Barn doors, departed horses and Shogun frame sliders

[adouglas]

My life is busy enough that I have to cram certain activities into the 90 minutes or so between when I get home from work and the sun goes down.

Last night was one of those. I bought a Sportisi hugger at the end of last season and never got around to installing it.

So I pull everything out and start working as fast as possible (you can see this coming, right?).

You can't install the hugger with spools in place, so after removing all the bits that need to be removed, I went to lower it off the stand and....

... freakin' sloped driveway nailed me. I dropped the bike on its right side.

Those freakin' fairings are EXPENSIVE. I'm just going to live with it for now.

But man, this ticks me off. What a waste.

I was going to order sliders "one of these days."

Sliders ordered as of now. Replacement fairing will be ordered... one of these days.

Note to self: Performance and ergonomic mods first, practical mods second, bling LAST, dammit!

[Snake]

Sorry to hear that you dropped the bike. When lower a bike off the stand it helps to have the kickstand down and stand on the right side of the bike. If it leans to the left the kickstand will catch it. If it leans to the right you will catch it. Well sh*t happens.

[RaceBikeRentals]

We'll get those sliders to you as quickly as possible. In the meantime, watch that other side.

[Scott1620]

Thats no good, did you get that hugger installed? If so is it a pain to install? I have a plasma blue Sportisi hugger on the way for my bike and Im wondering what it looks like, post pics if you have a minute...

[adouglas]

Almost done. I need to go get a few rubber washers to provide some clearance between the tire and fender. The instructions say to slide it forward to provide clearance, but I'm finding that it needs vertical adjustment. No big deal... just a washer or two under the bolts that attach the fender to the swingarm cover.

Be careful with it. You can (and will need to) flex the swingarm cover to get it all in place, but mine is fairly brittle. Just take your time and ask Matt for help if you have trouble. Don't force things or you'll crack it.

My mistake with dropping the bike was just being in too much of a hurry, trying to beat the oncoming darkness. My driveway is sloped, and if you have the bike pointed the wrong way it'll be leaning to the right as it comes down off the stand. I had my arm on it but I just lost it. Should have pointed it the other way, so it would already be leaning towards the side stand as it landed. A mistake that will cost me hundreds in new plastic, plus even more with the eventual replacement of other scuffed parts (mirror, bar end).

The sad fact is that ANY indication of a drop makes it very difficult to sell the bike. It's just too easy to find pristine bikes for good prices.

If this were a car I'd just shrug it off, because I drive cars into the ground and usually just donate them to charity. But I plan on selling this bike someday.

[ironglory]

What happens to the scratched fairings, mirrors & etc?

[tjkamper]

Yeah... Bad things always happen when your in a hurry. I've been victim of that many times. I hope you can get it all fixed up.

[lockie]

Yea, I learned the 400 dollar lesson last summer. Not the same circumstances, just the same sort of leaving out a couple of essential details when handling the bike in the driveway. (Sigh) We live and learn.

[adouglas]

Originally Posted by ironglory

What happens to the scratched fairings, mirrors & etc?

The fairing doesn't get scratched when the bike falls over. The turn signal punches through it, leaving the plastic cracked in that area.

As far as what happens... I'll probably sell the bits, if it seems worth it.

[Banzai]

If you want to try fixing it yourself to make it serviceable for the season, go to the hardware store and get a bottle of the same ABS plastic cement that is used on plastic water pipe. If you use it VERY sparingly on the inside of the crack/brake, you can effectively glue everything back together and have it hold well.

Just be careful, and use it very sparingly! The glue is used to melt the plastic on both sides of the crack so that it will bond together. Be careful with the paint, too, as it will strip paint. If you do it JUST RIGHT, all you'll have to do is use a touch up pen! I fixed my center upper fairing like that, couldn't even tell it ever broke.

[adouglas]

It's actually serviceable as-is, I think. It was getting dark and I didn't take a close look.

A cursory glance while I was cussing myself out for being such a blithering idiot was somewhat encouraging. It appears as if all the crack edges fit nicely together.

So I think I'll try the ABS cement trick.

Question: Is this like contact cement, as in do I need to apply it to both surfaces BEFORE putting them together, or can I line everything up and apply a little bit to the inside surface of the fairing at the crack, allowing it to wick into place via capillary action?

[Banzai]

Originally Posted by adouglas

It's actually serviceable as-is, I think. It was getting dark and I didn't take a close look.

A cursory glance while I was cussing myself out for being such a blithering idiot was somewhat encouraging. It appears as if all the crack edges fit nicely together.

So I think I'll try the ABS cement trick.

Question: Is this like contact cement, as in do I need to apply it to both surfaces BEFORE putting them together, or can I line everything up and apply a little bit to the inside surface of the fairing at the crack, allowing it to wick into place via capillary action?

It's like building a plastic model. Apply cement to both sides of the piece, allow some of the solvent to flash off (if you put it on wet and heavy, let some flash off, if you put less on, press the pieces together quickly), then press apply. If you get a TINY bit of glue/melted plastic squeeze out, that's good. LEAVE IT, until it cures, then you can use a NEW xacto or razor blade and carefully shave off the fine hump that forms. The cool thing about the ABS cement is not only is it cement, but actually has ABS plastic melted into it that gets left behind when all of the solvent cures out of it, which helps fill the cracks.

[BlueRaven]

someone on this forum was looking for damaged fairings