Having spent most of the summer working on my bike to
get it road worthy, by respraying it and replacing the
engine amongst many other things... I managed to throw
it across a roundabout on the A120.
I'd spent the weekend in Wiltshire
and had a good 180 mile trip across the home Shires
on Sunday, to avoid the motorways in a last gasp trip
before Autumn closes in. I'd managed 150 miles of hooning
about until I got to the A120 where I decided to bring
the speed down a bit getting closer to home. A few miles
later I approached the roundabout at Rayne with no nearby
traffic, tipped it in at about 30/40 mph started to
lean it a bit more and before I could open the throttle...
bang, the front end just slipped away. As I slid onto
my back I could hear crunching behind me fearing the
worst for the bike. Once my back had finished using
the kerb as a brake I stumbled up to review the scene.
The bike didn't look to have suffered too much damage....until
I picked it up. :(
It had hit the kerb making bananas out of the forks
and hopped over and into the nearby overgrowth, where
it was pissing fuel out of the nice hole in the side
of the tank. Most of the right hand side sticky out
bits were broken or scraped. As for me, I was wearing
my one piece, back protector and Hein Gericke padded
waterproof, so I was more bouncey than the Michelin
Man and suffered only bruising and a grazed arse it
turned out.
Anyway, I called up the AA (courtesy
of friendly bloke who came out of his house to help)
and had to wait two hours for them to come pick me up.
Only having AA Roadside assistance meant I will be invoiced
for the £120 tab, plus the £1.50 per/mile
costs to take me home!
During the first hour and a half, not
one of the dozen or so bikes that went past stopped
to help or at least stick their thumb up to enquire
if all was ok! Whereas, if I see a biker at the side
of the road, I'll always stop and ask if he wants help...
seems the once famed code of conduct is fast disappearing.
:(
In the last half hour though, a camper van, a harley
rider and a car driver all stopped at different times
to see if I wanted any help, before the pickup finally
arrived. Once home I left the bike in the garage, jumped
in the car and legged it up to the off license for some
emergency treatment.
Next day assessment revealed the full
damage which I thought was a bit excessive for a little
slide...
BROKEN:
RH bits - mirror, footpeg, rear brake lever, indicator,
front brake lever, brake caliper, fuse cover.
Front fairing
Both forks
Mudguard
Petrol tank
Screen brace
Front fairing bracket
Slip on exhaust
Clutch casing
Front wheel most likely buckled too.
DAMAGED:
RH seat panel
F ront mid panel
Front lower panel
Pillion peg
RIPPED:
Hein Gericke jacket
New Oxford Sports tank bag
Rucksack bungeed on back
As for the cause I'd originally put
it down to the tyres being past their sell by date,
because I wasn't nailing it into the turn... I couldn't
see any deisel or loose surfacing either. However when
I was helping push the bike onto the back of the pick-up,
my feet slipped from under me and I landed on my knees.
The road surface felt like it had a bloody good coating
of fuel and general road crap built up from the constant
heavy traffic.
All a bit much for my empty wallet
to handle, and a right royal pain in the arse (literally
;) Worst bit being I'll have to respray the whole friggin'
thing again once it's fixed! Ho hum.
Be careful out there...even when it
feels safe to push it. :o'
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