[ST] It had to happen

["barry.croft" <barry.croft@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I dropped the RS today :-(

I was leaving a filling station, stopped at the exit for traffic, and put my
left foot down .. and down ... and DOWN. Straight into one of the many deep
potholes that have appeared all over the UK, after an autumn of floods and a
winter of frosts. Just couldn't quite hold it (with it's full tank), and
down it went on the left side. Bent the clutch lever. Mangled the gear pedal
and rearset connecting rod. Smashed the front indicator lens. Scraped the
fairing lightly on the 'RS' logo, more deeply on the bottom of the left fork
leg, the left engine case, the mirror rim and mount, the bar end weight ...
and gouged some black off that beautiful frame behind the gearshift. Dammit!

I strained a muscle in my upper arm trying to save it, but no other harm to
me. Picked it up quickly (thanks, stranger, for helping). Levered the
gearshift back out into a twisted but useable position (with a handy allen
key). Checked the indicator bulb/mirror wasn't going to fall out. Checked
her all over again, then tried her. She started up fine, smoking worryingly
for a few seconds, but then burning off quickly. Rode on rather carefully to
work!

Lunchtime I called my insurers to report it, then went back to the spot and
photographed everything, with a possible claim against the council in mind.
Then rode on to Carl Rosners for an opinion/help. Their initial estimate was
that it could cost £400 or more to sort, if I wanted to do it properly -
including replacing the fork leg, getting the fairing
filled/painted/re-stickered, and buying a new side case and mirror. Robert's
biggest worry seemed to be the frame - while not structurally damaged it
will be very difficult to restore that thick black coating to new condition,
but replacing it would cost a fortune. He said that Triumph learnt their
lesson on earlier models and now design things like the gearshift to be
weaker than the shaft it turns, so it breaks first. The smoke was just some
oil going up the breather to the airbox and into the inlets. Given that I
don't want to lose my 'no claims' bonus (and don't actually mind a few
battle scars) I decided to just buy the essential new lens, lever and pedal.
Which still cost an expensive £88. But I've already fitted them and the bike
is functioning as well as ever, even if it doesn't look quite as pretty.
I'll let the insurance assessor look at it then decide what (if anything) to
do next.

In a way I'm pleased with the situation - at least I've found out that a
drop isn't catastrophic on the RS, not the way it is on say the Thunderbird
(where the indicator stalk can twist and crack the headlamp brackets, and
the gear shaft can bend or snap, requiring the engine to be pulled apart).
If I'd had sliders they wouldn't have helped much either, maybe saving the
fairing damage, but not much else. If it'd been an ST the lower fairing
would have been mangled, so there's another reason for picking the RS! For a
while I was very worried that I'd ruined a trip to Cumbria/Scotland I'm
planning in just 10 days time, so I'm very pleased to have sorted it so
quickly.

Barry the slightly more scarred and slightly wiser biker


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