1st time for everything

[Ivan]

Well, it happened.

I just replaced the rear tire with a new(er) one and was headed out for a test ride. Pulled off the gravel street and gave it some power and wouldn't you know, that new tire is not nearly as grippy as the old one. She slid out from beneath me.

I know everyone is thinking, did I slide or roll? I did both. After a few feet, I thought there must not be much skin on that elbow, so I tried the other side. Asymmetrical pain is just not good.

Damage as far as I can see is the muffler scraped up, the engine guard with the hiway peg is bent, the right foot peg has no rubber on the outside, and my mirror needs adjusted. I also need a new cell phone. Mine is dead now.

As in the movie Airplane:

"Looks like I picked the wrong day to quit smoking."

[tarzan]

Sorry to hear of your spill.Yea they say be real carefull the first few miles till you wear off the film.I dont know what it is ,but I know they are a little greasy at first.
I know how going down feels too if its any help.I was screwing around on my old xs11 about five years ago and burning the tires off around corners.Same thing,bike just flew out from under me.Tought me a whole new respect for it.LOL
Glad your ok.

[John]

Was it a brand new tire? There is a film called 'mold release' on the tire. It enables the tire to be removed from the mold with out sticking. It takes a while to wear it off, and until then the tire can be slick.

[79XS11F]

Might be the tire .. or might be that the torque these engines produce just caught you off guard on some stray stones. I never "crank" it unless the wheels are both pointing in the same direction. I've seen too many rear wheels "pop" out from under a bike when the juice is turned on even in mild turns.
Glad to hear that the damage is minor.
Rob

[bikerphil]

slick rear tire

Couple of my friends who still ride crotchrockets sand the new rear tire with 80 grit before even using them.

[Ivan]

Funny thing is that I wasn't even on it that hard. It wasn't a new tire, but has few miles on it and has been sitting for a while.

I had done quite a bit of cleaning and degreasing the wheel when I transplanted it, so there may have been some of that on it as well. I figured that the 150 yards of gravel would have taken care of any of that, maybe it just stuck the gravel to my tire.

I went back and looked at the scene of the accident, and there was a clear spiral burnout mark and some gouges in the pavement. Near as I can tell the bike ended up sliding backward, with me sliding on my right side still gripping the bars, when my grip failed, I rolled I think three times.

Some guy in a car was coming up the road, and damn near hit me. He stopped by a while after the fact to see if I was OK. Said he had to get on the brakes pretty hard. Thank God he wasn't yapping on a cell phone. I didn't even see him when I entered the intersection, so he must have been tooling right along.

I am still nervous. But I got back on, and just hammered the hell out of it. No more spinning out. Found out I need bigger jets now. Hehe.

[mstic2000]

Get ya some bleach and do some short burnouts. You'll have traction after that guaranteed! LOL

[barberad]

Ivan, sorry to hear about your spill. I can always remember all of my road rashes. Hope you and the bike heal up quickly.
Dan

[The Lorax]

glad you're alright, the rest can be fixed. have a nice day and ride safe

[Ivan]

Well thanks for all the encouragement. It is nice to not be called a dork or worse for having a mishap. This is a great board.

We'll see what I feel like in the morning, after I have time to let the pain set in and the joints stiffen up.

[ClarkGriswald]

Hey glad you made it thru with minor injuries, seriously. Sometimes the stupidest little things can stick with ya. When I first got mine goin a while back I was tooling around my garden out back of my house. My soil here has a lot of clay to it so its slippery even when its dry. I had been doing donuts in the tall grass cause its slippery, those half circle or so ones where ya just kinda get on it and float it out. Now that I have more time on the bike I bet its because my 3 cyl's were weak that I was able to do that and not just be spinning all the time. hehe. Anyway one time going around a tight turn around the corner of my garden, imagine my garden is a giant rectangle. if you drive around the outside of it, it drops off on a pretty good angle and down to a pond. I went around the corner one time and instead of ass up off the seat, weight on the pegs like I should have been, I was sitting down and it slipped right out from under me. I had a laugh and tried to start it for a while and wiggled all the connections around and whatever and got it running again but ever since I have had a weird pulling/stretchy feeling in my right knee. Like the skin is tight but more muscle'y.. (even a word?). It is pretty much goin away now in the last few weeks so it was temporary but it sure brought back memories of dirt biking.

This was before I ever cleaned anything so it was all of nothing hehe. I dont think I would risk filling up parts with sod now after all the work Ive been doin. But after all the stuff Ive done including the fact that my garden used to be about an 80 foot tabletop jump (yeah used to have my own track here), that little fall gave me the real feal for this bike. Now it is my B*tch because I pushed it until it broke loose.

Another quicky, I was talkin to a friend recently. He asked me about my neighbor around the corner, just got some "white bike". I know the guy he was askin about but didnt know he got a bike, anyway. He said he went by the house and a bike was coming out of the driveway but was waiting and my buddy went by.. after he went up to the corner and turned, he seen the same guy laid down on the next corner (theres 2 corners you can go right on in like a couple hundred feet . ) . but they are all gravely around here. where gravel roads meet paved.

Everytime I leave my house its that same thing each way. Watch now I will get all 4 hitting right and go out and do the same thing;. hehhehe.

[Ken Talbot]

Originally posted by Ivan
It is nice to not be called a dork or worse for having a mishap.

Ever hear the one about counting your chickens?

[yadada]

Ivan - You mentioned the tire had been sitting a while? Long enough for the rubber to harden a bit? I've heard that happens anyway...

[fredintoon]

"It is nice to not be called a dork or worse for having a mishap."

Hi Ivan,
you ride a 30 year old motorcycle that has way too much power for it's brakes and steering. Of course you are a dork.
That said, ain't we all?
Hopefully you will heal soon and be able to save for a better class of rear tire.