Brand new bike, and 42 miles later..

[Miles_Prower]

Well guys, I just bought my new Ninja 250 only a few weeks ago and I've already crashed it. The worst part about it was that there was not much I could do, though if you know ways I could have avoided the accident, please let me know!

I've been riding well so far on the local roads, leaning well, looking where I want to go, not touching the brakes in curves, etc, so I scouted out a windy rural backroad where there wouldn't be too much traffic to worry about. Everything was going well, taking curves cautiously and scanning the road. Then I pulled onto another back road which was even more curvy, and again, all was well. I took heed to caution signs and I was feeling confident.

Halfway down that road I was approaching another caution sign for a sharp left bank, 20mph sign, so I slowed from 30 to 20mph, got over a tiny crest, and saw the turn. I had already let off the brakes, so doing what I did in the MSF course, I looked, leaned, and before I knew what happened, the bike slid out from under me. I ended up sliding into a guard rail, and the bike got wedged under it. Fortunately I was wearing helmet, gloves, jacket, and sport boots so all I got was a small cut/burn on my leg from the guard rail. My gear is intact, beyond some dirt and grass stains...

...My bike however, suffered some damage. Plastic under the headlight is destroyed. Left fairing is destroyed up front, right fairing is scratched from the guard rail. The plastics over the front wheel are destroyed as is the reflector. My left front turn signal is working, but it popped off and now is kind of loose (one of the guys who stopped to help me repaired it kind of). I have some tiny tiny scratches on the left tail section, which are barely noticeable. Thankfully the bike is still completely rideable, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary on the ride back..just looks like **** now. Handlebars and everything are fine..it was a short slide, and went straight into dirt. Several people stopped and helped me get my bike out, pick it up, check it out, and one lady followed me home to make sure I was ok, she was so nice.

Now I'm just like..well gee..DAMN IT!!!! UGH!! This sucks!!!

[zzrguy]

GLAD TO Hear your OKAY !

Analysis, My guess is that there was either gravel or you touched your brakes unintentionally. When corners say recommended 20mph I can easily take them at double or ever triple so it couldn't have been that lean angle, you can ALWAYS do way faster than the recommend on the agile 250.

[Jiggles]

Nearly every motorcycle accident is avoidable, especially single vehicle accidents so don't put blame anywhere else except proudly on your shoulders. You ****ed up, accept it, learn from it. As for your accident, it sounds like you lowsided, most likely your rear tire slid out.

In a turn you want to keep on the throttle, if you release the throttle all of the weight of the bike shifts to the front wheel and the rear wheel is left with less traction, if you brake, even more weight shifts, and thats how you probably went down. What you need to take away from this is to look where you want to go and keep on the throttle, if you feel you can't make the turn, lean in farther. Your other option is to stand up the bike, brake as much as possible and prepare for a crash. Generally, not a great idea.

[Miles_Prower]

Well i know i completely let off my brakes, and usually when i do i put the balls of my feet back on the pegs, but maybe this time i didnt even realize and perhaps left my foot on the rear brake a little. i have no problem admitting when i make a mistake, i've never had much of an ego. it just happened so quickly that I can't recall doing anything I haven't done in any other turns.

I can't remember what I did with the throttle..like you said on most turns I keep the throttle on, but maybe this time I let off. but yes, once I get my bike fixed and back on the road, I will definitely pay attention to where i put my feet and how i control the throttle.

The great news is that my Spidi boots saved my legs for the most part. My lower legs are in perfect shape, no bruising. The ankle protection got a bit scuffed up from the pavement but thats all! yay for boots!

[Jiggles]

That's good news, your ankle would have been ****ed!!! Go back to the scene of the accident and check if there is gravel or leaves or dirt on the road. These things can cause your tires to slip causing you to crash. The 2 simplest solutions to your crash are that you messed up on the throttle/brakes, or there was crap in the road and you didn't see it

[Miles_Prower]

i'm feeling like it was debris. but i'll drive down there and check. my wrist is starting to ache a little bit trying to play ps3 and its annoying me lol

[EthioKnight]

Originally Posted by Miles_Prower

i'm feeling like it was debris. but i'll drive down there and check. my wrist is starting to ache a little bit trying to play ps3 and its annoying me lol

Playing video games after just crashing huh? lol...I would be either in a fetal position sucking my thumb and praying for the God of bikes to forgive me for damaging my bike or on my knees next to my ninjette speaking in soothing tones and doing all I could to regain her trust...but in all seriousness, glad you escaped without major injuries and remember, there are two camps of bikers, those who have crashed and those who have 'yet' to crash...live and learn/learn and live bro

[Miles_Prower]

i'm a very..ehh whatever kind of guy lol. i figure, yeah my brand new bike just got destroyed, but at the end of the day, it can be fixed. no point stressing about it, just pay some cash and fix it lol.

yeah, well i guess i joined the crash camp. i guess i'm one of the luckier ones in the group!!!

[blink]

Sucks, atleast you aren't hurt bad.

Remember, once a bike is turning, the only thing keeping it up is physics, if it starts to slide and you try to over power the physics ( by getting off the throttle or shifting your weight oddly, the bike will have nothing to keep it up except for brain power and will. Which isn't what got it to turn in the first place. As scary as it is, you have to stay calm and keep the bike stable, let it go for a split second until you feel it is good to bring back up,

It's really difficult to explain, same concept as a car; if you start sliding (drifting, snow induced slide etc.) you have to let the car slide and not fight it until the moment it right. This "moment" is nothing but experience, you can't explain it (I can't because I'm not a professional driver or engineer or teacher) You learn by ****ing up, although you HAVE to learn what you did wrong and fix it,


This morning it was foggy, fog = tiny particles of water so the ground is just getting coated and this makes it slipper as hell. I had cold tires, maybe 5 minutes of riding in 8 degrees C so it takes time. I'm going into a wide corner and my rear slipped out hard, i let it go and then shifted my weight over opposite of the turn, ever so slightly to pull the force back to the direction of the corner in order to grip. Luckily I caught it and drove away, it was ****ing scary tho

[Alex]

Glad you're OK! Sounds like both bike and rider got through it reasonably well. We've got a sticky thread for you to take part in....

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25913

[Miles_Prower]

lol oh great, i get to say 1 month. i was shooting for at least 1 year, trying to be as cautious as possible, but nope lol.

[Miles_Prower]

btw, i'm thinking i can repair the damage by myself, but i'm not sure of the parts i'd need to get. If I take some pictures and upload them, would you guys be able to help me figure out what I'd need to replace?

[Jiggles]

yes

[Sigma.40]

Did you ever go back and see if theres gravel or debris at the crashsite? I'm curious now, as to what happened.

[Miles_Prower]

i haven't gone back up there yet, it's a bit of a drive and after a full day of work with aches and bruising, i didnt feel like it. if it doesnt rain im going to try to go up there saturday.

i do have a question for you guys though. the damage doesnt look AS bad as i thought once I cleaned the dirt and whatnot off, BUT the bike turns slightly to the right when my handlebars are straight. I hope this doesn't mean my forks are destroyed does it?? Is this something I can fix by myself? Are they bent?

[Jiggles]

BENT FORKS YIPPEE WELCOME TO THE CLUB

They could just be shifted and if you loosen the triple tree they go back in place. If you don't know **** about bikes just take it to a mechanic and let them screw with it

[Jiggles]

You may want to claim it on insurance

[Miles_Prower]

i'm trying to avoid insurance at all costs because i have this odd feeling they really just want to total the bike, in which case i may very well perhaps lose a good chunk of change. im now reading up on how to release tension from the forks and hopefully that'll solve my issue, if that doesn't work, then i'll take it to the dealer. i just have to find some tools lol, might borrow some from work.

[Jiggles]

Just claim it dude haha. It's not nearly as ****ed up as mine and my repairs are gna be $4300

[Miles_Prower]

of course i have insurance! lol the thing is i financed my bike. and the claims representative told me they wanted to have their salvage company pick it up and check it out. then he said often times theyll just call it a total loss, and as soon as they decide that, my bike is done for. then i have to pay the bank back the difference of what i owe them and what the insurance will give me, which is a little over a grand. problem is, i dont have a grand laying around. so if its something i can fix myself, or something that only costs a few hundred, then i'm fine staying away from the insurance.

sigh...

[Miles_Prower]

which insurance company do you have??

edit: and the perks of being an engineer is that I like, and am relatively good at taking things apart, putting them together, and figuring things out lol

[TnNinjaGirl]

Gap coverage FTW

[Miles_Prower]

the sucky thing is that i have gap coverage on my car, but i didnt get it on my bike, which was a stupid stupid mistake haha

[Felipe the Ant]

Either gravel or too much weight on the front wheel and you pushed it out. Google twist of the wrist, there's a book and a video and they're very informative

[akima]

Originally Posted by Felipe the Ant

Google twist of the wrist, there's a book and a video and they're very informative

I second that. Keith Code is very popular around here.

[Miles_Prower]

lol i will watch all of this stuff/read all this stuff..however first I need to get my bike fixed. i stripped it down and checked my forks/frame out. I'm not obviously an expert but I spent two hours examining it and the forks do not seem bent, and the frame is ok. Nothing seems damaged and it runs fine. the only "major" issue is that my front wheel is about 5 degrees to the right while the handlebars are straight. im trying to figure out how to fix this..i read the posts about aligning forks, but i dont understand what type of tool i need to loosen the lower triple tree?? i want to go to lowes tomorrow and pick up something to fix this..then itll be in riding condition once i fix it!

[Jono]

@Miles_Prower Did you ever get the front wheel straightened out??

[Miles_Prower]

yes I did actually! I wish I could figure out how to put pictures up.
I basically just stripped the bike down, loosened up the two nuts on the handlebars, and two on the triple tree, placed the wheel against a curb and pushed the handlebars a bit. I tightened them up, and drove around for a while to make sure it was straight.

Once I did that, I used super glue and silicone sealant on the plastic damage, and for the most part, it looks good as new (minus a smashed reflector, some crack/scrape lines, and two holes in the plastic near the headlight). Fixed well enough for $30, and it rides like new. Took it out on local roads up to 50mph and around some curves and there were no issues!

Psh insurance isn't totaling my bike!

[Miles_Prower]

http://razzi.me/photos/548632-crash-scene

Here is the road from the eye of google street view.

[Jono]

Nice! Glad everything worked out.

[Harrison89]

I lowslided after 90 miles on my new 2012 250 ha. I felt like a Dumba$$. The hardest part was admitting it was my fault haha after that I was glad to be ok and the bike to be ok ( a few scratches and a new mirror and turn signal ) I just try to not make the same mistake now when I am out.

[Miles_Prower]

Originally Posted by Harrison89

I lowslided after 90 miles on my new 2012 250 ha. I felt like a Dumba$$. The hardest part was admitting it was my fault haha after that I was glad to be ok and the bike to be ok ( a few scratches and a new mirror and turn signal ) I just try to not make the same mistake now when I am out.

Glad to hear you are ok too. How did you low side?
I think my mistake was not paying attention to the road surfaces, so now when I ride, I am constantly scanning the ground to watch for debris!

[psych0hans]

I crashed my bike exactly a week after I picked it up... Jammed on the brakes in the middle of a puddle... Luckily the damage was more to my confidence than to me or my ninjette... Sucks that your bike got beat up so bad, glad to know you're not hurt though... Good luck with getting it fixed...

[Harrison89]

Originally Posted by Miles_Prower

Glad to hear you are ok too. How did you low side?
I think my mistake was not paying attention to the road surfaces, so now when I ride, I am constantly scanning the ground to watch for debris!

I am an extremely new rider and was out with some friends on a road I didn't know, corner came up and bit me. I was going a tad to fast for my first time and was still learning some basic concepts on turning and throttle control.

I deffinatley learned to keep my own pace and have even more respect for the 2 wheels. Like stated above my confidence was beat down but just glad everything is ok and I took it as a learning lesson!

[Miles_Prower]

Well I'm glad you walked away with some knowledge too. I don't ride with anyone but I already know that when I do, I'll take my time when I need to. Gotta always know your limits! I go around sharp corners in my area which I can do at 25-30mph in my car, but on the bike, I take them at 10-15 just to know that I'll make them safely, until I get more confident.

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by Miles_Prower

I go around sharp corners in my area which I can do at 25-30mph in my car, but on the bike, I take them at 10-15 just to know that I'll make them safely, until I get more confident.

You are the perfect candidate to start on a liter bike

But seriously, don't outride your confidence

[Miles_Prower]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

You are the perfect candidate to start on a liter bike

But seriously, don't outride your confidence

lol what, 150 in straight lines and 15 in the corners? i thought that's how motorcycles work!!

[Harrison89]

Haha. Ya as long as I am on 2 wheels I am happy now. I have plenty of time to get my skill up and get faster. Already have learned so much in the short time I have been riding.

[Miles_Prower]

Originally Posted by Harrison89

Haha. Ya as long as I am on 2 wheels I am happy now. I have plenty of time to get my skill up and get faster. Already have learned so much in the short time I have been riding.

lol same..all day everyday at work im dreaming about riding my bike.
i haven't had many scary moments yet, except yesterday at the grocery store this lady pulled out from a stop sign without checking properly. I freaked out a bit, and had to squeeze the brakes pretty hard. phew lol

[Harrison89]

Originally Posted by Miles_Prower

lol same..all day everyday at work im dreaming about riding my bike.
i haven't had many scary moments yet, except yesterday at the grocery store this lady pulled out from a stop sign without checking properly. I freaked out a bit, and had to squeeze the brakes pretty hard. phew lol

Ya I seem to have 5 tabs of different bike websites and videos while Im working and day dream on nice days haha! Some people on the road have no business driving they scare the crap out of me!