welll...that didn't go so well...

"fun" starts on 3rd page of photos



GRON4 Photo Viewer

 

oh man, I'm sorry to see that. You OK? bike?

 

well...only my pride was hurt. being a naked vfr the Innovations technology frame slider snapped off flush with the frame followed by the clutch cover being ground through to the point oil is weeping through it. other than that it snapped off the handlebar and foot peg/foot peg braket. it was a $2000 salvage but I kinda would have liked to get it street titled as it is a much better street than track bike-now thats gona be more expensive, probably not really worth doing. may part it out or keep track riding it but it's right side ground clearence issues make that a somewhat less than ideal option. too bad. lovely motor and i was really having fun right up till i wasn't...oh well, i did 10 track days on it before dropping it so thats pretty good.

 

glad your ok my fav image is number 55

 

as far as fixing it...parts are availaable all over the place here....handle bar = some one has one that put helis' on shoot piece of cake man......

 

good to know I might find some parts here...the clutch cover will be a little harder to come up with.
I like number 55 too...its what us ice racers do when we crash.....take a look back to see whos about to run us down with those buzzsaw tires

 

ouch, sorry to see that, less lean angle more body off the bike

 

#55 is my favorite too. You don't look all too concerned LOL!

Glad you are OK brother; put it back together and roll.

BZ

 

Aaaahhh yeeesss brings back old memories. Looks like an easy low side get off . Bike came out good too. For covers that have holes in them one word EPOXY. There's all kinds of stuff you can use. Remember keep the old one and epoxy it. Then you have a spare for next time. Cost less and depending on your skills will look good. Stock up on bars and levers. Nothing worse than not being able to race that day because you dropped it in practice and broke a lever.

 

First of all Willy, that sucks and I'm glad you're still here with us to tell the story. So many questions.

1 looks like you have R&G frame sliders on your girl, how did they hold up and do you have any pics??

2 I have actually been looking at getting a pair of those boots you're wearing as a friend of mine has a pair also. How did they fare the wreck, and how well did they protect you??

Not trying to come across as a dick but hey, you've done real world testing that I haven't yet!!

Edit: Nope, those aren't R&G sliders, shoulda read some afore I started posting I guess. :doh: Still would like a review of the boots though.

 

that sucks man, but i'm glad you're ok.

 

Did not like that GRON4 Photo viewer at all.
Do not like those GRON4 stickers all over the photo. lousy idea

I have a new computer and it still took forever to load.
Photos were not optimized for the web!
A real time waster.

When I saw the photos including #55 I just thought "What an easy get off"
I raced for many years and won many races (65) but I fell many times too.

You are Too old to be doing that bro.
You were lucky. If you had high sided you would be in the hospital at your age.
Or worse.

 

spelling somewhat corrected, extra added


I guess I have not been getting my email alerts on this thread...didnt know there were any replies. Thanks for the well wishes. this was a "endurance" track day with half hour session...I've never seen people go as fast at a track day nor have I seen as many control riders fall off before lunch(!?) in the 1st two sessions the track was wet or still drying in places from the morning rain. I'm only really going well in the last 3-4 pics before I fell off...let my self get sucked along by some people that were going really well and sort of forgot about the ground clearence issue on the right which i think is what happened-stuck the pipe-still I'm pretty sure thats about as far as i'll be hanging off a bike of this size and girth. probably time to get a more reasonable track bike but i probably won't. last summer I high sided this bike in the rain on the other side and the Innovation frame slider got bent over rather than snapping off but also sort of smushed the frame/motormount a bit-the bike became a dedicated track bike at that point. this time the slider just snapped off as the bike went across the curbing but the bike looks like it was sliding on the case more than the slider anyway. I had thought of epoxy and may well do that-I got a side cover off ebay for 150 bucks (only one i've seen on ebay in the last three-four weeks) but dont fancy wrecking that one too.
the boots worked ok, but a high side would actually be the test-if you buy these boots get exra toe sliders and replace them before you think they need replcing (if you are wearing the toe sliders in turns) as i slide I ground through the already fairly work slider and into the sole of the boot-not a problem-my toes arent hanging out or anything, but kind of made them ugly
I have not had a problem with the gron4 pic viewer on this public library computer or the one I use at work...sorry if it didnt work for you-the photos have water marks because they are for sale-standard track day photoservice procedure...as far as geting hurt--as a a long time trauma nurse I have more than a conceptual understanding of getting hurt and in 40 years of riding ive fallen hundreds of times between street trail track and ice...falling is at least for me, part of the whole thing. I think Jaque cousteou said it best-
"when you stop doing some thing because cause you think you are too old, then you are ..."
of course one would hope i'd be learning a little faster...
with that thought in mind, kinda funny that I just went to a 20 dollar track day last night for the 1st time-at a small but very challenging go cart track where every other thursday night a bunch of 40's-50's aged ex racers all show up and ride the heck out of TTR125s and XR100s...guys definetly racing close and some falling for sure (funny the waiver says "this is a track day-no racing" but everyone is racing anyway)...Life is to be lived and bikes to be ridden...

 

Willy:

You can hang off your VFR WAY more than you have been. Just something to think about before you get rid of it for another bike.

BZ

 

I thought image 50 was great. It appears that even though you've started to go down, it certainly appears you're still looking through the turn, and almost "willing" the bike to stand up.

Thanks for posting!

 

hahaha yeah...low sides like that happen so quickly that I couldn't tell you about what my will was at that point. once I was down and sliding I just kinda of saw dollar signs with little angle wings if you know what I mean. actually, after I rolled over which you can see me start to do right before the camera guy started to film the bike instead of me I could actually see the camera guy's finger clicking away and knew i'd get to see photos of the crash. had he filmed my then I woulda had eye contact with the lens which woulda looked intersting.

as far as hanging off further than I was in those last 3 pics...it's hard partly because on this particular track you usually need to be off the other side of the bike fairly quickly. I of course sit on the bike on the stand and try i n the morning to stretch out and get off the bike further but there are limits to what I can comfortably do and I blew a lot of my quadracept strength during the early wet sessions. right before icrashed I was getting more of a feel for using my outside leg to support my body which i believe is more correct. at any rate if riding this particular bike at the speed I like to go requireds me to hang off further just to keep the pipe off the ground thats a limitation that will still eventually raise it's ugly head again. hardly optimal...

which isn't to say there arent other learning experiences I can get wi hthis bike at a slower pace. I was thinking about dropping back to intermediate where the slower traffic would somewhat limit my speed