Sonny
Full Member
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DeSoto, TX
Posts: 224
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Okay, I was test riding the S40 at 11 last night after installing a rubber mat damper in my loose rear pulley hub. I made a left turn on a wrong street near home and found myself going up a fairly steep incline on a very narrow asphalt road, lined with trees, dark as the inside of a cow. A "Dead End" sign came into view.
I slowed, downshifted to first and attempted a very tight U turn in the narrow road. First mistake: I over banked at very slow speed, tried to put a foot down, because of the grade the road wasn't where my foot thought it was and the bike tumped over. Next mistake: flustered and pissed, in the deep darkness I lifted the bike up still running, not holding the front brake and not realizing in the dark that it was still in first gear and the rear wheel was turning. When the tire hit the pavement, the bike jumped forward. Holding it by the grips, the sudden forward movement caused my hand to twist the throttle as I tried to hold on to the bike. It yanked itself out of my hands, throwing me over the high side of the bike onto the pavement. The S40 did its own wild weave and smashed down and slid on its right side.
I was wearing boots, jeans, gloves, helmet and a T-shirt. I hit and rolled, and jumped back up without a scratch.
Now 200% pissed, I finally mustered the wits to hit the kill switch on the still-in-gear bike, went around, applied the front brake and lifted the bike up again. Total damages: broken off right rear turn signal, brake lever bent forward, right foot peg bent back 90 degrees, scratched muffler, right mirror torn off and the cast master cylinder keeper that holds the mirror broken.
The whole little performance took less than 10 seconds and the repairs will set me back maybe $200 for ebay parts, more for OEM new parts. The damage to my confidence and enthusiasm is higher. Oh, how it hurt to see my pristine white S40 slam to the ground and slide.
The takeaways: 1. Do not make rash decisions in surprise situations. 2. Do not attempt tight stunt turns in the pitch dark with no horizon reference on a steep upgrade. 3. When the bike goes down, use the kill switch always, especially in pitch dark when you cannot see the rear wheel turning if the bike is still in gear. 4. Hold the front brake firmly when lifting the bike back up.
And five: Fate Is the Hunter, as Ernest K. Gann wrote in his book by that title, the best aviation autobiography/novel ever written. That means, accidents happen when a whole bunch of otherwise insignificant little details pile up and you aren't able to sort them out. In this case they were: distracted riding paying attention to the rear hub after attempting a repair, a wrong turn, a steep up grade, a tight tree lined street in complete darkness, a too-tight turn in a narrow road, putting a foot down on a down slope and the ground not being there, leading to a tip over, failure to recognize a spinning back wheel in the dark, failure to use the kill switch, acceleration caused by the bike jerking itself out of the hand holding the throttle causing a rev.
The self-debrief after this kind of pooch-screwing is painful. Had I gone on up the hill to a better turnaround spot, there'd have been no problem. Known the difficulty of a tight U turn on a steep grade, no problem. Known the disorientation of doing it in pitch dark, no problem. Used the kill switch immediately upon laying the bike over the first time, no problem. Seen the rear wheel turning, no problem.
If this account helps one other rider I guess it was worth it. I certainly learned a lot of lessons the hard way in the time it takes to utter a couple of unprintable oaths... and rode away poorer but wiser. I thought I was a smooth and competent rider. Now my tail is way up between my legs.
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