SV650.org - SV650 & Gladius 650 Forum - This is what happened.

OK so Friday after work it's Soho night. I leave work, turn right. As I am turning right I notice a scooter has just turned into the road from the left.

I'm in a good mood, the week has finished, the roads are dry and I am about to see all my friends again. To make it even better I get the chance to "show off" in front of this scooter boy.

As soon as I had straightened up on the road, I opened the throttle. A nice power wheelie should look quite impressive me thinks. You know the ones I mean. Hard acceleration with the front wheel lifting slowly but surely as the power increases. :thumbsup:.

Well the front wheel got about a foot in the air, when the rear tyre decided that it was being asked to do too much. It span. It span quite a lot.

This caused the inevitable. The rear wheel span to the side and I went down like the proverbial bag of poop.

Just before I did my commando roll in the road, I watched and heard my bike careering on down the road on its side, gracefully doing a pirouette. I noticed that it was actually heading towards a car parked on the side of the road some 15 to 20 feet further up.

I finished my roll and looked up the road to see that my bike had become stationary in the middle of the road. I got up and ran towards the bike. Not necessarily to check the damage, but rather more to free the throttle as it was revving its nuts off.

As I was picking the bike up, the damn scooter rider came over to give me a helping hand. He was suitable impressed with the show that he had just witnessed. "Jeez" the scooter boy said. "That was awsome, are you OK?"

"Yeah, I'm fine thanks" I replied rather sheepishly.

By this time I have remembered that the last time I saw the bike it was careering towards the said car. Time to check the damage then. We both walked back to the car and checked the damage.

Errrrrr "Are you sure you saw it hit the car?" :? I ask. "Yeah" he says, "It bounced right off the side, big time". "This car?" I say pointing at the unmarked car that we came to examine. "Yes this one" he says.

I would just like to point out that there were no other cars parked on this part of the road. It's just that there was not a single mark on the car. On very close examination I could see where the rear tyre had hit the tyre of the car and bounced away again. 8) 8)

Back to the bike, handlebar slightly bent, both indicators hanging off the bike, :( but both working. :thumbsup: Front light and mirror scraped. :cry: Can scraped and the link pipe dented a little. :( Front brake lever snapped off :( (all of two weeks old) :x and the rear brake toe piece snapped off. :cry: The tank is probably dented a bit more but then it was dented to high heaven already. Cant be bothered to take the tank cover off and have a look. At worst it will look the same as the other side now. :lol:

Small rip in my jacket, boot scuffed a little, visor scratched and the helmet scratched. :cry: :cry:

Actually considered carrying on my way to Soho, but decided against it and rode the bike home. :roll: :roll:

So there we are that's what happened. :shock:

Conclusion to this is that a power wheelie on stone cold tyres on a cold stone road will equal a rear wheel spin and a consequent trip down the road on ones ass and the bike on its side.

Lesson learnt. I just wish I would stop learning these lessons the hard way. :roll: :roll: :(