friend dropped my bike :(

[ninjette]

I've had a streak of bad luck this past month... before my friend dropped my bike, my car was keyed... two weeks after my bike's mishap, my car got broken into. smashed my window, trashed my dashboard panel..stole my aftermarket navigation/dvd system...

That's why I've been putting off fixing her up. My brother tried to align the cracked fairing, but he was unsuccessful. I might just cover it up with stickers.. for now. Anyway, im not too concerned about that as I am with this:

engine2.jpg engine1.jpg

I haven't had time to check with a shop to find out if this is bad. The frame slider bracket hit the engine block (sp?)? We are set to go to big sur tomorrow, and I'm not sure if I should go? What do you guys think?

[backinthesaddleagain]

it hit the cylinder. the first part of the cyl under the surface metal the slider hit is the water jacket. If it cracked water/coolant would leak out. Remember the cooling system is pressurized and you would see the leak/steam when engine is hot. Any signs of cracks?

[ninjette]

Thanks for the info. No, no signs of cracks... my brother said he warmed her up and didnt find steam or any leaks coming out... I wonder if it'll get worse overtime?

[Dino]

Wow, my condolences to your bike! The same EXACT thing happened to my bike last week so don't feel bad. I know the guilty feeling you have cuz I felt the same way about my friends coworker having to pay for it. I have decided in the mean time to just hold off on any repairs on the bike just in case I drop it again in the future. The most important thing I would think of instead of replacing the fairing is to have the frame inspected for damage and/or take the fairings apart and see for yourself and perhaps buy better/replace your frame sliders. If you need any help, there's the DIY list here:

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=5586

It'll show you all kinds of neat DIY, including repairing a fairing (from the most inexpensive and cheap to the professional way.)

Glad that you're friend is ok and that you didn't break any other parts like I did! I had to ride all the way home with my right foot on the muffler cuz my footrest broke off. Happy riding and here's something you can put on the poor ninja in the meantime:

http://cgi.ebay.com/JDM-BAND-AID-SET...item1c153c3166

And I would take a RED ninja with a little blemish than any other color ninja w/out blemishes because we all know it's the sexiest color! :P

[Cedilla]

I've only let a couple of people take my bike for a spin, and one of the times I only done it because I was riding their bike. I usually won't even touch someone's bike if I know I could not buy it outright if something were to happen. One of my co-workers was trying to get me to move his 1600 vulcan the other day, and could not understand why I kept telling him no. I wont even sit on it, because I know I could not afford to fix any damage if I was to drop it.`

[FrugalNinja250]

The fins on the engine are purely decorative and serve no other function. If nothing's leaking then don't worry about it.

[binlagin]

I'm pretty sure those fins help dissipate heat.

I know the bike is liquid cooled... but I'm just sayin :P

[FrugalNinja250]

Theoretically they may dissipate some heat, but the amount is so trivial that it really doesn't matter. The primary heat rejection mode for this motor is the coolant loop through the radiator. The fins were cast in for cosmetic purposes alone.

[00NissanNinja]

Wow that is quite the streak of bad luck hope things get better for you. Those fins are just to increase the area of the engine block to make more surface area for cooling, nothing major will happen if they got scratched off or something. If the slider didn't make a crack in your engine block(which I am pretty sure it would be able to) then I looks fine to me at least from the pictures.