Death Wobble

Well, after 50 years riding, I had my first crash. Going around an easy 90 degree corner, tiny bit of gravel, very sane speed, as I exited turn, front end started vibrating wildly for a second or two, and bang, I'm down on my right side. Have no idea what happened. Felt like a flat tire, but tire was fully inflated. $3500 in damage to my 10,000 mile, cherry '95 750. Almost all plastics and $500 for seat (you know, OEM pricing). I'm debating whether to junk it, or spend the roughly $800 on used parts and put it back together. Had an almost new 2 Bros carbon exhaust with full stainless header, but I am no mechanic and don't know if I want to deal with it. If I can't figure how why I went down, I should not be riding. Oh, cracked ribs and kneecap, and much torn upper body cartilege.

 

Yikes!!!!

 

Ouch! Take a time out, don't make any quick decisions. These things happen, it's two wheels and sometimes there is simply nothing you can do.

 

Whoa.. and ouch! yes, don't beat yourself up mind wise. let the dust settle before you go making rash decisions, I've been here so let it run the coarse. i know it's not easy. But damn, where's the photos

 

Steve, if it has taken you 50 years to have your first crash, maybe it will be 50 years until the next one! My wife came out with something like that for me, after my first get off in 25 years.

From what you describe it sounds like you lost traction on the front end for some reason, maybe gravel or oil. VFR's are not known for having unstable front ends so unless you were on some really nasty pavement and accelerating very hard, I doubt you suffered from a tank slapper.

This is why we wear protective clothing, take some time to heal, and then get back on that horse.

 

Thanks for all the encouragement. I went through the turn at maybe 20 mph, and there was just a tiny bit of gravel. I have done this corner dozens of times, many times quite a bit faster, so it is a mystery. The reason that I am thinking of quitting is that I am 68 year's old, and the hit on the pavement was terrifying. If I had been going 35, I hate to think what damage I would have done to myself. btw...helmet had the tiniest superficial scratch, jacket was only dirty, pants were just scuffed a bit and bike damage was actually minimal (brake levers, pillion footrest, mirror). Almost all the damage was plastic (front, side, and belly pan, and seat) which add up to over $2000 when they use OEM prices. It looks like it will be hard to even find the plastics anyway.

 

Sorry to hear that Steve, hope you're mending well and it doesn't dent your confidence too much. If you ride, sooner or later you will fall, unless you ride hard though you don't tend to fall very often, so this may well have been your first and last. I'd be trying to work out what happened too. I try and learn from experience too; preferably other peoples, because I've noticed that learning from my own tends to hurt more.

A friend of mine dropped his bike recently, just after a service. He braked hard and lost the front end. We gave him a hard time about that rookie mistake, but it turned out that when the dealership fixed a leaking fork seal for him they didn't take into account his custom springs and inadvertently overfilled the fork oil so his forks just locked pretty much as soon as he hit the brakes and before he got decent weight shift onto the front tyre. That's his story anyway and he's sticking to it.

If you're fixing the bike anyway perhaps have them check out the whole front end, stearing head, forks, axle, wheel and perhaps have a look at the brakes for any debris, leaks, sticking pistons and so on that might have contributed. What you describe does sound more like a mechanical issue than the front end sliding on some fine gravel. Perhaps something was restricting the front ends normal self-corrective movements. Of course under the circumstances, a rush of adrenaline and a vice like grip on the bars would not be unusual and that might contribute too, giving the front end more than one restriction to fight with. At least if you have it checked over thoroughly you won't be worrying so much about mechanical issues when you do get back on the bike. First ride will tend to be a little tense to start off with anyway, and it's so important to relax and let the bike work as it's supposed to. If you're tense and tight on the bars it just makes things worse. So first I would rule out the bike as a cause and have a good look at the road where it happened. Then if you can rule out surface issues, then however distasteful, the other option is to look at whether there was some operator error and if so, then that's a great excuse to get some track time and coaching, which is a lot of fun and should go along way to boosting your flagging confidence, both in yourself and the bike in a comparatively safe and controlled environment. A competent riding coach will certainly pick up any bad habits that may have crept into your cornering or braking.

Hope the recovery is fast and relatively pain free and you get back on the bike soon.

 

Wow, you lasted 50 years! I had a couple of crashes early on. My last (1985-6) was an oil slick in the center of my lane of the Angeles Crest. Went down on the right side at about 35-40 mph. Luckily the bike stayed on the asphalt and not going on the sandy shoulder. I still think about that day, but I was back on the bike the next day, and took a long trip a week later. I am now 72, and hope that I can avoid any drastic event, Came close the other day, a woman in front of me turned right at an intersection (going the same direction) using a right turn lane (like a freeway lane). As she turned it seemed like she was accelerating, I looked over my left shoulder to check traffic and when I looked up the bitch had stopped! instead accelerating and merging, she stopped. Thank God for ABS brakes. Sorry for your accident, if it was condition beyond your control, then get back on the horse as they say and heal soon.

 

Fix it. if is feasible to fix. Do so soon as you are able. If you are not sure about riding, then don't right now. Park it in the corner of your garage. Parking it does not cost you a damned thing. Set yourself a time line. If, at the end of your time line, you still don't feel right or safe about returning to riding, then maybe it is time to hang up the keys. Sell it then. Just don't rush into that. The thing is. If you don't fix it, then it is going to deteriorate further and you will be that much further from returning to the ride.

 

Sorry to hear it man. Doesn't sound like the damage is too bad, I'd fix it.

Glad your alive and in one piece.

 

Repairing your bike and continuing to ride will be ultimately your decision. On a 20+ year old Honda IMO, what mostly caused you to go down was your steering head bearing was shot..

Speed wobbles can occur at low speeds..

All this ancecdotal stuff about exactly what happened and what to do next time is BS. The experts have been studying this since Henry Ford quit building cars by hand and they still ain't figured it all out.

 

Ya , I would say your spill is due to track type tires-no deep grooves to grab in sand-the Pr 4 tires can go though gravel like you went though. I would say crappy tires that grab on nothing but clear surfaces. I would fix the bike and leave it on bike stands for a while:eek-new: oh yes steering bearing is another cause.

 

The PR4 is not a"gravel tire " and it's dangerous to suggest so. I don't know of any street tire that can compensate for the marble like properties of gravel on tarmac.

 

Steve, terrible news, sorry about your spill and I hope you heal fast. That is what is most important.

I have looked through your posts and apparently you bought a VFR in 2014 and got a hole in it on your first ride. Now in a terrible stroke of bad luck you purchased this lovely 4th gen and the same month went down. Just awful! Maybe my Internet searching is terrible (is!) but I cannot find your pic posts. How about using this opportunity where you are resting and have our full attention to upload some pics of your bikes! That will help put a human (or machine rather) face on these awesome pieces of machinery for us.

 

well it way better than those racing type dunlops tire- I am not saying they are adventure tires-just better in dirt than then most-all you have to do is look at them
lots of grooves-

 

I roll with PR4's and they are a great tire, but your comments are dangerous not only to yourself but to others as well. Take a look at your treads, what is the percentage of rubber to grooves? Gravel and sand will act like ball bearings between the 90% rubber making contact and doesn't have anything to do with the brand of street tire.

 

I have very good condition touring tires; not sure of the model, since the bike is at the shop right now, awaiting the decision from me and my insurance company. One mistake I made was telling the insurance company how much I paid for the bike. I paid only $1700 for a pristine '95 with 9K miles, 2 bros stainless exhaust with carbon can. Good price was due to pre-season, desperate seller, and the plastics were a mess from sitting in the sun. I sanded them down and primered them, so the bike looked good. Insurance company only compensates me for what I declared minus $500 deductible. If I buy it back from them, I am guessing they will want $500 for salvage value, so I am starting out with $700 cash, need to buy at least $700 in used parts (if I can find them) and maybe three hours of shop labor. So, I will have well over $3000 invested in a salvage title bike, which I would be lucky to sell for $2500 in my town. So, bit of a pickle. The comments about the fork bearings seem right on, except the bike only had 10K miles and I had ridden it about 400 miles with some much more challenging higher speed turns, without a wobble. I am guess rider error, but can't recall even having time to grab the brakes or anything else stupid.

 

Here in Manitoba, the insurance company doesn't really care too much about what you paid.

They go off a combination of FMV and book value, if you can provide receipts for any upgrades, they'll give you a depreciated amount for those as well.

ie; it pretty much goes off replacement cost for the same model bike, same year, same mileage

 

Yeah....I was a little surprised at how they determine value, especially since I used to work as a claims adjuster. I did not pay much attention when I bought the policy, because I wasn't planning on crashing anyway haha Getting accurate value on a motorcycle is really difficult, compared to a car. My 21 year old bike was probably worth about $3K in most cities, but that is just because of all the upgrades, low miles and condition. Insurance companies do not send the adjuster to the shop to evaluate it; just not worth their time for a sub $2K settlement, so they rely on shop's estimate (which was ridiculous) and pics.

 

Sorry for the crash, hope ya heal quickly. All I see is you live in the US, unless I missed it...tell me you weren't on Mulholand aka the snake?