Damnit, first accident

[repiV]

Seems I'm not having much luck lately. On Sunday someone reversed into my bike when it was parked, knocking it over and causing so much damage I suspect it may be a writeoff. As such I had a shiny 2003 model that rides like an absolute dream delivered this morning which I am hiring at the expense of his insurance until my bike is repaired.
I pulled out to turn right onto the main road and gave it some gas to keep a clear distance between myself and the approaching cars. Bike didn't like that very much, presumably because it was wet although I've never had traction problems before in the rain. Whole rear end slid and weaved violently from side to side, like it had been possessed, and then the footpeg dug into the ground and the bike spat me off into the road at about 30mph whilst it hit the deck and slammed into the kerb.
Amazingly I'm pretty much uninjured, just a sore arm and a couple of little bruises. Wish I could say the same for the bike - the left handlebar had been bent down at a 90 degree angle due to the collision with the kerb although I've managed to almost straighten it out with the help of a guy who gave me a hand. Left indicator is hanging out of its socket, scuffs on the left handlebar edge, damage to the rubber on the left grip, lots of scratches and marks on the fairing...seems mostly cosmetic.
Fortunately I'd only just left so I walked the bike home.

Infuriating! :flame:

 

[leib10]

You and my mom both. She crashed her car yesterday morning, breaking a few bones in her hand. Her car is very severely damaged, especially to the undercarriage and rims.

Sorry to hear about your experience, though. Hopefully things will turn out okay.

 

[repiV]

You and my mom both. She crashed her car yesterday morning, breaking a few bones in her hand. Her car is very severely damaged, especially to the undercarriage and rims.

Sounds painful...what happened?

Sorry to hear about your experience, though. Hopefully things will turn out okay.

Thanks. If nothing else, it's certainly made me realise how careful you need to be on a powerful bike in the wet. I really wasn't expecting to lose it by accelerating in a straight line. It set off some kind of unrecoverable gyroscopic effect although I wonder if I would have been able to wrestle it upright if the footpeg hadn't dug into the ground.
It's probably worse because it's been wet and dry, wet and dry, wet and dry all day long.

 

[lePobz]

Unlucky mate. Guess you can cross that one off your list of 100 things to do before you die (total a hire car/bike).

I turned quite a few corners in my car today and it didn't fall over.

 

[leib10]

Yeah, I've had a couple of friends get badly messed up on bikes because they either weren't paying attention or were doing something stupid like racing.

My mom was using her cell phone (I kinda had to laugh at that), and some cars stopped suddenly in front of her. She swerved to the right to avoid rearending them, somehow passed between a telephone pole and guard rail (I still don't know how she made it, it's so narrow), crossed another street where there was thankfully nobody there, hopped a curb into a parking lot, did a 180, hopped the curb again, and finally came to rest in the parking lot. All this in her older 350z, which is very low to the ground and as a result was badly fukked up.

I hope she learned her lesson. She certainly needed to, it was only a matter of time before it happened. I'm just glad she didn't hit or hurt anybody else, and she sustained relatively minor injuries.

 

[repiV]

Unlucky mate. Guess you can cross that one off your list of 100 things to do before you die (total a hire car/bike).

Yup. Good thing it's only a ?100 excess.

I turned quite a few corners in my car today and it didn't fall over.

You were supposed to turn them at three times the speed...you could have tumbled your way around...

 

[repiV]

Yeah, I've had a couple of friends get badly messed up on bikes because they either weren't paying attention or were doing something stupid like racing.

Well, that'll happen...
I don't know if I could have foreseen this particular accident, I've ridden in torrential rain plenty of times and had no problems with the handling. Today the roads were merely wet but it wasn't raining at the time. The strangest thing is how it didn't just lose grip and throw me off...the bike of its own accord leaned over to the left, then to the right, then to the left again...like a gyroscope as I said. Guess I overloaded the rear tyre.

My mom was using her cell phone (I kinda had to laugh at that), and some cars stopped suddenly in front of her. She swerved to the right to avoid rearending them, somehow passed between a telephone pole and guard rail (I still don't know how she made it, it's so narrow), crossed another street where there was thankfully nobody there, hopped a curb into a parking lot, did a 180, hopped the curb again, and finally came to rest in the parking lot. All this in her older 350z, which is very low to the ground and as a result was badly fukked up.

I hope she learned her lesson. She certainly needed to, it was only a matter of time before it happened. I'm just glad she didn't hit or hurt anybody else, and she sustained relatively minor injuries.

I hope she learned her lesson too. Over here she'd probably receive a driving ban for that.

 

[No Limit]

Pretty shitty, at least you got up okay. 30MPH is pretty fast to fall off like that.

I know if it was me though I'd be more worried about the condition of the bike, bones tend to heal .

 

[repiV]

I'm sure I would have been very seriously injured if I wasn't wearing proper gear. I didn't even feel it tbh...pushing the bloody great thing home whilst dressed up like Robocop was worse. I think the bruises I do have were probably from where the clips holding the knee armour in place dug in (damn German manufacturers and my short legs).

Unfortunately the bike is worse then I feared - I tried to ride it round the block and it was wobbling all over the place. I didn't dare lean it over at all. *sigh*
I hope they won't refuse to lend me another bike. This morning the delivery guy was telling me I could bring it in and exchange it for the brand new 2007 model they're getting in next week, if I still needed it by then. I was delighted to take him up on the offer, although I have a feeling they won't be so keen on the idea now.

 

[Geogaddi]

I'm disappointed that you didn't die.

 

[Pulse]

Blimey good thing luck was on your side.

Not having a dig here, but why don't you get a car? I can see why bikes are fairly popular in London, given you can get around easier and everything is in a generally close proximity as it is, not to mention it's probably cheaper to refuel and what not, but surely driving a car would be somewhat safer?

 

[repiV]

Blimey good thing luck was on your side.

Not having a dig here, but why don't you get a car? I can see why bikes are fairly popular in London, given you can get around easier and everything is in a generally close proximity as it is, not to mention it's probably cheaper to refuel and what not, but surely driving a car would be somewhat safer?

Bikes are my passion, I could never give it up.
I've never driven a car and have no real desire to either. It's just in my blood.
As for driving through central London, it's totally impractical and getting the tube is a much more sensible idea. 8 quid for the congestion charge, a tenner to park, plus fuel costs...my commute costs me just over 3 pounds a day in fuel, no parking or congestion charge and I can get there in just under an hour. Would take three times as long by car.

 

[repiV]

Apparently what I experienced was a tankslapper.
Probably as I wound open the throttle out of the corner the front wheel left the ground temporarily (bad road surface, slight front wheel lifting, not sure) and when it returned it was at a different angle hence causing the oscillation.

Like this:

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ1srcQMa_0[/YOUTUBE]

In other news, my own bike is a write-off. Hopefully I can take the payment and also sell it, as the damage caused was purely cosmetic...may be able to scrape enough money together to get one of these...

Drool...

 

[lePobz]

Yeah, two wheels ... not great. Although you can go tankslapping in a car, if you lift off on a corner and your back end steps out, then you brake whilst steering in the opposite direction. I've done it before, it's scary stuff. I was tankslapping down a very narrow road with parked cars on either side, doing about 60mph... only lasted a few seconds but felt a lot longer, everything slowed down. It's how you learn not to lift off whilst turning, and not to brake when your back ends not following your front end.

 

[CptStern]

get a car ..much less of a chance of falling down and becoming one with the pavement ..plus as an added bonus if you hit pedestrians you can see the expression on their face as they sail over your hood

 

[CyberPitz]

get a car ..much less of a chance of falling down and becoming one with the pavement ..plus as an added bonus if you hit pedestrians you can see the expression on their face as they sail over your hood

Oh god, is it just me, or was that completely not what was expected from you, Stern. <3

 

[CptStern]

wha? I'm allowed to have fun too ya know ..plus the look of :O on their faces is just too priceless to let slip by

 

[repiV]

Yeah, two wheels ... not great. Although you can go tankslapping in a car, if you lift off on a corner and your back end steps out, then you brake whilst steering in the opposite direction. I've done it before, it's scary stuff. I was tankslapping down a very narrow road with parked cars on either side, doing about 60mph... only lasted a few seconds but felt a lot longer, everything slowed down. It's how you learn not to lift off whilst turning, and not to brake when your back ends not following your front end.

That's really strange...I don't really understand how it works and why it happens on two wheels, let alone four.
At least you didn't crash.

 

[repiV]

get a car ..much less of a chance of falling down and becoming one with the pavement ..

If I didn't have the bike I'd probably just use public transport. I couldn't justify the cost of a car when I'd have to take the tube to go into London anyway.
It would take three times as long to drive into London as to get the tube, cost 8 quid a day congestion charge, about a tenner to park, plus fuel.
Compare to the tube, which costs 7 quid for a return journey to the City, or the bike which costs about 3 and a half quid for fuel, no parking charges or anything else and it's even quicker than taking the tube.
Plus cars don't interest me whatsoever. And I'm too impatient to deal with traffic jams.

plus as an added bonus if you hit pedestrians you can see the expression on their face as they sail over your hood

Yeah, there is that...even better is wheelying so that you smack them in the face with the front wheel though. :E