Triumphrat

JBarn3 · 04-27-2007

On the way to work this morning, I was getting on the freeway, a long, right-hand curving on ramp.

I was about halfway up the ramp, where the ramp narrows from 2 lanes (one lane for vehicles making a right onto the ramp, one for vehicles making a left onto the ramp from the other direction). I was in the left hand lane, side by side with a bobtail truck in the right hand lane. I was trying to get out of his way, and felt it would be safer to accelerate in front of him than to brake and drop in behind him.

Apparently, I was wrong.

I don't exactly know what went wrong. There was a lot of debris on the ramp... gravel, assorted bits and peices off of vehicles, trash, etc... I don't know if this stuff broke traction, or what, but all of a sudden I was off the bike.

I did a chin plant into the tarmac and slid on my front. The Scrambler came to a stop a few feet behind me, on its left side, across the lane.

I was able to get up, pull the bike out of the lane and get it on the kickstand, then survey the damage (to me and the bike).

I got a little road rash on my left elbow, left side of my stomach, and a little scuff on my left knee. Right thigh is a bit sore.

The bike got a busted turn signal lens, the tail light is hanging on by the wires, the shifter toe piece broke off, there is a nice scrape along the engine case, and my city bag and the harness for it got pretty tore up. (The laptop in the bag seems to be fine).

I walked the bike down the onramp, and rode it home. Something is up with the steering, the handlebar and the wheel dont line up now. Haven't figured out yet whats bent/misaligned/whatever.

[ This message was edited by: JBarn3 on 2007-04-27 13:26 ]

Iceseven · 04-27-2007

Man Josh that is bad news but it is good news that you could walk away.

Hope you heal quickly and get your Scrambler back to the way it was.

sweatmachine · 04-27-2007

sorry dude.

Flat_Black_Rat · 04-27-2007

Ouch sorry to hear about this, but it is definitely good to hear you rode away from it. I hope you and the bike both heal quickly!

Road_Dog- How do you see the ground clearance playing into this? It sounds like the back tire lost traction then bit back in again throwing him off them bike, I can't see ground clearance playing into that at all.

JBarn3 · 04-27-2007

Thanks for the words of concern/encouragement.

I believe that what flat_black_rat described is what happened, which I also believe is the definition of a high side - "A type of motorcycle crash wherein the rider is catapulted over the motorcycle as a result of the rear wheel losing traction, sliding out to one side, and then abruptly regaining traction while still out-of-line with the front wheel. Much more dangerous than a lowside." (from the urban dictionary)

I called the dealership to have them check on availability and price of the damaged parts. Waiting for them to call me back. When I get home I'll have to spend some more time trying to figure out exactly what got tweaked with the steering. Whatever it is, I'm hoping its not too pricy to fix.

[ This message was edited by: JBarn3 on 2007-04-27 14:27 ]

bonnieblackinfl · 04-27-2007

Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Crashing sucks! Just look at it as a lessons learned and get back on the bike.

There are 2 types of riders: The ones that have been down and the ones that haven't yet.

The good news is I probably have the stock parts you will need to rebuild. I sent you a pm.

Greg

SLOBonnie · 04-27-2007

I'm sorry to hear that Josh. It happens to all of us. It sucks. I'm glad that you're relatively okay. And just keep repeating to yourself, the bike can be fixed...the bike can be fixed...the bike can be fixed. I've got some OE signal indicator housings that you're welcome to have. You just need to pull the wiring out of your old winkers and put them in. If you want them, send me your address and I'll throw them in the mail straightaway. BTW...do you have polished aluminum or black case covers? If black, I can give some pointers on how to repair the paint with a rattle can without being able to know the difference. That's what I did when I repaired the paint on the cases after I laid the bonnie down. No one has ever been able to tell the difference between the OE paint and the repair.

[ This message was edited by: SLOBonnie on 2007-04-27 14:58 ]

monkeyboy · 04-27-2007

If you were getting on the 605 on Whittier Blvd or Beverly, I can completely see it happening. There is a lot of traffic through there and the on/off ramps have lots of debris on them.

I am glad you are OK, and hope to see you and your bike running soon.

I am just over the hill in Hacienda Heights, PM me if you want to take a ride sometime.

Sunday afternoon on Beverly is a blast.

RonD · 04-27-2007

sorry to hear about your accident josh, i know the feeling , the main thing is that your ok.
and i know this will probably attract some flack but this is why i support helmet legislation if we did not have it in Australia there would be a lot more of us of seriously injured, any way these things if we survive make us better riders usually .
regards Ron

whoa · 04-27-2007

Sorry for your bad luck man, although I still call this a good crash.

We recently had a rider high side over the retaining wall at night, falling about 100 feet from the flyover. I rode out there and saw a bunch of loose sand in the road, so I'm sure his rear end slipped causing him to high side when it gripped again.

Glad you didn't tangle with the truck you were attempting to slip by.