Yup yup.... went down again this morning. I don't know what's going on here.... I go 177k miles with virtually no incidents, then now all of a sudden I hit the pavement twice within 4 months... WTF?? Am I getting old and senile or something?? LOL

The good news: I'm perfectly fine... not even so much as a scratch or bruise on me, almost like it never even happened. So no worries there

The bad news: As of right now, the bike is dead.... as in dead dead, physically incapable of running. I'm gonna have to get creative in bringing her back to life, but I fully intend to do so

So.... I was on my way into work this morning. It was 7:30 am and I was less than 2 miles away from being at work. After I got off of I-40 I headed north for a short ways and you get to a fork in the road, where you can either go straight-ish or veer off to the left. I always take the road that veers off to the left, and I had a green arrow so I stayed in the righthand of the 2 left turn lanes and began the turn. I wasn't going fast.... it's a real large wide intersection (5 way intersection) and I was doing probably 25-30 mph (which is actually pretty slow for this gentle of a curve) and soon as I began the turn the whole bike just went ZING right out from under me like nothing. I was barely even leaned at all, and wasn't even in the middle of the curve yet... WTF?? Bike went down on the left side and slid wheels first towards the curb and grass on that side of the road, and I slid behind it. I popped my head up and looked at the bike as it was sliding just in time to see it slam into the curb and flip over onto the right side, luckily landing in some soft grass. I got right up off the ground I think before I even came to a stop, lol.... walked over to the bike as I was taking my (brand new 2 day old) helmet off and screaming a few 4 letter words. I really had no idea what caused me to go down at the time.... I didn't see it going into the turn cuz the glare from the sun made it kinda hard to see such things, but after I was able to look at it a little closer from the other angle, sure enough a big oil slick slippery spot right in the middle of the intersection.... my freakin luck, heh

An older guy in the Mountain Mobility van sitting at the red light got out and asked me if I was OK and if I needed him to call anybody for me. I thanked him for the offer and told him I was A-OK, so he went on his way. Right after that as I'm pondering about WTF I'm gonna do now since it obviously wasn't rideable, I hear "hey Jared, you alright?". It was one of my co-workers from the body shop at our dealer... he was about a half dozen cars behind me, and he didn't see me wreck, but as he was going through the intersection he saw me getting up out of the street and pulled into the gas station real quick when he recognized it as being me. Luckily he drives a pickup truck, so we lifted it up into his truck and headed into work. Thank god he was there cuz I really don't know who I would have called other than a wrecker, and they'll bend you over big time!! Plus I didn't want to wait around for the popo to show up either.... that's always a hassle, and I wouldn't doubt somebody at that intersection called. I just wanted to get out of there quick as possible, and since my buddy was already right there, from the time I went down to the time we drove out was prob 5 mins tops. He's ridden bikes all his life and has had a few similar situations, so he already knew I probably didn't want to hang around for too long and didn't BS around, hahah. He gave me a ride home after work too... very nice people I work with

Anyways, here's pics...

This morning in the truck right after it happened... bike was covered in motor oil. After it hit the curb and busted the stator open, it flipped and flung oil everywhere










Right side landed in the soft grass, so it really didn't get much of any damage other than a little dirty




Swingarm scratched pretty good


Shift lever bent


Now here's the baaaad part.... when it slid into the curb, the stator took a hard direct hit



That silver ring around the stator coil is the flywheel..... it's attached to the end of the crankshaft and spins around the stator coil (well, used to). This is the original 177k mile stator too... I was kinda curious as to how long it would last, now I'll never know :-(



This is even worse... a chunk missing out of the engine case at the bottom part... not cool!!




We stopped by where it happened on the way home after work cuz I wanted to try and find the chunk of the engine case. I found lots of broken metal


But I did find my chunk of engine case that I was looking for! We have an aluminum TIG welder at work and the guy that picked me up today is a welder, so he said he should be able to get her all fixed up there. I sure hope it works!


Uh oh.... I know where and why the oil is dripping, but the antifreeze.... that I really don't know



That's about it..... I'm really bummed about it, but definitely glad I was not hurt at all, thank god. My head never hit the ground so I didn't even get a scratch on my brand new helmet (Scorpion EXO-1000 RPM) that I had just gotten 2 days prior. Oh well at least it's winter time and getting cold, so not riding for a little bit won't be quite as painful as if it were beautiful outside, lol. I went ahead and filed a claim with my insurance since I already know it's gonna be well over my $500 deductible, so hopefully I'll hear back from them tomorrow. I know they'll total it with the broken engine case and all, but if I can get something out of it and still keep the bike then I might as well. Let the rebuild begin!

 

Yikes. That stator looks bad. Best news is it was the stator that took that hit and not one of your body parts

Not a winter project anyone wants to do. But good that you can do it without having to heal up or anything

 

Glad your okay. That damned oil or antifreeze on the road catches a lot of people... not really anything you could have done to prevent it. Hopefully your insurance comes through and you can get on with the rebuild.

 

hopefully the coolant resivoir cracked not the radiator,, sucks man, glad yer ok.. id make sure the motor turns over before all the work ...just to make sure crank made it thru ok.. thats a cool bike and itll be worth fixing if the motor spins.Good Luck...

 

By the looks of the bike I'm surprised your OK! Good luck getting it back together man, its going to take a while to get it fixed but don't get discouraged. If there is anything you need we're here for you man. Good luck!

 

That'll buff right out ! ;-)

All joking aside, glad you're ok. I feel your pain about your bike. My CBR is like a best friend - we go everywhere. So, for it to be down for any period of time, is a bummer. Don't let the damages get you down, you'll be able to get it back up & running in no time.

Glad that somebody actually stopped to ask if you needed help. Seems that's getting to be a less common occurrence these days. When my old rectifier went out, not a single person stopped to help me, & I had to push my bike for a l-o-n-g way til I could call to get help.

Anyway, best of luck getting it going.

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO DAMN IT NOT YOUR F4i ! I'd rather you wreck mine then that one i wanted to see it hit 200k miles

 

Well guys, I've got some bad news.... it looks like my bike has taken her last breath at 177,428 miles

I went out and looked at it some more... took the stator out and the rest of the stator cover off so I could see a little better, and the damage is way worse than originally thought. It appears the impact either bent or pushed the crankshaft in... the starter gear is pushed back against the case and a few of the teeth are pushed up against another part of the case. Basically, engine is completely locked up. I tried to turn it and it won't budge. What's even worse, looking behind the flywheel/starter gear the case is also cracked, and the crack goes straight up the case right on the back of #4 cylinder, almost all the way up to the head. One of the mounting tabs is also cracked. So yea... looks like my motor is done for good

I'm literally teary eyed as I'm typing this... I know my obvious attachment to my bike probably seems rather silly to most people, and it very well may be... I'm not arguing that at all. But people gotta understand where I'm coming from too.... this bike and I have been through everything and been everywhere together. It was my first bike ever, I learned how to ride on this bike, and it began my obsession with riding. It's more than just the bike itself though... after I began racking up a good number of miles, I had a goal... I wanted to see at least 200k miles on a sportbike, or at least see how long the engine would truly last when well cared for, since it seemed nobody actually knew the answer as nobody else ever racks up that kinda mileage on a sportbike. After I started doing roadtrips I had another goal... for this bike to take me through all 48 states before it died. I made it through 19 states. After 5 years of working towards my goal, I was THAT close, and then bam, down the drain it goes just like that... all because of an oil patch and a friggin curb. I know it's stupid, but I'm just one of those people that has 'everything' planned out waaaay ahead of time, and when something takes a sudden detour and doesn't go as planned, it really throws me for a loop

Anyways, enough of my emotional babbling. I'm just really bummed that my bike had to end this way. I would have felt much better if it had thrown a rod or something like that, not get taken out by a damn curb while it was still running flawless. I know I'll feel better once I get another bike, it just sucks right now. Time to start looking for a new one I guess, but I'm still keeping this one. Who knows, it may just make a re-appearance sometime down the road! I really don't know what I'm gonna do though as far as getting another.... this wasn't something I was really ready to deal with right now, so I didn't have much $$ saved up. My credit is pretty much shot after being out of work for almost a year and getting behind on a bunch of stuff, so financing is likely out of the question too. Guess I'll just have to see what I get from the ins and go from there... we'll see!

So yea....

RIP, my bike

 

Seriously, it's not silly. Honestly I haven't a clue who you are. Never heard of you before last night. I started reading your post seeing you had 177k miles under your belt. Experienced rider who had a mishap and came out okish. I mistakenly thought 177k was over several bikes.

Then I got to your signature. Holy chit! 177k on 1 bike. The amount of care and attention a person would have to put into any vehicle to hit 177k is amazing. On a vehicle which by nature receives harsher treatment (hard acceleration / deceleration, high RPMs, high temps, higher force stress), its unbelieable. And for anyone to think you wouldn't have formed a strong, deep emotional attachment after investing that type of care... Well that person would be the silly one here, not you.

I'm sorry to hear about your bike. I wish you had hit 200k. If you had, I'd have suggested you tell your bike's story to Honda. I'm certain they'd have been highly interested in finding one of their bikes in such excellent condition. I'd expect they'd still be interested in it.