Oh bu**er

[Muttley]

:cry:

Sent the bike down the road (again) this morning. Not entirely sure what caused it to be honest.

2 minutes into my commute.

I was approaching a right hand bend in the road that leads to some traffic lights, I can see that they are red, so drop it down a gear to start slowing down, the bike feels like its in neutral, try to change down again but it still feels like its in neutral.

Next thing I know the backs locked up and the bikes sideways.

Hang on, now I'm sliding down the road, still holding the left handle bar. (racer style, with the clutch in).

Decide to let go so I can try and stop myself before I hit the kerb.

Bike goes half way up a driveway ramp thingy (no idea what the technical term for them is), I stop in the gutter.

The car that was behind me doesn't even slow down and just swerves past and on thier way.

Get up, walk over to the bike and its now in gear revving its nuts off, rear wheel spinning (fortunately its off the ground).

Kind bloke whose house I have stopped out side comes out, makes sure I'm okay and helps lift the bike.

Took 45 minutes to push back home.

In order of importance

Bike:

Snapped front brake lever
Snapped rear brake lever
Buggered bar end
Throttle wont turn due to the bar end.
Smashed indicator.
minor scuffs to the already scuffed right mirror
minor scuffs to the already scuffed right hand side of the top fairing
Scuffs to the exhaust pipe and can (gutted about that)
Snapped can hanger
Steering felt iffy when I was pushing the bike.


Gear:

Scuffed rucksack
Scuffed elbows on the jacket
Scuffed and at the ankle melted trousers (one pocket needs a new popper)

Gloves, boots, and lid are fine

Me:

Bottom of my right leg aches and that it.

Still not to bad considering I'm usually doing about 35 - 40 around that bend.

[Cloggsy]

5h1t mate... Glad you're OK :roll:

[BillyC]

:cry:

[DeeJay]

Sorry to hear this.. hope you get it sorted soon...

[Flamin_Squirrel]

:cry:

I've got a bent but otherwise functional rear brake lever you can borrow till you sort things out. Let me know if you want it.

Glad you're ok.

[Jabba]

Sorry to hear this, but glad you're OK.

Your account of what happens makes no mention of whether the road was wet or dry. Also, there's no mention of you either using the brakes to slow down or blipping the throttle when you changed down a gear.

Could it be that the road was wet and the rear locked up, giving the "neutral" feeling that was made worse by dropping another cog?

Next time, try using the brakes to slow down (assuming that you're travelling in a straight line) and changing down once you've slowed, blipping the throttle as you do so.

Sorry - don't meant to teach you to suck eggs and I'm sure you did "brake and blip".

Take care - rest up, fix the bike and enjoy the summer :D

[jon]

It's a lot harder to come to terms with when you don't know what put you off. Sorry to hear that

[RenamedMonkey]

Sounds like the bike took you by surprise, and took your concentration from the road: Make sure you check that out, along with all the broken bits.

Sorry to hear that, horrible. And what an ars$e of a cage driver :shock: :(

Take care.

[Skip]

Sorry to hear that :(

Hope you get it fixed nice and quick, the good weather is a comin' :D

[jonboy]

Really glad to hear you're okay (expect the leg to ache like hell tomorrow) and sorry about the bike too. Do make sure you get those forks checked out as they could well be twisted. Best of luck with getting back to normal.


.

[Muttley]

The road was at best damp, not overly wet.

I was braking and blipping to change down, but it just felt like the bike was in neutral (to understand what I mean, try putting the bike in neutral from second whilst braking its a very distinct feeling, the lose of the engine braking).

My only guesses are that I was in a false neutral that suddenly dropped into gear and locked the back up, or that the back brake seized up, I'm think more option one though.

On the bright side, I got the day off work, might even push my luck and phone in sick for tomorrow :).

[will]

glad to hear that you are basically ok. could have been a whole load worse.

i know what you mean about losing the engine braking coming into corners, that coasting feeling is awful....

hope you get everything fixed quickly and inexpensively

[Muttley]

I've got a bent but otherwise functional rear brake lever you can borrow till you sort things out. Let me know if you want it.

Cheers for the offer, I'm going to pop out this afternoon and see if I can source the brake levers and indicator.

Going to have to see what I can do about the exhaust, I think I should be alright getting a new hanger, its just all the scratched pipe work that will be a PITA the replace.

Fortunately I can use my trusty RS125 while the SV is off the road getting sorted, failing that theres always the cage :shock:

[Ceri JC]

Sorry to hear about this. Hope your bike is sorted soon and you get your confidence back in time for summer.

[diamond]

Bad luck, hope you and the bike are back in tip top condition asap. :D

[fizzwheel]

Sorry to hear about your off, glad your OK, hope you get the bike sorted out OK

[twotime]

sorry to hear your off mate, glad you're ok. sounds pretty similar to my off last week. same thing, right hand corner etc etc. i hit a bit of diesel but came off the same way..

everything can be mended. that's the important thing :wink:

gav

[Muttley]

Thanks for the replies,

Well, I've managed to get hold of brake levers (front and rear), replacememnt indicator and ordered replacement pipe work for the exhaust.

Just about to order some new bar ends.

Heres a tips for people with fancy exhausts (and something I wish I had done before this morning), get an end can protector from R&G (or similar), to replace my can will cost £350 :shock:

[RenamedMonkey]

Heres a tips for people with fancy exhausts (and something I wish I had done before this morning), get an end can protector from R&G (or similar), to replace my can will cost £350 :shock:

What can do you have? :shock:

[Muttley]

A dinged up Akrapovic.

[Stig]

Bugga :(

[Anonymous]

I have just got a Yoshimura can for my bike so these R&G protectors will be useful. URL?

[Flamin_Squirrel]

Be prepared to make some concesions to the looks of the bike...

http://www.rg-racing.com/

[K]

The road was at best damp, not overly wet.


This is sometimes the worst road condition to catch you off guard. A few fine dry days, crap that was previously on car tyres and underbodies builds up without enough time for traffic to throw it clear - then you get a burst of rain which lifts everything to the surface of a nice greasy slick. :roll:

Glad you're OK and no other vehicles hit by/hit you to make things worse. Hope you get sorted parts wise and are back on the road soon.

Oh yeah, blag the extra day off if you can, even if you feel physically fine, thke the break and relax for a day.

[bluebell]

Glad you're pretty o.k.

[jamesobrady]

You should try get yourself a copy of "twist of the wrist 2"...just got a copy a few days ago and its really full of the info everyone on a bike needs to know. Just even learning about the weight transfer from letting off the throttle and its effect on cornering and front/rear wheel traction is helpful.

It sounds to me like you did what I did a few months ago on my 250bandit. Cold tires, damp road, first turn, change down to deccelerate too late (in the turn!)and locked the back....which slid for a bit and then regained its grip and gave me a mini-highside and extremely sore nuts.

You live you learn...luckily you were on a right hander and not a lefthander or the same attitude of that cage driver would have been your end.

You had a lucky one.

[northwind]

Something very similiar contributed to my first crash... It's incredibly unsettling when you suddenly lose all the engine input, it threw me off really badly and I lost it completely in a corner. My own fault, mind, I panicked and braked when I should have leaned, but I totally sympathise...

(mine went from 3rd to neutral, straight through second... But the SV does get the occasional false neutral as well)

[Peter Henry]

Boy oh boy those false neutrals can really bring on brown trouser moments cant they? I had one happen to me in the first month or so of having the SV and must admit immediately that it was caused by my not easing the lever sufficiently and not some fault of the bike.
I was hurtling towards a down hill left hander and decided to re select the upper gear first to re establish the drive via a smooth releasing of the clutch.I was then also able to gently apply brakes and still had time to again change down and negotiate the bend without further ado.
I would always recommend reselecting the higher gear again before attempting to knock it down one more and then hoping the drive is re established.Otherwise any locking of rear wheel is exagerated.
I am no expert but it aint a bad way to go? :? 8)

[Muttley]

In hindsight that's probably what I should have done. I've certainly learned a couple of things from this.

1) Buy a can protector

2) In the event of a false neutral, try changing up, rather than down (again).

3) SV's are a bugger to push up hill.

[leatherpatches]

I'd agree - false neutral. I've had a few but always while accelerating v. hard, never at lower speeds.

More by luck than judgement the first few times I changed up rather than down (foot was UNDER gear peg already, I guess), so consequences not too dire.

I very much think that changing down caused the back to lock.

It would take immense presence of mind to blip when changing down during a false-neutral moment, so I won't recommend that. Change up or clutch in and coast to a halt is the answer, I reckon.

Glad you're okay and sorry about the damage.