Why you shouldn't let your Harley riding brother-in-law ride your VFR

Well I think the title says it all. Just use your imagination until I can get some pics posted but if you need some help just imagine the following combination:

1. My beloved 1993 VFR "PEARL" in very good condition
2. A brother in law who owns and normally rides a Harley Road King
3. Steep twistie road (Hwy 129) in North Georgia leaving Blood Mountain
4. Narrow gravel shoulder followed by a steep vertical dropoff.

Starting to get the picture?? All I can say is that I am very glad he was not injured. He was shaken up pretty badly but thanks to his riding gear he only suffered a few scrapes and bruises. We had been planning this trip for several months ever since I learned he was coming to visit with us. He has about 5 years total riding experience but has not ridden the twisties much since he primarily commutes on his bike and lives where there are straight boring roads. In addition to this he has only ridden sport type bikes 2 or 3 times previously for relatively short periods of time.

I know you are probably thinking that I am an idiot for taking him up to the mountains under these conditions but before we went I made sure that he got 3 full days of practice riding on the bike prior to going up there. During those 3 days we hit a wide variety of roads and he seemed to handle the moderate curves and sweeping country roads without any problems. He rode a very relaxed pace the whole time and progressively got better and better on the VFR. He assured me that he felt comfortable enough on the bike to check out some of the more scenic and challenging routes the following day so the next day we left at 2pm (Tues) and it took us 90 minutes to get up to the North Georgia Mountains. The roads were completely empty and the weather was absolutely perfect. I kept a close eye on him in my mirrors during the first 2 hours of the ride and he seemed to be handling all the roads with no problems. We covered close to 200 miles of challenging roads with no problems at all and then decided to start heading home around 7:30pm. About half way down the mountain I noticed that he was no longer behind me so I pulled over to wait for him which was not unusual for me since he was riding a much slower pace than me most of the day and I had done this several times before. After a couple minutes of waiting I figured something was wrong and turned around. I found him standing on the side of the rode about 1/4 mile up the mountain next to a very sharp curve and the bike was about 15 feet down a steep embankment. As I was pulling up several guys from a rental cabin nearby came to help. We managed to drag the bike out and after several minutes of coaxing she fired up and did not appear to be leaking. My brother in law doesn't really remember much about the wreck except that he was going about 25-30 mph and he took the curve a little wide and ran onto the gravel shoulder on the side of the road. This appears to be a popular spot for wrecks since I was able to find plastic from 3 other bikes + 1 car bumper in the same spot. Anyways, the entire left side of the bike is trashed and I'm leaving in about an hour to pick up the bike to trailer it home. I'm anxious to get the plastic off to see what other damage there is to the bike. What a shitty day!!! He told me that he would buy me a comparable bike but 3rd Gens that are in good shape are hard to come by locally nowadays. I'll try to post some pics later today.

Regards,
Rollin

 

Ouch! You already know it could have been a lot worse. That you both were able to ride home is a good thing. Hopefully the damage isn't too bad.

 

Dude, that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that. I'm hoping it's mostly cosmetic for you.

 

Everyone's okay - that's the important thing... Anything beyond that is just an expense (of which your B-I-L should pick up, especially since he was probably looking where he was instead of where he was going).

 

Damn

I am sorry to hear about this, good luck with repairs.I will keep an eye out for parts, let us know what you need.Bummer

 

That sucks!! From what you described it sounds the damage is just cosmetics and you can have your bro-in-law at least just pay for plastics. I'm sure you can probably find one on ebay.

 

The bike has 40,000+ miles and I'm guessing the damage to be at least $2000 which is not much less than what the bike is worth IMO. More than likely I will just look for another bike and part this one out. My brother in law has accepted full responsibility and has agreed to pay me the bikes fair market value. I've already got a few leads on replacements and am going to look at another bike tonight. I can tell you right now that my wife is really freaked out. She is already terrified of bikes and this incident combined with my minor low side incident last year has her wishing I would get rid of both bikes permanently. Fat chance that I will give up riding completely.

Regards,
Rollin

 

Ouch Sy!
Sorry to hear that happened to your BIL and even more so to your 93!
Let me know if you need any help with anything!
Gary

 

It may be the 25-30mph cornering,, some bikes don't do too well at those speeds,, specially when you have one that gives you so much confidence
laying it way over at much higher speed corners.

I have stooged around with my 99 going slower in tight corners, layin' it over and felt the front tire slide away from the corner a few times,, one time the front did a 2 foot slide to the left but it caught every time.

Possible it could be that or a fixation on the gravel edge,, slow speed mishaps
happen really quick not giving you any time to recall what actually happened.

 

OH NO! get that old girl fixed up and back on the road!

 

Rollin, I'm sure you know that Air Tech has come out with replacement fairings for the 90 - 93 VFR.

Sorry you lost your 93.

FWIW I'd sell you mine if your BIL's paying, but I wouldn't accept any less than 10,000. for it ( I love it that much) LOL

Best luck to ya'
Robert

 

i also have a 93 that has some bad plasics ive been looking since i bought the bike for some to replace them. i bought the bike with messed up plasics. and then made them worse when it tipped over on my trailer towing it. but i will never sell it. giving it to my wife to learn on and getting me a newer one

 

:frusty::canadawch!!

 

Rollin, Craigslist find here in Richmond.

Robert

****1991 HONDA VFR750 RUNS GREAT!****

 

Hey Sy - Anna here - Gary told me about the BIL... That totally blows - So sorry to hear, but glad to hear he's OK & hopefully your '93 will be the same.
Tell your wife that there's at least one other gal out here that loves her some VFR! :thumbsup: I am hoping to get some of y'all's wives on a ride sometime {know this latest scare doesn't help her out much... :frown:}.
Looks like it's about time for me to get my own acct on this silly thing... Can't seem to keep from posting to you guys as Gary.... :smile:
Hopefully we'll have some new shoes on the baby soon & will see you all again up North....
Take Care!
~Anna