Well, bollocks. Dropped the bastard

[Mully]

This morning, on the intersection of Henderson Valley and Smythe Roads, I managed to drop the RF.

For those playing at home, this is the intersection where Henderson High School and the Mobil station are situated.

Anyhoo, I line up the mighty RF in the left lane, behind a few cars. Immediately in front of me is a mid-90s Jap import Nissan Pulsar in the usual gunmetal grey colour that these come in.

Light goes green for straight ahead traffic and we start moving off. When Mrs Pulsar gets to the intersection proper, she decides that she, despite no previous indication, wants to go down Smythe road (as it turns out, into the Mobil station). Because there is a red arrow, Mrs Pulsar can't go, so she stomps on the picks at the same time she flicks on the indicator. Goodness know why she decided not to indicate earlier (if I had to guess, I'd say she was composing Haikus in her head)

Now, the dashing hero of the story (my good self) doesn't agree with this decision. I immediately decide that perhaps stopping myself may be a capital idea and proceed to do so.

However, given the rain, and the fact that we are in an intersection, the road proves to be more slippery than Winston Peters coated in oil (part of his morning routine, as I understand). While braking, I try to aim for the gap between the stopped pulsar in front of me and the traffic in the right-hand lane (thanks RRRS), however, Mr Pirelli's finest eventually stop me short of turning a small sedan into a small hatchback.

This, however, presents another problem. Suzuki's RF900, while a superb bike in many situations (though I say so myself) has the weight of a small supertanker (especially with a husky gentleman on the back of it) and overbalances. Because of the slippery nature of the road (see Winston Peters reference above) I can't hold it and it unceremoniously falls the hell over onto it's left side.

After (and while) unleashing a string of profanities which would make a longshoreman blush, I hit the kill switch and lift the bike back on the side stand. While I'm doing this, a passing pedestrian comes over and asks if I'm OK, therby prematurely ending my tirade of cursing to answer that I'm fine. Having not actually hit the pavement, my only bruising is to my ego.

Grand total of damage:
One (1) left-hand mirror (the mirror bit is currently in my pack, the stalk remains)
One (1) left-hand indicator
One (1) clutch lever
Several (lots) of scratches on the lovely red paint of the fairing

So lessons learnt (the worst bit is that it's lessons that I already know):
(1) Cagers are unpredictable
(1)(a) Bad weather makes cagers worse
(1)(b) Intersections have the same effect

(2) The road surface around intersections is often slippery
(2)(b) Following distances should be increased in this situtation

(3) Escape routes are good, Mmmk

(4) Riding to work with one mirror is a pain in the arse.

(5) The price of biking is eternal vigilance. Switch off for a second and the bastard will bite you. Aiming for the gap was good, but braking hard put the bike on an angle, overbalancing it when it did stop. I should have either braked as hard as I did or gone for the gap. Doing both was a mistake.

I've been cursing my n00b mistake for a couple of hours already. Having slowed down and replayed the occasion several times in my mind, I'm not sure what more I could have done. My mistake was putting myself in the situation in the first place.

So, that was my Monday morning. Does anybody know what mirrors will fit an RF900? And if so, does anyone have some cheap ones they want to sell me?

[Winston001]

Nice report, good writing. Its a bummer dropping the bike eh! Dropped the Duc once when turning and stopping on a sloping road for no other reason than being unprepared for the inertia of the bike. Threw me over the handlebars. :laugh:

[MSTRS]

Bugger. But proof that those RFs are great bikes...falls on left side, no damage on the left...

[mister.koz]

...

(3) Escape routes are good, Mmmk

...

(5) The price of biking is eternal vigilance. Switch off for a second and the bastard will bite you. Aiming for the gap was good, but braking hard put the bike on an angle, overbalancing it when it did stop. I should have either braked as hard as I did or gone for the gap. Doing both was a mistake.



Can only bling once sorry dude, real good advice!

Bummer about the drop, hope you get the beast patched up quick.

Ride safe.

[Kiwi Graham]

Bad luck dude, it was a shitty ride in this morning, not enough rain to 'clear' your visor just enought to sit there in lots of tiny drops, clear it and it was back straight away. feeling for ya, hope she comes up looking like new again.

[Mully]

Bugger. But proof that those RFs are great bikes...falls on left side, no damage on the left...

Thank you helpy helper. Fixed. Can't bling you again though.

Maybe I've got Post-traumatic stress disorder.....

[Kelem]

Bad news on the fall, glad your okay and the bikes not to bad.
For sure the weather is absolute shyte, here in the BIG little City

[been_there]

Dang...Bugger...shit
Good luck on getting it sorted

Nearly dropped my bike on friday while trying to back it up while sitting on it, left foot slipped on a painted line only just manage to stop it falling with me on it...certainly got my heart rushing.

[MSTRS]

Thank you helpy helper. Fixed. Can't bling you again though.

Maybe I've got Post-traumatic stress disorder.....

Don't beat yourself up...you did nothing really wrong. "There but for the grace of..."

[ManDownUnder]

Cycletreads have after market mirrors that fit the RF just nicely - cheap too... I don't recall the exact price by mine wer in the region of... $40 each? Maybe less.

Glad to hear you made it ok - and if can return any favours then just yell mate. You know how it works!

Give it a day or too - get the venting out of your system... then listen to the others. It can happen to anyone... Pain in the arse though innit?

Reminds me - I'll take a look int he shed for any RF bits I still have kicking around in case they're of use to you. Not sure what's left now.

[Headbanger]

If I were gods gift to excellence in riding I'd look down my nose and suggest a good rider (like my exalted self) would have been positioned off to the side so in the event the car changed tactics the rider would have sufficient area to stop in a controlled manner or ride around the hazard.

Though its more likely I would have taken the wagon, That water is dangerous stuff don't ya know......

[Zoolander]

Does anybody know what mirrors will fit an RF900? And if so, does anyone have some cheap ones they want to sell me?

I believe they are similar if not identical to SRAD mirrors. I have a couple of them kicking around somewhere. I'll try and have a look today. Not sure if I had a LH, but if I do, you can have it.

[3lemental]

I understand entirely!! Had a similar tumble a couple of weeks ago - cage pulls out from a side street with entirely too little room, car in front of me slams the brakes, i do the same and end up studying the sky from the ground..

since then i've been given to leaving a decent 15-20 meters when it's wet.

winter is not the best season for bikers, though i would argue it's not because it's cold....

[yod]

arse biscuits

they are a heavy mutha tho eh wot....

[gijoe1313]

A prosiac written report sirrah, undutiably you have managed to focus in with elan on the exactitude of the moment. I durst dare say that we are all cogitent of the precipatious nature of precipatation.

Suffice to say, the colourful vocabulary you evinced was warranted. Glad to see you are okay and perspacity is given in your musings. A timely reminder of the happenstances of riding during such a period that is not conducive to our usual meanderings on two wheels of freedom.

Carry on, as you were sir, wiser for the moment.

[skidMark]

RF900 mirrors fit an RF900...

This thread is useless without pics...

In saying this... i chuckled at the way you told it good shit... still sucks to drop your bike though, sounds like there is nothing you could have done... paint can be replaced.... sudden stops into back of sedans does more ahem permenant damage... on the plus side u grow daisys.

[Swoop]

It's a suzuki. It feeling the need to lay down on a corner, isn't uncommon.

You should have gone ghey. Upright and erect all the time!


(As MDU says, Cycletreads, Mully!)

[skidMark]

It's a suzuki. It feeling the need to lay down on a corner, isn't uncommon.

You should have gone ghey. Upright and erect all the time!


(As MDU says, Cycletreads, Mully!)


Thats quite possibly the most heterosexual post i have even seen a honda rider make.

[madbikeboy]

Two arms, two legs, and you'll live. Good outcome really. Thanks for posting this one.

MBB

[Tubbsy]

That's 1 good thing about riding my too-fiddy Comet. Twice I have almost dropped it doing a slow turn, managed to arrest the fall and pick it up before it got to the ground. Come the full size bike I'll have no chance.

Sorry to hear about the damage. Always seems to be the clutch handle that breaks.

[YellowDog]

Mully mate, sorry to hear about the 'incident'. If you'd tried to prevent it from falling, as I once did, you may have ripped the meaty bits off your bones as I once did. Best avoided and just aim to have the bars straight to reduce bodywork impact with ground.

You made an annoying, but easy to make, mistake which is very easy to do and forgivable in such circumstaces where you are having to pay more attention to the irratic behaviour of others and also contend with what the road conditions are doing.

Take the fairing off and drop it down to The Plastic Repair Company (Archers Road). They will make it look like new again for around $100ish.

Glad you are otherwise unscathed.

[Big Dave]

Machine. Fix it. Ride on.

[cowpatz]

What a bastard Mully. All you needed to complete your morning was to put your back out lifting it up again :) Much fairing damage? Is it poss to still get the orig graphics? (assuming they were rashed).

[Mully]

Well, it has been down the road previously - hence the fact that it's not a standard colour anymore - so the decals are available.

I realised this is the first time I've dropped a bike that I actually liked - probably part of the reason I'm more pissed off than usual.

[bogan]

that sucks, damn cagers always not indicating as theyre sposed to. I managed to drop mine at a service station, turned to check out some hottie and overbalanced it, almost managed to hold it too, needless to say i promptly picked up the half brake lever and hightailed it out of there:doh:

[FROSTY]

mully--come see me--Ill have some bits you can borrow to get legal.
Riffer got the last of my RF bits but Ill have somethjing Im sure

[Mully]

Onya Frosty. You wouldn't have some training wheels for it, would you?

[RantyDave]

Mr Pirelli's finest eventually stop me short of turning a small sedan into a small hatchback ... (but) Because of the slippery nature of the road (see Winston Peters reference above) I can't hold it and it unceremoniously falls the hell over onto it's left side.
So tyres=succeed, feet=fail. Damn!


Does anybody know what mirrors will fit an RF900?
An RF900? A bathroom mirror will probably fit on an RF900 :)

Dave

[Indiana_Jones]

It's cliché and doesn't fix your bike, but at least you're not hurt!

From the sounds of it, it's not too much damage, which is good :)

-Indy

[Swoop]

A bathroom mirror will probably fit on an RF900 :)
One of those with the lightbulbs around it, so you can put on your makeup???:scratch:

[cowpatz]

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=219813298

If you are still looking for the odd part.

[Zoolander]

Sorry it took so long (not living at home at the mo!) but had a look, I can only find a right hand one, its a wee bit tatty but if its any use you're still welcome to it.

[Mully]

Sorry it took so long (not living at home at the mo!) but had a look, I can only find a right hand one, its a wee bit tatty but if its any use you're still welcome to it.

Thanks for looking - I'm off to Cycletreads today anyway for the other bits, so I'll just bite the bullet.

Pics now added to the first post

[PrincessBandit]

Good to hear you are ok and were able to extricate yourself and your bike from that situation. Sounds like what damage was done is reasonably straight forward to fix (?).

Most entertaining write up you did on it I must say, and at least someone did come over to check you were ok and perhaps offer a hand if it was needed. I don't mean this to sound bad, but as a woman rider it encourages me to hear of guys dropping their bikes too (it's not just a female thing then :doh:). Personally it's nice to know that even men aren't always able to stop their beasts kissing the ground through overbalancing.

Thanks for the smile your post put on my face.

[Mully]

Thanks PB (I think)

I decided to try to be funny about it - given the amount of comments with Bling I guess it's been appreciated. Still, bloody expensive way to entertain people.

Oh, and if anyone checks Cycletreads website and it says they have the products in stock, ring them and check because their website is a filthy liar!!

No LH mirrors in stock so they had to order it.

(Got me some tricky LCD indicators, but)

[riffer]

Bikesport in Helensville have the EMGO replacements - that's where I got my latest ones. www.bikesport.co.nz

Your bike looks a mirror image of my one LOL.

RFs are nearly unkillable Marcus.

Wear your scars with pride.

Be careful with getting replacement mirrors though - the RF ones look identical to the SRAD ones - but they come out on a different angle - almost flat and the gixxer ones look pants when you put them on because they're on about a 45 degree angle.

How to tell them apart - the gixxer ones have the rubber cover on the bend at the fairing bracket - the RF ones don't.

[Mully]

Bikesport in Helensville have the EMGO replacements - that's where I got my latest ones. www.bikesport.co.nz

Your bike looks a mirror image of my one LOL.

RFs are nearly unkillable Marcus.

Wear your scars with pride.

Be careful with getting replacement mirrors though - the RF ones look identical to the SRAD ones - but they come out on a different angle - almost flat and the gixxer ones look pants when you put them on because they're on about a 45 degree angle.

How to tell them apart - the gixxer ones have the rubber cover on the bend at the fairing bracket - the RF ones don't.

Cheers, Riff.

They are ordering the EMGO ones. I'm a bit annoyed that their website says they have 'em and they don't.

Still, I'm off work next week, so I can toddle out during the week and grab it. Already paid for it, so all good.

[YellowDog]

Isn't it great how a prang is always a great opportunity to upgrade!

LED Indicators - Great.

[LittleAngel]

Ohhhh it's just sooo sad to see a RF banged up - even if only a little!!! :crybaby:

It's just not right.....

That would have been a real damper on ya Monday morning!!! At least you could pick yours up! I dropped mine (pretty much from a standstill) and I had NO show to pick her up on my own!! :slap: RF's are heavy maaaan... :gob:

Fingers crossed you get all the parts you need to make her pretty again... :niceone:

[gaagaa]

Pain when bits get broken eh! My RF got blown over in the wind a few months ago, when I saw it lying there (on the right hand side) I thought , mirrors, brake lever, fairing. Any of these would have been easy to replace. But no it was the rearset, right across where the foot peg goes through. After much ringing around, I find there is no chnace of getting a replacement. Lucky there is a good welder on Barrys Point Road that did a decent job of fixing it!

[cowpatz]

Got the beast back up and running again Riffer?

[Mully]

Riffer?? I don't believe it's his that's broken.

Yep, got all the bits. Trouble is, Miss Mully and I decided to have a go at fitting the flash new LED indicators ourselves ("What's the worst that could happen?) and, umm, now they don't go.

So I have to visit my local friendly bike-fixer (read Frosty) to be able to get them going.

[cowpatz]

Sorry Mully got my "wires" crossed there. Did you get the fairings all sorted?

[Mully]

Gonna give it a polish once it's all back together - I suspect some of it will cut out. Then I'll make a decision on what to do.