krazy-eyes
Race Dog
asshat of the month goes to......ME!
today i crashed my 3-day old 950 into a car
.
i know what youre thinking - "what a loser, typical new biker, moron...etc"
youre probably right
i was passing some cars that slowed down for a speedbump. as i was next to the rear of the two cars i realised the front car was NOT slowing for the speedbump, but actually turning right.
sh@#T F@#%k!!!!!
i was doing about 55kph and managed to turn along with the car. but i couldnt stop in time and hit her.
luckily, luckily, luckily, it wasnt a t-bone, ohterwise the forks and frame would have been wasted! we impacted side by side and came to a halt. i put down the stand, got off, took my helmet off and smashed it into the bitch's face, breaking her nose in the process - NOT!
no, i got off and inspected the damage: the whole side of the tank and radiator shroud was full of black and paint-coloured scuff marks. the indicator was on the ground, and the light binacle was pushed off to the right hand side. (her door was super dented, and wing mirror demolished - this KTM is tough!)
i was close to tears! :roll:
anyway, i rode home, put my day on hold and assesed the problem. the good news - it can be fixed. so i got stuck in.
this was 1pm.
i polished out the scuff marks, and re-assembled the indiactor. i took off the radiator shrouds, light assembly, and dismantled the instrument binacle so that i could get to the bent "subframe" that all of the above is attatched to. once i got the subframe off i had it in the vice at different positions for almost 2 hours untill finally it was back to its origional shape (luckily it is made of soft aluminium which not only absorbed the impact reducing real damage, but made it easy-ish to bend back).
i re-assembled everything and did some "on the bike" tweaking.
and
voila!!! good as new!! 6pm
well, if you knew what to look for you'd see one or two things that might look a little bit off, but being a perfectionist only i can see that. it is close enough.
the good in the bad?
.no paint damage, no structural/frame damage, no plastics damage.
.NO persnonal injury except for a swolen left foot (it got semi crushed between the bike and the car)
.at least i really got to know my new bike on a personal level :wink:
.
lessons learned:
.wear your boots always (i was going to but decided it would be overkill), along with whatever safety gear you have, even if it is a quick run to deliver something closeby.
.you can never be alert enough!
the speedbump lulled me into becoming impatient and i went for the gap without checking for turn signals - idiot idiot idiot!
what happened:
during the stripping process:
the bike in parts:
the bent part:
the irony? last year i rolled my brand new quadbike 3 days after getting it. atleast the "new bike jitters" came to an abrupt end, so now i can relax...
today i crashed my 3-day old 950 into a car
.i know what youre thinking - "what a loser, typical new biker, moron...etc"
youre probably right
i was passing some cars that slowed down for a speedbump. as i was next to the rear of the two cars i realised the front car was NOT slowing for the speedbump, but actually turning right.
sh@#T F@#%k!!!!!
i was doing about 55kph and managed to turn along with the car. but i couldnt stop in time and hit her.
luckily, luckily, luckily, it wasnt a t-bone, ohterwise the forks and frame would have been wasted! we impacted side by side and came to a halt. i put down the stand, got off, took my helmet off and smashed it into the bitch's face, breaking her nose in the process - NOT!
no, i got off and inspected the damage: the whole side of the tank and radiator shroud was full of black and paint-coloured scuff marks. the indicator was on the ground, and the light binacle was pushed off to the right hand side. (her door was super dented, and wing mirror demolished - this KTM is tough!)
i was close to tears! :roll:
anyway, i rode home, put my day on hold and assesed the problem. the good news - it can be fixed. so i got stuck in.
this was 1pm.
i polished out the scuff marks, and re-assembled the indiactor. i took off the radiator shrouds, light assembly, and dismantled the instrument binacle so that i could get to the bent "subframe" that all of the above is attatched to. once i got the subframe off i had it in the vice at different positions for almost 2 hours untill finally it was back to its origional shape (luckily it is made of soft aluminium which not only absorbed the impact reducing real damage, but made it easy-ish to bend back).
i re-assembled everything and did some "on the bike" tweaking.
and
voila!!! good as new!! 6pm
well, if you knew what to look for you'd see one or two things that might look a little bit off, but being a perfectionist only i can see that. it is close enough.
the good in the bad?
.no paint damage, no structural/frame damage, no plastics damage.
.NO persnonal injury
except for a swolen left foot (it got semi crushed between the bike and the car).at least i really got to know my new bike on a personal level :wink:
.
lessons learned:
.wear your boots always (i was going to but decided it would be overkill), along with whatever safety gear you have, even if it is a quick run to deliver something closeby.
.you can never be alert enough!
the speedbump lulled me into becoming impatient and i went for the gap without checking for turn signals - idiot idiot idiot!
what happened:
during the stripping process:
the bike in parts:
the bent part:
the irony? last year i rolled my brand new quadbike 3 days after getting it. atleast the "new bike jitters" came to an abrupt end, so now i can relax...
