Hey folks, I kept meaning to log in and say howdy. It's been way too long, caught up with other things.

Anyway, had a good start to summer. Got new tires, was really getting used to the bike as it's relatively new to me, but I too FELL OFF!! for the first time in over ten years.

Crash Story (quite long!)

Two months ago, Late at night, itching for a "spirited ride" and needed milk etc. I suited up full gear and I was gonna get the milk, drop it home and go for a little ride.
When I came out the door it starts raining lightly rrrrR! "That ****s the hot ride afterwards".
So I decide to just go to the shop on the bike and return home.
On my way home (on the freshly moistened road) I went through a sweeping uphill left-hander and applied a little power. The rear broke away a little, with very enjoyable results. I'm no stranger to a little bit of action like that!
I was delighted with the bike, and my control of it at that point, and continued on my way.
Soon after, a very slow, tight left-right section, and on the way out I decided to test my GP skills again. Only this time, the back tire touched a wet strip of tar (bitumen) from a repair in the road.
100% Spin - 90deg to the right - happened in an instant - not a chance of saving it - spat me and the bike down on our left sides.
I think you'd call that a highside?
The road in the area is a bit shiny even when dry, and I had a shiny textile jacket over my leather so even at just 15-20mph, I slid along the wet road for AGES on my chest, during which time I looked over at the bike sliding (yes, sparks too ). And I put my head down a little but had to pull it up again because my helmet was scraping off the road!
Eventually I came to a stop, and when I got up I felt the pain in my left hip/thigh/elbow. I was in shock but managed to calm myself enough to know how heavy the bike was going to be, and to take my time lifting it up. (It's fookin heavier than I thought!)
Rode the bike the half a mile to my house, and spent weeks hobbling around with a dead leg and fixing the bike as cheaply as I could just to get back out.


I'll update and explain the repair a bit better soon,
but basically I repaired the tailpiece, left middle cowl and the upper cowl, and painted them with color matched aerosols and a technique that I learned, and I cut some black vinyl with a blade for the "wing" logo.
Not bad at all to get me through to the winter at least! I can always fix it "proper" sometime.
Here's the bike now from the left side:




And from the right side, you can see the match between the painted upper cowl and tail, and the undamaged Honda tank and side panels. Not bad!



Ride safe, talk soon!

 

Dude... it's almost always the slow turns that get you on the road.

glad you are okay and didnt get tagged by a car following.

 

Yeah what's that!!? And you can tear through some at over 100 and not lose as much grip! I suppose we're doing more accelerating in the slow stuff?
And that was my first thought when I stopped "Uh, car might come along, get up!". It was a nice quiet night in the town, but indeed, anything's possible!

I suppose the biggest point of my thread was the fact that I got the bike back to a temporarily acceptable state for only €80 (about $100?), including a secondhand OEM screen. That was handy.
But It's great to see a lot of familiar names still posting here.

I'm heading out just now to take advantage of the long evenings here (can still use black visor up to 10pm!), but I'm a little tired, so no full GP style corner exits for me tonight!! Maybe just some quick cruising :thumbsup:


EDIT: I forgot to mention, I dont have any pics of the bike with the damage. They would have been great as a before and after for this thread but my own camera is broken, and anyway I didnt really want to record an image of it at the time. It upset me to see the damage lol

 

Your first problem was wanting to go for a spirited ride at night. Always a bad idea. I'm glad you weren't hurt badly and hopefully you learned something from it.

 

I do a bit of it because of the hours I work and how my evenings work out, and yeah you could say one might be more tired, or that you cant see half as much gravel/crap as with daylight riding.
But I really LOVE how quiet it is, "Look, hehe, No assh*les", is what I say!
I think it was more the rain and wet road, and the fact that I allowed myself to become spirited in it
Those "tar strips" look like a dolphins back in the wet though, and AFAIK daylight alone doesnt improve grip on them!
I'm still quite sore, and scared from it, and my cornering confidence was shattered.
These bikes have WAY too much power for the rain lol

My mistake alright, complacency and horseplay, mixed with water, and street lighting. A lethal combo!
Thanks for the good wishes guys.



I just found this photo from partway through the repair, I was waiting for paint and the weather was nice, so thats how the bugs got on the "flatted out" upper cowl!

 

And to "The Hooligan", I know, I did think about it!
But I'm too worried about re-sale value to fighter it, I really like the bike stock, and there's some lovely schemes out there for the stock bodywork too!

 

in a high side theres no telling which side ur gonna end up on but generally u end up on the opposite side u were leaning, from the post i couldnt tell which part of the right/left S curve u were in. but if u did high side im very surprised u werent hurt as bad as u were because u go airborn and pavement isnt exactly forgiving. glad ur ok though, next time if ur gonna test ur "gp" skills try to do it in sane conditions, ca pish?

 

Oh big time! I felt, and still feel as if I fell out of a two to three storey building and hit the road! I broke a collarbone in the past and I was convinced I was after breaking something in my hip/leg with this as the pain/swelling was so bad.
Xray showed nothing broken so they told me it was tissue damage from the impact.
I understand your confusion, it's hard to describe!
It was on the way out of a slow 90deg right hander. I had the bike back up to around 5% lean and decided if the back went out a little that i'd be ready and able for it. She lost grip and slid away to the left quicker than anyone could have expected, and regained grip when the bike was 90deg to my initial direction.
I just remember saying "Oh *****, thats gone waay too far, I'm powerless in this" and then, BOOM on the left - sliiiiiiiiiide.
The only reasons I doubted the "Highside" term is because I only have a few clear memories of the motion,
hanging off the back of my "sideways outfit" as the rear slid way out, feeling the throw when it gripped,
and hitting the ground sliding.
I dont remember seeing how High my highside was!
And also, a friend doubted my use of the term as he pointed out that, in his mind, some unspecified amount of speed, elevation, or damage would have to be reached. But I think he's just jealous

Probably no point to this bit, as it's pretty crap, but I went all out and did a sketch to show it!

(We drive on the left side here)

* The heavy black arrows are my direction of travel (lol, this is fun)

* The Red line is the shiny tar strip (they pour it from a hot can as a seam after repairs in the road)

* The blue mark/line is the mark that my left footpeg made in the road after the bike smacked down

* "X" is the distance between the tar strip and the footpeg mark, it's around the same distance between the footpeg and the rear tire contact patch, So that puts the tire in the general area of the tar strip at the time of the disturbance.