Smeggons is down.

....waits for kwh to awaken

Yes I finally ate dirt this morning and it wasn't quite as bad as I imagined it would be.

So the story goes, got on the bike this morning and noticed all along my road that was a sheet of frost over it so I plodded down that ultra slow. Got to the end and began my journey with the knowledge that the road was slippery so I took things really easy.

After reading on the forums last night about people seeing gritters about I thought it shouldn't be too bad because apart from my little village all my route should be gritted according to the Salting routes 2008-09 here.

This is the bend that it all happened on. I was doing between 40 and 50 MPH when the steering turned to full lock very easily. I have to give the PR2's their due, the rear (even though squared) didn't slide and gripped all the way through it. The front just under-steered onto the white line at the very edge of the road before getting a tiny bit of grip but then loosing it again when I hit another piece of ice.

At this point I knew I had big problems and let my body take over as the bike ran onto the grass before sliding, ejecting me and then hitting the deck itself. Next thing I know my head hit the grassy mud and I was sliding on my belly.

When all the commotion was over I was laying down in a "dead person" type position. I waited there for a min or so before two cars come round the bend and stopped when they saw my laying there. At this point I started to do a pain check to see weather it would be wise to move or not. Arms - check, legs - check, manhood - check and back - little bit of pain.

I deemed the pain not great enough for me to worry about not moving, so I took my gloves off, helmet and then my balaclava and then slowly lifted myself off the deck.

The 2 blokes were helpful enough to left the bike off the deck for me, put it on the side stand, and then checked to see if I was ok. I was ok and then turned my attention to any other bikes that maybe coming before hearing the noise of a little 50cc moped coming. 3 of us waved in any way we could to get him to slow down, but he seemed oblivious to us and finally decided to brake right on the ice. He and the bike hit the deck and I got a bit worried due to his protective gear of jogging bottoms but with a little limping he was fine.

I then made it my mission to make sure no one else come to any mischief on the bend. So I walked down the road to warn all car and bike rider to slow the F*** down. Luckily D.A.D recovery was at home to day, so in my best wobbly voice I told him I had come off, the bike was broke and where I was.

So after 10 mins of waving cars down D.A.D recovery turned up and organised for my brother to fetch something from the farm next door to us to get it back home. A few mins later he brought a pick-up and a nice wide bit of wood for us to get it loaded onto.

Here are the pictures.

Standing where the bike had crashed looking back towards the bend (you can see the ice).



The bend goes one way, I go the other.





The bike in a sorry state at the roadside.















The 'zhaust looks more grubby then anything else.





Looking from what I would've seen coming round the bend.



Zoomed in.



After I got it home the first thing I did was get rid of all the mud and see what was broken and what was fine.





















To be honest I am over the moon with what little damage was done over all, it looks allot worse that what it is. All I need is the RHS clip-on assembly and it's pretty much ridable with a bit of tape here and there. To get it fully sorted then it needs a new nose cone assembly and that's about it as far as I can see.

As far as I can see there's not even any scratches or dents to anything else and the suspendies seem fine. There doesn't appear to be any leakages from anything.

Not too bad on the damage, I think the most costly bit will be the upper fairing. Glad to hear you are ok though.

[timwilky]

****e


People be careful out there, this is the 4th of the day I have read on here, plus at least one car

[Skip]

Sorry to hear that Smeggons - but at least you are ok and looks like you were very lucky with the little damage to the bike!

5th I've read so far, I really hope it's not a "so far"! Poor bike, indeed looking sorry for itself!

Really good to hear you've not come off to badly though and the bike's repairable. Such a lovely morning for a ride where you are as well, such a shame it got spoilt

[Mr Speirs]

Duuuuuudeeee. Hope you are okay!!! There are so many offs recently. In the last two days!!!. Weird how the clip-on completely snapped off yet the indicator looks untouched eh?

Sorry to hear about your off. Glad you're OK though.

Really think you need to buy an off roader Scott.

Shame to see your bike in a bit of a state but at least it looks fixable and I assume you're feeling ok too.

Good to see you taking it in your usual unflappable way.

Oh sorry to hear it mate! Treacherous conditions out there, not much you could have done apart from try to find alternative transport really

[Mr Speirs]

You may need to buy your dad another coaster too.