Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Recently joined the site, recently passed direct access, recently lost the front wheel.. like an hour ago.

Following a car along a residental road who then was kind enough to slam his brakes on right in front of me, grabbed a load of front brake, down we went.

Had just bought a new leather suit and boots yesterday (thankfully!) if it wasnt for my gear Id be nursing a knackered right knee about now..

Right hand side of the bike is now sporting a cracked and scuffed faring, buggered front indy, snapped rear brake pedal and a scuffed xaust.

Im hoping its just the bulb in the indicator..

Im trying to relive it and learn from it already, I think that basically i gave in to the natural instinct to snatch at the front brake.. but I dont know, I was stopping.. then the grip just vanished. :(

Anyone got a spare brake lever?

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Sorry to hear about your off, but proof that good gear is a must!

About your brake lever, have you seen this thread?

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=102354

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

bummer about the crash. Hopefully you'll be back on the bike in no time.

Put a list up of what you need and I'm sure you'll get help here.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Sorry to hear about your off but the good news that is you're okay.

Were you too close to the car?

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Sorry to hear bout the off, join the club, I seem to have started a trend for the week. Oooops, blame me. Least your ok. Glad the kit did its job and hope the damage is minimal.

Drew

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

glad ur ok, heal quick buddy.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Must have been, or maybe it didnt register how hard he had braked until i was... it happened so quickly.. All I know is from now on (it was some big 4x4) im hanging way back from anything I cant see over/through... Probably a good time for this to happen, starting to get used to the bike, maybe a bit cocky? this has reigned that right in and i didnt even have to break bones to do it.

Ill be practicing emergency stops on a quiet stretch once ive got that rear brake lever fixed...

Was probably prudent I bought this already battle damaged bike to learn the ropes on.. both sides match now :smt096

Id be absoloutely livid if such a silly off had happened on a pristine bike!!

Thanks for your comments guys, and indeed! wear the right gear! even a <30 mph off like this would have turned out pretty ugly were it not for my brand new leathers!

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

losing the grip on the front is not nice! :(

Hope you are ok mate. Not too mant bruises.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Cool idea, might get one to keep under my seat.. took it gingerly home without a full rear brake lever.. I think it would be lazy to settle for a fixer peg as a long term repair though hehehe...

Come on ebay!! drat.. nuffin.. :D

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

In cold conditions, its best to hang back a while. I keep an eye on the vehicle in front aswell; if they appear to have a habit of not signalling, braking late etc i either get past, or hang back even further.

Anywho, are you ok? I havn't any spares to offer at the moment I'm afraid :( I'm waiting on fitting a front brake lever (my one has a wobbly span adjuster, so my dad got me a new one) but that might be a while since I'm not going home for a while to collect and fit it, so dont wait on me.

At least you got the kit sorted; it could have been worse. You and the .org will get the bike fixed :D

Matt

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Sorry about your off. could have been worse for you. Hope the bike gets fixed quick withoutt too much expense.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Big hugs hope you, your pride and bike are not to dented. And woo hoo for leathers !!!

Oh and welcome to the org :)

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Thanks thegreek, I came off pretty much unscathed, sore foot and knee, and left shoulder.. probably from trying to pick the bike up with my adrenaline pumping.. because i didnt fall on that side.

I had no time to react to the loss of grip one second i was upright, the next I was eating tarmac... not nice at all.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

You made a mistake, as long as you learn from it you will come out a better rider.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

I try and tell myself to hang back and for 90% of the time I do. I'm glad you are ok and that the bike is, well, not to bad and like you say better to do this now and learn fro mit than get over confident and do something worse. Hope all goes well with the repairs.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

+1

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

You seem very positive, (been alot of off's on here recently, me included :(,) draw a line under it, sort your bike out, and get back in the saddle:rolleyes:

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

I've done the same myself (grabbing too much front brake) twice. Glad to hear that there is minimal bike & human body damage. Get back on ASAP and just remember to learn from your mistakes (not that I did!). Sounds like you're taking it pretty philosophically so far.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Live and learn.
Be glad it was minor.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

As a relatively new rider it means alot to hear from you all, thanks very much for your comments.. I'm suprisingly unphased by this, I can live with the cosmetic fairing damage.. so just a new indy bulb (yes thankfully thats all it was) and new rear brake lever and I'll be back out and about... Next weekend most likely.. probably a large part of that rebuilding confidence in the front wheels stopping power.. Im worried now that Im going to be apprehensive about that front brake and do something even more silly.

Oh and the left shoulder is from me rolling up the road hahah not lifting the bike I can visualise how I landed now. was just a bit of a blur before. :rolleyes:

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

dont let it put you off. hope your not too sore tomorrow

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

I am impressed by with replacement toe pegs, as this thread shows:

http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.p...ent+peg&page=3

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Unfortunately its snapped off quite some way along the arm.. :(( going to need a whole new lever. But those emergency ones are a great idea, wouldnt have been able to get home without help had the front wheel gone the other direction and taken out the gear lever.

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Sorry to hear about your off.

Hope you are back on your bike soon, and don't find out you are hurting in new places tomorrow. :)

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

Glad to hear you're not put off in any way by having an off, they can dent your confidence a little. I came off in November after riding into the side of a van (bugger did a U-turn in front without signalling!). Put the bike away for the winter straight after, and only just got back on at the weekend and I was surprisingly nervous.
Anyhoo, welcome to the org.

Oh and those lever fixers look bloody handy!

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

After this, and thinking about it.. I want to build my confidence and natural reaction with the braking, see how far I can push it without this happening again. As a driver when confronted with much worse situations im generally pretty cool and looking for the route to avoid a collision is natural to me rather than tunnel vision.

You know what Id like, a bike with some kind of stabilising frame, like you see on cars simulating a slippery road so I would be able to push and experience what is and isnt too much without the fear of laying the bike down.

I know in this case it was largely my own fault and the whole thing could have been avoided by hanging back more, but it would be nice to have the confidence and experience of stopping right on the edge.

Do any of you practice, or have tips for regaining confidence in that thin little sliver of rubber at the front?

:-?:riding:

Re: Well Ive had my off now, Hopefully thats it...
 

I started off riding motocross bikes as a kid but also did a lot of cyclo cross and mountain biking in my time.

Get yourself out in the mud on a mountain bike and you will soon learn not to snatch.

I wouldn't keep running over what happened in your head and trying to analyse it. Best to just let it go and get back on.