The XT's first proper bin.

**Wolf** · 23rd July 2008, 10:44

Yep, binned on the way into work this morning.

Wet road, braking as I approached the roundabout as there was a car entering it. Had my eyes on the roundabout itself and failred to notice I was heading for the dreaded White Paint that city councils put all over intersections to trap unwary motorcyclists.

Well, I was unwary as I was more intent on the roundabout and traffic and hit said White Paint whilst still braking.

Front wheel washed out to my left and I rapidly found myself skating along the road.

Some bloke ran up and asked if I was OK as I was getting to my feet and I said "Yep" before I could get to the bike (or even warn him to kill the engine) he had it on its wheels. The key was off when I looked so he must've switched it off.

We got it off the road and I gave it a quick once-over: aside from a few more scratches on the front fender and the right barkbuster being rotated down somewhat, there wasn't any damage. Handlebar still looked properly aligned, nothing broken off, bent or smashed.

I remarked "the advantage of owning an off-roader, eh, they're built to take this." I thanked him and he went on his way, satisfied I was alive and he wouldn't need to perform CPR or anything like that.

I got the bike out of gear, started it up and continued riding to work - no perceived issues with handling that would suggest damage I hadn't noticed before.

For my part, my ankle, knee and elbow are sore and I have minor abrasions on my ankle and my elbow from rubbing on the inside of my clothes. My jacket has a small tear on the reinforced part of the elbow, there's minor tearing on the cuff of my leggings and one of Juliet's boots (I was wearing hers as mine are stuffed) has some scufffing on it.

All in all, nothing particularly spectacular, but noteworthy as that's the first time I've binned on the road in years.

As I said to the bloke who helped me with the bike: "My own bloody stupid fault, I didn't watch out for the paint."

Gave the bike a more thorough inspection when I parked up at work and confirmed my observation that it came off pretty-much unscathed - casual observers wouldn't be able to tell the difference between how it looks now and how it usually looks (as Lias said "your bike's pretty much a rat bike anyway").

A robust wee bike, the XT, another reason I utterly love it. It was only a low-speed bin, but if I had some fully-faired sprots bike I'd've probably done at least three grand's worth of damage. My plastics bend out of the way and bend back.

**MSTRS:Me** · 23rd July 2008, 10:59

But...but...but....the paint has been specially formulated after years of development to be no more slippery as the surrounding road surface....
Yea right!!
Gentle(ish) reminder of how vulnerable we can be, esp when 'multi-tasking'.
Glad you are ok.

**ital916** · 23rd July 2008, 11:18

Maybe its the fact that when one realises they are braking on wet paint they tend to make changes or alter their course resulting in said accidents. It's good you came out of it unscathed and yes dual purpose bikes can take a beating.

It could be just me but I have never encountered problems when riding over paint, I notice it and just ride a little more carefully but still brake the same and have never had a slide, I've had more slides on tar snakes??

**scumdog** · 23rd July 2008, 11:24

Good to hear you came out of it OK.

Yup, them white lines are to be watched for, had a close call on one two up a year or so back, same type of thing, front washing out....

**tri boy** · 23rd July 2008, 11:31

Good to know your quite unscathed.
I comment to kanny often about Hamilton's dismal white lines.
No reflective dust in them for night brightness. Slippery as snot in the wet, and the contractors don't remove old lines when modifying road systems, so it all gets confusing on dark wet nights.
Transits standards are shit compared with their Aussie counterparts.

**Ixion** · 23rd July 2008, 11:34

Up here the contractors DO remove the old lines. Which makes things worse , because the 'removal' consists of painting over the old white line with BLACK paint. Which is just as slippery as the white, but (duh) harder to see. So we have to cope not only with white lines, but black lines also . Only giveaway is that the black paint is hsinier than the tarseal.

**tri boy** · 23rd July 2008, 11:40

Painting over them!

Damn, is this some eastern bloc out station or summit!
The PROPER/PROFESSION method is high pressure ossicilating water blasting.
It removes any trace of paint, and leaves only a slight discolouration to the original base. (mind you, if you piss on NZ tar it dissolves, so I wander what pressured water would do. Transit, YOU SUCK!).

**gijoe1313** · 23rd July 2008, 11:54

I always play the avoid the painted white bits game in the dry as a matter of course, just to ensure that I don't do this in the wet! And those rainbow splotches or streaks give me the heebie jeebies ... and the smell of diesel too.

Glad to hear you are okay from your experience and sharing it with us to keep those issues forefront.

I particulary dislike those dang arrows on turns, always skitching over to the left or right of them (even in the dry!)

**Wolf** · 23rd July 2008, 12:26

Originally Posted by gijoe1313

I particulary dislike those dang arrows on turns, always skitching over to the left or right of them (even in the dry!)

I was in the right-hand lane approaching the roundabout - the one marked for straight-through/right-turn, so it was one of the ones "skitching over" - I might have missed it otherwise.

I didn't actually see I was on the paint, first thing I knew was I was going down. I worked out that it was the white paint that caused it based on where I was when the bike started to go and the fact that there was nothing else on the road to cause the front wheel to suddenly slither sideways.

**jrandom** · 23rd July 2008, 12:29

The XT's First Proper Bin.

**gijoe1313** · 23rd July 2008, 12:41

So I guess if it was on dirt it wouldnae count but just par for the course och ay th'noo?

Yep, when I see others riding blithely over those white stripes o'binning always gives me the heebie jeebies ...

**Wolf** · 23rd July 2008, 13:10

Originally Posted by gijoe1313

So I guess if it was on dirt it wouldnae count but just par for the course och ay th'noo?

Well, I dropped it twice and rode it into a gorse bush (just once) on Kimmy's Enduro Track - but as you said, "par for the course", hence the "proper" in the thread title.

BTW. The tarmac's significantly harder than the dirt on the track at Kimmy's. I'd forgotten how hard it was. Been a real nostalgia trip today.