Chewing the asphalt again...

[FlyingDutchMan]

Well this morning I screwed up again and hit the deck. I was taking a left hander (Riccarton rd onto Ilam rd) and the front just washed out from under me (cold tyres). I was thinking oh sh*t as me and the bike slid towards a stopped cage. The bike hit the car, but pretty softly. There was way less damage than I thought there would be. Damage to bike: Left fairings scratched, but can't really tell as they aren't painted anyway. Broke one tab off left and front fairing. End of clutch lever broke off. Scratches on mirror. That was it. Damage to car: broken hub cap (it was a rental anyway). Damage to me: Pulled up a flap of skin inside my gloves. Grazed knee (wearing jeans which are now write offs). The fella in the cage rang to cops to report it. So in a nice succession 1 cop, then 2, then the fire brigade, then a biker cop turned up, then an ambo. I thought it was seriously overkill, but according to the ambo the guy in the car reported a car vs motorbike accident, hence the turn out. So I got two sticky plasters from the ambo (told you it was overkill), and the firebrigade threw on saw dust on the petrol spill. And everyone left... cept the cop. I couldn't get the bike started so I left at the motel there and she dropped me off home. Since it was reported, they have to "do something" about it. So I'm going to be getting a $150 ticket in the post... guess what for? Failling to keep left... it amuses me in the ways that they apply some laws. There goes my perfectly clean driving record. But everyone was all really good about it, even the cop. Top people all round.

I went back later to get the bike going (all it took was draining the carbs) & checked out the marks on the road. The skid mark starts right at a white line... damn road paint.

[Sensei]

Bad luck ol chap . 1st rule watch for those bloody white lines !

[onearmedbandit]

Hard luck mate. Failing to keep left, was this after your bike slid accross the road??

[James Deuce]

Bummer. A mate of mine had a very similar off in Auckland a number of years ago and had a court appearance for careless misuse. I think the cop came up with the best solution she could somehow.

[justsomeguy]

I guess they may have seen the skid marks on the white line and made that decision to ticket you....

Sorry to hear what happened mate..... those painted lines are .

At least the damage doesn't sound too bad - if you can live with the scratched fairings, a new clutch lever costs about $7.99 or maybe even cheaper from a wreckers......

[750Y]

the ole ahem, 'cold tyres' again huh?
(j/k) glad you're ok mate.

[MSTRS:Me]

That is bad luck. Can you fight it? (Say, suggest that a third party caused to crash? Name 'them' as Isaac Newton - if he hadn't discovered gravity then the laws of physics wouldn't apply therefore your bike wouldn't have slid to the outside of the corner etc)

[sAsLEX]

That is bad luck. Can you fight it? (Say, suggest that a third party caused to crash? Name 'them' as Isaac Newton - if he hadn't discovered gravity then the laws of physics wouldn't apply therefore your bike wouldn't have slid to the outside of the corner etc)

nah sue the coucil for improper maitanence of roads due to paint unable to maintain traction with your tyres pt

[FlyingDutchMan]

Yeah, it was after I'd slid across the road. I'm not going to bother contesting it, it was my fault so I'll take it on the chin. And I'm sure that if the tyres had been warmer, the bike would have stuck to line and gone round. I have gone round corners harder in the past.

[myvice]

Iv been down caus of those "snail trail" repairs they put down on the road.
Glad your ok, less than that has put people in hospital!
Would like to dump 20lts of silicone on Roading NZ's floor to see how they like slippery surfaces!

[unhingedlizard]

I dropped my Dads despatch bike once on those damn overbands. at 5mph!
Almost lost the TDR when I first got it on a give way sign on the roundabout. Bloody white lines. Dont know what they put in them here but in the UK they an't slippy.

[WINJA]

I DROPPED A NEW GSXR1000 IT WAS UNDER 1 MONTH OLD AND I DIDNT REALLY MIND MUCH , WHEN YOU CAN WALK AWAY BE GRATEFULL , I KNOW SOMEONE WHO CRASHED AND THE BIKE WAS MINT AND HE WAS DEAD, LEARN A LESSON AND NOTHING IS REALLY LOST

[Zed]

Well this morning I screwed up again and hit the deck.

Most of us screw up from time to time, and apart from the small loss of skin I'm glad you didn't hurt yourself more seriously! Damage to your bike is cosmetic and can be fixed easy but too bad the jeans are a write-off eh!

[Zapf]

good to hear you are ok and no big damages couldve been worse.

[N4CR]

I know how it feels... all I can say is try learn a lesson of sorts from it.

Did a very similar thing just on thursday... except it was condensed (due to lane width) give way paint AND a little bit of oil to get it all started.
Bike didn't even turn more than 30 degrees towards the exit, indicating a total loss of traction from pretty much the start of the corner 'oil'.

And to make it more annoying (luckily..) I was going much slower around the corner than I usually do. Usually busy intersection and the cars had all turned so the bike slid into empty lanes.

Got a friggen sore shoulder and a sore wrist that was already damaged from stuffing up a bench press at gym. Need a new helmet as it got a minor knock 'I think', LHS fairing/altenator has not too deep scarring minor road rash (thank goodness for ashphalt) and I fixed the mirror myself. Passenger footpeg went walking though .

Lesson learnt.


P.S cagers do not help.

And for some reason a ambulance drove past - off duty. This was about 30 secs later when I had just picked all the bits up, coincidence I think.