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Went up to the Dragon Sunday evening for a leisurely ride on the 500R and ended up having a leisurely crash. I was actually taking it really easy, and I guess I just leaned in too far. I felt my knee drag a tad (not a good idea in jeans) and then the bike came out from under me. I was wearing all my gear so I didn't take a scratch. Hell, my jeans were barely even grazed! The damage to the bike is mostly cosmetic... I was able to ride it home.

Casualties:
Bar end
Right mirror
Rear brake lever
Muzzy plate on muffler

Salvagable:
Upper and lower fairings
Front brake lever
Muffler
Footpegs

I'm pretty lucky. A touring rider overheard me talking about my wreck at the Overlook. He asked when I went down, and I told him it had just happened. He said he went down up there in October and broke a few ribs and then some. Thanks to my gear and some great luck, I didn't have to hitch a ride home on the meat wagon :thumbup:

Youch! Glad you're ok. If you're going to crash, you might as well do it on video. :)

wow.. nice and easy..no highsiding ... smooth


So glad you are ok! Hope your bike heals soon!

Sorry to hear about the wreck. Glad ur ok.

Thanks for the support, guys! I have extra mirrors already (somehow I knew I'd need 'em), and I can repair everything else fairly easily. So the bike should be mended soon. I'm glad I had the GoPro rolling! I'm disappointed that my friend behind me didn't have my other camera rolling though. I'd love to see just what started me sliding. There wasn't anything in the road so it had to have been something I did.

Good to hear you're ok. Great video. Wish you have the other video from behind so we can all learn from this.

Glad to hear your ok.

Looks like you tucked the fron wheel in. We were talking about that the other day when that VFR went down. If you are going to call me late at night with a wreck, make sure it wasn't self inflicted first.

Seriously though, glad you are ok. Maybe it knocked the gremlins out.

Glad you made it out without a scratch on you, and bike is not damaged to bad. Looks like you almost saved it in the vid when the front caught a little traction. Gopro camera was stuck on there like glue as well!

If you are going to call me late at night with a wreck, make sure it wasn't self inflicted.

CB if I take a spill like that can I call you late at night to avoid self infliction :P ok bad joke :loco:

CB if I take a spill like that can I call you late at night to avoid self infliction :P ok bad joke :loco:

I don't get it...

I don't get it...

ok good.... :tape:

Crashin sux, don't do it at all costs!

It's what we all dred and try to avoid.

Yeah I really try not to crash. At the very least I try to do more riding than crashing. The sad thing was that I was taking it a lot easier than I usually do up there. I had one of those "bad feelings" at the Overlook and I actually told my friend (the Miata behind me) that I was going to take it really easy. I think that might've been my downfall (literally)... I was focusing on good form at a lower speed, and I think I just leaned the bike too far for the speed I was going. The front wheel turning was the result of it losing traction, not the cause, I'm pretty sure of that. I also remember nearly getting it back up, but then it slid again so at that point I just let go of it.

Jimi, if I were you I'd tell everyone you ran over a squirrel. He was dead in the road and you hit his little squished body and slide through his guts and washed out the front end. Later that night you got him back at dinner time. Squirrel stew.

It's those damn ghost squirrels again. They're pavement colored... the males have yellow stripes on their backs. A lot of riders go down because of them up there.

Ouch, glad your alright. I noticed in the slowed down bit you can see sparks flying.

Ouch! Glad you're okay. Any idea what caused you to go down? Glad the bike is not too badly banged up too. Stay safe out there!

Thanks... aside from ghost squirrels, still not sure. I'll hit that turn again soon and find out though!

Crash anaylsis is important. Let us know what you find out. Glad you're okay!! :)

OUCH Jimi!
Glad you were able to walk away from this one,
but I'm sorry to hear your bike needs cosmetic surgery...

not much surgery... I have two extra mirrors for that side, so I put one on. The upper fairing was a mess anyway, so this is just more motivation for me to pull it off and fix it up/repaint it. I'm bummed my pretty Muzzi can got all scratched up though!

oy, I got sympathy flashbacks watching that- glad you walked away with comparatively little damage :)

glad to hear you walked away ok.... i try to take it easy on twisties as well... my friends on their 600s end up waitin an extra 5 minutes or soo at the end but i dont really care... i ride at my own pace... more props to you for gettin back on that bike after the crash though...

looked as if you hit a patch of small rocks or somethin

Heh... yes... rocks... I'll go with that! I've had the same debate going on in a 500R forum. One guy thought I throttled it too hard as I was apexing. Maybe?

I think it's just a matter of too much lean angle. Didn't see any obstacles on the road, didn't hear any throttle application that would have particularly upset the bike, I think for the speed you were going and the radius of that turn, you should have been off the bike more to keep it on a grippier part of the tires. Looking at the horizon, it appears to me like the bike was leaned at +45 degrees right before it went, maybe as much as 50 degrees, and that's very close to the usable limit of many street tires. Michelin made a big deal about their Pilot Powers when they were released a few years ago as they could support a 53 degree lean angle, which in their opinion was the most of any competing street tire on the market at the time. I don't know how you measure that in a very scientific way, but it gives you an idea to what they are thinking.

I think having a friend in the car behind you was probably a factor. You were focused more on the aesthetics of your ride than on what really works.

I've been guilty of that :rolleyes:

That sounds accurate, Alex. The last couple times I rode the Dragon, I marked my tires to see how much of them I was using. I completely wore off the chicken strips and even took some of the nubs off the very edge. I'm riding BT045's in case anyone is curious. I think my next ride will focus on getting off the bike without actually getting off the bike :D I'm going back up this weekend, although not on a Ninja... but a 50cc mountain bike ;) Hopefully I won't go down again.

I think my friend behind me did a lot more good than harm! Picking up a 500R with a full tank of gas is no fun by yourself.