HELP! For the 5th time...

[THCi]

This time its bad.

Came off my bike for the 5th time since August today, and Im NOT a happy chappy!

This time It wasnt even my fault... how about that for a change?

Heres the story:

Ride to work everyday, country lanes, A roads, town roads. Theres a road that I have to go down thats a steepish hill. (See here: Gatso happened further up, where its much steeper).

Anyways, theres a bend leading onto a steeper section, I rounded the corner to find the car I had been following at about 50 yards slamming his breaks on to offer directions to a lorry. I start breaking to avoid going slam into the back of him (gatso is actually there for a decent reason, its not uncommon for me to do 50 allong all that stretch. Not anymore though, ive learnt! Was still in a 30 at this point passing parked cars, so was at about 35). I was on the right hand side of the shit-line, so on supposedly decent macadam.

My front wheel just went flat out from under me, slam I hit the deck, so does my bike, on its right hand side (new exhaust = ££'s!). I roll, end up on my back, nothing hurting. I can remember opening the face of lid to get some air, before I even start to pick myself up and check for damage to myself. Nothing but a little ache in my leg, for the rest of my 40 min ride to work It ached, but once I started filling up my department it went away.

Guess what the fuckers who caused this did? As soon as they relasied that I went down they drove off. The lorry had no markings at all, just white all over. Didnt get the numbers of either the lorry or the Micra either. to them!

I had to get my bike from under a parked car. It was pretty well wedged, but no damage to the car that I could see. Only to my bike, Im now missing the left corner of my GZs nice front mud-guard. (new mud-guard = EVEN more ££'s!)

It was a bit wet this morning at 6am, but not frosty or icy. So it aint that that I lost it on the frost.

Thank you for listening to my rant, heres the questions:

Has anyone got any opinions of the front break of a GZ? My dad seems to think that its very fierce, while the back one doesnt even give a feeling. When I come to think about it all the times Ive dumped my bike its been front break related (apart from the time I dumped it in the frozen solid snow)

Are bikes with a larger rake and trail prone to loosing the front wheel?

Was it just bad luck?

Ive taken a big confidence nock from this. Was tempted to leave my bike at work and get a taxi home (£30! When the work sent me there for my interview). Was bricking myself on the way to my GFs in Highley (shite B road from Brignorth to Highley), and was rather nervy from Highley (through BNorth) to Tipton.

Any help, suggestions and tips are welcome.
____________________
Past: GZ 125 K4 Marauder, VL 125 LC Intruder, FZS 600 Fazer. Present: GSF 600 N K3 Bandit, GSX-R 600 X(soon)
"We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so...very...pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

[.....]

First just want to say glad you're OK However I wouldn't blame the car. You have to adjust to the shitty conditions at this time and leave yourself enough time to stop if you need to. One tip that is useful is to make sure you can stop in the distance you can see. So if you're going round a blind corner, make sure you can stop in the space in front of you that you can see.

The roads really are slippy at the moment so make sure your bike is in proper condition such as brakes and tyre pressures. And if you are in a turn and have to brake, if you can use your rear brake to scrub off speed, although this ometimes isn't enough.

Anyway bad luck mate, stick with it.

[ian_s]

I have no answers about your bike, but just wanted to say hard luck fella.

On the bright side things can only get better.

[THCi]

Baldy, I do ride like that normally. But running a little late for work, and the fact it was 6 in the morning made me complacent, its a mistake I refuse to make again!

That said: There was a statistic prooving that more riders are killed within 10 minutes of thier home. Cant remember the exact % though, it was high.

The tyre pressures on my bike are good, as well as the tyres are good as well, only done 5000 miles from new. Mind you, they are some shite Spanish make that dont hold the road very well at all.
I do use the back break to slow if cornering, but at the time I was going straight and not leaning over at all.

Made me wanna cry looking at the bike when I picked it up.
____________________
Past: GZ 125 K4 Marauder, VL 125 LC Intruder, FZS 600 Fazer. Present: GSF 600 N K3 Bandit, GSX-R 600 X(soon)
"We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so...very...pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

[.....]

The main thing is that you're OK. Dunno what percentage of ppl here have made mistakes and come of our bikes but it will be high and I'm included. The main thing is to learn from them. When I came off it taught me to be very careful in shit conditions. It sounds obvious but until it happens you don't REALLY know.

Don't let it get you down

[THCi]

The little lady went ape shit at me. 3rd time its happened since weve been together.

Im learning from it, but I do 44 miles a day, all Im really learning is how to handle high speed (from a 125 55 is a high speed), and how to overtake lorries.

It aint really teaching me how to handle town roads. And, since most of my shifts are normally extended by 2 hours because I dont have the choice of going home (one of the perils of being lower management) I never actually get the chance to ride much around town.

Ill learn though. Thanks for the help guys!
____________________
Past: GZ 125 K4 Marauder, VL 125 LC Intruder, FZS 600 Fazer. Present: GSF 600 N K3 Bandit, GSX-R 600 X(soon)
"We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so...very...pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

[Flip]

5!!! F*ck me!

Pleased your OK dude.

Your going to have to spend your weekends riding around towns and getting used to it before you kill yourself mate.

[syris]

Glad to hear your ok mate, fender will be 80 quid. I find the back brake no use at all unless at slow speeds in traffic etc. The front brake is ok, but since my front wheel is slightly buckled I think it makes it unstable. I'm not too sure on the price of the exhaust, I scuffed mine but never bothered to replace it. However https://www.custom-wizard.com/ do an aftermarket system for it.

[.....]

btw, what sort of bike training have you had?

[AcIdBuRnZ]

Let me get the facts straight here:

It was 6am (=dark), the roads were wet, you were speeding through a 30 zone, turned round a bend and couldn't stop in time because a car was stopped to let a lorry through?

Sorry mate - I've got no sympathy for you.

If the roads are wet, you should adjust your speed accordingly = slow the fuck down. Of course a bike isn't going to stop within 50 yards at 35mph on a wet road - doesn't need Einstein to figure that one out.

You make it worse for yourself by saying that you normally do 50mph along that section of road going passed parked cars?

I hate to see you trying stop if a kid ran out - you wouldn't get 50 yards.

The only problem I see here is your riding ability. Perhaps the money that you were gonna spend fixing the bike should go on more lessons.

I'll await your next crash thread.
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Past: Honda NSR125R >> Kawasaki ER-5a2 >> Kawasaki ZZR-600e1 >> Suzuki GSXR-750Y >> Honda VTR 1000 Firestorm
"Chickity China the Chinese Chicken..."

[THCi]

There wont be one, already started to calm my riding down a lot. And I mean a lot, was quite happy to sit behind a lorry at 40 in an NSL today, something that I wouldnt have been able to do a day ago!

Baldy: CBT (of course) and 2 lessons, been thinking of doing my test soonish. But now im prepaired to wait for a couple of more months till I do it.

Flip: Work weekends! Ill try and get more practice though, gotta really.
____________________
Past: GZ 125 K4 Marauder, VL 125 LC Intruder, FZS 600 Fazer. Present: GSF 600 N K3 Bandit, GSX-R 600 X(soon)
"We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so...very...pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

[steveh]

unlucky mate, glad u wernt hurt tho, marauders are a pain, brittle plastic mudgards.

best way is to go out and ride, prefeably when weather is good.

good luck with confidence, im sure youl get it all back again, nearly all of us come off, one of the pleasures of riding a bike


Steve.
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Current : 06 Zx10r, 07 Wr450f SM, 74 850 norton commando, 63 bsa b40, 1962 Triton 650, 67 Triumph Tr6r, 1955 Triton 750, 1978 TY250E.

[DM]

Just out of curiosity, what kind of braking technique do you use for the rain? Yanking the reins is never going to help when its wet. If you havent done this yet, try going out to a nice deserted road, getting up to top speed and seeing how fast you can stop without losing front wheel traction, same for the wet, though this will feel really hairy . Its important to be progressive with your braking, allowing the tire time to get through the water and pressed right against the tarmac. I remember reading an article in Bike that recommended those two exercises and nowadays when I get on a bike I know Im going to ride fast, I test the brakes from top speed or close to it to get an idea of what the bike will handle in an emergency.

[THCi]

DM, thats not a bad idea. Ill have to try this on the way to work tomorrow, roads are always deserted at that time in the morning.
____________________
Past: GZ 125 K4 Marauder, VL 125 LC Intruder, FZS 600 Fazer. Present: GSF 600 N K3 Bandit, GSX-R 600 X(soon)
"We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so...very...pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

[AcIdBuRnZ]