40 degrees F = slippery tires

So, It's that time of year up here in Minnesota USA, where all the old cars, and motorcycles and all other summer toys have to be put away for the winter. So, this Saturday morning, about 10am, I prepare myself and my bike for the last ride of the year down to the place where I store my bike (about 20 mile ride). I clean the bike as I always do before a ride with some honda cleaner and a soft cloth, start the bike and let it warm up a bit, pack my tank bag with the motorcycle cover, dress accordingly, don my helmet and hit the road. Not more than 1 block from my driveway, in a totally residential area, I take the same left hand corner that I'm VERY familiar with and BAM!! My rear tires slides out from under the bike and I slam to the ground as I watch my freshly cleaned, low mileage, perfectly finished silver VFR slide across the intercection into someones yard. I couldn't have been going more than 20mph when I hit the corner. There was no moisture on the street, no bumps to speak of, no leaves, just flat, very smooth blacktop. It was like someone kicked the rearend out from under me and I felt like I was litereally slammed to the ground.

So, I pick myself up off the street, pick up the bike, gather all the plastic parts from my smashed winshield, snapped off mirror etc... and assess the damage left on my baby. Everything on the left side is scraped. I will need a full left side cowl, front cowl, windshield, left mirror, rear cowl, clutch handle, handlebar end, shifter, kickstand... I'm sure there will be more. I'm still very upset about this even 2 days later, but I know I have to take the blame for what happened. I should have been more careful of how to ride on cold tires. The only thing running through my mind while skidding along the pavement was how much all this was going to cost to get fixed. I wasn't concerned about the possible cars comming down the street from either side, or how lucky I was not to be carrying a passenger or even how lucky I was not to be hurt.

So, anyway, after I picked up all my 'parts', threw them in my tank bag, bent the clutch handle back into position, re-aligned and re-attached the remaining parts of the windshield enough so that it wouldn't fly off, started the bike up, and continued on down the road. I rode all the way to the storage garage without a left side mirror, torn pants, scrapped left arm on leather jacked (helmet didn't touch the ground but my neck is VERY sore from holding it up), slight scrape on my knee (About the size of a quarter) and a VERY bruised ego. I cannot believe this happened to me. I've been riding for over 10 years and this is the first time I've layed a bike down.

In conclusion... and this may be a giant obvious point, but on a cold day on a very smooth street, be VERY careful taking corners.

I will post pics of the damage later this week.

 

Owulleeechhhh. I feel for ya man. It hurts.

Was there any ice, water, diesel or oil on the road?

I remember laying a bike I had down, my old CX400. Quite a steep downhil right hand 30km/hr corner. Road was damp and there was diesel on the corner and the bike slid out from under me like standing on a piece of soap in the shower. Bike took off and slid up the driveway of a local brewery. It seemed to happen in slow motion, I remember I actually had gloves on, Allbeit vynal ones, I was sliding on my back,feet first. I put my hands down on the tar to slow meself down, and did everything out of the text book. And I sat up on my bum and feet as I was sliding then I stood up just as I stopped sliding and started walking following the bike which was still sliding, watching the shower of sparks as the tappet covers of the v twin were grinding into the pavement..

I remember thinking it was kinda cool, as it was the first time (only time) I had fallen off without hurting myself.

Damage was gloves which had worn holes right through, and tappet cover had a hole in it and handlebar and bikini fairing damage. Good dose of damage to my pride. My jeans and jacket stood up really well, without hardly a mark.

A mate who was following me saw the whole thing. He thought I looked like I was going a bit fast. I didnt think so, ive taken the corner a lot faster before.

Then anger set in - that BA$&#D who spilt the diesel.

I even put an add in the paper with a reward for any info leading to identify who spilt the diesel. No luck.

Least we live to tell the tail.

A guy who lived across the road, bought a new VFR - it was the first one with the single rear swing arm when they came out. He had it for about 6 months and was a good rider, very safe and not a hoon for a young guy. Was travelling on his way to their camping spot in the new year summer holidays. About 4 hours ride from home, half way there he slid under a truck - and that was the end of him. Even worse his family, mother, father and sister came across the accident scene soon afterwards as they were travelling in the family car with all the camping gear.

I feel blessed we live to tell the tail.

 

OUCH, at least you're ok. I hate it when something like that happens and you're not even pushing it. It's one thing to have a get off when you're railing it, but it really sucks when you just riding along minding you're own business. I had to order a lot of the same parts about a month ago and Service Honda and Ron Ayers had the cheapest prices. Good luck getting the bike back on the road and glad you are ok.

 

We've all been there ... or on the way. I'm not sure there's any "fault" here ... sometimes circumstances just come together and bite you. They say pride goeth before a fall ... I think with bikes, it goes right after. Maybe we should start a thread on "your most memorable downside"? Hang in there and know this will be only a story to tell later on. Hey, could be a reason to move south!!

 

I've done that. Recently in fact. It was a cold morning, in the low 40's F, and I made a right turn at the end of my street. I had to stop at the intersection as there was a stop sign facing me. When i pulled away I gently accellerated and about mid way thru the turn the rear tire broke free and she spun around and down we went. In all, I slid about 5 feet or so and spun around about 75 degrees (woulda been cool if I had stayed upright and did the whole 180). Anyway, I attributed it to cold tires and probably way to much lean and also maybe a little too much throttle. I got luck and only scuffe plastic that I had scuffed and repainted before, so all I had to do was repaint again.

Glad to hear you are ok and not seriously hurt. I always try to remember in this kind of situation that the bike is repairable/replaceable and my body is not necessarily so. Good luck with your repairs, too.

 

I got to ask... What kind of tires? My Dunlop D204K's were like that no matter how warm they were. The Conti Road Attack's warm up much faster but I must admit, I almost dumped the bike goin 10 mph around my block after I put the wheels back on.

KC-10 FE out...
lane:

 

I myself have the new Dunlop Qualifiers. I was about a half mile from my house with one stop in between it and where I went down. I don't think mine had time to warm up yet.

 

Thanks you all for your nice replies. It's nice to have support and understanding of other riders.

I am going to check the model of the tires when I take pictures of the damage later this week. But from what I can tell, they are the OEM tires. The rear was replaced just before I got the bike due to a screw found in the original. Since then, it has only about 1000 miles put on the new tire. If you are good with tread recognition, you can see the rear tire quite clearly in my photo gallary.

 

Crazy shit happens at the wierdest least expected time, good to hear nothing but ego was hurt on you Bummer on the VFR. Hmm I'm running Pirelli Diablo corsas here so they do good, warm up fast, but I don't think theres a tire that warms up in a block doing 30mph. Yes all be carefull.. things are getting slippery out

 

Pics

Here are a couple pics of the damage...
It really doesn't look as bad as I initially thought, but it's still heart breaking.

You can see that I'll need to replace the full side cowl (deep scratch), shifter and clutch handle and handle bar end. The rest COULD probaly just be repaired, but I'm sure I'll just end up getting all new plastic.

Anyway, here are the pictures. (sorry for the delay)

 

The tank looks good!!

 

Looks like you got a start on that set of track plastics you didn't know you really wanted! I've usually found Service Honda to have the best prices, and if you do want to finish off the spare set of plastics for the track, check Ebay. My condolences for your mishap.

 

Thanks all for the nice responses.

The tank doesn't have a scratch on it. that's cuz the handlebar and clutch handle took all the damage. it protected the tank. so that was good.

as for an extra set of plastics... if i were to race the bike, that would be a perfect idea, but my intentions are not to take this bike to the track. so i'm just going to get it all fixed back to stock and keep it nice.... and of course, be more careful when riding on cold tires.

 

I don't have nearly the riding experience you have (only been riding since 2000...my 2k VFR is my 1st and only), and what you describe has been one of my latent fears since I first felt my rear slip years ago.

Thank God you're in one piece with only a scraped knee and a bruised ego...life is short, my friend.

You have reminded me (very forcefully) to take it easy today - I rode to work this morning and the Viffer's outside temp read 41. I gotta be more careful, too.

Best to you.

 

glad your ok, heres a little trick

 

get on ebay man they got plenty off vfr supplys and plastics.

 

hey all. it's been a while, but i wanted to give you all and update on my bike.

we finally had a nice day or two in the past few weeks, so i finally got my bike out of winter storage and rode it up to the shop to get some estimates on the damage :dizzy:

as i expected, the estimate was pretty high (keep in mind, this will be an insurance claim, so the estimates tend to be a bit higher). the plastic alone was over $1700. and with other parts and labor, the total estimate was over $2600. depending on availability of parts, i should have it fixed and back in my own garage within a month.

i will be getting new tires as well, and have been scouring the boards to find some reviews on tires. i'm pretty sure i'll get either the basic Perelli Diablo or Diablo Strata, but will probably do a bit more research before making my final decision. if anyone reads this and has an opinion, i'd be happy to hear it.

anyway, that's the update. hope everyone had a great winter! and i hope to be on the board more now that the snow is gone and the roads are relatively clean. :smile:

 

Silver VFR:

You do not need new plastic my man! Those spots can be sanded smooth, filled with plastic filler (Bondo) and repainted yourself.

Look up www.color-rite.com. They sell OEM paint colors that match very, very, very if not dead on well. I suggest the spray cans if you have no paint experiance. They are expensive (32.95) a can, but you'll save a ton of money in the end.

I'll be posting a 'How To fix Plastic Thread' in the future. I bought a 97 VFR that the left side took a good hit. I have fixed most of the damage, but the final stages are coming up and this is knowlegde that should be passed onto EVERYONE. A friend of mine used to fix plastic and he turned me onto color-rite. You can't go wrong my man.

If you ahve any questions, please let me know!

BZ

 

Thanks BZ for the reply.

I actually looked into that when I first did it, but realized that I just don't have the skill or patience or TIME to repair those myself. So I decided that I would rather just get all new plastic and get the bike back on the road.

I will however keep the scratched up stuff and possibly attempt to fix it on my own later on. Or, I think I should be able to sell it or maybe, if I decide to take my bike to the track, I'll have an extra set I'm not so picky about.

Just out of curiosity though, what would you charge someone to repair this plastic?? And how long would it take?

I just think that after all is said and done, it's just easier to buy new stuff.