Well, after going through burns, GCSE's, CBT's and now into the 6th Form, i FINALLY got my bike on the road - handled quite nicely, and suprisingly it hit a top speed of 87... KM/H (54 MPH) - stupid KMH speedo!

Coming home today i was entering a corner, obviously i was a little to close the gutter and as i braked the front just locked up instantly and i ended up in a verge with my bike beside me.

The good news? It still works fine, and nothing but my ego is bruised

The bad news? The cracked wing mirror fell off, i cracked (previously badly repaired!) part of the body around the headlight clean in two and the front of my headlight is scratched - the previous owner glued up the headlight (!) so now i need to spend £40 on a headlight assembly and some new bulbs, as well as a can of blue paint to go over the the scratches on the front.

Yay.

Seems this bikes been in this exact same accident before though...

Quote from Jakg :

Seems this bikes been in this exact same accident before though...

Was it you?

Did you brake while going round a corner? Cause i know thats not a very clever thing to do unless done gently.

Oh well, s*** happens my freind. GL with getting it repaired.

Last time i was on a bike, the guy that let me have ago said, its not fast, after i took it around, the motox track we have made by the public, he said, **** i only THOUGHT it was an 80cc!

Although, i do remember coming off at like 50, and skidding into a ditch, well, not ALL the way, the ditch actually has crude oil running in it, so it was very lucky. I think that was on my deathtrap a bike at the back, with a plank of wood on the front forks, as a kind of ski bike, after it wore down, we got a new plank

If you're going to brake mid-corner, use the rear brake, but as Nathan said, be gentle. If it lets go, just let off and it should come back in line.

Only reason I crashed by bike 2 years ago was because I was going to fast (35 mph/56 kmh), didn't have enough traction (dual-purpose tires), and was leaned over too far (10 inches/25.4 cm of ground clearance and I scraped the peg) in a corner. The front tire slipped and before I even knew what happened I was sliding on my stomach (with my leather jacket on, as always) at 30 mph/48 kmh.

Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

Was it you?

The panels obviously been repaired, and the headlights already scratched on top - it's got red scratches inside - methinks it was crashed and the previous ownerrepaired it and resprayed it...

Quote from Nathan_French_14 :

Did you brake while going round a corner? Cause i know thats not a very clever thing to do unless done gently.

Twas only on the entry of the bend, i was still slowing down and not turning

If i was i would have fallen *into* the bend and not onto the verge (i was on the outside)

EDIT - Forbin, usually i use the rear brake (simply because it's much gentler - although tbh engine brakings even nicer), the problem was that as i braked the front locked and the next thing i remember i was just hitting the ground. Probably just need more experience methinks.

Stupid road closure forcing me to take the windiest tinyest back roads <_<

EDIT 2 - I don't think speed was the problem, it was just me not thinking about the stuff on the side of the road. Really glad i got a ridiculously armoured jacket now though, didn't feel a thing!

Quote from Jakg :

The panels obviously been repaired, and the headlights already scratched on top - it's got red scratches inside - methinks it was crashed and the previous ownerrepaired it and resprayed it...

Twas only on the entry of the bend, i was still slowing down and not turning

If i was i would have fallen *into* the bend and not onto the verge (i was on the outside)

hmm, well i heard you saying something about getting to close to the gutter? Maybe you just got on the metal, braked, which caused the wheels to lock up (loss of grip) and then you crashed

Btw, are you ok?

It was on a windy road going into a tight 90°, the entry of which being downhill - i came in a little faster than i felt comfortable going and as i tried to slow down i also tried to use all of the road on the entry so that i could see round the corner - it seems that the front just locked (i say the front, but all i heard was the tell-tale wheel locking noise, and then i was over.

Well, at least i've got an excuse to get a new bulb/wing mirror now...

sorry to hear that i know how you feel dude! I crashed my bike last wednesday got my wrist in a cast and my foot and knee bandaged up due to cuts. a bus came round the corner on my side of the road so i had a choice between the tarmac or the bus... i chose the tarmac but still didnt come off so great! no lfs for me for about 6 weeks

my bike wasnt too bad, it was a tdr 250 and now needs new fairings, wing mirror, handlebars (i bent the handle bar and clutch with my left wrist, hence the cast!! and the right hand end is severly worn down) and new rhs exhaust. oh and a new master cylinder!

hope you get your bike sorted s and back on the road soon!!!

Already?

You big girl

Glad your ok though mate.

The joys of motoring (or is it hair dryering :shrug

My legs have now decided to bloody hurt, Araldite ftw for the bodywork it seems.

tell me you dont have a horrible screeching hairdryer type moped that cant go up a hill?

Quote from DeKo :

tell me you dont have a horrible screeching hairdryer type moped that cant go up a hill?

Damn Straight!

It can go up a hill, although embarrassingly it slows down considerably.

Just one of those experience things - I've had several with bikes myself.

To stay alive on a bike - READ THE ROAD.

Gravel on corners, painted lines, oil, road surface can all be clean undie time.

Learn to feel the tyres, when you start to slide the tyres will tell you.

Mind you, if your using shyte tyres ( nippo slippo ) PUT ON GOOD TYRES.

Cheapest insurance for any bike is accident prevention and if your tyres are junk YOU WILL CRASH UNEXPECTEDLY & FREQUENTLY.

I've been riding in NZ ( Best roads in the world !!! ) for 30 years, I usually use Pirelli's or Conti's and these give lots of feedback.

Happy owner of a 78 Mk1 Guzzi Le Mans and a 1967 Vespa 50 SS

Quote from Jakg :

Damn Straight!

It can go up a hill, although embarrassingly it slows down considerably.

I have one of those . Still trying to sell it though. I've got a car license now.

Quite a fun first bike. Automatic, there is no point in a geared 50 IMO, and I got it to go 59 mph down a hill . I'm riding a CBR 125 ATM.

You guys ride those things on the public roads? OMG! I'd be scared sh!tless to be out on a public road in something that only does 50+ mph! My 573 cc 4 cylinder, which spec'ed at 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds, after a month or so riding seemed slow and unresponsive. I couldn't imagine seeing something that I could handle by giving some throttle only to find that there isn't any more to get at only 50 mph.

TBH on the roads i drive this thing on the speed limit is 60 (with the odd 30/40), but tbh it actually feels fine "cruising" at full throttle doing about 48-50 (i give precise numbers because my speedo is in KM/h, which means i always have to work it out to find out what i'm doing...)

The roads are a LOT twistier round here than they would be on an American road simply because American roads tend to go from X to Y, whereas British roads go round Field Y, Hedge X and eventually get to Y.

Quote from Jakg :

The roads are a LOT twistier round here than they would be on an American road simply because American roads tend to go from X to Y, whereas British roads go round Field Y, Hedge X and eventually get to Y.

Don't get caught up in the stereotyping there bud . Believe me, my riding country was a few minutes north of me in the Allegheny Forest where I spent most of my time at near peg grinding angles than straight up .

There are some exceptions.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f= ... .541077&z=12&om=1

Oh how I wish I had roads like that around where I live. *drool*

Curse the mind-numbingly efficient roads of suburban New Jersey...

Quote from mrodgers :

You guys ride those things on the public roads? OMG! I'd be scared sh!tless to be out on a public road in something that only does 50+ mph! My 573 cc 4 cylinder, which spec'ed at 0-60 mph in 4.5 seconds, after a month or so riding seemed slow and unresponsive. I couldn't imagine seeing something that I could handle by giving some throttle only to find that there isn't any more to get at only 50 mph.

Yeah, get a bigger bike if you can Just cause you have a bigger bike doesn't mean you have to max it out when you ride it. After having smaller bikes (a certain 250 comes to mind) and now having this monster (1400 ccs) It handles far better at the same speeds.
My speedo says 120mph. I'm not gonna find out if it will go that fast though

@ Forbin: You've been riding motorcycles for a while, huh? At least I noticed you've mentioned it a few times over the years on the forums LOL I doubt that there's much advice people could give you that you don't already know.

Yaay, that's only several thousand KM south of me...

EDIT: As a matter of fact, I've been on that road before or one very similar, cutting from I-5 into San Francisco, on a trip thru California... That was a fun trip, being a passenger on that road at 11:00 at night, couldn't see far in front of you at all. Then some idiots racing past you like it's day...

Quote from Racer Y :

<snip>
@ Forbin: You've been riding motorcycles for a while, huh? At least I noticed you've mentioned it a few times over the years on the forums LOL I doubt that there's much advice people could give you that you don't already know.

My parents bought me a 2002 Kawasaki Super Sherpa during the summer of 2003 when I graduated high school. Little 250cc single, DOHC, air-cooled. So yeah, I do have some experience, at least on the road. Offroad is another story. I only took it on a trail once, a long distance from where I live. There aren't any within a reasonable distance.

http://www.lfs-lota.net/index. ... ic=620.0;attach=436;image
http://www.lfs-lota.net/index. ... ic=620.0;attach=440;image

Quote from Forbin :

There are some exceptions.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f= ... .541077&z=12&om=1

Oh how I wish I had roads like that around where I live. *drool*

Curse the mind-numbingly efficient roads of suburban New Jersey...

That is a very nice find. Tail of the Dragonish of California!

We have curvey mountain roads around me. Maps don't do the curves justice. Look on the map and it just looks like a straight road. This is quite the curvey windy road to the cheapest fuel I have around. I ground my pegs for the first time on this road....

Maps suck at showing the curves

Ground the pegs specifically at this marker, which is two 90's which the map fails to actually show....

Where's the actual curves at?

@Forbin, I didn't know you were in Newark. I spent a week at the airforce base there visiting the GF's sister and brother-in-law quite some time ago.

Actually I just went to school at NJIT in Newark, I simply haven't changed my location since I graduated this past May and moved back home just a bit west of Newark.

Also, the Google Maps satellite images have much better detail in my area. I've actually found at least a couple roads that are clearly connected on the satellite map but not on the street map. They were both very minor backroads though.

Trying to scrape the pegs on my bike was what got me in trouble in the first place in my aforementioned crash. I'd scraped the edge of my boot before without any drama so I figured the peg shouldn't be much harder. Whoops.

You poor people! This is an example of what many nice roads lie in my back yard, like the infamous Decker Canyon Road, and most of the Mulholland Hwy.

At least I make the most of my pushbike.

Yes, wark, we've already established that California has some incredible roads, you don't need to rub it in.