I've been without an internet connection for the past few days while on vacation, and about 4 days ago I enjoyed my first crash. I was on a nice twisty two lane road with a limit of 30, but visibility was limited on some turns due to trees. It was only about 8 miles long, and I had already taken it once, holding about 40 mph. The road conditions were pretty good- sunny, no obvious problems with the roadway, except for some limited visibility in some turns. I was working on my cornering, trying to hold good lines, and working on leaning.
I came around a corner at a little over 40, this was one I had dealt with ok going the other direction but that way I had had much better visibility. This time I was approaching it at a speed of about 40, perhaps a little more. My entry angle was good, but I couldn't see all the way through the curve this time, and it tightened up on me unexpectedly. I panicked a bit but held onto the throttle, trying to keep the traction I had left as I leaned over even more. I think I probably could have just barely stayed on the road except for about two feet of gravel on the side that I hadn't seen going the other direction. When I saw the gravel I freaked out and squeezed the front brake, although at the same time I knew it was the wrong thing to do. Of course it didn't help me at all, and I probably slowed by less than 5 mph before I hit the gravel and slid out. Luckily the side of the road had high grass, and I only rolled on the asphalt once or twice before getting into the grass while quickly (and mostly painlessly) slowed me down. I got up swearing my ass off. My poor little GS had rolled off into the grass, maybe 5 feet from the side of the road. There were a couple nice streaks through the gravel where my tires had gone, and a couple grooves cut into the side of the road, I think from my centerstand and some other hard parts of my bike.
As I got up, I heard someone yelling asking me if I was ok, and by the time I was up I saw a middle aged guy running across the road toward me. He and his wife had been riding their Harley along the road the other direction and he had also run off the road. They were going slower so he was able to drop his bike with very little damage and was about to ride off when they saw me come around the corner and off the road. They were very helpful, offered me a ride home, asked if I was ok, helped me get the GS back on the road, and stuck around until they knew I had a ride coming. I was incredibly fortunate to have them there, and I think I have to lay off the Harley jokes for a while.
So, the fallout. My front end is seriously messed up, but the rest doesn't seem too bad. I've got a large dent in my tank and some scrapes along the left side. My gear held up very well, where I had it. My gloves, Cortech Accelerators, took some damage to the palms, I slightly remember hitting them first.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0018.jpg)
My helmet didn't hit the ground, but my jacket did and the armor in my Cortech GX Air really protected my elbows and shoulders. I've got some grass stains on it now, but I didn't get hurt at all on my upper body. My left knee, unfortunately, seems to have hit the ground first, and got pretty screwed up. I was only wearing jeans, which ended up with a 1/4" hole, and my knee ended up with a much larger one.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0001.jpg)
My left boot got scraped up a bit but held up well.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0019.jpg)
So now I gotta try to fix up my purty little bike. I can't really afford to replace it, and so I'm basically going to try to do as little as I can to get it running well. I've accepted that shes gonna be pretty battle scarred, I'd be happy to have her running in decent condition. Unfortunately, pretty much the whole front end is broken. I'd appreciate any advice, but I'd like to go for whatever is cheapest. I'm gonna be doing the work myself (with help from my dad), but I'm pretty optimistic. To start listing things, I already know I'm going to need to replace my instruments, headlight, and figure out what the hell is going on with my forks/ wheel alignment.
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0004-1.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0005-1.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0008-1.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0013.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0016-1.jpg)
(http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h55/GDunlavey/DSCF0017-1.jpg)
Glad you're (mostly) allright!
Those gloves are good, I'd keep using them. Same with the boots.
For a measly $50 you coulda had a pair of Fieldsheer Carbolex overpants.
You already know what you did wrong, just glad you're allright.
Left fork is definitely bent, but it definitely looks repairable (have it cold rolled straight).
+1 on bent fork.
Dude, I know your pain. It sucks huh...
My bike was totally spared though (by my left leg OMFG! It landed on me and used me as padding OMFG OW!)
Your knee doesn't look too bad, mine was WAY worse, and it healed up pretty quick, so you should road worthy in no time.
Plus, battle scars are cool. (Ok I try to convince myself of that one... I'm failing...)
I'm glad to hear you didn't get seriously hurt.
NO MORE CRASHING!!!
nice breakdwon on everything you did.....glad that your alright.....
Thanks for the help/ sympathy :)
I'm actually road worthy already, it hurts to bend my knee but that hasn't stopped me from taking my Ridercourse this weekend. Gave me a fun story to tell the teachers too. I would have loved to have been wearing those Fieldsheer overpants but by the time I saw the site they were down to teeny sizes and I'm not especially teeny :laugh:
I realized that the lug on the frame that keeps you from turning the bars too far to either side has moved, the weld has partially failed. I'm gonna try to take the bearing out from behind that and have someone reweld it into place. Any other advice on fixing the forks? I would be ecstatic if I could straighten the left one and get it rideable.
Did you try the ol' front-tire-between-your-knees-like-your-bicycle straightening? Loosen the upper triple clamps and one bolt on the lower triple (on the bad side), after you have propped up the front end.
I can say from personal experience, please make sure you get the knee wound cleaned and checked for imbedded gravel/dirt. you can manifest a nasty infection later on if you just let it heal over. Yes, it hurts, but nothing like a bone infection. I have been riding street for 30 years and dirt bikes even before that. I have made judgement errors and impulse moves, and by the grace of God, some actually worked right, or it just wasn't my time. But I try to learn from it all. I guess you won't be riding with flip-flops and shorts after this for sure.
Be safe, and ride again soon, even if you have to borrow a bike. Rob
I've got the whole front end disassembled, and it looks like the only serious damage to the forks is that my left inner fork tube is bent. I need to replace my instrument display (which will probably involve combining two broken speedometers to get one which works) and headlamp and headlamp assembly, luckily werase is able to hook me up in that regard. For me the most serious repair remaining is to reweld the lug on the front that keeps you from turning the bars too far to either side. I removed the steering column and bearings so they aren't damaged by the heat of the welder, but the lower bearing looked like it had taken some serious pressure so I'm replacing it as well. The fender is broken but I'm going to make a new fork separator (the metal part on top of the front fender) and epoxy the plastic back together.
My knee is healing up well, much better than my wallet which is going to be out over $200. I suppose thats not too bad considering how much it could have been, but on a $1200 bike its pretty significant. All of the cosmetic damage will be staying for now. I'll try sanding and color matching some of it later, but for now the battle scars aren't bad enough to warrant replacing those parts. Does anyone have any information about welding that lug? Has anyone had to do it?
don't have to weld it....
not a big deal
the steering stops now are your thumbs....when they hit the tank
oh you have h-bars....never mind
the weld repair will take about 30 seconds....much longer than all the work getting it to a welder
bring it to my house.....i'd do that for free....or a beer
take the bent fork to a machine shop and ask them to straighten it.