Triumphrat

thinkjerm · 08-22-2007

who rides a GSXR 750, and he went down. He seems to be ok, only minor scrapes and muscle ache, but the bike took a beating. The question i have is that he had swingarm spools put on his bike for easy maintanence and it looks like that is what caused him to fall. Are you supposed to take swingarm spools off when you go riding? The swingarm spool has a solid chunk taken out of the bottom from what looks like the initial impact and then it is scraped diagonally for the rest of the slide. I am just wondering is it possible that the spool hit the ground causing his rear tire to come out from under him or should something else hit first.

deller4210 · 08-22-2007

thinkjerm, if you are referring to the type of spool I'm thinking of they double as protection during a slide. These would be mounted very near the rear axle if not on it and allow the use of a pivot bar to raise the rear tire off the ground. Do you know the manufacture of the spools? Oh, and tell your friend to replace that thing with a good British product!

thinkjerm · 08-22-2007

These are the sliders that were used http://street.parts-unlimited.com/44/564/4026547

I will post some pics of the bike shortly.

kptaylor · 08-23-2007

He would have to have had the bike leaned way the hell over for these to lever up the rear tire. If you read the link you posted it says they act as sliders for the swingarm, too.

thinkjerm · 08-23-2007

Here are the pictures of the bike http://picasaweb.google.com/thinkjerm/Suzuki

I believe he fell around where the car is in the turn of the google map image. The bike was near the end of the turn when i went back for him.

mhanson · 08-23-2007

with similar spools. My 750 is my track bike and there is just no way that this is what caused the crash.

No, your not supposed to take them off. Since the bike is broken anyway and if you want to experiment, lay the bike on its side and try to get those spools to touch before any other part of the bike. Make sure the tires stay on the ground too. Its gonna touch a pipe or peg first and then run out of contact patch long before those spools touch.

Cheers

Mike

denman13 · 08-23-2007

Sure, you can see that he would easily peg out before hitting the spools. By the looks of it if you were able to reach the spools in a lean you'd be riding on the rims. I would have to agree with everyone that the spools did not cause the crash and may have saved the swing arm and rear axle from any more damage than it suffered.

Most importantly, glad to hear he's OK.

MVP44 · 08-23-2007

Ask your friend if he remembers feeling what was giving way first - did he feel the front pushing or did he feel the rear slide. He may not have noticed, but it could help figure out the cause. If your friend is a racer type perhaps he pushed the trail braking a little to far into the turn and buckled the front - one of the most frequent low sides on the track. Or it just could have been dumb luck and his front wheel hit some road kill remnants and caused the slide.

ricster · 08-23-2007

I fully agree with Mhanson...no way would the spools cause the crash, you will lose contact patch way before that!

norcaltriumph · 08-23-2007

would be that there was either some loose debris on the ramp or maybe just an accumulation of oil from the 1000's of cars that use that ramp every day. Ironically, my roommate from years past wrecked his Ducati on a freeway on-ramp/cloverleaf. He low-sided after down-shifting going onto the ramp on some early morning dew that was still on the surface.

If it was the spool which hit first, then he's a superbike God, and has a potential future racing in the AMA. That would be some insane lean angle....