Oops

[Yamazer-92]

Unfortunately the inevitable has finally arrived and for the first time in almost 6 years of riding I had my first motorcycle accident today. It wasn't very big at all, I so nearly saved it too but it wasn't to be. Quick run down, riding along some NSL back lanes, it was a fairly tight section. Went to take a right hander, so started to move to the left of the road. All of a sudden, a large car comes belting around the corner and goes wide into my path making me have to swerve and stand the bike up mid corner. From this part, I don't remember a lot other than thinking crap crap crap. I started to brake, ended up on some utter shite gravel/ road debris, lost the front momentarily but let go of brakes and kept bike up somehow but didn't have time to brake hard enough again and ended up hitting a stone wall bridge at a 45 degree angle. I damn near ripped my knee out keeping the bike upright, then got it trapped between the bike and the wall. As painful as it was, it has saved 90% of my bike.


The front fairing is obliterated, really gutted about that. The headlight was also pretty damaged. I somehow lost the screen, literally vanished possibly into the river. Luckily I didn't come off the bike or drop it at all so it is literally just the impact damage that has messed stuff up. I could't turn the bars at first, they were stuck left as the fairing brackets were bent in the way so I bent them back so I could at least go straight and parked in a farmers driveway. I then took stock of the state of the bike and how the damage was. In fairness, it is literally all fine expect the front fairing / headlight and somehow the gear lever was bent. Everything else is completely fine thank God, forks are fine, radiator and engine fine, fuel tank fine no damage at all. I luckily had the tools to repair / strip it at the side of the road and the farmer let me chuck away the damaged bits. I just about got the salvageable parts into a bag / my hoody pocket under my jacket then carefully rode it home. It rode completely fine on the way home, as normal.


Unfortunately I didn't get the car drivers reg number and he did not stop, however it was also partly my fault for probably going a bit too fast. I am half disappointed it has happened, but also fairly glad in a way that it could have been a lot worse and myself and the bike are relatively unscathed. My knee is very painful but apparently it is just some ligament damage that will heal over time.


This has brought me to quite a large crossroads now. I have a spare fairing, but it has a small area of damage. I would need to buy another headlight, screen and infil panels to put the bike back on the road in standard trim. The rest I have salvaged.


Or


I could turn it into a naked, something I wanted to do a long time ago but either couldn't be bothered with the hassle or didn't see the point. One big thing I noticed riding home is the fairing and screen literally direct wind into my head because it was so much nicer without it, but naked 600's can either look awesome or utterly terrible.


Or


Take step 1 and repair back to standard, take off any bells and whistles, then sell the bike and bells and whistles separately and buy a different bike. I am leaning this way quite hard to be honest, which is a shame because I really like the bike but I ride it far too fast half the time as it is so fun and easy. But that's twice this year it has stung me, the front just gives up at a certain point and I think the car distracting me didn't help but I still could have possibly made the corner if I was more confident. I think I will now have lost a lot of confidence in this bike, even once repaired, so want something different. My knee pain that I was already suffering will be a lot worse now too as that's now both knees I have ruined through sport or bike antics. What do you guys think? It is a shame and unlucky in respects, but I hope to learn from my mistake.

[slimwilly]

Oops..yor not Christo are you? 


Oh well, you survived,, bike has too it seems,


If you dont go touring then do the naked option,,there seems to be some others on here doing it now!!


or take time and fix it up,,who cares, its your bike,,oh and slow down==fool

[His Dudeness]

I'd put it back to standard especially if you've already got a fairing. It'll sell a lot easier.

[Yamazer-92]

Yeah like I say we are both mostly unscathed, if it were a naked it would probably have had barely any damage at all. Yeah definitely if I sell it will be standard option, the naked option is just a possibility if I do decide to keep it as it will be approximately the same cost. I have definitely been going quicker recently, I don't commute on the bike anymore so it is literally just for weekend blasts and I am now tending to try and be sporty on it when I used to be a bit more tame. I completely left my dad behind last weekend on our ride out, something I would not usually do. I think I need to re-evaluate why I like riding and how I should be doing it. I don't speed ever, that isn't the issue, I just take some chances and corner pretty quick. Sometimes too quick for the bike, I don't think that was the case today as the car was an unforseen variable but the fact I was pushing already meant that my chances of dealing with the car were a lot lower.

[unfazed]

Glad to hear your not to badly injured.

Headlight, bracket and infills crop up on ebay regularly

bracket

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YAMAHA-FAZER-600-HEADLIGHT-BRACKET-CRADDLE-FZS600-5DM-LOOK-BREAKING-BIKE-/221438748960?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item338ec72920

headlight
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/YAMAHA-FAZER-HEADLIGHT-EBP756-/390774852027?pt=UK_Motorcycle_Parts_13&hash=item5afbff09bb

Also left and right infills search for fzs600 infills


It is all about calculating the risk. some days the calculation is wrong

[Yamazer-92]

Cheers unfazed, thankfully I think the bracket is okay which is a miracle considering how bent it was. I will check it over more thoroughly tomorrow to make fully sure, I was able to bend it back by hand though and it is still in its rectangular shape so I think it should be alright. Yeah, it is definitely about calculating the risks. That is a road that is fairly unknown to me so I should have been being more careful, however may have been fine had that car not put me off. Who knows, either way is £100 fair for a headlight do you reckon? I was imagining it would be around that price but seems quite a lot for what they are? Cheers for the links anyway.

[wickedmonkey]

I preface everything I'm about to say by pointing out that I've only been riding since Aug 2013....but I have been driving for 20 years and took an IAM course in 2006 (in a car) so I'm not a complete wally.

The fact that you reflected so intelligently on the incident and the fact that you are re-evaluating the way you ride speaks volumes for you as a rider and you should also draw confidence on the fact that you've been riding for quite some time without an accident -- you must be doing something right! Have you done any advanced courses? If not, I think you will gain a lot. If you have, I am not surprised as your attitude is that of someone who has and is refreshing to see.

I think you should keep the bike. You seem to have a good connection with it since you nearly saved the situation and you seem to be finding and getting used to its limits. If you're not confident about the front end, I'm no expert but maybe there's something you could do with the forks or perhaps a tyre change to improve it? Get back onto the horse that bit you with your new perspective.

You say you've been thinking about making it naked -- why not go ahead and do it now? It looks like fate to me!

Finally, car drivers like that need slapping. I nearly got taken out by an idiot turning left around me last week. Happens all the time and the next corner you take, you'll be a little more prepared for that eventuality. But -- and this is important -- don't lose your confidence on corners and stay loose.

[wickedmonkey]

Also, have you thought about taking a suppliment for your dodgy knees? Like cod liver oil or flaxseed oil? I swear by flaxseed oil personally.

[noggythenog]

Sorry to hear about the crash yamazer, that sucks mate......but you live to tell the tale which is the main thing isnt it...everything else is just time consuming to do but time is something youve been given the gift of having.....others dont get any more time for anything.




Sounds like you've been unlucky.....& when you push on then luck plays its part......i hear allot about being able to stop within the distance you can see.....im sure im not the only one that says this that when shifting on the twisties that inevitably wont always be possible...it's a calculated risk i take to have some fun & it is allot harder to come to a stop than if the same thing happened in a car.......on the flip side though if you had been in a car would it have been a head on.






From experience i would say restore the bike to original....going the streetfighter route will meannthat you get much less for it if you do ever sell it......i was really passed doing any more work to mine and i pay the price of getting no interest in buying at a good price......so now im gonna strip an otherwise good bike....dont let that happen to yours too.




Hows the knee today....next few days will see increased pain and bruising no doubt so take it easy.

[Yamazer-92]

Cheers wickedmonkey, I am quite like that as a person haha I always reflect on the negatives to make them better for next time in whatever I do be it sport or playing drums. It is a blessing or a curse, but yeah this particular occasion was obviously a big negative for me and has cost me the front of my bike and a sore knee for a while. In fairness, I rode it home okay and wasn't tensing up or anything once I was completely sure it was running straight and true and nothing mechanically was wrong. Like I say, I really love riding this bike but the more I improve it the more confident I become in its and my own abilities which equates to faster cornering. I am not an advanced rider no, although did do a bikesafe course with my dad in 2012 which was brilliant and taught me a lot. Maybe I should refresh myself and sign up for another? I wouldn't class myself as a dangerous rider, I don't speed or pull stupid overtakes or filter like an idiot but I do like twisty roads and have now probably started taking a few unnecessary risks.


I think part of the front end thing is that the majority of the roads I ride on are country lanes and B roads, which is where I come to the conclusion is this the right bike for me and should I actually be on something like a supermoto. Been over this on another thread tirelessly. The tyres are excellent, best I have ever had but I sort of feel bad now if I don't get to the edge which is just daft really.


Cheers Noggy, yeah definitely like I say it was mostly a good outcome considering. It is a similar expense whatever choice I decide to take, but like you say if I do decide to sell it then standard would be the obvious option. Haven't really decided either way and can't start looking properly at the bike until my knee swelling and pain goes down.


Oh yeah and wickedmonkey I used to take cod liver oil which helped a bit, bike is better after the few mods I made but is still a little cramped. In my head I can see this going one way and the fate you describe is actually more towards just going for it and getting a different bike now rather than keep jabbering on about it. Noggy eventually did after all and he seems to have no regrets!

[Wookee]

Sorry to hear of your off.  Who told you about the ligament damage and did they do this after you had an MRI or was it a bit of guesswork on their behalf? I only ask because my, quite severe, ligament damage went undiagnosed by the NHS and required surgery.....

[unfazed]

Reflecting on the negative is fine, but you should also reflective on the positive.
The fact you did not lock up the front wheel in a panic is a very positive and you were consciously aware of releasing the brake to regain traction. That is something many inexperienced will not do and says much about your riding ability.

Some times you just have to put it down to experience and you did the best you could to avoid an idiot driving beyond his ability.
I do not believe it had anything to do with how fast you were riding because if the car driver had been on his correct position on the road it would not have happened. Accidents are usually down to perfect timing of the wrong type. If you were going slower you would have avoided the incident, but the opposite is also true if you were going faster you would  have avoided the incident also. Permutations are endless as are the if and buts. Maybe this accident saved you from something far more serious down the road, that is my thought for any accident I have.

Some times there is a lesson to learn (other than hitting a stone wall Foccing hurts), sometimes there is not. Here the only lesson is an old one that you probably already know "some drivers are total idiots" and you were just in the wrong place in the wrong time.

Hope you knee damage is not to serious and keep riding

[Yamazer-92]

Hi wookee, no I didn't have an MRI somebody came and did some tests by moving my knee in various ways and asking me to push against them and stuff. She also checked all the tendons and ligaments etc with her hands, it is still painful but I would say I have had worse from sports injuries. The knee is actually not so bad now it is the very top of my calf that is the most painful.


Yeah I will definitely keep riding unfazed and have also decided there is absolutely no point selling my bike as they are selling for absolutely nothing at the moment and I like it too much to sell it for that. I am really tied now between making it naked or returning to standard. I have always wanted it to be naked and am quite interested in little projects like that so I am definitely leaning that way now. It will be cheaper than buying a new fairing etc too because the damage I have on my spare one will annoy me. The only difficult parts I can see are mounting the clocks, but I have a rough idea for that, and getting cables that are long enough for the wider bars I plan on fitting. I also want to somehow get some plastic pieces made up to cover the front corners of the frame where some ugly bits of radiator hose and reg/rec are exposed. I will move the horn somewhere, I can use the little parts of the frame that the fairing mounts to to mount these plastic things. Not sure who can make stuff like that but I am sure somewhere will be able.


Here's my bike currently:

[His Dudeness]

Still looks good! Go for the naked look if that's what you want

[fazersharp]

I know its just the photo------ but it looks good in white

[midden]

Also, have you thought about taking a suppliment for your dodgy knees? Like cod liver oil or flaxseed oil? I swear by flaxseed oil personally.

Green lipped mussel is another

[keithfzs1000]

deffo naked with an old lc350 headlight or mt03 be nice, even fz6n like  i have on my gen 1

[Wookee]

Naked...no question