5K miles on the tires, 20' on the bodywork...

["Rick Damiani" <rickd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I left the office in a bit of a hurry to go and do a bit of on-site service
at a local college. Get there, pack my jacket and helmet into the bags and
do my bit. On the way out, I figure I will stop for lunch before hitting the
highway, so I leave the jacket in the bag and set off.

As I leave the campus I find myself on a down grade entering a 'T'
intersection and needing to turn right. The intersection is clear, the light
is my way, the road looks OK and traffic is very light. I move towards the
right curb [1] lean into the turn and about half way through feel the back
end kick way out before losing it all together. The bike slides on it's
right side for about 15-20' while spinning slowly around so it is facing the
wrong way while shedding it's right-side saddle bag. I slide about 5 or 10'
on my right side before coming to a stop myself, all the while thinking 'I
really should have put on the damn jacket even if it was just a short trip.'

After making sure that I have actually stopped and didn't break anything, I
go shut off the bike and pick it up. A quick look shows all in order, so I
drive it up onto the sidewalk, then go back into the street to get my
saddlebag and the other broken-off bits.

After conducting a more detailed examination of myself and the bike, I take
a closer look at the road I fell off of. It was then that I noticed a 6"
wide stripe of oil that followed the curve of the road I was on and neatly
intersected my line right at  the 9" wide painted crosswalk stripe.
Inspecting the wheels I see that same clear oil in the right-side grooves of
the rear tire as well as radial skid marks up to the edge of the tire [5].

While conducting this impromptu accident investigation, I noticed a pair of
motorcycle policemen drive by and take a look at me standing next to the
scraped up bike (the plastic is white, so the scratches really stand out)
with my bloody elbow and favoring my right foot. Great! I though. I'll get
an accident report that mentions the oil and I'll likely not be getting
charged extra on the insurance for the spill. Then they speed back up and
drove off. I guess they had a pressing engagement with a doughnut or a speed
trap and couldn't stop for a traffic accident.

Damage to the bike: Damaged the right-side upper (ground off a corner),
middle (extensive scratching and ground-off plastic) and lower (filed off an
edge) body panels, dinged up the right mirror housing, and badly scratched
the right side saddlebag. I also broke the Throttlemister off, tweaked the
right clip-on [2], broke the front brake lever in half, bent the rear brake
lever, bent up the attachment point on the saddlebag [3] and dinged both the
muffler *and* the right side fork lower. Bike was still ride able as long as
you didn't bother with the rear brake too much.

Damage to Rick: Sore ankle and knee and a 3"x 2" scrape on my right forearm
right at the elbow that hardly bled at all. Put a small hole in the knee of
my jeans, but didn't hurt my shirt, gloves or boots at all. I *did* manage
to avoid breaking anything this time despite landing on my other shoulder,
so I'll not be getting matching metal plates from this one.

I was taking the bike to the dealer tomorrow anyway to have new tires put
on, so I think I'll have them do a quick estimate and replace the critical
parts (brake levers) straight away, then wait for the parts to actually
arrive before dropping the bike off for a complete fix.


[1] To avoid the oily bit in the middle of the lane [4].

[2] Or what passes as a clip on for this bike.

[3] That's how it was able to detach itself.

[4] Didn't work too well, huh?

[5] It's really not fair, them moving the oily bit around like that.



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