Grr, so I'm f%$king pissed at myself right now. I got out of work early and went for a nice ride up 9 and down Bear Creek. On the way down Bear Creek, I lost the front end on my 675. It was a mini-highside in the sense that I went over the bars, but for the most part I just slid and so did the bike. I wasn't even going that hard, or at least I didn't feel like I was. Regardless, I obviously entered the turn too fast. It was a downhill turn and between turning and too much braking I lost traction on the front. I didn't stab at the brakes, I just applied too much and eventually it was too much for the front to handle.

Physically, I'm totally fine (wear you gear!), but I'm just really angry right now. I'm pissed that I wrecked my nearly brand-new, absolutely gorgeous bike. More so, I'm pissed that I really have no choice but to give up riding street for a long, long while. Either I don't have the necessary skill or I don't have the maturity to stay within my limits, but either way it's clear after two street crashes in under two years of riding that I should not be riding any further. I haven't taken the time to really survey the damage to the bike, but if it's not a writeoff, I'm selling it right after getting it fixed.

Save your pity if you have any; I deserve none. I figure I'll spend the rest of my night with a six-pack drowning my anger and embarrassment.

everybody crashes, it happens don't be so hard on yourself and i am glad you are ok

glad you came out without any injuries. just blame the fall on a cager and hop back on the iron saddle, thats what i did.

Glad you made it out OK  Sorry to hear about the 675 

Write if off as a learning exp.  And keep riding.  Crashes happen the best thing you can do is learn from it and keep riding, don't be hard on yourself.  Everyone makes mistakes the key is to learn from it.

WHAT HE SAID ! ! ! ! ! ^ ^ ^

Uhmmm...
I've had my GS for five months up to now, in the last month and a half I dropped it twice.
And after a little cursing, I've been on the saddle again.

What I mean, is:
learn from your mistakes
and
PUT YOUR BUTT CHEEKS ON THAT DAMN BIKE AGAIN AND GO RIDE!!!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!

I know you feel discouraged, but remember,
there are two categories of bikers:
those that have fallen and those that will. I belong to the first, and so do you and many many folks 'round here I suppose. We're in jolly good company.


Sorry for any damage that might have happened to your bike, but don't worry too much.

Lamps!!

Hey Brett, sorry to hear about the wreck.  But +1 to what they said.  I hope you keep riding! 

test

Brett, you've only been riding for two years.

It seems you know what you did wrong.

Chalk it up as experience, take a break while you're waiting to fix, or sell, your bike.

Save some old parts to remind you [of your mistake].

When you fall out of the saddle, you get back on.

Now for some details towards learning what you did wrong and how to avoid it in the future:

You low-sided; you overwhelmed the traction of the front tire with braking while going downhill - you washed out the front end.

You've already established that you entered the turn too fast, doesn't matter if it was a familiar turn or not.

Where were you looking?

Now for the Doc Wong riding lesson about going downhill:

Enter the turn slower than you normally would - this allows for you to still be able to accelerate through the turn.  When you're going downhill you're already loading the front tire, the weight of the bike is over the front tire.  To get the weight off the front you need a way to transfer that weight -  that way is to accelerate.  What happens to a bike when you accelerate?  The front end gets light.  You can apply this same basic principle to turning downhill.  Now, let's say you are going too fast for the turn, and you want to slow down without overloading the front tire - gently apply rear brake - while still applying throttle.  Technically, using the rear brake is considered an advanced riding technique.
Now for downhill riding position/posture - slide back in the saddle, again get that weight over the rear tire; pinch the tank with your knees to keep you from sliding forward.
Tighten up your stomach muscles to help "prop up" your upper torso, so you can get the weight of your upper body off of the handlebars.  Understand that this is much more harder to do on a sportbike with a sportbike-type crouch.  If you're doing it right you will notice two different things: your upper torso will feel like it is 'suspended', as if hanging from a string attached to the nape of your neck, and you should be able to flap your elbows like a chicken; if you can't flap your elbows, you're too tight on the bars and consequentially, you can't steer through the turn (you'll always feel like you're going to the outside of the turn).

Hope this helps and hope you feel better.  Save your beer money for fixing that bike or buying another one.

man it happens .. just like they said jump back on .  have you take the MSF course yet ? if so . go take the Advanced course . you will learn alot of that class .. if you had taken that class already you might have been able to avoid the spill . the advanced class is well worth the money !

When i jumped on my first bike - 50cc. I must have fell off god knows how many times, it must have been laid on the floor 3 or 4 times. Once was a car hit me another was my stupidity when stopping i missed my footing and it just plopped over, but i had fallen two times due to my idiocy, once was just going too fast into a turn like you and with inexperience didn't know how to slow down and slid off. The second just the same sort of silly thing, riding out of my comfort zone. Since those i have learnt absolutely tonnes and since then have not even got myself into a situation where im not in control or im going too fast. You learn from your mistakes, some people it may take one fall to sink in - for me its taken 4 to drill the message home. Don't give up or you will never get back on one again.

Quote from: brett on August 17, 2007, 07:37:41 PM
Save your pity if you have any; I deserve none. I figure I'll spend the rest of my night with a six-pack drowning my anger and embarrassment.

Oh yea ... then ... get Brett ...
Damn I have wanted to do that for so long ...
Why isn't your name Brent
I actually pulled it on several times, and several variations on someone ~6 years ago, and it was so cool.
I called this home builder/sales place where one of them was Lisa and the other was Brent. I knew Both and eventually bought my house from them. But Brent was the first sales man who showed me around. When I used to call and Lisa will answer, I'd go "Oh Lisa, get brent" It was so funny (for me).
Cool.
Srinath.

No pity, Brett, but I am sorry to hear about your bike. Listen to scratch and the others: learn from your mistakes, and move on. YOU weren't hurt, and that's what's *most* important. I've also heard experienced riders say that they've pushed the envelope before, because if they don't, they don't know where the envelope is. I haven't a clue as to whether they're teasing me or not, but it sounds that you've been learning where that envelope is over the past couple of years, especially since you're figuring out why you crashed (and kudos to you for not saying cold tires ).

Even in anger and embarassment, you posted a mature thread not just to bash yourself over the head a few times, but it seems to me that your words of wisdom and "been there done that" will help others here. I hope you do decide to *learn* from your experiences, and that after careful reflection, you're able decide that you ARE mature enough to ride and keep the shiny side up.