Whatsup everybody

I had been planning to post a thread about my new bike, but unfortunately that thread is here in the "Accidents" threads.

I recently started a new job as a motorcycle courier. So now I get paid to ride my motorcycle! Now of course, being paid to ride a motorcycle in the twisties or on a track would be the preferred gig, but for now this is cool.

For my new job I wanted to get an additional, less expensive bike to put all that wear and tear on, so I found a relatively inexpensive 2000 Suzuki SV650 in pretty good shape with about 23k miles. Yeah, obviously i'd prefer to have a 599, but since they only produced 'em for two years, the aren't readily available, nor inexpensive.

So yesterday after work, my last drop off was in Santa Monica. I figured since I was so close already to the twisties in Malibu, i'd go for a little ride before returning home. There's a section of road on Mulholland Hwy west of the popular biker hang out spot, the Rock Store, that is very tight. I was riding pretty aggressively and right at about the apex of one turn, I was leaned over pretty far and the tire gave out and slid. It happened quickly so I'm not positive, but It felt as if the rear end slid. Wasn't on the brakes, wasn't running wide, thought I was riding farily smoothly, and wasn't crossing the painted line. I didn't even feel the peg scrape before it gave out. The tires weren't cold - I had been riding in the canyons for a good 30 minutes or so before it happened.

So I'm not completely clear on what kind of error I may have made; other than just riding fast on a public road...

It was such a weird feeling, simultaneously sliding while watching the bike slide up into the dirt on the side of the road. I didn't get hurt too badly, so when I went to pick the bike up, I was expecting the worst. but suprisingly, the damage was fairly minimal.

Frame Sliders... :bow

However, since I went up there directly after work, i wasn't wearing my usual riding pants or leathers, so my knees got scraped up quite a bit. I know, i know... stupid. :thinking I had on all other appropriate gear so I was otherwise fine. But, washing your road rash off with water in the shower BURNS!!!

A couple of riders heading down the hill helped me roll the bike out of the dirt. After a short analysis of mine and the bike's condition, i hopped back on and rode it home. shifting without a knob on your lever is a pain in the ass.

Well, that pretty much sums up this event, which is the first time that I've gone down on a bike.

LW


Doesn't look too bad from here:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2727208820_c5c0fe06f6_o.jpg

Broken left mirror, left side of the handlebar is bent upwards, but the tank is for the most part unscathed:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3038/2726384697_197c55081d_o.jpg

shifter knob broke off, bent shifter rod, lightly scratched crankcase cover, and now a "used" frame slider:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3003/2726384861_53c3f60751_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3204/2726385139_0b9b100eaf_o.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3074/2727209278_f991d63a84_o.jpg

Damn dude... from where I am sitting... you're golden.

Glad to hear you're generally okay. Sucks you can't pinpoint exactly what happened. Even though my crash last year was a little more involved, I at least know what I did so I could chalk it up to a learning experience. But then again I had to sell my bike off for parts and your SV just needs a couple odds and ends.

All things considered, I'd have to say you did alright. The rash sucks, and it's a pain in the ass when it's at a flex point because you'll keep breaking it open. Keep lots of Neosporin handy.

Good luck with the repairs and the healing, brother.

Thx, dude.

I got the shifter replaced and the rod straightened out. The new aftermarket shifter actually has a nice solid feel to it. And I'm gonna replace the lollipop mirrors with some bar-end ones. So pretty much the only thing left after that will be to replace the handlebars. I would go with something cooler like the Suburban Mach bars or clip-ons, but I'm going to be spending upwards of 6 hours a day riding this bike around, so the stock bars will be still be the best option, comfort-wise.

Yeah, the road rash on my knees hurt like hell when I stand up for any amount of time. It's like I can feel them pulsating or something... I'm just hoping they heal up just enough tonight so that I'm not in immense pain when I have to get back on the bike for work tomorrow.

Notice how this aftermarket shifter has a retractable knob? :wink:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2729564864_e74f155da7_o.jpg

Feels solid when shifting

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3181/2729565120_fd89d5e0bb_o.jpg

Where did you find an aftermarket shifter?

I was looking all over for one and came up empty, so I just got a new OEM one. I'd really like to at least see some options.


edit: I see it's from Driven, but they don't seem to make any for Honda other than their dirt bikes. Any thoughts?

One thing I like about the 599 is the standard bars even if they are a bit high and close together when things get tight. That's offset by being more comfortable the other 90% of the time. I'm glad you walked away relatively unscathed - maybe changing bikes changes your feel for the "limit"?? Either way good luck getting her back on the road, used SV's are some of the best bargains in used bikes.

Glad to hear you're ok LW, sounds like your knees got it worst than yer ride :( Do you usually wear any kind of riding pants? ...How fast do you figure you were going when you lost the bike?

Ouch.

Sounds like you're in fine spirits. Hope those knees get good and well soon.

Where did you find an aftermarket shifter?

I was looking all over for one and came up empty, so I just got a new OEM one. I'd really like to at least see some options.


edit: I see it's from Driven, but they don't seem to make any for Honda other than their dirt bikes. Any thoughts?
I went to my mechanic and they happened to have the aftermarket one in stock made for a gixxxer, which also happened to fit the SV. So I couldn't really tell ya whereabouts to find this stuff.


Glad to hear you're ok LW, sounds like your knees got it worst than yer ride :( Do you usually wear any kind of riding pants? ...How fast do you figure you were going when you lost the bike?

I think I was maybe goin about 20 mph.

edit: after getting on my bike and feeling how fast 20 mph is, it was probably more like 26-28 mph when I took the spill

Generally speaking, any time I go riding in the canyons I am wearing full gear. I have a 2-pc leather suit that I always wear for the canyons unless it's really hot out. For those days I have a pair of mesh riding pants with CE knee armor and foam hip pads. I was just being foolish by goin up there directly after work wearing jeans... Well, it wouldn't have been as foolish had I been riding less aggressively.

It's quite painfully ironic that of the very, very few times I am up riding in the canyons with jeans I end up goin' down. :?


maybe changing bikes changes your feel for the "limit"??
Yeah, I think I hadn't had enough of a feel for the limit with the SV yet (obviously). There are a couple of things that I think may have factored into the lowside:

I have Michelin Pilot Powers on my 919 whereas the SV has Bridgestone Sport Touring tires. They are less sticky and have a much more round profile and have less of a contact patch at deep lean angles when compared to the "pointy" profiled Pilot Powers. Also, tire pressure was at about 33 psi front and 35 for the rear. Not particularly high, but maybe a lil higher than I should probably have them for aggressive canyon riding; especially with round sport touring tires. (my mechanic said for aggressive canyon riding I might want them as low as 30 front and 32 rear)

Also, the corner I went down on was a very tight, somewhat steeply uphill one. So maybe the added pressure of hard, tight cornering, and going uphill put too many forces on the tires, causing them to give.

I'm not trying to blame the tires tho. Even if what I just said contributed to the lowside, it's obviously still my responsibility to adjust my riding to the differences in tires, suspension, and whatever else. I'm sure there may have been a whole host of things that contributed.

thx again to you guys for your concern. As soon as my knees heal up you can be sure I'll be out there again! riding with a little more caution, of course... :oops:

Oh yeah, here's a couple more pics from after I cleaned it up and got the new shifter put on and stuff

lookin' much better already

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3103/2728736197_5889acb6e1.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3145/2729564586_a5b73db132.jpg

Glad to hear you are (relatively) okay! That could have been so much worse. By the way, that's a cool new toy you've got there! I've never ridden one, but I really like the look of those SV's. Stickin' with my 599, though.

Heal quickly, my friend!

Sorry to hear about the accident, but glad to see that you made it through without too much damage to yourself or the bike.

What is this that you do as a job?

What is this that you do as a job?

I'm working for a legal services company as a motorcycle courier. I typically transport legal documents/court files, or anything else that a client wishes to have delivered. I'm like Jason Statham, but on a motorcycle... minus the martial arts/gun-fight scenes.

A building which I frequent is the Fox Plaza building in Century City, otherwise known as Nakatomi Plaza :wink: :

http://a1259.g.akamai.net/f/1259/5586/1d/images.art.com/images/-/Die-Hard-Poster-C10286176.jpeg http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Foxyplaza.jpg/250px-Foxyplaza.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2412/2102279110_bff39521aa.jpg

The SV was jealous of your 919 and tried to kill you.

What is this that you do as a job?

I'm working for a legal services company as a motorcycle courier. I typically transport legal documents/court files, or anything else that a client wishes to have delivered. I'm like Jason Statham, but on a motorcycle... minus the martial arts/gun-fight scenes.

A building which I frequent is the Fox Plaza building in Century City, otherwise known as Nakatomi Plaza :wink: :



Sweet! Sounds like a pretty cool gig!

Sweet! Sounds like a pretty cool gig!

No kidding!

Glad to hear you faired as well as you did.

What the?! Stop crashing kids! You, J... :: sigh ::

Good to know you're relatively okay though, and the bike is looking good - especially for a 2000.

Ride safe brother. Seriously.

I hadn't planned on takin pics of my road rash until a friend told me to e-mail him pics... he's weird like that. So I thought i'd share it with all you guys too!

I've been having to move my legs around alot these past few days for work so my road rash keeps opening up everynow and then and spewing out pus. nasty.

I know this is just pointing out the obvious, but this is why jeans are NOT protective gear...

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/2537/dsc00281640mw7.jpg

having hairy legs really makes treating road rash that much more of a pain. You can't really see, but there's still tiny pieces of fabric from the jeans that were too painful to remove.

http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/1807/dsc00275cpn4.jpg

I hate those... they leak all over your pants and sheets and hurt every time you stand up... used to get them all the time in soccer, but much worse when the pavement makes them.

ouch!.. hope you heal quick

Nice. Good times, eh?

I feel your pain. Really, I do! Sleeping is a bitch for me. The elbow always gets tangled up. I lost my bandage last night at some point, but fortunately I didn't bleed all over my sheets.

I'm sure you have to be dealing with a similar scenario with your knees. Every time you roll over or shift from one side to the next, you get a fresh fire sensation. Loads of fun!

it's been over a month from my crash,
and i still can't wear jeans comfortably.
which means i'm in pain when riding cuz riding in shorts is just dumb a idea...

does it look dumb to have knee pads with jeans on a 599??
but even if it does, i think i should definitely get a pair of knee pads just so i don't scrap my knee next time.....

Buy some baggy pants and wear thin pads under your pants. You won't look as retarded that way.

Added to my reminders every time I think, "Eh, maybe I don't really need to wear the riding pants today." :-/

Buy some baggy pants and wear thin pads under your pants. You won't look as retarded that way.

do it does look stupid in jeans w/ knee pads.....
i don't like baggy jeans
maybe i'll just look like a retard every time then...... :oops:

Those jeans aren't doing any more than shorts would... if you're worried about it, I'd get some pads.

Some options for you:
http://www.cyclegear.com/model_col.cfm?L1=3&L2=17&L3=&L4=&brand=10&type=17

http://www.motostrano.com/tpfoboar.html

http://store.dsrpowersports.com/sllegar.html?productid=sllegar&channelid=FROOG

... but leathers work best. :D

Pictures look brutal! I wish you quick recovery, man. I'm officially swearing off short rides without my overpants.

The SV was jealous of your 919 and tried to kill you.
HA! Nice.

Good to see you made it off the mountain in one piece.

LeatherWings, Do you think you did any permanent damage to your knees? Those injuries look painful and more severe than I would have imagined a 20 MPH lowside would produce. JBarx and yourself are making me seriously consider ATGATT. Currently I wear a jacket, gloves, and a helmet when I commute to work. Work pants and shoes offer zero protection...

Ass-less chaps don't sound so silly anymore do they? :lol:

When I had a low speed drop and got some wicked rash on my ankle, I went to an urgent care place. They soaked my ankle in some weird warm fluid and then took a gauze pad and scrubbed at it. Hard. It was very painful. They had to do it because of the dirt/gravel that were stuck in the wound. And I went down because of the dirt/gravel. Screw dirt AND screw gravel. And road rash. Left a cool scar though.

With the amount of damage done to the bike I'd say more like 30MPH which doesn't sound like a lot more but it sure feels like a lot more when you hit the pavement!

how far do you have to go out? why didn't you pick a ninja250 or even a scooter?

Take it easy out there LW. Hope you heal up well. The SV is nice.
But maybe you fell 'cos it's just not a Honda. 8)

LeatherWings, Do you think you did any permanent damage to your knees? Those injuries look painful and more severe than I would have imagined a 20 MPH lowside would produce. JBarx and yourself are making me seriously consider ATGATT...
With the amount of damage done to the bike I'd say more like 30MPH which doesn't sound like a lot more but it sure feels like a lot more when you hit the pavement!
Yeah, i added an edit to my earlier post. After I rode around at 20 and 30mph, I realized that I most likely went down somewhere closer to 30mph. Yeah, on paper it doesn't sound that much more, but it definitely felt it.

The damages to my knee were just to the skin. They've healed up now for the most part, aside from being big, itchy scabs...

how far do you have to go out? why didn't you pick a ninja250 or even a scooter?
I had initially thought about a ninja250, but soon after I started working I knew i'd need something a lil larger, displacement-wise. A bike with more hp's for the freeway is definitely preferred. Sometimes I have to travel fairly far for my job. For example, today I had to ride from West LA out to Victorville (1.5 hours, 95 miles, one-way) to file some court documents.

Here's the route on GOOGLE MAPS (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=S+Sepulveda+Blvd+%4034.020800,+-118.423459&daddr=Civic+Dr+%4034.510853,+-117.323642&hl=en&geocode=10574877480833155388,34.020800,-118.423459%3B17298323141887658864,34.510853,-117.323642%3B15134970826355297527,34.060704,-118.258442&mra=mr&sll=34.060055,-118.341293&sspn=0.269066,0.700378&ie=UTF8&ll=34.225429,-117.847595&spn=1.074141,1.757812&z=9)

Ass-less chaps don't sound so silly anymore do they? :lol:
Ass-less chaps have never sounded silly to me; rather, just... right. :naughty

The damages to my knee were just to the skin. They've healed up now for the most part, aside from being big, itchy scabs...
I hear ya there, my arm and shoulder are driving me nuts. You can either keep them oozey and flexible, or dry and itchy. You can't win either way.

:evil:

The damages to my knee were just to the skin. They've healed up now for the most part, aside from being big, itchy scabs...
I hear ya there, my arm and shoulder are driving me nuts. You can either keep them oozey and flexible, or dry and itchy. You can't win either way.

:evil:

I can feel you, bro. My foot feels sore continuingly, so I can't even get a good sleep. At least the swelling is getting small.

LeatherWings, I'm just curious, do you get paid by the hour or by the job to be a motorcycle courier?

. For example, today I had to ride from West LA out to Victorville (1.5 hours, 95 miles, one-way) to file some court documents.

Here's the route on GOOGLE MAPS (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=S+Sepulveda+Blvd+%4034.020800,+-118.423459&daddr=Civic+Dr+%4034.510853,+-117.323642&hl=en&geocode=10574877480833155388,34.020800,-118.423459%3B17298323141887658864,34.510853,-117.323642%3B15134970826355297527,34.060704,-118.258442&mra=mr&sll=34.060055,-118.341293&sspn=0.269066,0.700378&ie=UTF8&ll=34.225429,-117.847595&spn=1.074141,1.757812&z=9)


For future reference, let me suggest this "shortcut" on google maps (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=S+Sepulveda+Blvd+%4034.020800,+-118.423459&daddr=I-210+E+%4034.273230,+-118.362110+to:Little+Tujunga+Canyon+Rd+%4034.33947 5,+-118.344200+to:Angeles+Forest+Hwy+%4034.404960,+-118.077580+to:Angeles+Crest+Hwy+%4034.272880,+-118.043710+to:34.189086,-117.861328+to:Civic+Dr+%4034.510853,+-117.323642&hl=en&geocode=10574877480833155388,34.020800,-118.423459%3B1524638277803482249,34.273230,-118.362110%3B7056016496754954881,34.339475,-118.344200%3B10737501841312651956,34.404960,-118.077580%3B15453670856642470877,34.272880,-118.043710%3B17298323141887658864,34.510853,-117.323642&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=5&sz=9&via=1,2,3,4,5&sll=34.225429,-117.847595&sspn=1.144553,2.592773&ie=UTF8&ll=34.303741,-117.91626&spn=1.143504,2.592773&z=9) :wink:

. For example, today I had to ride from West LA out to Victorville (1.5 hours, 95 miles, one-way) to file some court documents.

Here's the route on GOOGLE MAPS (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=S+Sepulveda+Blvd+%4034.020800,+-118.423459&daddr=Civic+Dr+%4034.510853,+-117.323642&hl=en&geocode=10574877480833155388,34.020800,-118.423459%3B17298323141887658864,34.510853,-117.323642%3B15134970826355297527,34.060704,-118.258442&mra=mr&sll=34.060055,-118.341293&sspn=0.269066,0.700378&ie=UTF8&ll=34.225429,-117.847595&spn=1.074141,1.757812&z=9)


For future reference, let me suggest this "shortcut" on google maps (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=S+Sepulveda+Blvd+%4034.020800,+-118.423459&daddr=I-210+E+%4034.273230,+-118.362110+to:Little+Tujunga+Canyon+Rd+%4034.33947 5,+-118.344200+to:Angeles+Forest+Hwy+%4034.404960,+-118.077580+to:Angeles+Crest+Hwy+%4034.272880,+-118.043710+to:34.189086,-117.861328+to:Civic+Dr+%4034.510853,+-117.323642&hl=en&geocode=10574877480833155388,34.020800,-118.423459%3B1524638277803482249,34.273230,-118.362110%3B7056016496754954881,34.339475,-118.344200%3B10737501841312651956,34.404960,-118.077580%3B15453670856642470877,34.272880,-118.043710%3B17298323141887658864,34.510853,-117.323642&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=5&sz=9&via=1,2,3,4,5&sll=34.225429,-117.847595&sspn=1.144553,2.592773&ie=UTF8&ll=34.303741,-117.91626&spn=1.143504,2.592773&z=9) :wink:

Haha, nice. :thumbsup

If only i were paid by the hour...