For those that don't have frame sliders...

Get some. I was never really a believer in their benefits, so I never installed any on my previous bikes. The VFR had them installed by a previous owner and they weren't too ugly so I left them on.

Fast forward to yesterday. I was driving down a busy street during rush hour traffic and had a cage pull out from a side street with little warning. The next lane over was dead stopped and the shoulder was not an option, shit, no outs available. So I grabbed a fist full of brakes to try and stop before collision. Honestly, I was surprised by the effectiveness of the brakes and thought I might just make it. I get within maybe 5 feet and bonehead must have realized his mistake and does the only thing that could possibly make the situation worse, he hits the brakes for no reason. At that point everything becomes a blur, my brain must have reflexively told my right fist to tighten even more and the front wheel must have locked. Next thing I know the bike and me are down on the pavement. I would estimate speed at impact less than 5 mph. All that needed to happen was for the car to keep accelerating once it pulled into my lane. I kick myself too because if I had been going a little bit slower or noticed 1/4 second sooner, I may very well have had enough room to stop.

So I shimmy out from under the bike and I don't even want to lift it up to see how big the repair bill is going to be. Much to my surprise, there is no damage to the side fairing. After looking at the places where there are scuff marks, I cannot figure out the mechanism of how I impacted the ground. Anyway total damage: windscreen broken, right mirror snapped off, minor paint scuffing on upper fairing (already buffed out), and a little scraping on the passenger peg and frame slider.

Anyone out there have a RH targa aero mirror they want to sell?

 

WOW! That's impressive, many around here have wanted to see that style frame slider hold up in a field test because they look much better than others due to the fact that they don't require drilled fairings but, their placement on the bike has had a few people 'round here calling them "radiator" sliders. Implying that this style slider would take out your radiator if the bike did indeed ever go down. Thanks for the report, I'm glad you're OK and it looks like the damage to your bike was greatly reduced by this slider. I'm very tempted to order a set this weekend.

 

Glad to see you were able to walk away and not much damage to the bike. What kind of Frame sliders do you have?

 

Sorry to hear about the minor get-off, but at least it was minor, and glad you're OK. Freakin' cagers.

Frame sliders are def. worth the cost IMO. One hard drop or slow speed downing like yours and they've already paid for themselves.

 

As far as the brand of the slider, I have no idea. PO installed them. Radiator doesn't seem to be affected at all by the drop, there are no marks on the plastic mesh or the fins. The system seems to be tight - no noticeable leaks or coolant smell.

One other thing - big time props for my gear. Was wearing a Joe Rocket Endurance jacket and it held up very well, just a minor scuff on the elbow. No tearing of the fabric or seams was evident. The padding in the elbow absorbed the impact very well, I have no bruises anywhere. Was also wearing JR Ballistic 5.0 gloves which were scuffed a little on the leather near the heel of my palm. Again no fabric tearing and no ripping of the seams. Helmet never contacted pavement, so nothing to report there. I've definitely hurt myself worse tripping in the house, so thanks goes out to my gear.

 

Sue the Shite out of this ass

Was there any contact were there any witnesses to the crash ? you may have an actionable tort to this idiot! Glad to here your still with us !!!you need an
lawyer to pursue a statement of claim against this fool..

 

Glad that you're A-OK, MadScientist. Nice little write up to about the gear; that's always appreciated.

You might be able to find a new windscreen in the classified section of these forums. There's usually a few to choose from.


Now as far as this suggestion:

I 100% agree the cager was a fool, but IMHO, I don't think a lawsuit will bring anything about. Fortunately, MadScientist had no injuries. Yes, his bike has some damage, but at least it doesn't appear to be significant. Involving a lawyer is bound to cost hundreds (thousands?) of dollars, and it will sit in court slowing down our system more than it already is.

Either way, good luck getting the bike cleaned up and back in tip top shape, Mad.

 

Honestly, it is not worth my time to pursue legal action against this guy for a $50 set of mirrors and an $80 windscreen.... If there was personal injury, it may be a different story, but I'm still feeling fine.

 

Yes, thanks for posting this field test of the sliders. It was nice of you to sacrifice your bike for our benefit.

Glad you came out on top.

 

thx for the writeup. glad to know ur ok... out shopping for frame sliders now. ciao

 

Glad you are OK too. I always feel like I am riding up a box canyon when a line of traffic is on one side of me and there is no escape route to the other. I posted pics of my slow/stopped drop over here: http://vfrworld.com/forums/general-vfr-discussions/24613-r-w-b-fell-over-2.html#post215836 But do wonder how they would work at any speed. Too late to change now though since I cut the holes in my lowers. Thanks for the report.

 

Great Attitude to have Regarding your incident. I was pushed into a gutter by a car changing lanes on me at slow speed. Managed to put a boot mark into the passenger side door. Not much damage to my bike though (RDLC). After the crash I was pretty angry about it but I have never forgotten the words of a mate. "A crash you walk away from, is a good crash"

 

I have the same style of "radiator" sliders you have, also installed by the PO on my 5th gen.

I suffered a zero-mph tipover onto the right side due to a bad parking job on my part (man did I feel like an idiot... I've been riding for 15 years and haven't dropped a bike since I was 18). Heartwrenching, I'd only had the bike for a month and it was pristine.

Unfortunately the slider did not do as well as yours did. The slider was pushed into the radiator slightly, leaving some very slight dents in the radiator fins. Not significant, but there. The bracket that the slider is bolted to is slightly bent.

Otherwise, the only other damage was some very slight scuffing on the right mirror, handlebar end, and muffler. You have to look *very* closely to notice. So overall I feel the slider did it's job and protected the plastics. It seemed to absorb the full force of the impact. However it's not real confidence inspiring that a tipover would bend the bracket like that and allow it to contact the radiator.

 

I'm guessing mine performed slightly better since my body was between the bike and the ground. Also, the crash physics may have slowed the tip over rate, but it seemed pretty fast to me.

My first down in about 3 years, been riding about 10 now. Oddly most of my "tip-over" style accidents on other bikes (i.e. moved a bike in the garage and forgot to put down kickstand once :crazy resulted in more actual damage than any of my in-motion get offs.

 

Personally, I’m not a fan of frame sliders. However, what matters is that you’re happy with yours and walked away with minor damage.