So Mizono and I felt like doing a ride today and go exploring for some twisties. We were headed down a road that had a fair amount of curves, no divider line in the middle, and speed limit about 50mph. We come up on a left hand curve with a sign warning of the turn, but no speed limit, so we continue on at the 45ish mph we had been doing. We start to make the turn... which was not a turn, but infact a darn near U-turn.
Midway through the turn I see some stuff in the road (turns out to be chunks of asphalt) so I straighten my bike up a bit to miss them, and realize "Shoot, I'm in a turn" so I push on my rear brake to slow down a bit... and again realize the that end of the road was coming up fast. I pull on the front brake, but it was too late. Ended up going over the side of the road (which was a small hill) and bailing off my bike. Sat in the spot I was in for a little bit just doing a mental checklist of myself, making sure nothing hurt too much before moving. Sat up, moved around a bit and realized Mizono was saying my name.
A truck driver pulled up behind us (found out later he rode a Gixxer) and he helped us bring my bike back on to the road. Did some nasty stuff to the fairing, and it took a few tries for the engine to finally turn on, but there doesnt appear to be any mechanical damage, clutch worked fine, and we drove another 40ish miles home without a problem. Mizono gave me one of his spare turn-signals and we fixed it at his house.
I was wearing my helmet, gloves and jacket. Jacket has CE armor in the shoulders and elbows... shoulder took the brunt of the fall as evidenced by all the dirt on it, but I didn't feel it. Elbow is a bit scraped up. Helmet had some dirt and grass in it, but fit snugly.
Oh, and I have a Manta XL tank bag on my tank, and my headphones were being fed from the bag to my ears. Bag didn't budge an inch!
Mizono will be on giving his view of what happened behind me, and how he almost lost it on the turn as well.
Bike is down in the ditch:
As you can see, the road was actually curved the OPPOSITE of how it should be in a turn... forcing you to the outside instead of inside:
Rear seat fairing:
