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Crashed my new scrambler

4289 Views 12 Replies 7 Participants Last post by  Inspector, 
I
I’m embarrassed to say to say I crashed already, 3 days after buying my bike, last night. I have 120 miles on the odometer, so the tires aren’t even broken in. That could have helped in the crash. I was riding up to a stop light, old school light colored cement slabs for road, and an unseen 2” height change between lanes. I casually moved from one lane to the next while slowing down, I don’t usually turn and brake, and not sure why I did here. I didn’t even feel the road pull my wheel, I was just hurtling towards the ground in an instant. It was a violent hit, and my leg was still under the bike. The bike didn’t shut off for what felt like a minute, the spinning back wheel kept me from kicking it off me for a second. I seemed to take all the hit in my ribs, and couldn’t breathe; I couldn’t stand up.

A dude ran up and asked if I was ok. I said, “yeah,” as I was trying to catch my breath. He replied, “no you’re not, do you know how I know? Cause you’re lying in the middle of the road surrounded by honking cars.” Lol true.

The fire dept showed up really fast, sooner than I could get up, so they took me in to check me out. I’m ok, just bruised and embarrassed. The bike was towed since I was in an ambulance. It cost $200 to get it today, cause the cop on scene didn’t call a AAA tow truck like I requested; he needed to clear the road and it took too long I guess. There are some minor dings on the fork head from the clips on the tow truck, but nothing bad.

I demolished my new Carolina boots, they aren’t steel toe, and a lot of the impact and leverage was on my foot; but the boot protected me. The helmet took a pretty big hit but my head is fine. I always ride with boots, gloves, and helmet. I’m really glad it was nighttime and I had my jacket on, too bad they cut it off me. It was an expensive jacket, but like the other gear it did it’s job.

More good news is this bike is designed in such a way, all the weight of the lying bike is supported by the peg, handlebar, and front wheel. I’m attaching pics to show how minimal the damage is. Harley’s get wrecked if they fall over standing still, this thing wiggled its way out of significant damage.

I had blinding pain in my side as I headed to the tow yard, but as soon as I got riding again, I felt like a million bucks. Now that I’m home I can’t move. Lol

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SCRBen
Erm......welcome?! Seriously, glad you and the bike are ok.
Surface differences (level, material used etc.) are a big issue for bikers - a pretty experienced friend of mine went down in similar circumstances on his Multistrada last year.
Ben
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SCRBen said:
Erm......welcome?! Seriously, glad you and the bike are ok.
Surface differences (level, material used etc.) are a big issue for bikers - a pretty experienced friend of mine went down in similar circumstances on his Multistrada last year.
Ben
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Thank you. I sold my last bike 5 years ago, but have 20 years in the bag. I never thought that I could forget the various dangers of riding like I just did. I’m happy with the bike though. It has good ergonomics and at 6’3”, that can be hard to find. I was thinking of putting narrower bars on, but I changed my mind after they saved the tank and engine.
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SCRBen
Inspector said:
Thank you. I sold my last bike 5 years ago, but have 20 years in the bag. I never thought that I could forget the various dangers of riding like I just did. I’m happy with the bike though. It has good ergonomics and at 6’3”, that can be hard to find. I was thinking of putting narrower bars on, but I changed my mind after they saved the tank and engine.
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Yeah, I’m 6’ 2”, and my buddy @franksy (who’s had a similar experience recently.....sure he’ll post shortly) is even taller, so it seems to suit larger guys too. If you did want to go with narrower bars, you can get various styles of engine bars instead?
Ben
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As @SCRBen mentioned I had a fall yesterday. I was riding to work and came upto a junction that I've ridden out of many times. I rolled up, checked the traffic and turned left... as I opened the throttle the back end went, I spun the bike around nearly 360° with me under the bike trying to hold it off myself and the ground. When I came to a stop I very nearly went onto the opposite side of the road, bearing in mind our roads are slightly narrower than yours in the states.

The incoming car was maybe 20 yards away, the guy asked if I was ok, which I was and I just lifted the bike up and wheeled it into a carpark of a local company.

A couple of guys from my work saw what happened, both said the road looked like there was diesel. My friend who I work with confirmed this, he rides a MT09 and saw a huge spill on the road just half a mile from where I came off.

I checked my bike over and noticed that the left hand bar end mirror was wasted, the bars were slightly out of alignment, gear selector bent and a scrape to the rear shock... all of which I've fixed apart from the scrape to the shock. It had black vinyl wrap on, so I'll just fill and sand the scrape and re-vinyl it. There was not a mark on me apart from a bruise on my left elbow.

I've had bikes since my teens and I'm nearly 46 years old, so in 30+ years of riding I can say it can happen to anyone one.

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Schu
Glad to hear both you guys came out alright after your spills. I've always worried about running across an oil spill. Especially after a close call on loose gravel that was left on a paved corner by a construction zone. I was ready to tuck & roll but gained traction at the last second and saved it. Interesting info on how the wide bars may have minimized some of the damage. I've often thought about narrower bars because the stock bars just seem a touch too wide for me. But I'm going to leave them having gained this bit of knowledge from your unfortunate event. Fix'm up and get back out there fella's.
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Schu said:
Interesting info on how the wide bars may have minimized some of the damage. I've often thought about narrower bars because the stock bars just seem a touch too wide for me. But I'm going to leave them having gained this bit of knowledge from your unfortunate event. Fix'm up and get back out there fella's.
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I fitted medium height Renthal bars to mine within a couple of weeks, as I thought that the standard bars were too wide.

I checked it out for damage before I started it back up and rode to work.

After finishing work, I got the bike in my garage and realigned the bars by unfastening the bushes and repositioning them before tightening them back up. Straightened the gear selector with the use of a mallet and replaced the bar end mirror with just another bar end. I'm going to fill the scrape to the rear shock and sand it down before reapplying black vinyl. The only thing that's left to do is straighten out the side stand switch cam that's connected to the side stand as I noticed that was bent to.

I feel it now though, I woke up this morning aching. I took must of the weight to my left side, and probably hit my shoulder in the process. I've been very lucky as far as the bike is concerned and to be fair I didn't have a scratch on me either apart from a small bruise on my elbow.
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franksy said:
.

I feel it now though, I woke up this morning aching. I took must of the weight to my left side, and probably hit my shoulder in the process. I've been very lucky as far as the bike is concerned and to be fair I didn't have a scratch on me either apart from a small bruise on my elbow.
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My back is strained so it’s challenging to breathe sometimes, but as long as I’m still, I’m ok. We’ll see how long the healing time will be.
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HWYSTR455
Left my bike in the driveway for a day while I went to work. Got home, started to drizzle, and pushed it in the garage.

Neighbor came over, mentioned he saw some kids 'messin' with my bike, one kid was sitting on it. He called up to them from the street, they bolted, and the kid sitting on the bike didn't get the stand down all the way and let it drop to the ground. Neighbor picked it up and went on his way.


He came by a couple days later and mentioned it to me. I didn't even notice, but there are a couple scratches on the shock reservoir, on the one grip, and the shifter looked like the pic posted. Honestly, with the shifter bent like that, my foot gets under it much easier, so I left it!
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SCRBen
HWYSTR455 said:
Left my bike in the driveway for a day while I went to work. Got home, started to drizzle, and pushed it in the garage.

Neighbor came over, mentioned he saw some kids 'messin' with my bike, one kid was sitting on it. He called up to them from the street, they bolted, and the kid sitting on the bike didn't get the stand down all the way and let it drop to the ground. Neighbor picked it up and went on his way.


He came by a couple days later and mentioned it to me. I didn't even notice, but there are a couple scratches on the shock reservoir, on the one grip, and the shifter looked like the pic posted. Honestly, with the shifter bent like that, my foot gets under it much easier, so I left it!
Click to expand...
This......
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yoitsemo
HWYSTR455 said:
He came by a couple days later and mentioned it to me. I didn't even notice, but there are a couple scratches on the shock reservoir, on the one grip, and the shifter looked like the pic posted. Honestly, with the shifter bent like that, my foot gets under it much easier, so I left it!
Click to expand...

The bent shifter from being dropped is still my favorite and only mod on my SCR.
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yoitsemo said:
The bent shifter from being dropped is still my favorite and only mod on my SCR.
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I’ve got a spare Drop Mod shifter to anyone who is interested in a more dynamic riding experience.
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yoitsemo said:
The bent shifter from being dropped is still my favorite and only mod on my SCR.
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I feel the same way. Fits my size 13 foot better lol

Also, the doc found my rib is broken and I have fluid in my lung, but I’m still ok!
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