Picked up my new (to me) FJ1200 today, and crashed it!

[Terry in Australia]

At 0630, as I watched my "Bic" disposable razor lazily rotating in my bathroom sink like the cadaver of a drowning victim floating face down in a backyard swimming pool, I had no hint of how my Monday was going to pan out. Had I known that within hours I'd be sitting here, sad, sore and feeling sorry for myself, I think I'd have just stayed home in bed.

You see I bought my new (old) Yamaha FJ1200 today, and dropped it before my ownership was an hour old........ I've had a real run of good luck playing poker machine's over the last week and had a little over $2000 to spend on another bike, saw a nice 1987 FJ1200 with only 26,000 miles (untidy condition though, ridden hard and put away wet, by the looks) on "Gumtree" for $2500, so I offered the seller $2K and he took it, he even delivered it to my home. 

I'd done around 40 miles without incident and it was running great, but around 500 yards from home there's a curve with some yellow "ripple strips" on it, and as it was lightly raining it was enough to momentarily lose traction, and I threw it down the road.

Luckily there was no other traffic around, and the adrenalin was pumping, so I quickly picked myself up off the road, brushed myself down, then picked the monster up and rode it home.

There's no major damage to the bike, I scraped the little engine cover on the RHS of the crank, but the brake pedal punched a hole thru the clutch cover which caused some oil to run out, and of course fuel pissed out of the carbs. My beautiful stainless steel "Staintune" muffler is a tad scraped, but I think I can polish the smaller scratches out. The bar weight on the RHS handlebar is quite badly scuffed too, but I can't see any other damage so far.

I came off pretty well too, I was wearing my Triumph Jacket which has CE armour on the elbows so while my right elbow is sore there's nothing broken, my left knee is sore and has a bit of a scuff mark on it. (not sure how I did that as I dropped it on it's right side) And I ripped arse out of my work pants. I've already got a bad back, and I jolted that too, so when I got home I dropped lots of pain killers and anti inflammatories and a couple of hours after my "get off" I'm only a tad stiff and sore.

Oh well, the bike cost me nothing (my recent poker machine winnings paid for it completely, and there might be enough left over to pay for the parts I'll need to repair it) and it's infinitely repairable, so I think I'll survive, but I am pissed off that my run of good luck has ended so dramatically. I'm trying to remember when I last dropped a bike, and I don't think that's happened in the last 20 years, or so? 

I think I'll sue the local council for installing a dangerous "ripple strip" which has caused me to crash my immaculate bike that I just paid $10K for, (price inflated to maximise my compensation payout) not to mention my own horrific, life threatening injuries! If anyone would like to start a fund to help me buy 25 year old Scotch Whisky, er, sorry, I mean FJ1200 parts, please feel free to dig deep............ Cheers, Terry. 

[Capn Ron]

Sorry to hear about your get off!!  That's especially disheartening with such little time on the new ride!

I dropped mine for the first time two months ago, having ridden bikes over 27 years and 100,000 miles.  Right side, low-side and the damage you report sounds about right.  Bar end, mirror scuff, right muffler scraped, engine cover scraped (sheared off the screws in my case) and a bent rear brake pedal.

Face it, you were going to tear it down just for a good cleaning when you got her home anyway right?   

Sounds like you came out okay as well and doing the forensics on your injuries is half the fun while you heal up.  I got some deep road rash on the inside of my right knee and saw a lot of abrasion on the inside of my right boot but not all the way through.  The best I can figure is that I kept hanging on to the grips as the bike dragged me about 60 feet down the road.  I was basically face down with my left leg still up on the left side (now top) of the bike and my right side dragging the pavement with boot pointing outboard.  That would explain the inside knee rash and boot wear.  The things that happen when you don't have a helmet cam!!!   

Glad you're in good shape, all things considered and welcome to the FJ club...the hard way!   

Cap'n Ron. . .

[The General]

Great to hear you`re okay Terry. Don`t think I`ve seen yellow ripple strips up here. (let alone on a curve!) ...mmmm, hate those disposable razors...always end up with a bit of red. Get one of them multi vibrating ones... prophetically much smoother and ya can get new bits for them, no prob! 

[ken65]

gday terry, sorry to hear of your bad luck, glad your ok, plenty of parts available, you know where to look, let us know when its up and running again, did you get to ring its neck a couple of times before your accident?   ken

[ribbert]

At 0630, as I watched my "Bic" disposable razor lazily

I agree with the General, this is where you day started going wrong. They give those things away at the Blood Bank for people who don't like needles, get you to shave then hold a cup under your chin.

Anyway, glad you're not hurt, other than your pride, and the old girl only suffered some superficial scarring. Very disappointing none the less.

Where abouts in Melbourne did this happen?

While they haven't made a tyre yet that will grip road paint in the wet, It might be a good thing to check the date on the tyres. Many bikes don't do a lot of miles and the tyres can harden up well before the tread wears down. It is possible the tyres look great but are rock hard and in the wet this is akin to riding on ice.

Noel

[Terry in Australia]

G'Day Guys, thanks for your sympathy, your advice, and your views on disposable razors too. Noel, I'm in Mill Park. You may well be right about tyre age, I'm too sore right now to crawl around the bike and check the manufacture date, but the rule of thumb is usually around 5 years it's time to replace them, and the PO said he bought the bike 4 years ago, so they could well be over 5 years old.

They're Dunlop Sportsmax tyres and have tons of tread on them, but apart from probably being under inflated (I haven't checked tyre pressures either, but the PO didn't strike me as being particularly maintenance concious, when I first rang him he said the battery was flat and he didn't own a charger, so I brought over a fully charged battery, then the fuel in the bottom of the tank was "off", so he tipped a gallon of fresher lawn mower fuel into the tank to freshen it up, and after talking to him for a few minutes I have a sneaking suspicion that it hasn't had an oil and filter change in the time that he's owned it. No problem, I'll make it right.

I had a similar situation when I bought my BMW K100RS SE from another "Tradie", (the Yamaha seller is a house painter, the BMW seller was a deck builder) the bike had near perfect Metzler tyres on it, but the PO told me he'd bought it with them fitted, and they were rock hard. I've got a thing for Pirelli Sport Demons at the moment (and my apologies in advance if I inadvertantly turn this into a tyre thread) so I took my wheels over to Ace Motorcycles in West Heidelberg, and Jeff, the proprieter couldn't initially understand why I wanted new tyres? Then he worked out that the metzlers were around 10 years old. Nice soft rubber is cheap insurance.

I haven't thoroughly explored this site yet, but I presume that there's a "For Sale" section here, as I need to find a good undamaged clutch cover to replace the one that my brake pedal went thru, and the smaller cover with 2 screws that goes on the RHS of the crank? Sorry, I don't know what it's called. Anyway, thanks guys, I'm still loving my new toy, I just need a nice warm (dry) day to give it a workout.

Ken, I am happy with the accelleration, my Rocket III would leave it in the weeds, but of course it's got another 1100cc's of "Oomph". After the Triumph though, the FJ is now my quickest bike. Cheers, Terry. 

[Dan Filetti]

Sucks about the early off.  On the bright side, at least you're not THIS guy:

Dan

[Country Joe]

Sucks about the early off.  On the bright side, at least you're not THIS guy:

Dan

Yeah, but at least he was ATGATT.......

[CanDman]

quote/
great to have another Aussie on board....can you square dance .....or run with your ass on fire?    

quote/

I can try to dig up  a bottle of "Swn Y Mor" ...and bring it to the Rally...if you are there you can have a few pulls with me and the Harvmiester.....  

[Harvy]

I can try to dig up  a bottle of "Swn Y Mor" ...and bring it to the Rally...if you are there you can have a few pulls with me and the Harvmiester.....  

You smooth talkin' bastard .........

[poker007]

be short  Sorry to hear About you dismount on the FJ ... they say only two different types motorcycle riders are out there. Those Who
  haven't crashed  , and those who have crashed,,,,

[Pat Conlon]

.......they say only two different types motorcycle riders are out there. Those Who
  haven't crashed  , and those who have crashed,,,,

Nope.

It goes like this....Those who have crashed, and those who have yet to crash.

Nobody is special. It's inevitable, just a matter of time..... Be prepared.

ATTGAT

Glad you're ok Tony.

[Capn Ron]

Early on in my motorcycling life, it was put to me:  "Those who HAVE crashed and those who WILL."  I always endeavour to do what others say can't be done and knocked out 27 incident-free years on bikes...just last month, on a ride no more than 20 miles from my house, I low-sided.  It WILL happen.  What do YOU want to be wearing when you go sliding down the pavement?

ATGATT

Cap'n Ron. . .

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, you're all quite right, and I have to admit that the day before my "get off", I was riding my old GL1200 Interstate just wearing jeans, a T Shirt, and an open face helmet. Admittedly it was in the high 80's, but I suspect that I wouldn't be as uninjured I am now, had I thrown the 'Wing down the road.

Good thing is I woke up this morning and my injuries are only minor, with very little bruising, just some aches and pains, but I'll live. Hopefully the weather will improve this weekend (I'm away from home for the rest of the week working at an Airforce base in the country) so I can take it for a decent ride on a dry road. (with my jacket, boots and gloves this time) Cheers, Terry.     

[Klavdy]

Nonsense, it's a self fulfilling prophesy.