FZR Went Down... (Sunday afternoon, 5pm-ish)

[TypeIII]

Portola Ave to I-580 West onramp, doing about 55mph... Wasn't leaning far over, even throttle... And uh... Yeah the back tire just lost traction and I low sided. Nothing I could've done about it. Slid about 30 metres and my jacket is all torn up.

I walked away from it, thanks to my jacket and helmet.

For any new /future riders reading this, here's my words of advice: wear the right gear, it'll save you a trip to the hospital. Without my jacket, my clothes would've been ripped from the moment of impact and the doctors would've been picking rock chips out of my skin and it would've been REAL ugly.

For the ones who care... My bike is actually running ok. I managed to ride it to my buddy's house afterwards and seems like the engine, tranny, and frame are fine. Front fairing needs to be replaced, the two fairing pieces on the side are scratched but I am not gonna bother replacing. My alternator is fucked (casing was ground to nonexistance) and oh yeah, both my mirrors and my windscreen were... Hmm, how to say... What mirrors? (they were GONE)

The shit of it is, that it didn't happen when I was hauling ass on Mines Road. This happened when I was on my way home, riding slowly, and safely. It came really unexpectedly and like I said, there was probably not much I could've done to avoid it. So ride safe guys, and wear the right stuff.

Keep the rubber side down.


Ken
90 FZR 600 SE

 

[ninja_rydr]

Well I'm glad you weren't hurt badly, where on the this ramp did you go down (overpass section or down hill portion) I used to live out there just wondering.

 

[theSteveCo]

I'm sorry to hear you went down, TypeIII - your bike was a nice looking ride, and very unique in today's crowds. OTOH, I'm glad you rode away from it.

The inevitable question: insurance claim or not?

 

[JackTheTripper]

Sucks man. Sorry to hear. Good thing is you're OK. Just goes to show hauling through twisties is safer that commuting.

R.I.P. (for the mirrors)

 

[Port4mance]

Glad to hear your alright! Sucks about the bike but the most important is that your not hurt. If you were hauling ass on mines I bet you would not have been able to ride your bike home.

 

[TypeIII]

ninja_rydr: it was right at the beginning of the left turn on the overpass, before the downhill. There were two lanes (right lane merging into left) and I guess the right lane is not driven on too often so there was much dirt (which I didn't notice until after I went back to check the road later). I suspect that's what did it.

theSteveCo: thanks for the compliment. It was a great bike and had served me well. There will be no insurance claim as I don't have full coverage. (didn't feel like paying that much for a bike that's worth so little) Doesn't seem like it is gonna cost too much to have it fixed anyways. (that is, if I don't have all my fairing pieces painted) If I can find a matching front fairing, then I don't think it'll be any more than $300 to $400? But then of course, there's the helmet and the jacket... Sigh...

For everybody else: thanks for the replies. My knees were scraped up during the crash, and my right shoulder as well as left hip were bruised a little during the impact. But I am untouched otherwise. Coming to think about it, I really got out of it lucky as I think it could've been much worse, considering the location and speed of the incident.

I could've hit the cement block on the right (acting as guard rail) and I would've been FUCKED... My jacket could've been torn apart, and in that case, I would've been double FUCKED. There could've been a car following me closely, and in that case, I would've been triple FUCKED. All in all for dropping it at 55mph it ended up about as good as possible.

Well, enough from me for the day. Ride safe everyone, and gear up.

 

[Vixen]

sucks about your bike....glad to hear you walked away.....good luck with fixing your bike