Let me tell you a sad little story…

I was on my way to work in sunny Sydney one Friday a couple of months ago, minding my own business, when this nice young lady decided that instead of being in the right, “fast”, lane she’d much prefer to be in the left lane never mind the fact that I was already in that lane. She chopped into the lane with no warning – because I don’t trust Sydney drivers, I had been carefully watching for blinkers, and she never indicated – I smacked into the passenger door of her car and ended up on the sidewalk with the bike more or less on top of me. Fortunately, I didn’t hit any of the light or telephone poles on the side of the road and fortunately, I was only doing about 60kph at the time. I spent most of the rest of the day at the North Ryde hospital getting X-Rays and scans, and the good news was I had nothing broken or seriously damaged with me (I did have very sore ribs, shoulder and knee for at least a month, mind you) but the bike wasn’t as lucky. The damage was mostly bodywork which couldn’t be repaired or replaced, unless it was a labour of love, so the nice young lady’s insurance decided that the bike was “beyond economic repair”.

Now the good news starts: they paid me more than I had paid for the bike seven years ago and, honestly, more than the bike was worth. I started looking around for another, but newer, 1000F as a replacement, but decided to look at some other bikes as well. In the end, and I feel almost like I am being unfaithful by admitting this, I bought a ’99 Blackbird. I’ve had it now a few weeks and the more I ride it, the more I like it. Where it isn’t as nice, IMHO, as the 1kF is it’s not as comfortable – maybe the bars are lower and it’s generally a stiffer bike – but it does have some serious poke, excellent braking, and sharper handling.

Anyway, after all that, I guess I’ll be moving on to the CBRXX forums, but would like to say a genuine thanks to all the guys who helped me with advice on the 1000F over the years. I had all the usual issues: CCT noise, charging problems etc. and the guys on this forum were always really helpful with excellent advice and tips.

So, thanks guys, and maybe I’ll be back again one day.

 

Good to hear you were not to badly banged up man and congrats on the new Bird

Stop by and say Hi anytime you'd like wish you well and safe riding with the Bird

 

Glad to hear you're alright, I can't stand inattentive drivers, and they sure are plentiful nowadays...


But enjoy the blackbird, those are some seriously cool bikes!

 

Glad to hear you wasn't hurt too bad, considering the weight of the CBR on top of you things could have been a lot worse.


Enjoy the BB and steer clear of lady drivers, especially the ones in Volvos.

 

Thanks for the good words, guys. My driver fooled me because she was driving a Subaru...

 

glad your ok, enjoy your new bird

 

So long. Enjoy the Blackbird.
I remember when I lived in the Northern suburbs of Sydney, Cammeray to be precise, I had a Suzuki ER250, and commuted from the docks area, this was 1986; and nearly got side swiped by a woman. Could have been the mother to your side swiper?

 

Glad you ren't seriously damaged, sorry to hear the1k was. Enjoy the Blackbird and ride safe.