Unfuckingbelievable

[Forest]

If it helps to cheer you up, here is my sob story...

I was in Melbourne around the beginning of this month. I decided to stay the weekend and get in some riding (Great Ocean Road & Ottways etc). So I hired a R1150GS from Garners rentals.

Picked up the bike at 4pm on Friday afternoon. Within two hours I laid it down hard at around 60km/h on wet Melbourne tram tracks (went in to them on a long straight road and lost the rear end). The fuel tank was screwed, valve cover was badly cracked and leaking oil, the instrument cluster was fucked, engine protection bars and bash plate were snapped, front guard was wrecked, switch-gear was ruined.

Luckily I was ok - just a few scratches on my jacket and some sore knees. However on the following Monday they assesed the total damage at $7,700 AUD! The bike had an insurance excess of $4,000 AUD and the rental was around $545 for the weekend. That's around $5,347 NZD for two hours of riding.

An expensive weekend to be sure. But at least I got a nice ash tray out of it (the wrecked BMW valve cover) and a story to share.

-------------------------------

FWIW I was determined to ride that weekend so I hired an F650 (thanks Garners) and did the Great Ocean Road along with a couple of hundred km of excellent Victorian country back roads. You could say it was a memorable weekend!

[onearmedbandit]

If it helps to cheer you up, here is my sob story...

Now that sucks.

[Lou Girardin]

It's a shame. It sounds like you were watching your mates and not the road.
Still, you're not hurt. And you may be able to source secondhand bits for it.
When you fix it, INSURE the bloody thing.

[crazybigal]

dude your either one unlucky fucker! or just an idiot!
one day your prob going to bite the big one on a bike id say!
give up!

So I got my new 2000 aprilia rs250 on th...

[Forest]

Now that sucks.

Yeah - I had no bloody idea that tram tracks could be so dangerous!

The road was long and straight and there were tram tracks running in both directions. A light rain was falling. I drifted into a rail and the bike started tram-lining. I wasn't worried (BMW suspension makes you invincible - don't you know ) and assumed that the bike would just pop out after a while.

Suddenly the back wheel went mental and - before I could do anything to regain control - the rear wheel swung way out to my left and the bike felt like it was going sideways. I was thrown to the right and the bike bit the ground hard. Both myself and the bike ended up skidding along a cobble-stoned gutter.

The bike took a surprising amount of damage. The handle bars were twisted so far back by the fall that the right bar end bit hard into the fuel tank. The GS is a lovely bike but there's a lot of exposed bits which don't handle crashes that well.

[Transalper]

I totally agree with everything thats been said, I have noone to blame but myself.....I reckon one contribution was how soft the front suspension was...Under hard braking on 2 occasions before the bin the back wheel came up when the front suspension bottomed out I guess
..cant lean while doing a stoppie
When it comes down to it I have noone to blame but myself..
totally gutted but I dont reckon i was riding above my abilities..

It's that little bit of aragance that you have to knock on the head. You knew the back wheel came up under hard breaking but even with that knowledge you still put your self in that situation coming in to the bend. If you had the ability you think you have then you would made the corner instead of having another incident.
Your half way there with the "i agree, noone else to blame" but then you ruin it by showing us you seem to be in partial denial...that you still think there was more to it than just you....like the suspension...which an able rider would have adjusted to.
I could be wrong but i tend to think that if you had a firmer front end you could make the back come up earlier.

Could it be that you define the word 'ability' differently to us?

[R6_kid:Me]

FFS Cam!!! You were sposed to txt me when you got your new bike you tard!

Not that the ride i did on the weekend was any less ravage than what it sound like you were doing.

Just take a step back and try something not so mental. Remember it takes months not days to get back in to riding. Taken me a year to learn my 600 and im only now as fast if not faster in corners than i used to be on my 250.

[Street Gerbil]

Sorry about your ride, mate. But, then, what are the odds of walking from this crash in one piece. You are one lucky chap, I tell you. Someone high above was watching over you.

[Ghost Lemur]

My advice.

Get a dualsport and second set of rims ('tard). Can't jump a sprotsbike. Open you're mind to some adrenaline fun that doesn't include potential tickets from the Man or expensive repairs. Most you'll need after an off on a DS is a lever or maybe a mirror and indicator. Off's cost you in the tens of dollars instead of the thousands.

Having said that I'll help fund your effort to get back on the road by giving $50 for that wreck of yours.

Seriously though your only young once. If you don't do this shit while your young and invincible you'll never do it. Then what stories are you going to have when you old and sensible?

[kro]

Don't want to sound like a wanker, but it sounds like you were riding using your leaders to read the road, and not reading the road yourself. I would just keep an eye on that, and keep on riding.

[imdying]

sounds like you were riding using your leaders to read the road, and not reading the road yourself. I would just keep an eye on that, and keep on riding.

I agree x 2

[sunhuntin]

everyone beat me to it. good you walked away [dunno how though!] but if i were you id keep on walking... safer for yourself, other road users, and the beaten up bike shivering in fear out in the shed.
try sticking to the speed limit for a change. what if a cop had given you a ticket/taken your license? i bet youd be on here pissed off cos said cop may have saved you from an early grave.

what never fails to amaze me is the number of 250 bikes out there that are built to reach a higher speed than many bigger bikes. the bike in question here is a 250, yet can reach 150k?? imagine if that was a shiney newbie rider, fresh out of the licensing office, with no practise under their belt?? crazy.
i often think id be safer on a light harley, which is slower but bigger cc, than the gn250 im on now. i can only reach 120k on a good day, but that is plenty fast enough...im happy on 90k.

read what everyone here has written, and try and learn something from it. theres a reason youve had so many wrecks, and by the sounds of it, no one else is to blame.

[sunhuntin]

If it helps to cheer you up, here is my sob story...

o crap....they are going to lay tram lines in my town....i better think about moving!!! train tracks are bad enough....bugger anything worse!

[wendigo]

p.s
I am having trouble with the engine, the bike was still turned on when I picked it up but would not come on when I turned the ignition on when I got home, I left it and this morning changed the fuse which has fixed it.
The bike kicks over no problems however it is revving out to about 6000 rpm and holding there, you can take it down to about 2000rpm (just above idle) by bringing on the choke and then taking it back off, It will then sit at that rpm for a while before revving out to 6000 again where you can do the choke again, any ideas ?
I thought it might have something to do with the choke as that handle bar was twisted well forward and might have stretched the choke but Ive moved it back and its still doing it, HELP APPRECIATED!!!

Wouldn't have started the engine until I'd had a good look at everything after a prang like that. God knows what's been buckled, bent, torn out & unplugged by the sudden deceleration.

Take things appart and make sure things look & seem to work ok
Things I'd be looking for:
(a) stretched or snagged cables.
(b) are the throttle boddies ok, or is there any signs of damage, e.g. from the choke cable tearing out the choke.
(c) do the throttles work smoothly & do they open in a synchronous manner? Do they open fully?
(d) Are the inlet rubbers still ok or have they been split?
(e) Are the powervalves still working? Is their action still smooth? Do they open fully? How easy is it to open them? Have they been jammed in the crash?
(f) Does the powevalve actuator still work? Has it come unplugged?
(g) What state are the coils in? Have they come loose? Any dodgy connections?
(h) what state is the ECU in?
(i) What state is the engine in? Has torn itself out of any mounts? Is leaking fluids anywhere implying something being warped?

Etc. etc.

Ah the joys of working on a two stroke... Prefer the Honda RS variety meself, but each to his own. Oh yeah, one final thing with regards to your bike - if you don't run premix, make sure the (2 stroke ) oil pump is working. You'd feel a right tit if you turned the only (apparently) undamaged part of your bike into high grade alloy scrap for lack of oil.

Mind you if you don't feel a bit of a tit after reading all the responses in this thead, you fucking well should.

By the way, I'd just like you to know that its because of muppets like yourself, that back when I lived in Ireland my insurance on a 125 ( that was so gutless it couldn't pull the skin of a custard tart) was about 1500 dollars per annum.

Unlike everyone else, who think your're a twat for not having insurance, I say good on yah. At least this fucking time my insurance premium won't be going into buying you a new fucking bike.

[gijoe1313]

Ouch - a cheap lesson in pain, expensive on the wallet - but hopefully you'll gain priceless experience that will make you reflect and think about the ride. Plenty of others here have already given you brickbats and bouquets so I won't have to add anything else.

If you love to ride, ride so you can keep on loving it longer!