Dear God,if i knew my bike could ever catch on fire i would have never bought it!! What to do now!! Anyone wan't to buy a 42k Uly or a never ridden CR, let me know, CHEAP!!
but I wonder if the crash impact opened up the fuel tank.
Highly unlikely. The steering neck and entire front end will break off and act like a crumple zone first. It would take one hell of an impact to puncture, even then you would need an ignition source.
I am curious to know the story on that bike, what he hit, and what caught fire.
8b, if the tank failed on a bagger it probably look about the same as above. it would take a hard frontal impact and the bike would more then likely be a total anyway, it's a simple fix but 111,000 bikes to fix it's going to cost a couple $$
it looks like the bike might have laid on the LS when it burned by the way the seat and rear plastic kind of melted down that way. See the big dent where the Uly frame puck is? wonder if that is where it opened up.The other pictures on the site (below) show the gas cap is also missing. It looks like the front end took the hit the way the forks broke apart. I thought all that wire was the remains of the front tire, but a 2nd look shows the rotor laying there, but what happened to the front rim? Don't think it would burn.
I worked in auto/ mc salvage for 10 yrs, you would be surprised by the dynamics that happen in an accident. The guy riding the xb could have walked away with a few scratches, the guy on the blast, maybe not so lucky. Alot depends on what the bike hits and what you hit.
That Blast looks like it went through the "Handlebar check" down in southern Missouri at a place called Chadwick. Many years ago, the guy that laid out the trails was a trials rider. He had a trail go between two trees too close together for your handlebars. You had to wheelie and turn your bars to make it through. He had a sign warning you of the "Handlebar check". What a great place to ride a trials bike! Sorry, just had major flashbacks when I saw that picture!
Tootal, I used to run 28" bars to the outside of my bark busters when I was running enduros on an XR600. I recall my buddy following me into a section I had just laid out. I ran between 2 right trees, then I hear my buddy scream. I look behind and see him laying on the ground. He caught both trees with his bars and it stopped the bike dead (but he kept going)!
I didn't mean to upset anyone with that picture, honestly it does not phase me one bit about the safety of a Uly. It could happen to any bike in a crash.
Maybe your bumming because your looking at picture of a limited collectors item (Buells) turned into junk.
Yep, both. I cringe whenever I see a bike on its side in any situation (I've never ridden a dirt bike, so I don't have much experience). I seem to have the mantra of "keep the shiny side up" foremost in my brain.
I think back to how lucky I was when I hit a deer - my Ulysses was banged up and a little bent, but I rode it home. Then, on the other side, it's totally depressing to see something so cool look so fragile.
It snowed again last night - another lost weekend...
...and sliding into this curb...\ popjpeg{527675,} ...with this...
...produced this:
The good news is the 1125 frame performed exactly as designed; it sheared rather than transfer the load to the fuel cavity. btw.. rider suffered major injuries to his ego; otherwise unhurt
I've ridden some dirt on my old enduros 'way back when and some little bit with my Uly, and I've gotta say that "keep the shiny side up" when off-road seems to mostly refer to where the scratches show from all the dirt and gravel that wind up marking the bike.
At least the enduros were all light enough that I could get them upright after a spill in the dirt by myself, even the 400cc Yamaha I used to own. This is not true of the Uly.
It seems like anywhere where the ground is loose enough for the bike to go over, it's loose enough for me to NOT be able to push the bike up. Especially with the way it lays nearly flat when on the ground. First, you gotta get the tires touching enough to grab, then you've got to get your feet to grab. I've moved a lot of sand that way, without much luck.
I've tried using rocks to prop up the bike in increments. I'm either never fast enough with them or the rock column collapses and the bike winds up where it was before - AFTER bouncing off every single rock that was in the stack on its way back down. I've broken several large branches (and it's a real treat trying to find large branches in the desert, let me tell you!) trying to lever the beast up. No go.
The only way I've succeeded is by having 4 or more hands working together. That's why I won't do water crossings when I'm by myself anymore. Fortunately, that's not really a big problem in southern Arizona, most of the time.