1st crash, new rider. Gravel is bad. :(

[shadepixie]

On Tuesday I was out on an afternoon toodle in an area I wouldn't normally ride, ever. I was travelling around by the airport looking for a park that you can sit at the end of the runway and watch planes fly over. Anyway, I didn't really know where I was going and was going at about 80km/h down the roadway and up ahead I spotted the parking lot where this park was. I geared down and slowed down to about 40km/h... the parking lot was gravel but it looked pretty hard-packed and I thought I would be ok... Well I braked using by fronts and rears (more front than rear obviously) and I totally lost control of the bike. It was crazy, I knew to be cautious of gravel but I had no idea it was this bad. And the gravel was deep. There was zero traction. I slid into a wooden pole that designates the entrance to the lot and tore up my left fairings, including my left turn signal, then dropped the bike on the right side and tumbled off. I was so freaked out and jacked with adrenaline as soon as I fell off the bike I turned around and lifted it (totally wrong) and started to cry. I saw the fairings tear open before my eyes and knew it wasn't good... you guys understand, I freaking love this bike.
I was able to ride it to the claim centre after I calmed down and it is totally sound mechanically, the damage is all cosmetic. I went to my local Kawasaki dealership and they set me all up. They put on a turn signal so I can ride it in the meantime and ordered the fairings and fender from Kawasaki.
Nonetheless, holy crap gravel is crazy ****. Live and learn I guess.

[krolinked]

Stuff happens! Don't let it get to you just make sure you learn something from it. Fix er up and call it a lesson learned!

[loz944]

Glad your ok the bike can be fixed

I have been riding for almost 30 years on and off and gravel still makes me very cautious you just have to be smooth in all actions try to brake with your rear only and be ready to put your feet down

the front and rear brakes can and will lock very easily.

[xSean13]

Dang, that sucks. Is watching planes something you like to do, or just looking for a spot to chill? J/w because I'm a student pilot and find it fun to sit in the parking lot at the park right next to the airport.

[shadepixie]

I think planes are fascinating. I love to see them fly over close. The power and how something so huge can gets into the air is absolutely fascinating to me.
We used to sit at the end of runways when I was a kid. My dad was an air force brat and grew up around some pretty cool airplanes, so i think it's inherited.

[Motofool]

It is very good that you didn't hurt your left hand or knee.

When something compromises the friction between those little patches of the tires and the road, our control over any motorcycle becomes very unfamiliar.

Sand, oil, gravel: all produce the same effect.

[Mountain Dew]

Front brake is a huge no-no on sand, gravel, dirt, etc.

[edxmon]

Glad you're OK, and thanks for the heads up on gravel since I haven't had to ride on anything but pavement yet.

You could have gotten the fairings cheaper from other places, but if you can afford the Kawa ones, then good deal.

I'm going to go ahead and blatantly leghump here: If that's you in the picture make sure you always wear a helmet, not only to preserve that beautiful mug of yours, but also to keep you from distracting the rest of us squids (and by "us" I mean "me")

I was in Vancouver the summer before the last Winter olympics and fell in love with the place and with every girl I saw, nothing but beautiful people there. I stayed in the Hostel in Jericho Beach.

P.S. Fly Navy!

[shadepixie]

That is my photo. I have a good Arai helmet, not to worry, and thank-you!
I know that that front brake is a no-no on gravel, believe me, I do! I'm so new and I know the majority of the stopping power is in the front, so I think hitting the front brake was purely force of habit :/. I went for a ride tonight and made a concentrated effort to use my rear brakes more often. I feel pretty stupid about making such a dumb error.

[edxmon]

Originally Posted by shadepixie

That is my photo. I have a good Arai helmet, not to worry, and thank-you!
I know that that front brake is a no-no on gravel, believe me, I do! I'm so new and I know the majority of the stopping power is in the front, so I think hitting the front brake was purely force of habit :/. I went for a ride tonight and made a concentrated effort to use my rear brakes more often. I feel pretty stupid about making such a dumb error.

It's only an error if you don't learn from it. Keep the rubber side down and the fleshy parts on. Hope keep seeing you on here

[Jono]

Mmmhm. I kinda like riding on gravel....

Link to original page on YouTube.

[akima]

Aww, sorry to hear about your accident Christine. In another thread, I remember reading about your excitement to get home to your bike after work.

Like you said though: live and learn.

I ride on gravel every almost every day. It's just a matter of getting your speed low before you hit the gravel, only gently use your back brake and don't lean the bike far over.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by Jono

Mmmhm. I kinda like riding on gravel....

Originally Posted by akima

........I ride on gravel every almost every day. It's just a matter of getting your speed low before you hit the gravel, only gently use your back brake and don't lean the bike far over.

It is not great for the tires but it is excellent practice to learn the limits of the bike in low friction conditions.

Any gross deviation from vertical becomes unstable.

[shadepixie]

Once I get more confident I'd love to do that Mystery School in California to learn to slide in gravel and such, I think that would be rad! I admire people who are good at all surfaces and road conditions.
Thanks for all the kind words.

[ally99]

Sorry to hear that Christine. Hubby and I take dirt and gravel roads often. The keys to remember are:
Rear brake ONLY...no front.
Stay loose. The bike/bars will want to move along with the gravel. Let them. The bike will correct itself and the more you try to fight with the bars, the more upset the bike becomes.
Gripping the tank with your thighs allows you to keep your upper body looser so the bike is happier (and when our bikes aren't happy, we're not happy!)

Hubby's first accident was on gravel too. Hope you feel up to tackling gravel again one day. Take a break from it for a while, but to really be comfortable on a bike, learning how to ride in different mediums is an awesome exercise, so don't give up gravel completely!

[pomartin]

important thing is that you are OK

i almost have accident due to gravel today too... almost 180° and very long turn, was going about 90 km/h.... and suddenly i spotted some gravel in the middle of the turn... i didnt brake, fortunately first tire just slipped a little... and i was like

keep on riding

[alex.s]

congratulations, christine. welcome to the club.

i find sometimes in loose dirt or gravel the bars want to go in a direction you dont want them to go and you kinda end up giving a lot more steering input than normal... but i think most of the time that can be attributed to not enough gas. which usually means you need to slow down sooner so you can be on the gas through the low-traction area

[shadepixie]

Thanks again to everyone, what a great forum this is, seriously. Everyone is so nice and supportive!!
Cluck: Because of the drop on the right side, the tailpipe was scratched a bit.. The adjuster with my provincial insurance corporation (ICBC) said "that tailpipe might start moving this into write-off territory" and I said I did not want to write the bike off if all the damage was cosmetic. He said he'd let me know.
When I took the bike to Kawasaki and they communicated with the adjuster all the cost of the fairings and the front fender plus the drop damage (handlebar-end, the end of the brake lever, the tailpipe) it actually would be a write off.
I said not to worry about the tailpipe, so they gave me a $180 cheque for "appearance allowance" to fix the tailpipe myself. I will use that money for frame sliders.
So the short answer is: this bike was technically a write-off as per ICBC standards. The fairing damage is extensive, and ALL my fairings (including the front part below the windshield and the front fender) will be replaced except the R side. I kind of get a brand-new bike. My deductible is $300. I got crazy insurance coverage, I'm no dummy.

[broken neck]

Originally Posted by shadepixie

I kind of get a brand-new bike. My deductible is $300. I got crazy insurance coverage, I'm no dummy.

That's money well spent...

Glad only your pride was a little bruised...

Will you try to find another 2009 Special Edition? I think it's in the top 2 of my special edition list... The first one being the 2011...

[shadepixie]

And today, me and a friend were out for a ride, parked our bikes to go for lunch, and when we got out, someone had knocked both our bikes over. So now the other fairing is damaged too. I'm basically, slowly building a new bike, FML.

[NJ Ninjette]

Wow, you got some bad luck going...someone hit them with a car?

[2003ninja]

Originally Posted by shadepixie

And today, me and a friend were out for a ride, parked our bikes to go for lunch, and when we got out, someone had knocked both our bikes over. So now the other fairing is damaged too. I'm basically, slowly building a new bike, FML.

Thats fvucked up. Did you have frame sliders?

[ally99]

Originally Posted by shadepixie

And today, me and a friend were out for a ride, parked our bikes to go for lunch, and when we got out, someone had knocked both our bikes over. So now the other fairing is damaged too. I'm basically, slowly building a new bike, FML.

WTF? Assholes!

[gfloyd2002]

Originally Posted by shadepixie

Once I get more confident I'd love to do that Mystery School in California to learn to slide in gravel and such, I think that would be rad! I admire people who are good at all surfaces and road conditions.
Thanks for all the kind words.

I did that school, and highly recommend it. Rich Oliver, who runs the school, is a former AMA road race champion and uses dirt tracks to teach street riders how to ride beyond the comforts of traction. It was my favorite day this year. But off-road techniques are VERY different from on road, and I'd wait until you are very comfortable with your on road skills down first. One does lots of things backward off road, and it could mess up otherwise proper riding skills a bit. In off-road riding, you ride with elbows out, not in. Weight forward, not back. Lean away from the corner, not into the corner. Heavy back brake, don't touch the front. Weight the front suspension as much as you can into a corner. Everything is backwards from street riding. You do that stuff on a street bike on the road, and you are going to lose the back tire, then probably high side. What I loved about the course was not only that I spent a bunch of time safely learning about what happens beyond the limits of traction, but also that I was made acutely aware of issues of body position and weighting the suspension by being forced into uncomfortable techniques. BUT . . . that is because I was able to put the new techniques into context. It is very important to be able to know what you shouldn't be doing on the street and not carry bad habits over from the off-roading.

For example, on using the back brake -- your instincts are completely right on pavement. Don't overlearn the lesson about relying on the back brake more -- you really should be using your front brake almost exclusively. Just not, as you learned, if you aren't in a complete straight line on gravel (or loose dirt).

[shadepixie]

Originally Posted by NJ Ninjette

Wow, you got some bad luck going...someone hit them with a car?

Yep. Hit and run. Multiple witnesses. Knocked over my friend's '03 (?) CBR 600 and my Ninja. Witnesses took all info, Police claim filed, ICBC claim filed AGAIN. That's two in a week. I got a "disobey sign" ticket in my car last week too, so there's the bad things in threes. I hadn't had a ticket or claim in nearly twenty years!!
@2003ninja: LightTech Frame Sliders are being installed with the new fairings on the earlier claim. They aren't on yet, unfortunately.

[shadepixie]

Originally Posted by gfloyd2002

I did that school, and highly recommend it. Rich Oliver, who runs the school, is a former AMA road race champion and uses dirt tracks to teach street riders how to ride beyond the comforts of traction. It was my favorite day this year. But off-road techniques are VERY different from on road, and I'd wait until you are very comfortable with your on road skills down first. One does lots of things backward off road, and it could mess up otherwise proper riding skills a bit. In off-road riding, you ride with elbows out, not in. Weight forward, not back. Lean away from the corner, not into the corner. Heavy back brake, don't touch the front. Weight the front suspension as much as you can into a corner. Everything is backwards from street riding. You do that stuff on a street bike on the road, and you are going to lose the back tire, then probably high side. What I loved about the course was not only that I spent a bunch of time safely learning about what happens beyond the limits of traction, but also that I was made acutely aware of issues of body position and weighting the suspension by being forced into uncomfortable techniques. BUT . . . that is because I was able to put the new techniques into context. It is very important to be able to know what you shouldn't be doing on the street and not carry bad habits over from the off-roading.

For example, on using the back brake -- your instincts are completely right on pavement. Don't overlearn the lesson about relying on the back brake more -- you really should be using your front brake almost exclusively. Just not, as you learned, if you aren't in a complete straight line on gravel (or loose dirt).

This is great info, thanks so much. I will get more experienced with road riding before doing something like this!

[Miles_Prower]

Sorry to hear about your series of unfortunate events
I also got my bike beat up after leaning too much in gravel (didn't look at the road surface through a turn), though not nearly as bad as yours. Glad you are okay! Sucks that someone hit your bike though on top of everything..seems like respect and morals are hard to come by these days.

[akima]

@shadepixie: I relayed your two incidents to another girl at work who rides: a big cringe appeared across her face. We have sympathy for you.

[akima]

Originally Posted by Cluck

I suggest you don't leave your home and invest in a rabbit's foot.

Serious?

[mustang5.0]

sounds like a string of bad luck... it gets betta!!

in the spirit of interweb leg humping... damn, your hot!!

[pomartin]

oh, and dont listen to the @Cluck

[akima]

Originally Posted by Cluck

No

They don't do humor in England?

I was hoping you were serious. I like hearing about the really strange belief systems different people have.

[Jiggles]

Akima uses squirrel feet

weirdo

[akima]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

Akima uses squirrel feet

weirdo

Go to sleep!

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by akima

Go to sleep!

It's 12am, what do I look like? Someone normal?

[CZroe]

Consider leaving the replacement fairings off for a while.

[CalvinAmI]

There is only ONE way to get over all this misfortune...
and that is to post in the thread below (with tons of pics and poses...)
Girls on Bikes ROCK!! (ladies, post your pics here)

...therapy... ya know.

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by CalvinAmI

There is only ONE way to get over all this misfortune...
and that is to post in the thread below (with tons of pics and poses...)
Girls on Bikes ROCK!! (ladies, post your pics here)

...therapy... ya know.

She has already posted there.

[Stingray1000]

Originally Posted by shadepixie

And today, me and a friend were out for a ride, parked our bikes to go for lunch, and when we got out, someone had knocked both our bikes over. So now the other fairing is damaged too. I'm basically, slowly building a new bike, FML.

You have really bad luck. I always try to park my bike in plain view of EVERYONE! If you can't park it in plain view, park it off the street. Sorry to hear about everything hun, Hope you and your bike are ok!

[EvilPooMonkey]

Originally Posted by CZroe

Consider leaving the replacement fairings off for a while.

i lol'd... although sorry to hear about your bad luck... now that the three things happened something good HAS to come your way