Minor disaster

[Pat Conlon]

It has character. Concourse quality bikes don't get ridden...we ride ours.

Glad it worked out Dean.

[rlucas]

I suspect we have all done this....

Nope. Never. Well...

Two years ago I went out on my last ride of the year (late Fall) on the WeeStrom. I was doing a little back-road exploring, visiting on old, historic covered bridge outside of town. I noticed a little gravel road with a sign indicating a park that I had heard of but never visited, so I decided to check it out. About a quarter-mile in I decided that it was a waste of time and I looked for a place to turn around. Oh, look...a grain bin surrounded by a nice, flat, gravel lot.

Except it wasn't.

What looked like smooth gravel was actually a thin layer of loose gravel that had washed over a base of mud and wet cornstalks. I was only moving at a walking pace, but the front washed out like it was on ice. It happened very fast. The left bar-end hit the ground, driving my shoulder backwards - tore everything, may have broken or dislocated my collarbone. Okay...so now I'm a quarter-mile from a paved road, injured, with no cell phone. I did manage to get the bike upright, and after my heart rate came down and the adrenalin level dropped, I rode back home.

I was bruised completely purple from my left shoulder to my nipple. There's pics, it happened, and I'm not postin' 'em here.

[andyoutandabout]

Yeah dropping bikes. The Fj has been dropped once on new tires when crossing white lines on a left turn out of a driveway. That was before the crash bars were installed of course. Since then Lady Luck has been smiling.
The bike I dropped with alarming regularity was a big red, fully faired VFR750. It was almost comical the variety of situations that resulted in a walking pace tip over. Two from a Europe tour stick in the mind. A diesel spill whipped the front out on a Spanish roundabout. Drawing into a French campsite the front finds a rabbit hole and down she goes again.
As you might imagine, that fairing was mainly duct tape be the end of ownership.

[Old Rider]

Milletant i think you got lucky after all with  minor damage. I dropped mine when i had the helmet hanging on right mirror waiting outside a
carwash when it was my turn i jumped on the bike and did a sharp slow left turn to drive inside the wash.In the exact same moment
the frontbrake lever got activated by my helmet and the throttle rolled on so i did a little burnout same time as the bike fell over .
Many people was watching   adrenaline came in my blood and i quickly lifted the bike up as is was made of  styrene and drove in the washinghall pushing the knob on the wall to lower the overhead door.My pickupcoil cover got more nasty scratches than yours.

[Millietant]

The photo makes my pod repairs look much better than they actually are, but as my old mum used to say...."a blind man on a galloping horse won't notice it"  

[Millietant]

Milletant i think you got lucky after all with  minor damage. I dropped mine when i had the helmet hanging on right mirror waiting outside a
carwash when it was my turn i jumped on the bike and did a sharp slow left turn to drive inside the wash.In the exact same moment
the frontbrake lever got activated by my helmet and the throttle rolled on so i did a little burnout same time as the bike fell over .
Many people was watching   adrenaline came in my blood and i quickly lifted the bike up as is was made of  styrene and drove in the washinghall pushing the knob on the wall to lower the overhead door.My pickupcoil cover got more nasty scratches than yours.

I think you're right, definitely got lucky with this one !!!!!

[ribbert]

I just did a slow. Lowering of the 89....

Dan, we are all familiar with you accident record, it appears you have under achieved on all fronts this time, speed, damage and injuries! (Glad you weren't hurt)

Noel

[gumby302ho]

 So my most recent f ----up happened two weeks ago. I was two minutes from home using the ex's truck and trailer that I had used to travel 4 hrs to pick up a 2000 Blackbird. Two flipping minutes from home I hit a big bump and one of the front straps break, I see the bird leaning over as I slowly try to come to a stop, bam it falls over in the trailer, I screamed. Thats not all that happened that day that went to shit but seeing that bike fall over in the rear view mirror, a very clean clean looked after machine had been disgraced by its new owner. Thats why I screamed.

[giantkiller]

I just did a slow. Lowering of the 89....

Dan, we are all familiar with you accident record, it appears you have under achieved on all fronts this time, speed, damage and injuries! (Glad you weren't hurt)

Noel

Thanks Noel.

Just another day in the life of Dan McCoy.

[T Legg]

I didn't think I would be posting this but in the spirit of the thread I will. Last month I was on the 86 fj I bought a few months ago driving down my dirt driveway. I hadn't done any tuning on it yet and the idle was way to high and with the choke still on it was racing down the driveway so I pulled in the clutch. At the end of my driveway the large tip of a huge rock protrudes up in the middle of the road and normally I dip to the inside to miss it. This time as I was dipping around it I made a very poor decision to release the clutch and try to push in the choke ( which on this new bike is down on the fairing). When I did the burst of acceleration caused my front tire to run into the rock turning the wheel hard right to full lock and tossing me off and on to my left shoulder and a roll across my back. My jacket performed well my helmet never hit and other than a two inch stripe of road rash below my left knee no injury's or even pain. The damage to the bike could have been worse. The fairing had a small scratched area the left scoop has a crack on the edge the fairing screw covers were damaged the left ignition cover was scratched and the shift lever has a new angle. All of that is pretty easily repaired but the worst part is that even though the left handle bar never touched the ground the wheel turned so violently to the right when it hit the rock it caused the right handle bar to dent the gas tank.

[Millietant]

Thanks Red - any specific brand/type ?  I've always just torn into the carbs in the past when I wasn't happy about anything, but I'm happy to try something else - I know people have mentioned Sea Foam on forums, but I can't seem to get that here in the UK.

Millietant,

I only looked on
www.amazon.co.uk
but they had Seafoam.  Seemed to be somewhat high priced, but stock up your garage shelf if you need to order it.  You might ask the local bikers or auto parts/bike shops to recommend other fuel injector/carb cleaners for local purchase.

Sorry about the minor disaster.  You might want to check with eBay.UK or the local breaker yards for FJ fall bars.  I have seen sets that were castings, not tubing, but if they protect the bike, that would be sufficient.  Somebody here may have some set of fall bars which they will sell to you, also.  It never hurts to ask the accessory sellers/manufacturers, either.  They may have a NOS set to sell, which they really can't sell to anybody but you.
.

Thanks Red, I'll have look at the Seafoam on Amazon and check out some local shops/mechanics for other cleaners they might recommend.

It's funny, but I put R & G sliders/mushrooms on my Aprilia RSV, FZ1 and FZS 600 and the other FJ 12, and engine bars/crash bars on nearly every one of my other bikes over the last 44 years of road riding.....but I've never put anything on this FJ. As sad as it seems, I'm happy to take the risk on this one and have to repair it if/when I drop it.

Seems stupid I know, but sense seems to have gone out the window with this one (which is my favourite bike I've ever owned).

,

So, some more good news........with another 110 miles put on the bike yesterday, after putting in a good does of carb and fuel system cleaner on Monday evening (and riding for about 15 minutes), all is right in the world of FJ carbs. Starting has returned to normal and the low end response is pretty much back to where it was. I think I can notice a "slight" hesitation, just off idle (almost imperceptible) that I didn't think was there before, but I haven't really ridden the bike since late last year, so I might well be mistaken.

Anyway, more riding to be done over the next few days 

[ribbert]

I didn't think I would be posting this but in the spirit of the thread I will.....

That's a great shame Travis. I doubt there's a man among us that hasn't had a low speed / stationary drop. If you're unlucky, it's still possible to hurt yourself even at that speed and it's a good thing on this occasion you didn't. The dent in the petrol tank is very disappointing, but I'm sure you've covered that one with yourself a few times over already!

I salute your bravery in admitting the rock was in your own driveway and it's presence known to you.

Noel