Newbie dropped his brand new bike...help...

[rhyso]

Apologies if I have posted this in the wrong section but I am just after some advice...

I am a newbie rider - passed my CBT about a month ago and bought a new Honda CB125F about 2 weeks ago to learn the ropes. I have done less than 200 miles on the clock and this is my first experience with motorbikes.

I was practicing some low speed turning / figure of 8s in a deserted car park and after nearly getting the clutch control / turning to an okay standard, the bike slipped from under me and before I knew it, I was on my arse. My first off! My jacket took most of the brunt as I landed on my elbow, but my beloved new bike hit the deck...

There appears to be no major damage, just cosmetic but as it is a new bike it really bothers me! I saved for ages to be able to afford my first bike and you can imagine how devastated I am to have dropped it and scratched it. It makes me feel sick to think I saved for so long! Should I be worried about rusting (re the exhaust scratches?)

My question is, is there anything I can buy to try and buff / polish / treat or whatever the damage away!?

Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks.

[Beehive Bedlam]

Fit some crash bars.

[NJD]

[noobRider]

I'd say "bad luck" but as a new rider you were pretty well guaranteed that this would happen sometime. I sympathize though. You're not the first to do this. Others on here should have some advice about getting the scratches sorted out. I hope it doesn't put you off.
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Licence: Nov 2012, Bikes: Suzuki GN125, Moto Guzzi Strada 750, Triumph Sprint ST 955i x 2
AnPhonEh: I need plans, I need contingency plans also, I need back up contingency plans

[barrkel]

If you came on here first, we would have told you you're better off buying second hand when starting out, precisely because you're likely to drop it. The first drop of an unscratched bike always stings the most.

You can try and touch up the fairings, but IMO to do a really good job, you'd need to repaint the fairing; remove the existing paint, base coat, colour, clear, the whole nine yards. And you'd probably have to do all the fairings to be sure of a good colour match.

You could replace the fairings and sell the scratched ones to part fund it. Expensive though. Usually non-UK dealers are cheaper for Honda fairings, do a Google search on the part number and compare prices. I've saved upwards of 40% on Honda parts ordered from Germany instead of David Silver.

If I were you, I'd live with the scratches. Call them battle scars if it makes you feel any better. You might be less afraid of dropping it and learn more easily with them than riding preciously and over-cautiously on a pristine bike.
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Bikes: S1000R, SH350; Exes: Vity 125, PS125, YBR125, ER6f, VFR800, Brutale 920, CB600F, SH300x4
Best road ever ridden: www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2MhNxUEYtQ

[stinkwheel]

The ones on the exhaust will touch in with a dab of matt black high temperatuere paint (you'll be needing some before too long anywy to pain over the rust when it appears).

The other scratches in the pain will look a lot better if you rub them down with T-cut. It wont get rid of them entirely because they're right through the paint in places but it'll tone them down a lot.

If you try to touch them in yourself, you'll invariably make it look worse. There are professional bump and scrap outfits who'll touch that in so you'd hardly notice. I'd suggest going to one of those.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Taught2BCauti...]

The first picture doesn't look as if it is painted, so probably not much you can do with it apart from keeping an eye on eBay for a replacement.

It would be a good idea to just touch-up the damage to the metal parts to stop them rusting, but I wouldn't worry too much about the rest of it - it probably won't be your last spill.
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Honda Varadero XL125(V8)
www.TheFutureIsHere.eu

[RhynoCZ]

I wouldn't touch a thing, scratches give the motorcycle character and they will be a reminder of your vulnerability as a rider.

Imagine you'd have a brand new H2 or something that costs the same as two Skoda Fabia 1.2Htp's
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'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[rhyso]

Thank you all for your replies. I feel a lot better about the whole situation now!

I am going to get some high temp paint to touch the exhaust up and T-cut the fairing as best I can whilst living with the scars until I sell up in 18 months! I will weigh up repair cost vs the £ to be knocked off for condition - crossing that bridge when I come to it.

This is my learner bike until I pass my test / feel experienced enough to make the leap to an Iron 883.

Thanks again for the warm welcome.

[Pete.]

[grr666]

See if someone like chips away will entertain the idea of fixing a bike, they might you never know.
Compared to a sprayshop they are relatively inexpensive.
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Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[turningCircle]

Unless you've come off a Motorcycle; I think it's difficult to respect the machine / sport. I came off mine about 5 months into riding having hit the brakes too hard, locking the wheel and sliding on loose gravel.
It's not a very nice experience but i'm glad it happened. I've learnt a massive amount from that accident alone. As someone else has stated; it's not a bad thing to learn how vulnerable you are.

Just make sure you only make the mistake once and you walk away from it Your damage is nothing compared to mine; I took a chunk out of the cowling and lost the right foot-peg hanger.

[Irn-Bru]

My mate flipped his brand new CBF 125 in the first few days of owning it. Had 59 miles on the clocks at the time. Broke his collar bone but the bike was just scratched up really.
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KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM

[Codge]

our boy came off his new vanvan - we cleaned it up as best we could with a variety of products as per above posts but in the end, when he passed his test for a bigger bike, it didn't really make much odds to the price, people don't expect perfection on second hand bikes, they were much more worried about the service history which was all good.
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Prevarication and procrastination are my worse enemies

[Rogerborg]

[struan80]

Sorry to hear it, you must be gutted.

I dropped bike recently too! it went :: .

Fix

vroom vroom, off again

Have new bike and old bike, thankfully I did drop the old bike or there would have been much and many more tears.

[Doovy]

[JoeDougieDoug...]

It certainly wont be the last time you drop the bike so just leave it. My CBF went under a lorry and I was still able to ride it home (It sounds more dramatic that it was) - They're pretty hardy things!
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CBT Passed - 22 / 10 / 11 >> Theory Passed - 16 / 02 / 2012 >> Mod 1 Passed - 07 / 03 / 2012 >> Mod 2 Passed - 18 / 05 / 2012.

[Doovy]

I crashed my moped the first weekend I had it.

Treat it as an initiation process of becoming a biker. Welcome to the club
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Yamaha RXS 100 > Honda CD 250 > Honda Hornet 600 > Honda CBR 600RR > Yamaha RXS 100 > Kawasaki ZX6R J2 > Yamaha FZ1

[pompousporcup...]

If it makes you feel any better about it, i've dropped my gpz a couple of times.(the reason i bought an old one first)

Embarrassingly, not whilst on the road or doing manoeuvres but moving it out of the garage. First time my foot lost traction.. over it went pulling me with it. Second time i let it lean too far away from me when moving it backwards..in front of the neighbours n all. Felt like such a muppet.

Shit happens

[Alpineandy]

Dropped my Fizzie on the first day I had it (faffing in a car park and grabbed the front brake on some gravel and away the front went).
Just remember to tell your mates how dumb it is to buy a new bike as your first bike.
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The above comment isn't necessarily the truth and anyone that says it is, is only correct if it's the truth or they're bigger than me.

[Ste]

Do as stinkywheels says and use some high temperature paint to touch up the exhaust before it starts rusting.

I wouldn't bother fixing the rest of it, it's just scruffs on the plastic and if you pay to get it fixed up then you almost guarantee that you'll drop it again.

And yes, it's a PITA when you buy a shiny brand new 125 and drop it at some point. But it's a learner 125 bike, of course it's going to have scratches and scraps on it, there's nothing to worry about.

On a tangent, it's good that you're more worried about your bike than you are yourself.

[Irn-Bru]

Actually, speaking of dropping bikes I forgot my coolest story (bro), a lad came to view my old ktm 525 and wasn't familiar with the suicide kickstands KTM love to use. So after a quick test ride he got off the bike then it keeled over. Sold!
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KTM 990 SMT & Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM

[talkToTheHat]

Work out why you dropped it. Don't do that again. Wet leaves, oil patch, muddy roads after a flood, discovered ice isn't very grippy, front brake and slow speed manouvers don't mix, forgot to put a foot down, tried to put foot down but found pothole, forgot sidestand, these are just a selection of the stupid ways to drop a bike.

You will have a collection.

We all do.

Wet leaves in the first week or so scratched my first 125 and needed the brake pedal stop realigning with a hammer. The slimy mess you find underneath wet leaves caught me out a few years later after much rain took the leaves away. That time made my topbox tattier and scraped a £5 bar end weight. Forgot the sidestand once whilst all luggaged up and returning to shut the gate.

As long as you have something resembling motorcycle kit on, worst injury you're likely to find is a severe bruise to the ego.

Remember to laugh about it afterwards.
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Bandit. does. everything.

[rhyso]

Cheers all for your help in this difficult time haha.

I returned to the scene of 'the fall' yesterday evening under the safety of darkness, in order to boost my riding confidence. I saw that the small car park was virtually empty, bar one solitary vehicle that was dimly lit.

I started with the dreaded 'figure of eight' manoeuvre and practiced this for about five minutes or so; ensuring to keep out of the way of the parked vehicle.

All of a sudden, two cars, three cars, four cars, five cars entered the car park in a line of traffic, before joining the single parked car. My first thought was 'boy racers', but these cars weren't your typical modded Fiestas, oh no...an old BMW saloon, a Ford Galaxy, an R reg Volvo...these weren't boy racers at all...these sort of vehicles can ONLY belong to doggers...

My instant and rational thought process immediately decided upon 'THEY HAVE COME HERE TO BUM ME IN', so I internally panicked but tried to play it cool because there are no such thing as dogging in my area UNTIL THEY ACTUALLY BOXED IN BOTH ENTRANCE AND EXIT TO THE CAR PARK.

I was momentarily possessed by the spirit of Steve McQueen and decided to use a speed hump as clearance to make the grassy verge surrounding the car park. I revved up in first gear and hit it at just the right angle...I was free.

I looked back cockily at the cars as I had most definitely avoided a surefire bumming to death, before stalling on the main road...