1989 3CV Streetfighter Project

[aviationfred]

The 1st ride of the Streetfighter 1200 did not go as planned
An eventful morning. I spent all night working on the finishing touches on the Streetfighter. 4:30am I decide to do a 1st ride video. I had to ride to my house and swap helmets. I didn't make it. I had noted that the suspension was way too hard and would need to be sorted. I slowed down as approached a set of railroad tracks. I crossed the tracks and as the road leveled out, I accelerated. The bike had an unexpected full steering lock to the left. I was slammed to the ground. There was other traffic and they stopped to offer assistance. An Ambulance ride to the hospital and I have.... 5 broken ribs, left backside. A contusion to my left lung, a large hematoma on my left hip and some minor roads rash on my left knee.

Fred

[T Legg]

Sorry to hear that Fred. I hope your healed up and back riding soon.
  I was slammed the same way when I highsided my 1100 a couple years ago. I still have a separated clavicle on the left side but it doesn't affect the use of my arm or shoulder. The broken ribs healed up pretty quickly and feel perfectly fine now.
  Good luck

[fj1289]

OH SHIT!  Heal up fast Fred!  When they say a project is never finished - this is NOT how that's meant! 

Again - best wishes for a full and speedy recovery

[aviationfred]

More photos



Fred

[Pat Conlon]

Well shit  Fred, I'm glad you're ok, no head injuries. I know all about broken ribs. Heal up amigo!

[FJmonkey]

Wow Fred! I am glad you are alright.

[Old Rider]

Good to see you had luck in the bad luck.Broken ribs.. try not to laugh is my best advice.

[RPM - Robert]

Wow bad news! Heal up soon.

[joebloggs]

Sorry to hear about your off, glad you're OK

Why is it falling at low speed always seems to more damage to both rider and bike.

[aviationfred]

I have been working on the Streetfighter for the last 4 months while recovering/healing from the accident. I have also been riding as much as I can. The bike is now officially in the riding stage. Hopefully there won't be too many bugs to work out. I was able to ride it to work. I have about 40 miles on it.


Fred

[Pat Conlon]

I see a steering dampener added... needed?
 We have other GSXR front ends out here that don't have them.

[Millietant]

Maybe Fred added it after the first ride - I'm pretty sure he deliberately changed the steering geometry with the changes he made to the bike and felt that was a major contributor to the first ride crash.

[Pat Conlon]

I'm pretty sure he deliberately changed the steering geometry with the changes he made to the bike....

Hey Dean, I wondered about that, but it *looks like* he did the standard GSXR USD fork swap with the same triple clamps we use on other FJ's.....unless the forks are shorter...maybe he didn't use the spacers?
Thus my question...

Cheers mate

[axiom-r]

In my experience the forks are approximately 2" shorter sourced from GSXR or R1.  Thus the fork extenders that are typically used. I did drop my front end by raising the forks in the triple clamps slightly (not quite a half inch) and it increased "turn in" dexterity noticeably. 

I think even that small lowering of the front was too much as I would occasionally get a head shake on deceleration and my front tires seem to "cup" early - well before the tire is worn enough to be thinking about replacing it.

My conclusion is that I a going to try to return my bike to stock ride height, rake and trail...  the R1 Triples are the same offset so its just a matter of getting the fork length right. 

The way I ride right now, I value stability and tire life more than "turn in" dexterity. 

Also, with the front lowered my bike wants to stand up under trail braking...  noticeable lift up under those conditions. I hope this also disappears with a return to stock rake and trail. I am not sure if lowering helps or produces this issue.

I may settle on a few millimeters of lowering...


PS: I cannot see any fork extensions on Fred's street fighter

[giantkiller]

Fred has some of my fork extensions. But maybe on his other bike. If he doesn't have them that would lower the front a lot.