Aaaah, what a bad day for riding!

Sorry for the long post ahead..

Well, thought I might take the bike out today as it was a shiny day out, with just about the right temperature and no cloud in sight..
As I got on, I just couldn't properly connect with the bike and generally felt more loose then other times.
I took some back roads near where I live full of curvy parts. But unfortunately, the tarmac wasn't in the best of conditions. In fact, there were about 2 miles of really bad roads, with loads of bumps and potholes and full of loose gravel. Soo... coming to a bend, I slow down to a very reasonable speed (~40 mph) which was more then adequate for a bend of that radius and camber. But what I failed to properly take into account was the really bad tarmac.
Half way through the bend, the back looses traction and starts to slide to the outside of the curve.. I panic and almost close the throttle but actively keep my hand from doing so and keep a constant hand on the throttle while slowly backing out and regain traction before leaving the road, bring the bike to a stable condition and manage to save it
But after that bend, it all went downhill fast..
I just lost all confidence and focus and couldn't lean anymore.. I stopped at the side of the road and had a smoke to cool off. When I got back on, I wasn't completely ok, but rode slowly and almost got back to town safe...
But as I'm approaching the town, I get a phone call and pull to the side to answer. At somewhere around 5mph, I was on the side of the road and didn't notice the gravel... I thought I was almost stopped and pulled in the front brake a bit too hard. The front washed out and down she went!

Result : speed shifter lever broken, clutch lever broken, as well as the thingy on which you rest your leg. The left hand fairing also has a couple of cracks where the indicator is... The crash bungs I have are completely useless, as the owner before me made them too short

Conclusion : After an almost off, regaining focus is SOOOOOO hard. I'm still thinking about it and can't let it go. It was stuuuupid, I know, but couldn't help myself. On a side note, I'm glad I went down at such a small speed. Feels like I would've went down anyway and that if I didn't go down there and then I would've had a bigger off...

Well, that's it, Cheers everyone

Feel for ya mate. I had my first drop today as well on my DAS course.

Coming up to a stop at a junction on an incline, had the front brake on. Went to pull away, so put back brake on to stop her rolling backwards...except I didnt press hard enough. It was all over so fast, luckily the ER5 I'm learning on had big fat steel safety bars on each side and the instructor helped me lift it back up.

A few snapped levers and a bit of a cracked fairing can easily be repaired. Just be pleased that you didn't come off earlier. If you had closed the throttle and the rear tyre had suddenly gripped again then you could have highsided and then a bit of minor cosmetic damage would have been the least of your worries! So rather than being ****ed off about that, just be glad that you did the right thing and got yourself out of a potentially nasty situation.

Had my first crash on a real bike today. At least the SV is (sort of) rideable missing the end of the gear lever and the footpeg. I carried on regardless, but I am a lot less confident. However, when the roads are dry and I have a fully-working footpeg I shall work on regaining my mojo. Thanks be to Cuffy, Squirrel-hunter and other orgers who helped me back to rideability!

Everybody suffers confidence issues when they come off, glad you're ok.
Get some miles done, take it easy, relax and you will soon be back to normal.

Phil

Guys, earlier this week I was experiencing similar issues... just couldn't maintain a good line around bends, the smallest strips of banding seemed to leave me feeling really wobbly. "What's wrong with me?" I thought. "Pull yourself together, man!"

Next day I realised I had a slow puncture. Under-inflated back wheel was the culprit. Sorted now and everything feels normal.

Sometimes, it may be you - but check your bike anyway.

[Sid Squid]

Bad luck Andreis, everybody has an off day now and again don't give yourself a hard time over it.

Be glad you dropped it at low speed and not the first corner you slipped on, it doesn't fix broken bikes but at least you weren't hurt.

We all learn from our experiences - good and bad.

Yeah, I am glad it wasn't the first corner. That would've been a hole lot of hurt..
On the light side, I'm getting the welding done tomorrow so that I can ride the bike until the damaged pieces arrive in the mail.. So it's not a lot of down time
This did get me thinking though. I have a long ride 2 weeks from now with some friends through the country. What if I have a small off and some lever snaps and there's no one there to do the welding... Do you carry extra bits around ? Apart from levers and footpegs, what else breaks really easy?

[tigersaw]

Originally Posted by andreis

Apart from levers and footpegs, what else breaks really easy?

Bones

[yorkie_chris]

Levers and footpegs are worst, Sometimes rearsets bend into swingarm which you cannot easily fix at roadside and you don't want to ride like that.

Clocks and plastic generally fine to just gaffer tape.