Had my first RE faceplant on Friday. I took the day off of work to get my bike looked at for a couple of far more trivial issues (as detailed in my previous bitching and moaning thread).
On some wet pavement, I needed to stop short and broke traction of the front tire. I am well aware that front brake in low-traction situations are a huge no-no, but I did not have time to take stock in my situation before reacting. My other bike has crap brakes, huge wheels, and grippy tires that allow me to get away with this, so my muscle memory did not account for the gigantic front brake and inferior traction of the speedmaster on wet pavement.
I came down on the right side. The first things to touch were the edge of the tailpipe, the foot peg and rear brake pedal, followed shortly after by the front fender, and then the mirror, bar end, headlight housing and my hand, as the mirror fell off. Take heed - deerskin gloves will not suffice. My gloves had solid plastic armor on the knuckles, and this was ground down. When I came to rest, the bike rested on my leg and my fingers were pinned underneath the bar. I had to use my left hand to hit the killswitch, then get my hand out from beneath the handlebar. I'm not exactly sure how I got out from under and righted it so quickly, but the adrenaline was probably intense enough.
I'm glad I was fully geared up. My shoulder took most of the impact, and wore the jacket through to the armor. It still hurts after a couple of days, but I don't think I broke anything. My thigh and hip are technicolor, but don't particularly hurt. Aside from a sore neck and a little cut on my middle finger from where the glove wore through, I'm alright.
The bike is a little worse for wear. The peg bent backwards, and the brake pedal bent upwards against the pipe. The tailpipe, mirror stalk, bar end, headlight housing edge (not the nacelle), brake fluid reservoir, brake pedal, and edge of the fender are rashed. I expected the turn signals and tank to be trashed, but this was not the case - There's the slightest scratch on the rear right turn signal, and a tiny little dimple in the tank where a piece of switchgear made contact.
The service manager at the dealership was disagreeable and unfriendly, and stopped just short of accusing me of lying about how the heatshield came off - he said he couldn't imagine how, given the four mounting points and a "hook", it could have just fallen off. At first he claimed that it was riveted on, then corrected himself and said that they were threaded allen-head bolts (which they are). Then basically said that it was "suspicious" that both the heatshield and that little plastic cover are both on the right side, and remarked that it's extremely unlikely that either will be covered under warranty. I guess my bleeding hand wasn't enough to convince him that the crash took place earlier that same day. Looks like I'm going to get the shaft here. Also, the parts and accessories I requested under their promotion are "backordered" even though they show in-stock on nfieldgear, and have been since March, when I requested them. Three and a half hours later, I left with none of my issues resolved - speedometer cable, pilot light, and turn signal ordered, and I must come back in to have these all installed.
I'm kind of bummed, but then again, I'm not in the hospital either. As much as I enjoy riding it, I don't think I will be taking the G5 out as much once I get the KLR squared away. It is just way too much of a headache to keep this thing looking as good as it runs.
Topic: Face, meet pavement (a G5 crash report) (Read 4847 times)