I didn't want to do this...

[Dave-]

It's been quite nice without all the bin threads...

tuesday night, head out to find out where the ANZAC parade starts the next day and where it goes.

cruising along at the perfect speed, in the perfect spot of the road the perfect distance from the corolla infront.

she pulls over to the left and stops, I ease over to the right side of mylane in preperation for a door opening in my face, instead she does a U turn.

inexperiencly pull the breaks on and slow the bike to about 20-30kph, WHAM into the side above the rear wheel, bike falls onto my foot (saved a bit of damage to the side), sort out details etc, bike still in ridable state with a few cracks on the fairing.

on my way into town this morning to get photos taken for the acessor, awful weather, raining, I'm lubly dry and warm in my jacket and pants.

sitting behind a bus (in his mirror) he indicates and pulls into a bus stop, I ride around him (speeding up to about 40kphish) the que of cars on the other side is longer than I thought and I have to break sooner, this time i didnt break as hard....but hit a white line my wheels lock up or slide or something, either way im sliding...bike slides, fish tails and goes over, I slide along the road for 2m and bang my head on a car (new helmet i think)

fairing rooted, throttle rooted, front break lever torn off, cosmetic damage to fairing and scrapes on exhaust.

I knew where I went wrong before I did it, knowing the theory only helps a wee bit in the practise.

anyone recommend a wet weather defensive driving course in chch?

[JimO]

i did the same thing many years ago on a Z1R when someone pulled a u turn in front of me except i was going 70 to 80 ks when i hit

[Toaster]

Bummer dude. Did the cops turn up? Doing her for the careless u-turn (did she indicate?) or you for failing to stop short?

[Dave-]

Bummer dude. Did the cops turn up? Doing her for the careless u-turn (did she indicate?) or you for failing to stop short?

nah didnt get the blue involved....yet

dunno if she indicated, regardless she shouldn't have pulled out.

[Romeo]

My mate hit a biker in exactly the same circumstances in which you were hit. Pulled over in a 50k zone, checked, U-Turned and the biker hit him on front-right. He had no priors so the courts went easy on him and took his licence for 6 months.

[dman]

I hate cars who stop and wait for a while, only to do a righthand turn right in your face.

Lost my first phone that way (and my first nice road bike, ever worse...), from a right turning car which I went over the bonnet. (phone was in a rear cycle jersey pocket, which I landed on)

Is soo annoying loosing all your numbers in your phonebook.

[WarlockNZ]

nah didnt get the blue involved....yet

dunno if she indicated, regardless she shouldn't have pulled out.

Just have to chuck in my two cents ... sorry .. it's the "regardless she shouldn't have pulled out" comment.

Why shouldn't she ?? .. did she see you ?? did she indicate ?? .. i think its a safe bet that she didn't see you .. that's pretty normal for cage drivers but if she didn't indicate, then the blues should be involved. and if you don't know if she did or not means you weren't paying attention to the hazard she presented on the side of the road.

Sure .. pulling to the right to avoid the door to the face is always a good idea, but you should never .. ever.. discard that threat from your mind until you are past it.

Watch the car, look at what the drivers head is doing, that's a tell tale sign of what a cage driver is about to do .. i would suspect you were a little to close or the cage driver shouldn't have a license.

how say the rest of you savages??

[Dave-]

Just have to chuck in my two cents ... sorry .. it's the "regardless she shouldn't have pulled out" comment.

Why shouldn't she ?? .. did she see you ?? did she indicate ?? .. i think its a safe bet that she didn't see you .. that's pretty normal for cage drivers but if she didn't indicate, then the blues should be involved. and if you don't know if she did or not means you weren't paying attention to the hazard she presented on the side of the road.

Sure .. pulling to the right to avoid the door to the face is always a good idea, but you should never .. ever.. discard that threat from your mind until you are past it.

Watch the car, look at what the drivers head is doing, that's a tell tale sign of what a cage driver is about to do .. i would suspect you were a little to close or the cage driver shouldn't have a license.

how say the rest of you savages??

oh thats right, a vehicle traveling in a straight line should give way to a car doing a U turn....

are you seriously suggesting that if i had seen a U turn comming (which was impossible to guess, trust me I did the math, she had less than 1 second to indicate) even if I had seen it comming I would've flashed my lights and moved to the right she still would've moved out (moving away from the danger seems like a good idea to me rather than trying to squeeze through the gap on the left, but you cant say in theory which way to go, it all depends on the time)

she did not indicate for 3 seconds, she did not check her mirrors, there was not 100m clear in both directions.

perhaps I should've called the police.

[therealvw]

Hi, New to biking too. Passed test in AUgust back in UK. Got bike last month.
I personally think it was the cars fault as she should have checked before she moved out. BUT, and this is a big one, we as bikers have to be EXTRA aware as it is mainly us that get debted or broken and not car panels etc.

As far as riding on the white line..... I was taught to stay off those in wet as best as you can. I must have been on my third or fourth lesson when I rode along a Bus stop area and I was amazed at how much the bike moved around when you got on the edge of the marking and the road itself. AND THIS WAS IN THE DRY!

Good thing to come out of this though is that you are probably more aware of things now and with starting this thread have made other people aware of it too.

ALSO, good ot know that you are un injured, albeit needing new gear. I'd get a new helmet though!!!!!!!!! Don't just think about getting one and waiting. GO GET ONE!

Keep the biking up though.... I had a slow speed fall of the bike I actually ended up buying when I was test riding it. HOW embaressing! I put it down to inexperience and also low tyre pressure.
BUT, I got straight back on the bike after the tyre was sorted. No damage to me or the bike. I was very lucky.

[WarlockNZ]

oh thats right, a vehicle traveling in a straight line should give way to a car doing a U turn....

are you seriously suggesting that if i had seen a U turn comming

I am in no way suggesting this ... what i'm simply saying is that if she turns in front of you ... whos going to get hurt ... it sure as hell wont be her .. that's for sure.

We as bikers have to be so much more aware of other road users, some things can't be avoided, but it's better to survive to ride another day than stick to your principals and wind up in hospital. don't you think.

[Dave-]

I am in no way suggesting this ... what i'm simply saying is that if she turns in front of you ... whos going to get hurt ... it sure as hell wont be her .. that's for sure.

We as bikers have to be so much more aware of other road users, some things can't be avoided, but it's better to survive to ride another day than stick to your principals and wind up in hospital. don't you think.

for sure, being in the right doesnt make you invinsible, but when it comes to legalitys of who pays for what it certainly helps.

it was never a question of safty, imo I did all I could to avoid the most likely accident (statisticly more doors have appeared infront of me than whole cars)

[WarlockNZ]

(statisticly more doors have appeared infront of me than whole cars)

Aint that the truth .. LOL

it's always nice to have some else pay for the repairs as well

[Dave-]

sounds like a write off, I'm quite gutted really, in my 1 month i grew really attached to that silver arrow.

bikes insured for 2500, jeff from sportzone suzuki said usually if the total cost of repair is more than 60% of the value then it's off.

1200 for the exhaust alone, also dinged the tank, rubbed a engine cap, bent the right handle bar, did in the fairings pretty much completly, right wing mirror gone, scraped the brake fluid box thing.

SO!

I want another suzi i think, I loved my FXR150, if there was another in chch for a price I'd probably take it.

also looking at an rgv250, I have been told some models are dodgy? can anyone elaborate?

[gijoe1313]

Ahh bugger, sorry to hear about that - main thing is everything on you is shipshape and squared away.

Have fun looking around and getting that new bike feeling again!

[vamr]

also looking at an rgv250, I have been told some models are dodgy? can anyone elaborate?

Test ride one at a dealership... or a nsr to get a feel for the power and its delivery... and I mean really test ride, jump onto the motorway, head for a twisty road or two and bring a change of underwear.

The petrol consumption will be at least 4 times that of a fxr not including the 2t oil. Cost of ownership will be high and in reality a waste of an engine for daily commuting but oh so much fun on an open road.

And as you mentioned your braking mishaps be very, and I mean VERY, careful with rgv brakes for the first few weeks. They bite hard.