Just Crashed my new 08 VFR

Turning left off a light, lost rear traction and bike slid about 50 yards...so did I.

Not hurt..but bike had 40 miles on it. Happy New Year!

Road was bone dry. Never expected to lose traction...should not have...

Bike now in shop.

Some guys stopped and helped me pick up the bike. I rode it home.

Protective gear works.

Dave

 

That sucks.

 

Yep...I hate getting my new bike scratched up...

 

Glad to hear everthing is OK. ANd I a happy to hear you didn't get hurt either. I did read that you said this was an brand new 08 with 40 miles on it. I guess a hard lesson. The tires have that release agent gunk on themn that has to be worn off. You are not the first to do this. A brand new bike is the same as brand new tires. You need about 400-500- miles on those rubbers to wear that shit off before you do any tyoe of agressive driving. Otherwise you go "slip sliding awaaayea" as Neil Simon would say.

And yes. most here subscribe to ATGATT. I tend to relax that a tad but do wear it about 98% of the time. You have any pix to hang on your "Wall of Shame"?

 

Only thing I can think of is new tires vs possible powered salt from salting the roads...but who knows?

 

Where is the wall of shame..I have photos...

 

Photos from my sliding adventure..













Well the shop can just install my new HeliBars now...

 

Bummer. This is everyone's worst nightmare. At least you walked away - that's the most important thing. Also, the damage to the bike does not look too bad. You'll have it looking like new in no time.

 

I was just going to say, that damage is not bad given the distance you slid. But it will be a bit pricey to fix. A question for you before you spend the money. How much riding experience do you have? I ask this because, I am new to riding relatively. Never ever rode a bike until I bought my brand new in the crate 06. So, like everyone else, I made my mistakes. Though I have gone down on the move, I was pretty much stopped before I hit the ground. But most times I was down, the bike started going over, and due to back issues, I just guided it down and got help to lift it up. I have been down 5 times now I think. But not for a few years now.

SO my point is, before you spend a few hundred bucks fixing something that looks like is just cosmetic, if you are a newer rider, don't fix it until you have gained more experience. Get the mistakes out of your system first. If you went down because you have considerable experience, and just pushed it a bit too far this time....well then go back out there and giver er shit again. Just be careful. Plastic can be fixed. Even broken bones can be fixed. And much like a dog, you can be fixed but I don't think you want to go there. But they have yet figured out a way to bring you back to life.

 

I really did expect it to be much worse.

 

I have experienced the rear end of the VFR kick out from under me twice while turning at start. I realized that I just accelerated too hard and forgot about what type of bike I was riding. I have well over twenty years of riding experience, but all on a cruiser. This is the first sportbike I've owned and it is very different. You have to respect the power. I am much more cautious while rolling on the throttle and I think if I were riding the VFR with far less experience I would have dumped.

Anyway, I'm glad you're not injured. Any mistake you can walk away from is a valuable lesson learned. On to the New Year and better roads and rides ahead!

 

The damage doesnt look too bad. Glad you are OK. It is never good to hear of someone going down.

Can yo share some info with us.

1. What kind of gear did ou have on? Brand type etc. Helmet, boots, gloves, jacket and pants.

2. Tires on your bike. Im sure they are stcok but there are three oem mfgs.

3. What was the temp outside?

 

I would also blame the newness of the tires. I've sid across a two lane road on a hard takeoff on my last bike. I ended up angled into the curb on the far side of the road and it popped me up, but I never went over. I did have to gome home & change my shorts, however. It's never fun to have your brand new ride go down, but at least now you've gotten it out of the way. And were able to walk away without much damage to you.

 

You'll probably buy frame slider now and never need them agian right? That sucks though man I did the same thing like 2 years ago on a dr650 sumo. It was cold and tires were cold slid on my back about 40 feet or so, yay for reinforced jackets. Clutch lever broke so I had to push mine home. At least only your pride was hurt though

 

If it's not mold release, than maybe mag chlor--if they spray that shit all over the road during winter in Maryland the way they do in Colorado?

 

They do not use mold release on tires anymore. This has become a popular old wives tale though. The key with modern tires is to get them up to temp before you start pushing. A modern tire is good to go as soon as the tire reaches it's operating temp window.

If I had to guess about possible causes of incident, I would say cold tire and/or overly aggressive throttle input.


........

 

Somebody should clue the tire manufacturers in about not running in tires. The ignorant bastards haven't got a clue and are still suggesting it.

E. Plurbus Unum:

Tire Tips

Thank God I can go out and go like hell on my new rubber from the post Festivus tire sale at Wal-Mart.

 

Oh man - that really does suck. Sorry to see that. The important thing is that you're OK. I think everybody sees this and realizes "this could be me". I bought my '08 new this May and have 1,700 miles on it. A few weeks ago I was looking at the Dunlop 204's that Honda shipped it with. The tire's date code is "3507", so my tires were made circa September of '07 -consistent with the bike build month of October. By the time I get riding again in the spring and wear them out, they'll be closing in on 4 years old. I decided to replace them now while it's parked for the winter and this week the UPS driver delivered my Michelin PR2CT's. Now that I compare the Dunlops to the new tires, they seem like bricks. I don't know how much grip tires lose over that period of time from sitting - but maybe enough that the combo of that and whatever might be / have been on the pavement as well as being cold may have all contributed to a loss of traction. There are plenty of opinions about "how old is too old" for tires. And while 1,700 miles isn't much from a set of tires, I just want to keep the odds as good as possible. At least this looks mostly cosmetic (new shift lever?). It sucks on any bike, but it sucks more when it's brand new. Hang in there and keep ridin'.

 

I am curious and bow to those in the know. I know that tires do become hard and have a lesser (here's a phrase for you) co-efficient of friction as a result. But should we compare a 5 year old car tire that spends the majority of its time out and exposed to the weather elements, to a tire from a motorcycle, whose exposure to the elements, for the most part anyways, is limited to the time it is ridden. See, a car, if not garaged, in 5 years is exposed 5 years. A bike, garaged, may be exposed in total maybe four or five weeks in 5 years. Sorry I did not do the math on that.

I am fortunate that I don't need worry about tires getting old and brittle. Mine are changed once a year cause they are worn out from slabbing to work every day.

And NCB. Thanks for that tid bit. This I really had no idea.