To start off, I'm not ignorant enough to think I was gonna be the one guy to never go down on a bike...I was just hoping it would take it's sweet time getting to me. But nonetheless, I went down last Sunday while riding with 2 other guys, both of which also went down, like a domino effect. I was in the middle and the guy in front got scared and locked up the brakes and went off the side of the road, then target fixation kicked in and there I was following him, and the same with the guy behind me. If I would have had 3 more feet of pavement, I would have stopped just short, but of course, that wasn't the case. Hard on both brakes, the front tire hit the foot of gravel between the road and the weeds, and down she went. We all escaped any injury because we got lucky and went straight in to a field of 3 foot high weeds. The right side of my bike now sports battle scars that I'm not proud of, a small crack in the mid-fairing, and my reserve radiator reservoir was punctured and I drown some grass in coolant. The other 2 guys got away with scratches, tweaked forks, and a lot of choice words. I guess I only have myself to blame b/c I could have made my turn and then safely stopped after, but it happens so fast that you realize what you "should have done" when you're lying there looking at your pride and joy laying on her side. Life definitely sucks at this point, but all you can do is live and learn I guess. With the story told, now I'm thinking about pulling the tribal graphics off and just painting the bike a solid color. Does anybody have a good estimate of what a good paint job would cost for a full set of plastics?

 

Good to hear your ok. [sm=smiley20.gif]

May as well keep the scratches that way you don't have to worry about scratchin it later.

 

So what happened? Did you guys go into the corner too hot or sumpin?

 

There were a few factors, but mainly, the guy leading went in to hot for what he could handle, got scared, stood the bike up too late to stop, and locked up the brakes. Usually I'm the one leading b/c I'm a better rider (not being arrogant, just telling the truth) but he took the lead and unfortunately it didn't turn out so well. I could have made the turn if I wouldn't have watched him go down and kept my eyes on the road, I just wasn't prepared.

 

That sucks dude. I went down last week and rashed my knee. How bad did the other bikes fair? How can you tell that you have tweaked forks? I low sided but my bike didnt hit anything but I had damage all on the right side of my bike. (i have an F4i) Too me I think the tribal graphics look pretty bad ***. I would think that painting it a solid color is a little boring but thats just me.

 

by the way what color do you have. I love the orange.. LONG LIVE THE GREAT PUMPKIN!