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I got my endorsement in late June of 07, by early July I had bought an '06 FZ6, and by late August had tossed it into a ditch. Situation I was riding around some back roads west of Baltimore and was feeling impatient to get done with a bit of boring residential area. I was going a little quicker than I felt exactly comfortable doing after I got out of the residencies and was no longer stuck behind traffic, (mistake 1) and I was also riding a road I had never ridden on before while doing it (mistake 2). I came into a decreasing radius turn at the bottom of a hill to hot for comfort, and then fixated on the outside of the turn (mistake 3). I was about to make (mistake 4) and grab for the front brake but reading enough motorcycling threads in AI, the MSF, and various other horror stories managed to reboot my brain so I immediately forced my attention down the turn and leaned on the inside handle hard to try and make the turn. The Crash If I had done this instead of locking up and going deer in the headlights sooner in the turn I am sure I would have made it, because as it was I was a few degrees shy of being on a good exit trajectory for the straight coming out of the turn. My front tire left the pavement and then I resigned myself to my fate, bike went over fairly non-violently (though I grabbed a handful of clutch) and went over with it, it kept traveling past after I hit the ground, so I wasn't dragged along with it. The Aftermath I was wearing full gear and managed to pound my shoulder pretty good but otherwise was fine. I was spooked as poo poo after I fell though. The upper fairing on the bike was cracked, mounting for all the instruments was bent to poo poo, I lost my signals on the right, and I had a little bit of scuffing along the right of the bike aside from the fairings. Headlight housing was seriously hosed. My handlebars were out of alignment with the front wheel and my rear brake lever was bent to poo poo. I ordered new replacement parts for just about everything and did all the work on fixing it up myself in my garage. Front forks (I think, same ones two years later) were fine but needed to be re-aligned in the triple tree. Disassembling the entire upper fairing and headlight assembly was a bitch. Lessons learned: 1) Don't ever rush. 2) Take unfamiliar roads easy. 3) Go for a turn if you're uncertain. I've since managed to avoid getting in any trouble and had developed mostly good habits before I even had this getoff. I still regard the motorcycle as being dangerous and don't think I ever will stop, but it doesn't stop me riding with a healthy dose of fear in the back of my mind to stay aware and cautious.
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Apr 13, 2009 19:34
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2ndclasscitizen posted:Riding along towards the Harbour Tunnel in the left wheel track of the right hand lane. Felt a big thump on the back of my right leg and got thrown over into the middle lane and get a big wobble going. Damper does it's job and weave stops, look over and there's this loving Mini where I was. Guy driving didn't even look over at me when I booted on his door. Followed him for a while, then turned off the freeway and went to the cop shop near home and reported it. No apparent damage to me or the mighty Gixxer. Right?
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Jun 1, 2009 20:19
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Insurance discounts for wearing gear would be a nightmare to effectively police for the insurance companies.
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May 17, 2010 20:49
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laymil posted:the_reject posted:These arguments are sound and reasonable, but you need to check your premises. I think you are forgetting we live in a world with lawyers.
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May 17, 2010 21:39
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infraboy posted:Hmm something sort of similar happened to me today, it wasn't really all the intense but it was a seriously WTF moment.
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May 20, 2010 15:55
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