers.com).

My friend paul left the same time as me and was behind me on his SV.

I come to a T intersection in my work parking lot and slowed to almost a stop.. I looked left to make sure that no traffic is coming, there is none so I start turning to the right and next thing I know I'm picking the bike off the pavement. My friend said he couldn't believe it and couldn't help explain it, nothing looked out of the ordinary as far as my riding.

Now I admit I may have been a little rusty since I hadn't ridden in 2 weeks and maybe I ride too aggresively at times but I was going < 10 mph and bamo! I dunno.. I surveyed the scene and the only thing I can come up with is that there is a puddle of oil about the size of one of those small kid basketballs and about 3 feet from that skid marks in the pavement where my pegs ground into the ground. Damage is on the right.. The bike slid for about 8 feet I'd guess from the looks of it which isn't much at all.. basically we ended up in the oncoming lane with the nose pointed towards the lane I was supposed to be in.

I'm sure a couple things happened here that I'm unaware of. The flatter spot in the center of my tire probably didn't help me any either. I have a nice deep gouge in the center tread of my tire, dunno if something might have been stuck in there too. Really I dunno what happened it seems like my memory is blacked out from starting the turn to the point I was holding myself up.

I felt myself holding myself off the ground so my jacket and helmet came through unscathed. My knee was skinned/bloodied a bit eventhough my jeans didn't scrape all the way through, still it was very minor. Otherwise my sidi boots took a visible beating on one of the outer foot sliders and the shin protection saved me too I think because my jeans had a couple wear marks/holes in them along the boot. I feel real good about buying those boots now, I'll have to thank my friend yeti for that one. My right glove has some scrapes on the palm where I must have put my hand down to help hold myself up.

Damage to the bike is mostly ALL cosmectic. The right lower fairing is scraped up pretty good.. somehow EVERY darn fairing managed to touch the ground from tail, to bellypan to lower to upper. Its amazing.. damage on right mirror, right brake lever, blinker, engine covers, footpeg, right brake pedal is bent so that the pedal was pinched up.

anyway.. if I replaced the right lower most of those other scratches are pretty minor, so between that and the brake pedal it'd set me back about $400.00

I have to chaulk this up to rider error because I should have seen that damn oily puddle and I should have been able to handle it even if I didn't see it. I've been riding for about 8 years now and this is the first time I've been 'down' with a bike since I got my license. I always practice my low speed maneuvers and balance, always ride defensively, I was first in my advanced MSF course and I've read Twist of the wrist and other how to's on riding and felt like I was a good rider and consistantly improving. Needless to say my pride took a hit on this one.

anyway figired I'd let u know just as a reminder to be careful out there..

-Feirax

[scootertrash]

What a bummer. Glad it was a low speed incident and you didn't get hurt.

[rocker]

Glad to hear your okay. Bruised pride is better than a bruised body..

[ducatiboy]

Bummer Oil/shit happens. Years ago I crashed out a brand new wing after riding into a diesel spill going onto the highway at speed. I had polarized googles on, and never had a chance. That morning I threw away a cx500 in the parking lot of the dealership I worked at. Boss was very pissed. 2 wrecks in 8 hours.

[Borislav]

Doh, that just sux man, but you didnt hurt yourself, and that's what really counts. Hope you get your bike fixed soon!

[Feirax]

Thanks for the support guys.. man I was pretty bummed.. I'm starting to think I lost the front tire on the oil.. but who knows.. too bad insurance wouldn't cover me without raising my premiums.. The bike is completely rideable thankfully and I didn't get hurt.. so I guess I'll count my blessings and be thankful, especially since I didn't wreck a second bike in 8 hours ug.

-Feirax

[Feirax]

My bike damage pics.

Anyone care to guess what's on the right side of the front tire?? These were taken 2 days and 35 miles after my accident so I'm sure some of it had worn off. I was lucky not to go down again.

-Feirax

[Half Squid]

The tire just looks like it was sliding across the pavement, doesn't look as anything there was the cause of the crash, but definately as if it slid out on something like oil or antifreeze, what ever it was.

Looks like you lucked out with minimal damage and can still ride it! Ride it till winter and restore it to new then so you dont miss any riding this season.

I see your in Bellingham, Wonder If I rode past you ever, I am always out there at my buddy's house.

[Feirax]

There was definately something slippery on the front tire (i hav 2 tell myself this or i'll go nuts), u can tell in the pics because it looks wet. The markings were the same on the back from the slide but the front had an oily/shiny substance on it. I wet the tire and that one side beaded up.. used some simple green to clean that shi* off and now it look similar to the back from the slide and not so shiny. The plan now is exactly as u suggested, ride till winter then I'll store it in an unheated room off my living room and work on it. At least now I'll have a practice fairing to dremel before I install flush mounts.

After cleaning...

i've seen RC51s out this way a couple times. Both when I had my Sv and on the RR. Usually I see'em on 126.

-Feirax

[Feirax]

Is it possible to bend the brake lever back or is it likely to snap clean off??

-Feirax

[Half Squid]

Originally posted by Feirax


i've seen RC51s out this way a couple times. Both when I had my Sv and on the RR. Usually I see'em on 126.

-Feirax

I was out that way today and saw a blue SV around 6 was that you? I was accually in Franklin, a short cut from 140 to 109 between Franklin and Medway, I was heading towards Franklin.

As far as the brake lever? Not sure how much it's bent, but it may be possible to bend it back slowly into what you think is it's origonal state. I would suggest heating it up to soften the metal. You may want to consult with someone thats familiar with welding Aluminum to see how much you should heat it to bend it, but not melt it?

[Honclfibr]

Originally posted by Feirax
Is it possible to bend the brake lever back or is it likely to snap clean off??

-Feirax

I've heard this question asked a few times, and it always generates mixed answers. The gist of what I've learned is this: Aluminum is funny stuff. It's very plastic and will deform under load; after a finite but large number of deformations, it shears quite dramatically. So the advice always given is that you could probably bend it back with no problem and get of trouble free use out of it, but if it breaks it'll break catastrophically and without warning, so given that it's a very important lever, and can be had for very little money, it's probably in your best interest to replace it.