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light
14th January 2010, 08:17
The death of a GN 250.

On my way to lunch yesterday afternoon. I was crossing the road omw to subway (trying to be health here) as I was crossing the road I noticed the traffic lights must have just let a lot of traffic go when I got to the median stripe, seeing a GN 250 coming the opposite way I decided it would be nice to move back to the sidewalk out of his way. So while watching him to make sure he saw me moving out of his way, out of no where a car decides not to check the road ahead and/or missed our fair GN 250 and pull out directly in front of him.

Bike brakes wiping off as much speed as he can but unfortunately has no where to go and collides. Few of us rushed over to assist.

Lucky once the ambulance gets to the scene and checks the biker out he stands up and appears to have only hurt/broken something in his should or collar bone. He walked away from it gladly and I hope he is feeling much better today.

Sorry to say the GN was in terrible shape but luckily the rider wasn't doing to bad at all. He remembered the crash, told us what day it was and where he was going etc. No neck / back injuries and at the end of it all just had a sore should and arm.

Best of luck to ya mate where ever you are.

p.dath
14th January 2010, 08:27
As they say, a "sobering" experience.

Hawkeye
14th January 2010, 08:40
Hope you called the cops and give an exact statement of the event.
Otherwise the cage driver will be claiming the bike was travelling too fast and gave the cage no chance.




The death of a GN 250.

On my way to lunch yesterday afternoon. I was crossing the road omw to subway (trying to be health here) as I was crossing the road I noticed the traffic lights must have just let a lot of traffic go when I got to the median stripe, seeing a GN 250 coming the opposite way I decided it would be nice to move back to the sidewalk out of his way. So while watching him to make sure he saw me moving out of his way, out of no where a car decides not to check the road ahead and/or missed our fair GN 250 and pull out directly in front of him.

Bike brakes wiping off as much speed as he can but unfortunately has no where to go and collides. Few of us rushed over to assist.

Lucky once the ambulance gets to the scene and checks the biker out he stands up and appears to have only hurt/broken something in his should or collar bone. He walked away from it gladly and I hope he is feeling much better today.

Sorry to say the GN was in terrible shape but luckily the rider wasn't doing to bad at all. He remembered the crash, told us what day it was and where he was going etc. No neck / back injuries and at the end of it all just had a sore should and arm.

Best of luck to ya mate where ever you are.

light
14th January 2010, 08:49
Hope you called the cops and give an exact statement of the event.
Otherwise the cage driver will be claiming the bike was travelling too fast and gave the cage no chance.

Yes I spent 40 minutes of my lunch assisting the rider and then giving a very clear statement to the police. No doubt the driver was at fault. Honestly a GN 250 speeding... they can barely hit 50 am i rite :p

Bass
14th January 2010, 09:21
The death of a GN 250.



Sorry to say the GN was in terrible shape

Pleased to hear that the rider is OK, but I have mixed feelings as to whether or not the death of another GN is a bad thing.
Let me explain.
My wife owns one. Actually, technically I own it but it's effectively hers.
It is Chinese built and cost me 3 grand brand new with a year's warranty. The engineering standards used in building this machine are, in some areas, truly appalling. For example the axle nuts are so loose on the threads that I do not tighten them up properly for fear of stripping them. The bike chewed out the speedo drive gears on the front wheel in about 3000 km and when I replaced them, I discovered that the originals had so much backlash, it was a wonder that they ever drove at all.
However, in the important areas like brakes etc, it seems sound enough, although I keep a close eye on it.
Frankly, it is about what I expected in a $3000 motorcycle and in my opinion, like the old Skodas, is actually good value for money.
Now, my wife is eligible to sit for her full license next week and indeed has booked to do just that. I think that she will succeed. What concerns me about all this is that the odo on the GN reads a total of about 6500km, 800 of which I contributed, running the beast in. The rest has been spent mainly commuting on the Auckland Southern Motorway, which I suppose says something positive about my wife's traffic management skills. However, in terms of passenger miles, I believe that this same motorway is actually the safest road in the country and so I guess the discussion is moot.
My point is that she has very little open road experience and next week could well be in a position to legally climb on our Trumpy and disappear in a cloud of dust, shit and small stones.
We recently went down to Hawkes Bay to stay with rellies at Porangahau Beach and so I encouraged her to take the GN. This meant that I could toddle along behind her on the Triumph and keep an eye on things such as preventing impatient drivers from tailgating her.
It is about 500 km from our drive to Porangahau and we went down via Raglan. The trip down was over 2 days, stopping overnight with friends in Reporoa, but coming home directly. So I guess we covered about 1200 km in 3 days riding.
I learned quite a lot about my wife's riding; -
1. She actually does quite well, riding within her skill limits and with good situational awareness.
2. In adverse conditions, such as head winds or up hills, she has no hesitation in wacking the GN down a gear or two and wringing the tits off it - poor little thing.
3. She is a very courteous rider and as soon as faster traffic collects behind her, she finds somewhere to pull over and let them past.

I learned a good deal about myself and the Sprint too: -
1. Following a GN for 3 days improves the Triumph's fuel economy from about 19 km/liter to about 24.5 km/liter. The GN did about 34 km/liter on the way down and about 31 on the way back.
2. I learned restraint. Believe me, sitting on a 120 hp sport/touring machine and pulling over to let boat trailers, people movers and campers go past in the twisties, is the absolute epitome of restraint.
3. I also learned that GN's are such good value for money, that if the little shit had given us the slightest trouble on the way home, I would have had no compunctions at all about chucking it in the nearest ditch and putting the wife back on the Trumpy's pillion seat.

So.... sad that another GN has died???
No mate - they are expendable.

ukusa
14th January 2010, 16:13
Honestly a GN 250 speeding... they can barely hit 50 am i rite :p

depends, was it downhill?

sunhuntin
14th January 2010, 17:03
bass, im with you. the less chinses ginnys, the better. i had one from new as well... i put up with it for a year before having a gutsful and trading it in.