How long to wait plus a little rant
 

Well to day I felt like a proper charlie. I was riding in front of my mate who has only been riding for a fortnight. We left Slaidburn and I warned him in advance of the tricky left hander out of the village and checked he was still in my mirror after it and let rip.

About 6 miles down the road I noticed he wasn't behind me. So slowed down for a mile, still not there, stopped for 5 mins and still not there and no traffic. Get worried and turned round. Eventually I found him at a set of s curves with a huge hole in his tank, and severly dented pride.

I feel like a fool, Poor sod had been sat there for 15 minutes after his off before I got back to him.


Now the strange part. His bike is a 2004 R6. Damages is a very small scratch to lower fairing and a huge dent and hole in the tank. No scratches to mirrors, can, bar ends, levers etc.

I think he has over cooked it into the left then right S bend. target fixation and locked up, straightened up and cross over the road. at which point he has almost come to a halt, and dropped the bike against the drystone wall.


Now for the rant. We were in a mobile dead zone. There was a telephone box there. But it was smashed to bits. I had to ride 2 miles down the road to get a signal and call his wife/recovery etc. The poor ******* could have been badly injured and I would have had to leave him to get help because somebody thinks it funny to trash a telephone box.

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

thank god he was ok :) hope it hasnt put him off. That is terrible about the phone box :o

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

Couple of things, I've always felt responsible for inexperianced riders out with me (rightly or wrongly) and it does modify my riding, because best will in the world, they tend to over estimate their abilities and copy what you have done, I'll stop before a known bit of road and tell them the pit fulls and I'll see them at the other end in 10 minute or if I'm worried, send them off first and have a fag break and catch them up enjoying the road.

As to the phone box thing, nothing new there I'm afraid, unfortunate but that's life :smt102
The damage? was the hole caused by a protrution from the wall then ?

Cheers Mark.

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

only riding a fortnight and hes on a r6??think hes learnt the hard way,,,what happ ?just lost it/too much gas/ in too hot??sorry to hear this but hes one of many ,,obviousley couldnt keep up /trying too hard ,,ach well ,,hes ok and so r u:smt003

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

I have said this on every bike forum I use but I think group riding is very dangerous especially when you are inexperienced. Not surprised that accident happened. Nothing wrong with him getting an R6 but he should have been going solo for thousands of miles before he started following someone.

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

I had moderated my riding because Dave was with me. Plus drilled into him that we were not racing and he must travel at his own pace. It is a no win when there are only the two of you. If the newbie is in front and gets caught out with a set of tricky bends they haven't got any sort of line to follow or even the tell tail of a brake light before the bend to give a slow down etc.

Whilst this particular road was not one you could get lost on as it is about 12 miles between ends I had decided to go ahead to help him with the bends. Just suddenly he wasn't there.

We had plenty of time to analyse the down whilst waiting for recovery. The obvious jokes about not seeing what happened as his eyes were shut in terror etc. I will have to get pics of his bike. The tank took the damage badly with a tear about 5inch long that just nicks the seat. Otherwise there is 2 1" scratches to the fairing. The only obvious explanation for a lack of scuff damage is he must have dropped it against the drystone wall that his bike was resting on when I found him.

I am really narked though about the telephone box. There was one house nearby and nothing for miles. God forbid somebody is badly hurt there. Mobiles don't work. The trashing was amazing. Every piece of glass. the telephone unit ripped out. somebody must have travelled miles to do this.

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

I don't think the fact it was an R6 matters. His wife got an R1 as her first bike and has been riding for a year without problem. I simply think that it was a difficult left/right S bend and he got target fixation. Only he knows and he says the back locked up. to me this is indicative of him panic braking and the rest if history.

Now can somebody tell me the best place to source a replacement tank for an 04 R6 in red.

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

Is this the bloke who's missus has been riding for just over a year and rides an R1? tut tut...remember what I posted last time[-X





*runs and hides*

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

none of it your fault Tim.

glad yer mate is Ok

bike can be mended as can pride.

mate it could have been a lot worse call you were making.. so although its a pain in the A.. it could have been worse.

Re: How long to wait plus a little rant
 

its not because its an r6, any sports 600(cbr, gsxr,,,)can b a handful at times ,to a beginner they could b quite intimidating ,by the sounds of it he just lost it,a combination of a fast bike ,inexperience and bricking it when it started happening too quickly.as for his wife /girlfriend /partner with the r1 ,i bet shes had a few 'moments with that,difference is she wont tell any one as shes admitting she was a bit enthusiastic buying one as her first 'real' bike ,your pal on the other hand ,,well ,he cant excatly deny it :rolleyes: .