Well, today was a damp, cold january morning (No frost, though!)

Hopped on my bike at 8.45 and was in work by 9am, even though there was loads of traffic.

Left a message for my boss, and went to go into town quickly to a) get a bank statement and b) talk to my training provider, and as I was pulling out the car park, the back end just went away from me. Nothing I could do, no warning.

Time went slow. After what seemed like an hour I got up and looked at my bike lying on the floor. I was crying my eyes out inside, I'd dropped my pride and joy. A woman in a car coming into the carpark stopped and helped me up, I managed to pick up my 215kg bike on my own. Pushed it back round to the front of my store. Walked back round only to find a rather large oil patch (several of them, mind, none were from my bike)

After the initial period of sick feeling, my boss (store manager) came over to me, took me to one side and sat down with me, and talking things over. Calmed me down.

Nursed the bike back home, and even though it's only going to cost ~£120 to fix, including parts, the fact I don't really have that money, and the fact it happened in the first place.

But I find it ironic. After 1000 miles on a 100bhp bike, I crash after it's been restricted to 33bhp.

Pictures taken after I nursed it home. No mechanical damage. Just cosmetical. Not the point, really. Scratched/scuffed RHS bar end not overly visible.

:cry:





Hoping to get (at least the brake lever) fixed before Sunday, when the plan is to go to the race center meet. I was going to get the bike derestricted but I've since lost all my riding confidence.

E: Possible oil leak coming from the bottom of the clutch basket. Not sure, keeping my eye on it.

Hey man even monkeys fall from trees.
I don’t say that you are that experienced rider but… shit happens.
If there is anyone that rides bikes and tells you that he hasn’t fall a couple of times like that… well he is lying.
Riding a bike includes these kinds of staff. It’s time to get used to it

As long as this doesn't involve much speed... it's ok

Nearly every biker drops it at low speed - petrol station forecourts are very popular, as is the road outside them because of spilt diesel (from stupid rep-wannabes that don't know when to stop filling usually).

Don't worry about it. Get a new lever, but leave the rest as Sod's Law says you'll just do it again if you fix the engine covers and silencer.

Quote from kaynd :

Hey man even monkeys fall from trees.
I don’t say that you are that experienced rider but… shit happens.
If there is anyone that rides bikes and tells you that he hasn’t fall a couple of times like that… well he is lying.
Riding a bike includes these kinds of staff. It’s time to get used to it

As long as this doesn't involve much speed... it's ok

I agree. Murphy's law applies here, I think. Even when you think things won't go wrong, they will. Luckily the damage isn't that bad. I hope you'll manage to find those 120 pounds to fix it

What a shame of such a nice bike!

Just ordered a new lever for £14 inc postage. Hopefully will get here before the week is up.

If anyone is an ebay troll, could they keep an eye out for a right hand side engine casing (clutch basket + the other thing) for a 2004 Z750? (J1H IIRC) I'd really appreciate it. It has to be the bronzey colour one. (Also a Z750s one would work, it's the same bike apart from a mini-fairing)

I'm going to get crash bungs (circa £60) before/when I replace the engine covers as it would've stopped 90% of the damage that I recieved here.

Thanks Kaynd and Tristi-poo for your kind and uplifting words. ILY Erik.

Tristan, would I be able to polish/sand out "most" of the scratches from the engine casing? I'm not sure if there's any risk of it going through but it's pretty scratched. I'm not sure how 'deep' it's gone through.

I'm getting a new aftermarket silencer at some point anyway so I'm not overtly worried about the exhaust.

My month has gone from bad to worse.

Good you only got a little shacked up and nothing serious on you nor bike mate!

Don't lose the confidence on yourselfe, sooner or later this happend to most people that either drives a car or motorcycle. Of course on car it's a little different but most of us will at some point take a hit, but that doesn't make us bad drivers nor people.

Acidents happend, it's in human nature to do mistakes, and sometimes like this, you canot do anything about it.
So rest up, get bike clean and be ready to take it out for a joyfull ride when the sun is high on the sky

I had these moments too... Once when I went home with my Yamaha XT600 when I came round that corner where someone had spilt a few liters of petrol on the bend of the road. Wasn't really going fast, about 30km/h when my rear tire lost grip and I fell down in slow motion, sliding endlessly towards the trees in the outer bend of the road. Luckily I didn't hit one of them... :schwitz

And I had two other stupid moments: One was when I was trying to do a wheely in a 10m short driveway (stupid me). And the other one was when I was going to drive off in a curve but hadn't opened the fuel tap minutes before. So I leaned the bike while trying to drive off when the bike just coughed and fell over together with me in front of the neighbours eyes with a small kid even laughing at me... Man that was embarrassing...

Good to hear you have no serious injuries whatsoever!

Damn those bastard car/LORRY drivers.

That's the worst part about crashing. Everyone looks at you and you feel like a plonker.

FWIW I hope your XT's not in any major mechanical mishap.

In a way I wish I had of been injurered, because then it wouldn't have been as embarrasing.

Just wondering is it possible to claim liability damages? Because the carpark is run by a company (not sure what one, though) and they regularly have delivery lorrys and trucks coming around.. Not that I'd want anything more than the cost of the parts, unlikely but just thinking out loud.

It'd be a difficult one to prove that it wasn't just your own fault. But if there's CCTV showing that the wheels slipped on oil then you might have a case. A half-decent ambulance-chaser could probably get you compensation for "mental anguish" as well

i had two bikes before my parents found out i had a bike,

they found out when i had to go to the hospital with a badly broken leg after falling in a corner at 100 kph

couldnt kept the secret anymore

Ouch, dropping your bike always sucks, no matter at what speeds. At least the damage isn't all that bad and you're okay. I can understand your riding confidence has left you, but it will come back. And then you'll lose it a couple more times as you have other incidents like this or near-misses with other cars and the like. Just keep riding. The worst thing you can do is not ride your bike for a few days because your confidence won't come back that way.

Hmm, anekdotes... With my first bike - a SV650 N - I stopped at a red light, and another guy on a SV650 N (but a newer model than mine) pulls up alongside me. We give each other the nod and check out each other's bike as is the custom between bikers, I'm sure you know Mind you, I only had my bike a couple of months at that time and was still riding with my learner's permit. Bike wasn't restricted though, as I was older than 21. So... here we are at this red light which stays red for what seems like an eternity, as it's near an airfield runway and the planes that come in fly very low, so you always have to wait until the plane has landed which can be several minutes. Needless to say traffic was queueing (sp?) up as far as you could see, me and this other guy first. I'm thinking I'm gonna open the throttle up good once it goes green 'cause I knew the other guy would, too, and the road ahead was as straight as roads get for miles and miles, with no other traffic in sight because we'd been standing at the light for a while. So, adrenaline pumping... bike's in first... waiting to open the throttle and release the clutch... Lights go green and.... I bloody stall the engine by releasing the clutch too quick and early!!! But, that's not all of it. I had already put both my feet on the pegs. So... bike starts to fall over, I put my foot down but am not able to hold it and it falls to the ground while I hop off sideways in a stupidly clumsy manner. Remember, there's traffic piling up for god knows how far and here I am having dropped my bike at the traffic light The other guy gave me a quick sideway glance as he took off in the distance. I wonder what he was thinking Thinking about it now I can laugh about it but man, did I feel horrible at the time

I've had other small incidents but none quite as embarassing as that one.

Quote from lerts :

i had two bikes before my parents found out i had a bike,

they found out when i had to go to the hospital with a badly broken leg after falling in a corner at 100 kph

couldnt kept the secret anymore

I bet....i also plan to do it in a secretive manner! ah folowing lerts feels like a bad idea...!?

Quote from greg_slideways :

I bet....i also plan to do it in a secretive manner! ah folowing lerts feels like a bad idea...!?

It certainly is. Back when I was young, I had a moped too. I kept it and rode it every day for two weeks, until people told my parents. I parked it a few streets further down the block

Good old days. I miss them

Well a bike is cheaper, although in snow it will be hard, but that darn bus to school, i cant do it anymore.

Sorry for [ot] S14 sorry for the luck mate! Happens to the best of em! http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=MIbDiBHNn_0

OWCH. Looks painful. guy survived which is nice. Only annoying thing is that he doesn't have to worry about repair bills!

Obsolum : That's mighty embarrasing. >.< Always keep your foot down until you are at decent speed when pulling away sharpish

You should get engine bars (you see them on CB500s a lot, which is redundant as those engine cases are made out of magma and titanium) they will save your engine from drops.

But they'd ruin the look

I will be getting crash bungs however, no doubt.

A load of web trawling led me to DK motorcycles (:o) and I gave them a call. For genuine Kawasaki parts, both covers are around £140. The clutch cover is £120something and the other one for the bit I don't know is £15 or something. Just got to save up for it.

Looking at £200 to buy crash bungs and these parts, I could fit them myself. Really hoping I can get it back to A1 condition. As I said, am getting a stubby Ixil Hyperlow end can for £160 inc.shipping so I don't really care about the exhaust. Besides it looks like I just grinded it as I came out of my garage or something - so it's not that bad.

Bungs will only save your bike if they are installed correctly and I've seen a lot of damage caused to frames from them snapping off when installed wrong.

I really wouldn't bother replacing the case unless you're intending to sell the bike soon. Just sand it down, fill the grooves if it bugs you, then paint it. Save yourself some coin.

Does your insurance cover the damage?

I'd thought of that myself, but the scratches are quite deep. I'm not sure how thick the wall of the clutch cover is, but the last thing I'd need is for it to crack, leak or fail all together.

The bungs for my particular model bolts into one of the engine mounts. If I follow the fitting instructions (which R&G provide anyway, not as complicated as I thought ), and I drop my bike and it snaps the frame, so long as I've installed it to the letter, then that's R&G's responsibilty.

NVM, just read their thingy and they accept no liabilty for losses. :o BASTARDS.

No Erik, I have TFT (third party, fire and theft), as fully comp was around £900 which was just too much. Besides, claiming on insurance for (he says) minor damages like aren't worth claiming for because you pay more because your premium is increased and you lose your no claims bonus.

I'd just leave the damage as is. All the bikes you talk to will understand, as it's really easy to drop a bike at low speed, especially in the wet. People have broken both wrists doing just that. If you repair the damage it'll only happen again.

Buy the bits when you come to sell it on. Or, buy the bits now (in case you can't get them in a few years when you sell) but leave them in a box waiting to be fitted when you advertise it.

The chicks love a battle scarred bike

Shit happens, I dropped my CBR twice, and I dropped my Falco outside "The Swan" on a friday night, when it's full of over 1000 bikers

Quote from S14 DRIFT :

Well, today was a damp, cold january morning (No frost, though!)

Hopped on my bike at 8.45 and was in work by 9am, even though there was loads of traffic.

Left a message for my boss, and went to go into town quickly to a) get a bank statement and b) talk to my training provider, and as I was pulling out the car park, the back end just went away from me. Nothing I could do, no warning.

Time went slow. After what seemed like an hour I got up and looked at my bike lying on the floor. I was crying my eyes out inside, I'd dropped my pride and joy. A woman in a car coming into the carpark stopped and helped me up, I managed to pick up my 215kg bike on my own. Pushed it back round to the front of my store. Walked back round only to find a rather large oil patch (several of them, mind, none were from my bike)

After the initial period of sick feeling, my boss (store manager) came over to me, took me to one side and sat down with me, and talking things over. Calmed me down.

Nursed the bike back home, and even though it's only going to cost ~£120 to fix, including parts, the fact I don't really have that money, and the fact it happened in the first place.

But I find it ironic. After 1000 miles on a 100bhp bike, I crash after it's been restricted to 33bhp.

Pictures taken after I nursed it home. No mechanical damage. Just cosmetical. Not the point, really. Scratched/scuffed RHS bar end not overly visible.

:cry:





Hoping to get (at least the brake lever) fixed before Sunday, when the plan is to go to the race center meet. I was going to get the bike derestricted but I've since lost all my riding confidence.

E: Possible oil leak coming from the bottom of the clutch basket. Not sure, keeping my eye on it.

you walked away so theirs nothing to cry feel sorry about,

everyone crashs, get over it

I know what u feel (kinda)

Once i drove my Aprilia Sonic (Scooter 50cc) at 50-60km/h at wetty mud road, and next thing i remember is that i was kinda like sanwiched by my 93kg scooter. Felt like somekinda Godzilla is on me and i couldnt move Was bit funny tho. Had 2 friends with me driving too, and they helped me lil bit. But yea ... i know what u feel. Im happy that my scootie wasnt damaged much. People who dont know what scooter it is, then here's a video of me havin some fun in front of my garage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v ... &feature=channel_page

Yeah you have to be alert of shit on the road, mud, leaves, drian covers, oil (Funny that...), and stuff. It'll come to you in time, but you have to be concentrating so hard most of the time.

At least you saw the funny side of it.