Coming home from work we have a short section of twisties, about 12 quick corners. I've ridden these for years with no problem and at good speed, yesterday was a little different. I hit the 1st one with ease, second was no problem, 3rd was cake but as i come to the 4th one the mountains containing the corners open up to a natural breeze way and the wind hit me pretty hard, it was very windy towards the end of the day, while trying to make a simple left corner. Well, it basically blew me off the road, I trail braked to scrub speed, threw myself over the left side with knee out but the wind had other ideas. So as the road was getting skinny I tapped a little front brake to scrub a bit more speed but it was all for not. The shoulder was there in no time, complete and intact with 500 lbs of gravel and once I left pavement we all know what happened. The bike washed out, I slid on my back and go to watch as my beautiful 1125r tumbled off the mountain. At this point I'm confused as to how this just happened and at the same time trying to keep my new Shoei RF1100 off the ground and at the last second, THUMP she hits. Thats when I got mad. So I get up unscathed, pop the lid off and go look for the bike. There she was, at the bottom of the hill, resting like a little baby with her lights on. I climb down but cant pick her up as the footing and the hill is off camber but a passer by saw my gear at the top and decided to take a look. He came down and helped me out, we stood it up, I fired it right up and the helper was amazed. So while off the bike but it in gear we guided the beast under its own power to the top back to pavement. Now we have a crowd of 4 to 5 people all offering truck rides and asking if I was OK, how am I getting home, do I need help ect. ect. ect. to which I explain I'm fine and I will ride it home no problem. I sat down after assessing the damage and pulled about 5000 foxtails and small plants from the bike and myself from my little hike down the mountain, reinstalled all my gear and ode home. The DAMAGE you ask? Well 1 thing I can say is the BUELL design is awesome, for street and off road, both mirrors wasted, both radiator pods scuffed, rear tail with solo seat scuffed, left side upper fairing stay broke and fairing, headlight scuffed, airbox cover scuffed and a broken well nut from the right side of my scuffed windscreen. That's really it, no broken levers, bake or shifter arms or any thing else for that matter. I have a few little scrapes but that's it. I got home, pulled the mirror bases off, washed it all up and aside from scuffs she's great, THANKS ERIK BUELL FOR MAKING A GREAT BIKE FOR ALL OF US TO ENJOY.
Also, be sure to carefully inspect your frame for damage. I have seen posts in the past of hidden hairline fractures and other small holes that aren't apparent till next time you fill up.
i had a similar incident occur. but this was with my lightning. these bikes are quite durable. i high sided at about 45-50 mph on a twisty hillcountry road. almost went off a cliff. mostly cosmetic damage tho had to ride back in 4th. i love my buells.
Wow, sorry to hear about your misfortune, but a big thumbs up to those that helped or offered to help. Around here they'd just keep going and rubberneck.
Glad to hear your ok. As for the guy in the video he got what he deserved what if a car was coming he would have never seen it and would have hit head on and not ride again
I'll get some after pics but to be honest the damage is being fixed as we speak. Today I installed bar end mirrors, blue anodized wind screen bolts and polished the wind screen to look new again. I priced all the parts today and it only totaled 1000 bucks. Not bad for the tumble it took. Tomorrow I plan on doing a big wet sand and polish on the plastics that were effected, the wind screen really gave me big hopes for a nearly perfect repair.
Ok, so I started this morning by buying some materials for my repairs on the 125R Mountain Goat. I started by sanding the scratches with 600 grit wet/dry paper to cut the deep stuff and the ended with 1000 grit wet paper. I am simply amazed at the results. The worse parts are the airbox cover, rear seat cowl and left side pod. I will take pics of the pod as I am saving it for last. Now I cant post pics so I will need a volunteer to post them up for me, BUELLER? BUELLER?
Good thing you are OK. The part after you got off sounds a lot like what happened to me at Deals Gap many years ago, except I was on my Yamaha TDM850. That tough beast didn't even stall after it rolled down the hill on both wheels, hit a downed tree, did a stoppie then fell down.
Glad to hear you are o.k. I think the most important part of any bike is the rider. I have always wondered how such light bikes do in strong wind... now I know.