Low speed crash on dirt road, problems to look for? [PICS]

[Esteban]

Hey all,

Yesterday I decided it would be a good idea to go off the beaten path and check out a nature preserve that I had never been to before.  Of course the preserve was awful and while I was navigating on the dirt roads I hit a nasty bit of mud and took a low speed (~10mph) tumble.  I'm fine (just a scratched knee and a pretty severely damaged ego), but the bike took the grunt of the fall.  This is my first crash/drop with the bike (~4300 miles under my belt), so I wanted to check to see what problems I should watch out for??  The bike was still running on its side and died before I could hit the engine cutoff switch and lift it up (I'm guessing it flooded?).  It took a couple of tries to get it started again, but it started back up and I was able to get it out of there (drove about 2 miles and then shut it down for the evening).  The temperature dipped last night and I had a hell of a time starting it this morning (had to push start it because the battery was too weak to turn the engine).  I drove it home (~25 miles) and am going to see what I can do to fix it up.  Feel free to look at the pics below to see the damage and PLEASE let me know if there is anything I should look out for (a big, nasty crack in the cowling and scratches and scuffs along the cowling, right fairing, engine cover, and muffler).

[Bluesmudge]

Hey, glad you are okay. GS not so good in the mud with those street tires eh?

Wow, dirt is a lot kinder to plastic and metal than asphalt. I'm very surprised the front cowl cracked though.

Others might have some advice, but I've (unfortunately) crashed my GS twice on the road. Once at 20, once at 45ish. Both times it fired right up and was back on the road the next day. Nothing but cosmetic damage.
Your battery/starting troubles are very weird though considering what happened. Were you having trouble with a weak battery before the crash?

[joker79507]

I would say check the fluids (oil and brakes) doubt you need to, but better safe than sorry.  If your looking to quickly put your blinker back on just go buy some washers that you can use to mount the blinker back the the same location.  As for fixing the fairing, thats a bit more complex.  Some will tell you to plastic weld the crack than paint it, i have heard of using plumbers abs lovoc cement, or using JB weld on the inside to keep it together but if it doesnt bother you to much then just leave it because whatever way you go you will probably have to repaint it.  Oh and clean all the mud off of course 

[sledge]

Urrghh...bad luck pal. I cracked an indicator lens on the gatepost this morning and thought I had something to moan about......Suggest you check the electrolyte levels in the battery cells, you might have lost some when it went over which in turn could explain the starting problem.

[joker79507]

I found this article for you or anyone else who has to fix a cracked fairing 

http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/r6-how-guides/105455-how-fix-your-broken-fairings.html

[qwertydude]

Oh wow never thought of using ABS pipe as filler. That just makes such perfect sense, I've done plastic welding before and now I know where to get cheap filler, home depot.

[Esteban]

Thanks for all of the suggestions and feedback about the slide. 

Hey, glad you are okay. GS not so good in the mud with those street tires eh?

Wow, dirt is a lot kinder to plastic and metal than asphalt. I'm very surprised the front cowl cracked though.

Others might have some advice, but I've (unfortunately) crashed my GS twice on the road. Once at 20, once at 45ish. Both times it fired right up and was back on the road the next day. Nothing but cosmetic damage.
Your battery/starting troubles are very weird though considering what happened. Were you having trouble with a weak battery before the crash?

Maybe I need some knobbies for next time? 
It took me a number of tries before the bike would start, so I'm guessing that was a bit of a drain, then I let it sit out in the cold overnight and I'm sure that didn't help.  I've had some issues with this battery (OEM, less than a year old), but they seem to be intermittent.

I would say check the fluids (oil and brakes) doubt you need to, but better safe than sorry.  If your looking to quickly put your blinker back on just go buy some washers that you can use to mount the blinker back the the same location.  As for fixing the fairing, thats a bit more complex.  Some will tell you to plastic weld the crack than paint it, i have heard of using plumbers abs lovoc cement, or using JB weld on the inside to keep it together but if it doesnt bother you to much then just leave it because whatever way you go you will probably have to repaint it.  Oh and clean all the mud off of course

The fluids appear to be ok, but I'll make sure to watch them.  Thankfully, I was able to pop the blinker back in and it is actually holding the crack together.  However, I'm planning on using a Bondo fiberglass repair kit ($15 at pep boys) to reinforce the back and I might put some retro reflective tape over the cracks themselves to disguise them. 

Urrghh...bad luck pal. I cracked an indicator lens on the gatepost this morning and thought I had something to moan about......Suggest you check the electrolyte levels in the battery cells, you might have lost some when it went over which in turn could explain the starting problem.

Hey, scheiße happens, ya know?  I'd like to chalk this drop to mother nature, but it was my fault to continue on the dirt road after it changed over from gravel.  As for the battery, I checked the electrolyte levels and they are all within the min/max lines, so it looks like they're ok.  I just put it on my Battery Tender, so we'll see what happens tomorrow (it's going to be 86F here, beeeeeautiful).

I found this article for you or anyone else who has to fix a cracked fairing

http://www.r6messagenet.com/forums/r6-how-guides/105455-how-fix-your-broken-fairings.html

Thanks for the link.  This was another tutorial I was looking at (which suggests the fiberglass kit): http://www.sportrider.com/tech/146_9510_hand/index.html

I picked up some Mother's MAG & Aluminum Polish to try to get some of the scratches out of the muffler.  It appeared to be more scuffed than gouged, so I thought I'd try.  Turns out that it made my muffler looks better than new now!  Problem is that there were some pretty deep scratches, but it's hard to see them when you're looking at your reflection. :-p  The polish definitely gets 2 big ol' thumbs up from me  It also took the scratches out of the plastics and even the decals (!).  I was scrubbing and scrubbing them before to no avail, but this took off that top layer of grime and made them nice and shiny. (Sorry for the image quality, had to use my phone :-/)

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