i realize what i did was a very imature stupid mistake and i would rather not even post it and share it with all you experienced riders.

i bought a 2001 F4i with 11k miles on it about 2 months ago. it is my first bike and im obviously still a new rider. i have lately been getting very comfortable with the clutch and throttle. i have a long paved driveway and every now and then ill pop a 1st gear short wheelie down it. is what happened 2 days ago is i went to pop it up and did not get it all the way to the balance so with less runway as i usually have i made a very imature noobie move and tried to pop it up again. well i got it up and didint wana put it back down. by the time it touched back down i was about 40ft away from a parked car up ahead. i knew right away there was no room at all to stop. im sure i was probably doing around 25mph. i locked up the back brake ( which i know is a big no no, but i didint feel i was going fast enough to lose the bike with the bake break. ) as the rear was locked up i had a good grip on the front brake without locking that as well. so as you can guess i was out of time and i went ahead and put it on its right side and rolled off. im sure i was only going about 10mph by the time it actually hit the pavement. nothing major happend as it was a very low speed crash, the only damage i can see is the rear brake on the foot peg is broken off and the clutch lever lightly hit the bumper of the car and got twisted down a little. and ofcourse my right farings and front ened is all cracked and busted.

so witht that story being told im just asking what are some important things i need to look over when putting this bike back together. i know that many bikes take low speed falls like this and its not to big of a deal but i would like to look over anything you have all experienced that might of been messed up that i dont know about. I'll say again that i know i made a very stupid mistake but i plan to keep riding and glad i learned this small lesson in my driveway and not on a main road with traffic and higher speeds.

thanks guys.

 

What is it with you guys and wheelies ..lol ..do you enjoy changing fork seals "at best" ??

It's fine, I understand ... a moment of madnes and chit happens, right ...chances are the clip ons are knocked out of kilter too so check them lock to lock and how the bike feels in a straight line ... sometimes things don't get bent but are forced to move in their retaining clamps so you may need to losen things off and straighten and retighten ... I would need to actually be there to judge but see what you can see and come back to us ... check the gap between the bars and the tank on lock to lock, become familar with this on your bike


Jules

 

I guess it's a testosterone fueled thing then ..honestly in all my years of riding and I can ride with the best of them if my life depended upon it ... I have never once felt inclined to wheelie my pride and joy ... you guys make me laugh, lots!! ... here is a concept, bikes are two wheelers and are designed to run and operate with two wheels on the ground at all times ... when you take one wheel off the ground then you enter the twilight zone where anything goes ... some come back smiling, others may cry for months on end ..sorry I shall never understand but I think it's really cute !! :-)


Jules

 

You are all barking mad ... except for me of course!! ;-)

What happens when two mods have a fight ... I mean, we both have weapons of mass destruction at our disposal ... who hits the ban button first I suspect, maybe?? ..lol


Jules

 

HAHA!! You two are funny...
Judging from your mushroom cloud, steve, it looks like the answer to jules question is "mutually assured destruction"....


super600, I have to give you some credit for admitting what you did and wanting to make sure you're checking your bike out thoroughly.

With that out of the way... I'm laughing my *** off.

I'm not gonna sit here and say that I haven't done some really dumb chit, because I have. I learned wheelies when I was pretty young, though, on dirt. (in fact I did a wheelie the very first time I hopped on a dirtbike! Didn't even try! ) I think that may be the best way to do it... in the dirt. I didn't try to do it that way, it just happened. I've looped 'em, locked the rear, hit trees, slid into ditches, etc.
My streetbikes rarely see air. If I had more beat up bikes, I'd probably do it more often....but it just isn't worth it anyway. I love my babies too much.

 

Aaaand you just answered the "Why?" yourself. Some woman finds our antics "really cute !!"

Me, not a wheelie guy. I'd rather get the "Ooooo" from taking a corner on the street insanely tight. In a city full of squids taking lefts & rights nearly vertical cause of their oversized rear tires, a guy leaned down stands out more

Driveway wheelie? Um, dude you have a mansion or something with a runway length driveway lol? Definitely check the clipons. Take her for a slow ride in a straightaway with both wheels on the ground (no going the other way and trying stoppies now!).

And don't feel bad. Had to spend $50 getting new clutch and brake levers cause I dropped mine twice on the same day at less than 3 mph