I lowsided at an estimated of 40-MPH in a fairly sharp turn. I ran out of leaning room, the left head hit the ground and pivoted the wheels off the road and slid for about 45-ft over a little berm. A bunch of bushes and vines saved the bike from going any further down the ravine.
I'm slightly sore thanks to leathers. The bike suffers minor damages: front left signal light, pushed in headlight (still works), minor dent and scratches on left side of fuel tank, damage to the BMW plastic head protector, the left head cover and spark plug cover are done. Amazingly enough the head cover wasn't holed through. Four strangers stopped and helped me pull the bike over the berm and into the road again. Dusted it off, cranked on the engine and rode home. Major mechanicals seemed OK. The leathers were scuffed but that was it.
Last edited by fnfalman on Sun May 07, 2006 3:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Cogito Ergo Vroom - I think therefore I ride.
03 Rockster, 07 Aprilia Tuono R, 07 KTM 990 Adventure
oh no! the bike seems to have come away with remarkable little damage considering your speed of spill. are you intending to put it all right or just fix it back up to roadworthy state?
I'll put the bike back to roadworthy condition. I'm not going to fix the scarring of the paint because a) it's part of riding & b) it reminds me of my stupidity next time I try to ride the bike more than it's capable of.
Cogito Ergo Vroom - I think therefore I ride.
03 Rockster, 07 Aprilia Tuono R, 07 KTM 990 Adventure
Hey glad you're OK! Kinda fun crashin down the road a ways ain't it? er, that is when you have the gear for it! Did the valve cover touch down first or what?
I'm with you. Clean up, replace a few parts & leave the scuffs. That's real. But then I'm in Tucson where it seems every third vehicle is dented, torn, & duck taped. People don't drive here; they careen from place to place caroming off of other vehicles, pedestrians, and sundry objects. Hit & run is the norm around here.
My being from SoCal, here it seems they are either legally blind (more common here than you might expect partly due to lo-o-ong driver license terms, non-existent driver training, semi-consciousness, and retirees), or just don't care. Insurance is very high due to thefts due to closeness to the Mex border and illegals driving without paper.
Phoenix is Hell trying to act like L.A. Not just crazy; but fence-post-stupid psycho-suicidal blithering idiots.
The legal firearm carry laws seem to keep them somewhat... polite, I must admit. But I digress.
Sorry to hear about the crash, glad to see you're ok and had good gear on. It looks like you had the engine guards on the bike (the plastic protectors on the bottom part of each valve cover/head), do you feel that they helped to save the valve cover enough so you could ride the bike home?
DJ: You're too funny!
John
Member 293 (I think)
'17 Triumph Tiger 1200 XRX
The plastic BMW head covers were worthless in this case. I think that the Stanton head guards would have helped a lot more. It'll go on next. I knew that I was looking for a reason to replace the BMW's head covers.
The road was familiar to me. It was a difficult road but it was clean. I simply out rode the bike's performance limits. Added in the Pirelli Strada sport touring tires and the fact that I could have apexed a wee bit later didn't really help. At that speed, in that tight of a downhill off camber corner, the Rockster simply didn't have much left to make up for my error.
I think that I will need to change the rear paralever out for more room though. And Works Performance shocks too.
I shouldn't be flocking The Rock this hard (that's what the Tuono's for), but I love riding it too much.
Cogito Ergo Vroom - I think therefore I ride.
03 Rockster, 07 Aprilia Tuono R, 07 KTM 990 Adventure
fnfalman wrote:The plastic BMW head covers were worthless in this case. I think that the Stanton head guards would have helped a lot more. It'll go on next. I knew that I was looking for a reason to replace the BMW's head covers.
Well, worthless in completely saving the valve covers, but they may have kept things intact enough to allow you to ride the bike home. I was asking since I bought the cheap plastice guards with my bike and have since taken them off. It seems like it's another step for valve adjustments that happens more often than going down (knocking on wood....) There have been discussions here in the past about the usefulness of them and I was wondering how you felt.
John
Member 293 (I think)
'17 Triumph Tiger 1200 XRX
i have been down twice at low speed and the bmw plastic guard helped the first time, but second time the head got scraped up. just bought stantons and they look to be much superior. of course new covers appear to only be 160$ at bob's...
I hope they helped some. I believe they were not intended to save all damage in a crash at speed, but rather in a tip-over at rest or low speed. It's too much to expect them to perform like regular crash bars.
I wonder if they broke off on impact or were worn away during the slide or both. Either way, physics would indicate that it mitigated some damage as it sacrificed itself.
Lacking a video of such a crash we may never know for sure. I still have mine on. If I got the Stantons I might ride harder. Not necessarily a good thing.
BTW, the rear passenger peg may be the unsung hero here. I would want to check frame alignment after one like this. Once had a Yamaha totalled by the insurance co. because the frame was slightly bent after one. Very slightly. Got some new parts, bought back the bike for cheap & rode a "free" bike after.
DKSTR wrote:
BTW, the rear passenger peg may be the unsung hero here. I would want to check frame alignment after one like this. Once had a Yamaha totalled by the insurance co. because the frame was slightly bent after one. Very slightly. Got some new parts, bought back the bike for cheap & rode a "free" bike after.
The bike will be fully inspected, but the rear passenger peg didn't even have a scratch. Nor was the exhaust can. The bike literally slid on the left cylinder head with everything else off the ground. I see scratches to the tank and oil cooler covers from the bike going over the dirt berm and leaning against the bushes & vines. But the true physical damages are limited to the head cover, the head light and the bent left bar end. When I rode the bike back, I slowly brought it up to an indicated 120-MPH to see if there may be alignment issues or bent chassis. The bike rode fine.
Cogito Ergo Vroom - I think therefore I ride.
03 Rockster, 07 Aprilia Tuono R, 07 KTM 990 Adventure
DKSTR wrote:When I rode the bike back, I slowly brought it up to an indicated 120-MPH to see if there may be alignment issues or bent chassis. The bike rode fine.
...what a bugger!...I hope you get her fixed up soon..lucky you're ok.
