Long story short, I went down for my first time about 3 weeks ago (i've only been riding for a little more than 1.5 years), and i've been a little leary about getting back on it, just seems like I've lost all my confidence. Hopefully it's just in my head, but I believe that my forks/handlebars came out of alignment. It's hard to describe how I went down, but the brakes were near locked up and I was only going about 4 or 5 mph when my front end went off the road and dumped me. There was a slight down-grade on the grass hill I landed on and the bike fell on it's right side. I'm not sure if that helps at all, but I'm just wandering if there is an easy way to check if the bike's front end came out of alignment/handle bars bent, etc...any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

I would take it to a shop or dealer right away to have it looked at. Even if it isn't broke or bent, you will get satisfaction that it's not broken, so that will be one less thing in your head. It's good to hear you only went down at 5 mph. Imagine how bad it would suck to go down at 60? As long as you wear your gear and ride safe, you should be fine. Going down will happen eventually, but being prepared for it can make all the difference. Hell, you have more experience than me now. I haven't gone down on my bike yet (thank God), and hopefully I wont, but I know the odds are against me. You at least know what it's like and what to expect.

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.

 

Yea, trust me it wasn't any fun, and I'd rather not do it again. It really was the best crash I could have asked for b/c we all (3 of us went down like dominos...stupid) went straight in to a field of grass, instead of going down on the pavement. I am going to take it to a shop, just not one around here (Virginia Tech) b/c I've heard nothing but bad about the local place, so I'll wait till I'm at home (Northern Virginia). Does anyone know about fixing plastics in order to repaint the bike? I've got about a 2 inch crack next to my frame slider and I'm wondering how easy it is to fix that (somehow or another) instead of paying for a new mid-fairing...also how to take out scratches from the tail and lower fairing??