Slow Crash/Totalled Bike

[EternalNewb]

Originally Posted by Sirref

Nope, no insurance, registration, or license needed. Though you will need a way to get it to and from the track

D'oh. You're right. That's the next road block. Hrrrrrm.

[alex.s]

where you living now sasha? just hitch a ride with someone

[EternalNewb]

Still in the south bay area, south of Los Angeles. Considering Darren has sold his bike, and I heard similar with Steve, my options are looking slim. Besides, I don't want to be a burden. Ha.

[Sirref]

"Cheap" ~$2,000 (hopefully reliable too) pickup truck works pretty well. That's how I get to the track and it's great if you're taking only one bike and one set of everything you need. I've managed to work out a system where I load everything the exact same order (and placement) every time so I don't forget things (other than sleeping bags ) and that's nice.

The dream is an enclosed trailer but that's $$$ It's really a shame that money well spent is still money spent

Your best bet is to find someone to ride with, or get a really really good friend with an SUV and rent uhaul bike trailers or get a cheapo trailer (uhaul > most cheap trailers if you're not using it a ton)

[Trailerboy531]

No insurance, no reg. Has nothing to do with insurance guy - when the DMV sends you slip to renew you put it as non-op and it stays that way.

Track is super expensive, as you know, are you sure you want to finance a bike and have a track bike that you may not be able to use often because it's too pricey?

Think it over.

[Sirref]

Seconded, track is obnoxiously expensive

much less so for 250 though since you don't eat tires for breakfast lunch and dinner but still costs mad $$$

[EternalNewb]

Max and Sirref used "REALITY CHECK"...
It's super effective.

[Sirref]

Don't worry about it too much, I don't always agree with reality myself

It will definitely suck if I run out of tire money for my track gsxr this season....

basically here's what you're looking at money wise:
$200~ registration for track day
$??? Gear, which you "should have already"
$??? Build up the bike to an acceptable level, you don't need fairings unless you're racing luckily The sky is the limit here, I've seen bikes that have had 20-30 grand in aftermarket parts dropped in them after being purchased brand new and more is definitely possible.

Spending less on the bike is pretty legit too, the total cost of my track 250 is $1,400 or so and that's including the initial purchase of the bike for street use, crashing it several times too, before I blew the engine. That's going to go up at some point bc I'm hitting the limit of what the setup is capable of semi-regularly at the track but it's still not bad.
-that's including tires btw, the set of sport demons that I got from finesse are still running strong after 6.5 track days and look like they have tons of life left, those tires last and hold good enough grip for midpack I here, idk about the west coast since I'm sure people are faster there at the track.

$$$ for transportation is the big thing since you don't really have a way to get the bike from A-B-A

Really you can do it with a good bit of wrenching time and you'll love having a track bike but consider how often you would be able to head to the track to use it before deciding. I'd say if you can pull it off 1-2days/month it's absolutely worth it but if you can barely use it you can probably think of better ways to spend the $$$ or just take whatever bike you get to the track instead

[alex.s]

Originally Posted by EternalNewb

Max and Sirref used "REALITY CHECK"...
It's super effective.

counter with "OBSESSION"! it's +5 to delusions!

[EternalNewb]

Soooooo..... I should finance a BMW adventure bike and trick out the ninjer, yeah?

[tfkrocks]

Yes

[alex.s]

Most definitely.

[Urban Ninja]

Originally Posted by EternalNewb

Still in the south bay area, south of Los Angeles. Considering Darren has sold his bike, and I heard similar with Steve, my options are looking slim. Besides, I don't want to be a burden. Ha.

I live in South Bay and have a truck...we'll carpool to the track!!

[EternalNewb]

Careful, Kate, I may take you up on that offer.

[Finesse]

when my 250 was totaled, the buy-back was $450 and I got to keep the rest, so I ended up with my bike with a brand new salvage title plus a $1700 check. might be worth buying it back. mine was a 99 with 14k miles though.

sorry to hear about your crash. sounds like you were pretty much riding the way you should've been and the way we all should. sometimes **** just happens and you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. glad it wasn't any worse for you!

[akima]

Originally Posted by EternalNewb

Alas, someone merged without signalling/cut me off, and then immediately slammed their brakes. Please note I had more than adequate room prior to this, and was slowing down the whole time. I didn't see room to swerve, so I hit the brakes, laid the bike down, separated, and barely slid (looked like 5ft, if that), as the two witnesses both said. I couldn't have been going more that 35-40, and slowing down the whole time.

Sorry to hear about your crash. Very glad that you're physically fine.

I have some [probably annoying] questions about your crash...

When you first noticed the driver merging in front of you did you immediately intensify your braking? By "intensify", I mean: Transfer from smooth controlled braking to decisive, emergency braking. It sounds like you left a big enough gap that you could comfortably slow down (before the bad driver merged). That would imply that you weren't braking really hard to begin with, which would in-turn mean you had a ton of extra potential braking force that could have been applied to stop much faster; to potentially avoid a collision. If you were actually braking really hard before that bad driver turned in front of you and you didn't have much more potential braking force you could safely apply, then do you think the gap you left in front of you was big enough? Personally, I aim to avoid extremely hard braking during every-day (non emergency) riding.

When you slid, did you slide into the back of, or passed the car? If not, then that probably means you had more than enough space to stop in time. Your bike, with skillful application of the brakes should slow you down much faster than your leathers can from sliding across the ground.

When you say you "laid the bike down", did you do that intentionally? If so (considering my above comment) do you think that was the best approach? If you didn't do it deliberately, what caused the bike to go down? I assume you jerked the front lever hard, applying the front brake much stronger than the tyre contact patch and front suspension were ready for.

One final annoying question (sorry!):

At the time were you concentrating and aware of your surroundings or were you a bit zoned-out or day-dreaming? You mentioned it was near the end of your journey. Personally, I find riding on motorways ("freeway"?) extremely boring and as such I struggle to maintain focus. Even though you don't have the danger of intersecting roads, there are plenty of dangers, and all of them at higher speeds. It's tiring, but I try my best to stay mentally focused the entire time I'm riding even if there's seemingly very little going on, or I've done this straight road a 1000 times and never had a problem. It's pretty common for people to spot their junction at the last minute and jump across lanes. Sometimes people just want to cut in at the last minute to get ahead of as many other cars as possible. We (as vulnerable road users) should expect this. We should be looking out for it and already have planned escape routes/manoeuvres.

From what you said it sounds like that driver performed a dangerous move they are clearly at fault. This does not mean though that at the time, you did everything you could have done to avoid it.

I actually hope, that you could have done something to avoid this. If there was something you could have done, that means you are empowered to improve upon whatever it was that you were previously lacking (concentration? braking-practise? anticipation? situational-awareness?) and next time; in the same situation you will come out of the situation tyre side-down, maybe with some impressive riding footage to show us.

You got very lucky. You crashed a motorcycle and came out unscathed. A different speed, a different road or even an inattentive trucker behind you and you could -- right now -- be experiencing a whole world of horror from a hospital bed. You may have not even been experiencing anything at all.

Again. Glad you are ok

[snapshot]

I spent some time work with her last Saturday. She's a talented rider and an excellent student. She understands the virtuosity of the learning process.

We discussed what happened at length and have concluded that it was over-braking with the front due to lack of space and time. That was due to a second shoulder-check to ensure that the next lane was clear. The bottom line is that when you do a shoulder check, verify that you've some space first and then do the check very quickly.

I've almost been bitten that way before. It's as if the people ahead make sure that you're not looking and then brake-check you.

Ride on,

J~

[Elloelvi]

Originally Posted by Trailerboy531

Quick! Strip it for useful parts for the bike behind it before insurance takes it! Say they broke off in the crash (not super kidding fyi)

omg, you genius!!!! brilliant.

And Lolll to this:

Originally Posted by Trailerboy531

Glad you're okay noob. Stop trying to copy me, it's not worth it!

[cbinker]

when driving or riding always expect people to slam on their brakes going into the exit. aka maintain a safe following distance.

[EternalNewb]

Originally Posted by cbinker

when driving or riding always expect people to slam on their brakes going into the exit. aka maintain a safe following distance.

Yes. I have operated that way before, and since. Rider error in a critical moment sucks. But I do think I made the right split-second call to lay it down by over-braking and minimize damage to me. Bikes can be replaced.

[SLOWn60]

You never finished the story!
Did insurance work out ok?
Did you buy the 250, 300, R6 or Adventure bike?
Are you riding shotgun with your track bike in the back?