Fixing my Bike after I Threw it Down the Track at Oulton!

[0l0dom0l0]

Before Christmas, life was a little shit. I found a cheap track day at Oulton Park for £50, the weather was looking good so thought 'fuck it' to make life better I'll do a trackday. So booked it. No inters spaces, but that's fine I thought I'll just book the fast group.

Well, as per usual, the weather forecasters were wrong and at 5am on the day of the trackday the heavens opened. So I began my 2 hour ride on the morning of the trackday, in the pissing rain, and dark to Oulton thinking to myself it's fine, it was only £50 I can just do a couple of sessions and come home if it's to bad etc.

I turn up, freezing my fucking tits off, soaked through with everyone else looking at me just thinking 'are you mad?'.

So the first problem to solve was the fact I was booked into the fast group with no wets, warmers or anything. Just a few tools I could fit in my rucksack, which would have been fine in the dry but I've done a track day in the wet before and it would have been suicide to go out in the fast group with no wets on. Now this is the only ever problem I've had with No Limits, usually they're sound but I had to ask about 5 times before they would move me but, I was successful in moving groups.

Inters were first out (myself). Still cold, and in a rush to prepare the bike as I had wasted so much time trying to move group I proceeded to the pits where we had our sighting laps...... I was quite familiar with the track anyways as I'd watched videos for the couple of days leading up to the day.

Anyway's, I was pushing quite hard in the first session, wasn't overtaken I don't believe, even by people that were on wets (yeah check me out). The bike was feeling great, the feedback was good from the tires and I was learning where the grip was on the track. Overall, suddenly I was loving life.

So came in after that session, watched a few bikes come in on the back of the van where they'd come off (mostly novices to be fair) thinking to myself 'what a tit, pah that won't be me' as you do.

Next session comes..... I was fucking flying, going round people on full wets. I was clearly on the limit and I knew that, so I stopped pushing and practised being as smooth as I could. Again I felt great and was actually enjoying the day, considering it was probably less than 10 degrees and pissing with rain.

So I start approaching this guy in front who was a little all over the place, not smooth but just a little to quick for me to overtake. I knew I was on the limit so overtaking was going to be diffucult. I tried over a few corners but didn't have the traction out the corners or the power on the straight which only left one choice, to take him on the brakes. And that's where it all went wrong.

Came hammering on to the pit straight, was gaining only slightly on him but not to much, and put myself on the inside ready to try and out brake the guy. Well, he braked later than I thought and I had no chance of out braking him....when I realised I applied a little more front brake and BAM the front end let go. At this point, I'm sliding on my arse looking straight at my pride and joy sliding in front of me at what was probably not far off 100mph to begin with. I see the grass coming thinking to myself 'please don't flip, please don't flip, please don't flip', so what does the fucking bike do, flips over in the grass whilst still doing a decent speed. So much so, it flipped a full rotation and one side was untouched!

I stopped just before the grass verge, uninjured, got up, walked over to the bike and between me and the marshall got it back to the pits. It was fucked and I now had a 2 hour ride home to worry about.

Before:https://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/576856_10151057167302167_1328364169_n.jpg

After:https://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/16159_10151113348857167_769561270_n.jpg

The bike got tucked away until last week when I had the chance to look at it properly. Pulled it out the garaged completely untouched since the incident and was greeted with this:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0120.jpg

Damage was:

Mudguard
Clocks smashed
Radiator bent
Handlebars bent
Rear plastic smashed
Seat ripped
Engine casing scratched
Bungs fucked

First job obviously was to wash the bike and check to see if the frame was damaged from the crash bungs. In the end we decided it looked okay and there was nothing obvious but were looking at it for a fair time. There's no real way of knowing unless you strip it and jig the frame anyways. The bike did ride straight after the crash too.

Then, I decided to tackle the fucked crash bung. Because it was so bent I had to hacksaw a bit of it off. This mean that when I undid it, I wasn't putting any pressure on the tread. It did come out though without any problems even though the idiot that installed them didn't use an copper grease so it was a little siezed. I suspect the impact helped break the corrosion on the bolt a little.

Old with the old:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/IMAG0124.jpg

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/IMAG0125.jpg

In with the new:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0127.jpg

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0126.jpg

You can see how the bungs saved the casing, it's just been touched there but without them the bike would no doubt have been in an even worse state. I certainly wouldn't have been riding it home.

Tidy up and re=straighten all the electrics to go under the new side panel:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0128.jpg

Cleaned up and fitting the new handlebars:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0134.jpg

Then sort the front light and clock bracket, and mount the new speedo:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0136.jpg

Get everything lined up:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0138.jpg

How does the frame look here??:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0139.jpg

All cleaned up:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0145.jpg

Sorry its not the best, most detailed thread. I was pretty limited for time and didn't really get a chance to get photo's of everything, but thought I'd post it up so if anyone in a similar position needed some inspiration there is a bit here!

It's not perfect, but it's ride-able and I use it to commute anyways.
____________________
CBT Passed: 30/08/2009, Theory Passed: 31/08/2010, Mod 1 Passed: 6/9/2010, Mod 2 Passed: 13/09/2010. Restriction ended 13/09/2012.

Bikes: 2007 Derbi GPR 50, 1998 Yamaha Fazer 600 (written off), 2002 Yamaha Fazer 600, 1994 CBR 600F, 2003 Triumph Daytona 600, Kawasaki ZX6R J1.....Current: 2006 Yamaha FZ6, 1998 Suzuki TL1000R and a Honda VFR 400 NC30.

[Hetzer]

Yay!
____________________
"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Supermoto_Fan]

You rode home? Haha win!

That tank was fooked!
____________________
Yamaha MT-09 - Triple powerrrr

[deleted111]

Got any more pictures of how she stands now? Looks like you've done a great job.

Well done.

[_mjs_]

for riding home on that!
____________________
Previous Bikes: 2006 Honda XR125L > 2003 Yamaha DT125R > 1996 Honda CB500
Current bikes: 1997 Kawasaki ZZR 600 E5 > 2006 Honda Varadero XL125V

[Frost]

Subframe's twisted.










You got off damn lucky on neither yourself nor the bike being too fucked to make it back home. Next time i hope you take some backup along to help you get the bike sorted and give you a lift home if needs be!

[Blackwolf]

You got off lightly. My Tuono smashed up badly and I almost lost my finger too..
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Current: Ducati Multistrada 1200s

[0l0dom0l0]

Haha I know, I saw your thread. You did a proper job Blackwolf lol.

It was quite an interesting ride home. I had minimal lock on one side because the handlebars were bent and fouling on the tank. Plus no speedo so had to guess my speed everywhere.

Even more funny was the weather on the way home was lovely

Couple more pics of the bike:

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/IMAG0132.jpg

https://i1183.photobucket.com/albums/x474/0l0dom0l0/Fixing%20the%20Bike/IMAG0141.jpg

It's not perfect, but functional. The tank isn't as good as it looks in the photos and hopefully soon I will dig this thread up with pictures of the black tank being filled and repainted to orange (I much prefer the orange). There's all little bits which have been damaged by the crash which bump up the cost massively if I wanted to get it mint again, so I'm just going to have to live with the fact the bike will never be like it was before. It's a shame because it was mint!

Good bike though, which I love and enjoy riding and it still had it's character even on the 2 hour ride home when it was fucked. It makes such a good noise too. Certainly not slow either.
____________________
CBT Passed: 30/08/2009, Theory Passed: 31/08/2010, Mod 1 Passed: 6/9/2010, Mod 2 Passed: 13/09/2010. Restriction ended 13/09/2012.

Bikes: 2007 Derbi GPR 50, 1998 Yamaha Fazer 600 (written off), 2002 Yamaha Fazer 600, 1994 CBR 600F, 2003 Triumph Daytona 600, Kawasaki ZX6R J1.....Current: 2006 Yamaha FZ6, 1998 Suzuki TL1000R and a Honda VFR 400 NC30.

[Supermoto_Fan]

Black wolf, have you got a link to the thread? Can't find it
____________________
Yamaha MT-09 - Triple powerrrr

[FZ6_mk]

That has given me inspiration to fix my FZ6 - thanks for replying to my thread.

I need new wheels on mine, which are very costly - though everything else is cosmetic.

Need to source some fairings as well. Will upload pics soon.
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2008 Yamaha FZ6 S2 - Black
New rider from Milton Keynes

[garth]

Although it looked pretty bad you actually got off pretty lightly! No broken levers, footpegs and gear linkage still intact... Pretty good.

Isn't going straight over the limit fun!

[Sako]

Nicely repaired

[0l0dom0l0]

[bikertomm]

Lad.
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07' Honda Hornet now full powaah! My guide on performing an oil change!