Crashed Testy Dummy
Posted: Tue Nov 21, 2006 2:51 amI was giving a friend (Hannah) a lift home this evening when I saw something on the road which I thought was some kind of dry powder, just as I was slowing for a tightish right hander at about 20 (estimated). Unfortunately it turned out to be quite slimy and I low-sided. I had to watch my bike making pretty orange sparks on the road ahead of me as I slid to an ignoble halt on my behind.
All's well with myself and my passenger, we have a couple of bruises and grazes between us, but the bike's a different matter. I'm guessing it's about £500-700's worth of damage (assuming I do all the fitting myself) though I've not had a chance to have a look at it in good lighting. I'm missing two foot pegs, an indicator and a wing mirror, the exhaust is ground somewhat, the bodywork's mostly OK, but there's quite a lot ground off where it sticks out. My trousers proved to be worth the money I paid for them, but won't do much good a second time. The handlebars are bent quite significantly. I started the engine up and got lots of smoke, so I decided against trying to limp home.
Another motorcyclist (who we'd overtaken not long previously) offered to give us both a lift home, one at a time, and I opted to let Hannah go first (second mistake of the evening). She eventually called me to say he'd got to the nearest pub after lots of wobbling and breaking down (5 stops to fiddle with various things wrong with the bike, apparently!) and decided he'd rather have another couple of pints then go home than come and get me. Eventually, another friend gave us both lifts home, and my bike's sitting on the pavement next to a slimy bit of road just outside coventry.
What do I learn from this experience? Never assume you've read the surface right, I guess. On the other hand, I doubt I would've made it around the corner at anything over 10mph, possibly even less...
I'll probably break the bike and sell it as parts, rather than try to repair it. Poor old Zach.
Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny
All's well with myself and my passenger, we have a couple of bruises and grazes between us, but the bike's a different matter. I'm guessing it's about £500-700's worth of damage (assuming I do all the fitting myself) though I've not had a chance to have a look at it in good lighting. I'm missing two foot pegs, an indicator and a wing mirror, the exhaust is ground somewhat, the bodywork's mostly OK, but there's quite a lot ground off where it sticks out. My trousers proved to be worth the money I paid for them, but won't do much good a second time. The handlebars are bent quite significantly. I started the engine up and got lots of smoke, so I decided against trying to limp home.
Another motorcyclist (who we'd overtaken not long previously) offered to give us both a lift home, one at a time, and I opted to let Hannah go first (second mistake of the evening). She eventually called me to say he'd got to the nearest pub after lots of wobbling and breaking down (5 stops to fiddle with various things wrong with the bike, apparently!) and decided he'd rather have another couple of pints then go home than come and get me. Eventually, another friend gave us both lifts home, and my bike's sitting on the pavement next to a slimy bit of road just outside coventry.
What do I learn from this experience? Never assume you've read the surface right, I guess. On the other hand, I doubt I would've made it around the corner at anything over 10mph, possibly even less...
I'll probably break the bike and sell it as parts, rather than try to repair it. Poor old Zach.
Cheers & God bless
Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny
