Tally ho friends, I hit a patch of diesel on a roundabout yesterday and decided to have a little lay down on the road, dropping my precious Sylvie and generally looking like a learner trying to turn a 125 for the first time!
Our local fire crew arrived and scrubbed down the road, to prevent other riders from the same fate. But given that this is the roundabout that serves Sainsbury's and their petrol station, it will only be a matter of hours before some other C*** spills yet more diesel there.
Once the ambulance released me (our local hospital is a revolting plague pit, reminiscent of a Victorian workhouse in both ethos and cleanliness) from their frankly excellent care (although I was teased by the medic about riding Suzuki and not his modern Triumph, which apparently never crash!), my daughter loaded my bike into her work van and took the old girl home for me.
I am now horrified to discover that replacement parts are somewhat expensive and difficult to come by.
I am looking for a replacement foot brake lever for a K3-S and the cheapest I can find on the bay of E, is £120 for an original part or £42 for a very ugly pattern part with a folding toe bar.
Do any of you have a recommendation for a reasonably priced parts retailer? I am near Bristol and Fowl-ups, who are out of stock with no date of when parts are likely to return to their shelves.
As for me, I am now hobbling around the flat like a pensioner and it looks like I will be using the mobility scooter a lot more for the time being.
My Shoei helmet took quite a bump to the side of my head, but I was amazed not to have been more hurt and did not even have a head ache afterwards. Sadly, that is close to £900 down the pan and I simply do not have the money to replace it with a like for like unit. My insurance covers my bike only, but I don't want to lose my no claims for a measly brake lever, although the excess is £250 anyway. As for my leathers, the armour took most of the force of it, but they barely look scratched, probably because I slid on the diesel, rather than abrading like cheese on a grater.