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Laid it down yet?

7251 Views 36 Replies 15 Participants Last post by  allwalk, 
H
Has any one dropped the machine yet? If so, how did it fare?

I once took a spill in gravel with an old cycle of mine that had sissy bars and the bike fared pretty well. If I were to do the same on the Burgman I have visions of all of that plastic shattering and would end up spending big bucks in repairs.
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A
Uh Oh

Back in '98, I pulled over to the right side of I-70 (Utah) to admire the view and found that my right foot was supporting my '96 Nighthawk 750 on the downward sloping gravel area. I had no choice but to help it down onto its right side after discovering that I didn't have a right leg long enough to right it back up and my left leg couldn't touch the ground.

Having laid the bike down on the slope and stepping away I then discovered that I didn't have the strength to lift it back up either, after setting it down onto the sloping edge of the highway. It would have taken a walking step motion to right it back up straight but the slope kept me lower than the leverage needed and the gravel was slippery. The passing cars and trucks sent shockwaves of wind past me while I watched the gasoline drain out of the top of the tank vent as the bike was still on its side, 125 miles from a town.

After 5 minutes of anguish (every minute was an eon) a trucker passed then stopped up ahead for me. We righted it and he got tools out of the cab to form the footbrake away from the casing and to break off the remaining right brake handle after it got bent outward. I got the bungied items back onto the rear of the seat again then had engine starting problems from being tipped over but eventually got on my way. I bought these two truckers breakfast in the next town.

Thanks to Brown Trucking, Sterling Colorado for the help.
Now, when I have to pull over for any reason, I judge the slope better and 'leave an out' so I don't get trapped again.

Footbrake lever - $34. Right brake handle - $22. Breakfast for 3 at Mom's Cafe - $26. 5,500 mile ride - priceless.

My K3 Burgman hasn't had a scratch.
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B
Well, no estimates on costs yet. It is still at the towing services yard.
The Burg threw my wife on a 2 lane highway. A large truck came around a corner slightly over center. She went to the right side of her lane, then started fighting a large gust of wind. After that, she almost made it. I'd say about 7/8 of the turn. The bike was off the road, but she was in the middle??? She has a broken collar bone and some road rash. Thank God she wears a helmet. Don't know if these pictures will show up or not.

http://www.photobucket.com/albums/0903/ ... 061b3c.jpg
http://www.photobucket.com/albums/0903/ ... 395544.jpg
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J
Let my friend take her around the block

I let my friend take the Burgman for a spin around the block. As I'm waiting for him to come back fear starts to grip me. I just know that he is going to drop the bike. I resign myself to the fact ( I tried to fight it but a gut check told me not to bother). My friend pulls up to the stop sign a mere 75 feet in front of me. I can tell he has no business being on a motorcycle. He is looking right at me instead of the car that is approaching him from the left. I raise my hand and point to it. The sun is low in the sky and blinding. He fortunately sees the car and lets it pass. For some reason I don't feel any relief. A near accident was just avoided but I am still tense. I just stare at him like a batter at a 90mph fastball. Time starts to slow down. I can't move a muscle. I can just stare. He just has to make a right turn and then pull into my driveway a measly 75 feet away. As he gets ready to turn he turns the bars all the way to the right. I think to my self that it is a motorcycle and not a car. It is not done that way. The next thing I see is the bike slowly falling over on its right side. I could not bear to watch. Instinctively I turn my head away.... :cry:
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K
bluffton650, Glad your wife didn't get hurt worse. How fast was she going?

jas340, Did your friend get hurt? What kind of damage to the bike?


Kenny
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J
Kenny,
My friend was not hurt at all. He just dropped the bike. He was not moving. I read that it is quite common for newbies to drop their bikes. I was never able to comprehend that. How can a vertical bike just fall over with you sitting on it? The BK is so well balanced that I can ride it at 1 mph. Well, I saw it with my own eyes.
The plastic on the right side below the floorboard has minor scratches. Also the black chromed shield on the exhaust pipe is scratched and got tweaked. The bike did not go all the way over. After it rested on the aforementioned body components, he was able to manhandle the bike back up to vertical. No one except me will ever ride the BK again!!!
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K
Wow.. well I'm glad he wasn't hurt. There is only one person that I would ever let ride mine, and he has a Ducati worth over $10k. I know he's a really good rider. He won't let anyone ride his, except one other guy he said he knows is really good... mainly because of the cost involved in fixing the bike should it be dropped.... (sounds familiar huh?) :?

When I was in the MSF course, we had two dropped bikes. In both cases, I think the riders were so focused on stopping the bike, that they simply forgot to put their feet down until it was too late to recover. You have to figure, in that case, they were probably thinking about clutch, front brake, rear brake, throttle, steering, all at one time. Information overload... there probably wasn't enough room left for "oh yeah - I have to put my feet down don't I?" :oops:

Oh well - live and learn! Or, in your case - "OUCH! ($$) Live and Learn!"

Kenny
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D
Is this question for 650 riders only?

Wrecked my 400 last week at 40MPH when me and a car crossed paths. The car driver was charged with failure to yield. He's also uninsured. :evil: By the looks of him and his car (and his nonpayment of insurance premiums), he's flat broke. I won't get a cent out of him - I'd be wasting my time sueing him.
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K
Hope you weren't hurt....


Kenny
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D
I'm fine, Kenny. It's only by God's grace I didn't get hurt. I didn't even drop the scooter.
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K
Praise God for that! :mrgreen:

Did you run into the side of the car when it pulled out in front of you?

I would imagine that if it were the other way around, it would have been much worse.
Kenny
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D
No, the car ran into the side of my scooter. His front bumper left white paint all the way down the right side of my scooter, including the sole of my right shoe!

I posted a more detailed account at the Yahoo! Burgman group:
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Suz ... ssage/5854

Also posted pics there:
http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Su ... yahoo.com/
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K
Wow! Close one. I'll be sure to read your detailed account....

We can all learn from reading about others incidents... :?

Kenny
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allwalk
daveman said:
Is this question for 650 riders only?

Wrecked my 400 last week at 40MPH when me and a car crossed paths. The car driver was charged with failure to yield. He's also uninsured. :evil: By the looks of him and his car (and his nonpayment of insurance premiums), he's flat broke. I won't get a cent out of him - I'd be wasting my time sueing him.
Click to expand...
That just sucks Daveman! :evil:
It seems its almost always the uninsured we end up tangling with. Any estimates on how much t restore your baby? BTW Glad your ok and a job well done on not dropping it or the damage would have been worse. Good luck with the repairs
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V
My 3rd ever trip on my Burgman (btw, my 3rd ever trip riding a motorcycle), I went to a motorcycle show outside of Leesburg, VA. It was a great ride out there, and we were to meet my husband's uncle; an avid motorcyclist. Well, we get there and have a GREAT ride on some little roads. Everything's going well. Leaning, making turns, it's a beautiful day. We get to the event, and it's up this gravel road. Petrified, I carefully pilot my beautiful blue baby up the gravel and we find Mike's Uncle. I go to turn the bike and park it.......and I hit the gas too hard. The back wheel goes peeling around and I dropped it. In front of just about everybody, of course. The only injuries were to my pride.....

and to the lower right-side blue plastic piece under the footbed. Now I have the replacement piece, and just have to figure out how to put it on. Looks like I have a nice weekend project.
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D
Allwalk,

Believe it or not, a month after the accident, work has not yet begun on the Burgman. The Progressive adjuster couldn't obtain parts prices from Suzuki, so he told me to just bring it to a shop and have the shop prepare an estimate. Well guess what? The shop can't get parts prices from Suzuki, either! This is getting ridiculous. I'm missing out on the last days of the riding season. :(
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allwalk
What the hells going on with Suzuki. :evil: They deliver us these great Burgman products but fail to back it up with support. I just can't fathom bringing a product like this to market and not having parts or prices available. If this continues the Burgman will get a bad name just because dealers wont be able to offer parts and help. I'm sorry to hear your missing all this time Dave and worse yet having to deal with all the red tape associated with getting your bike repaired. Hope your on the road soon. BTW keep us updated and if you don't mind a final tally on repair costs would be of interest.
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allwalk
Glad to hear the only thing hurt was your pride V1X3N. You stated that you allready have the replacement piece. How hard was it to obtain the part and if you dont mind me asking, what was the price of said part? Good luck with the installation. BTW how was the show and did you see any goodies for the Burgman?
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L
DROPPER..

After 5500 miles and 8 months of confidence I got cocky and tried to make a 90 degree left turn at walking speed to get into a parking space with my feet mounted, locked the front wheel left, and woke up on the blacktop....thankfully a shopper was right there to check on me and help lift up the AN650...just bruised my shoulder a little..rules..never lock the front wheel without having both feet in walking mode, and remember it only takes an instant of carelessness....damage was hardly visible...just a little scrape under side of the left mirror that folded, and slight scrape along the left edge of the fairing that I touched up with matching silver spray from an auto store...no cracks in the plastic at all...yes, even though it is very stable and forgiving the Burger still obeys the law of gravity. :(
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K
2
Yes, locking the front wheel at any time is a no-no....

Unfortunately I found that out the hard way myself. (Not that I didn't already know...)

I was exiting the turnpike, going through the Change Provided lane, with my sunpass... I was going about 25 when suddenly I noticed the gate arm in front of me!

Now, it probably would have gone up in time, but since I hadn't seen it, it surprised me.

It literally "appeared" in front of me!

I must have been daydreaming or otherwise distracted. I had gone through the very same gate earlier that day! That's why I say that it probably was about to go up....

Anyway, I didn't think - I reacted... grabbed a handful of both brakes. I believe this would have been fine under normal circumstances, but it's usually a bit slicker at toll booths. The pavement wasn't greasy, but it was grooved, and there may have been a little broken glass or gravel...

At about 5 mph, the front wheel locked - the wheel turned full left instantly, and I basically "fell over" to my right.

This is where it almost gets comical... there was a concrete wall there, and I basically fell over into it, my helmet hit - not that hard - but just hard enough to go "doonk!" My right arm also hit the wall - thankfully I was wearing a heavy leather jacket! (Which I was not wearing on the first trip)

End result? About $200 in damage to the right side. It didn't go over all the way, so I was able to pick it back up alone.

Lessons learned:

Always wear protective gear!!! (Those MSF guys were right!!)
-- I'm sure that if I didn't have that jacket on, my arm would have been at least scraped, or possibly shredded. No need to talk about what would have happened to my head without a helmet.....

Pay attention! You cannot afford to be distracted for one second when on a bike!


Here are some pictures:



This last one is about 76k, so I'll link to it instead...
http://www.pray4kids.com/graphics/scoot_ouch_2.jpg

Fortunately, the damage is not visible unless you bend down, because it's on the downside of the bodywork...

And I didn't even have 3000 miles on it yet... :oops:

Kenny
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