| Author | Message | ||
     Lake_bueller |
Yup....it finally happened. When all I needed was another $.25 worth of attention, there was nothing left in the bank. I overdrew my account and ended up in the ditch. Here's how it all happened.... After spending 2 3/4 beautiful days in sunny North Carolina and Tennessee, I decided to take one last run at the Tail of the Dragon before heading back to the campground. Marilyn was running wonderfully. We were going at a spirited pace heading from the Deal's Gap Resort up to the overlook. I felt like I was riding better than I had all week (first mistake!). I had just ripped through Guard Rail Cliff, Little Whip and Hog Pen Bend. It was coming out of Ron's Run and into Triple Apex Corner that I ran out of $$$$. Side bar #1....map of Deal's Gap with corner names:  Side bar #2....For those of you that have never been to Deal's Gap, there are plenty of opportunities to get yourself into a WHOLE HEAP of trouble. Luckily for me, I only found a small heap of trouble. Okay, back to the story.... Ron's Run is a relatively simple set of sweeping left and right turns. It's one of the easier parts of the Dragon (second mistake). As you'll see by the pictures below, there is nothing here that should have made me run off the road.  Now, to the best of my recollection and trust me, I've been running this through my head since moments after the crash, I was entering the left without a hitch. Then about halfway through the corner, I starting looking ahead at the upcoming right. I knew the corner was tight so I would need to scrub some speed before entering the corner. It was at that point I lost my focus on the left turn I was executing (3rd mistake). I started to run wide and knew things were going from bad to worse. I tried scrubbing major speed but only succeeded in locking the rear brake (4th mistake). See my lovely skid marks here...  In the interest of cutting to the chase, I'll finish this and get on to damage pictures. Based on where my skid marks end, the marks in the ditch and where my bike came to rest, I spent about 20-30' in the ditch. Then something (looks like handlebar) caught on the embackment on the right. That caused the front to twist into the bank. Which in turn, cause me to fly head first over the bars and into the ditch. Other than a bruised ego, I have a sore shoulder and a bruise on my leg. All-in-all, not too much physical damage. Okay... on to the damage.... 1st is a view of the dash. Note the "dash" and speedo bezel are busted:  Headlight is broken and fly screen has seen better days:  Brake lever on rearsets snapped:  Tank damage isn't as bad as it looks. All the damage is to the clear coat:  The Buell Race Air Cleaner doesn't make a good slidder:  Amazingly, I think the Crossroads bars are salvagable:  Thanks for letting me share my story. Now I have the winter project I wanted. | ||
| Deltacruiser |
Glad to hear you are alright. Thanks for sharing the details. Maybe that will help me keep from losing concentration at some time in the future. Take care, Brett | ||
| Reepicheep |
If I had a nickle for every set of skidmarks like that on that stretch of road, I would be a millionaire... Hope you are OK. Glad you are OK! So, do we get to see you on killboy.com!  Downhill diminshing radius turns keep sneaking up on me as well. I now drive like a whimp whenever I know one is coming up. | ||
| Buellin_ri |
Sorry to hear that...Hope your up and running for next season. | ||
| Henrik |
Sorry about your crash - happy to know you're ok. And the bruising will help reminding you of what happened so maybe the lesson sticks  MC parts can be fixed/replaced - much harder with people parts. Henrik | ||
| Jlnance |
Sorry about the damage, glad you're not hurt. Glad you had a few good days first! | ||
| Road_thing |
That's a shame, Lake, but it could have been worse. Glad you're not seriously damaged! rt | ||
| CJXB |
Holy Cow Lake !! Glad you're okay !!  Geezzz, I learned to ride trying to keep up with you at times !! | ||
| Djkaplan |
Wow. Everything turned out great, considering! | ||
| Steve_mackay |
OUCH! I guess my frame sliders woulda helped a bit?  Need a tank? I've got a few manta tanks, but no white ones. | ||
| Lake_bueller |
Thanks for the kind words!! This is my first crash but now I can say I'm in the "those that have" category. I still can't quite wrap my head around WHY I decided to brake at that spot. Just goes to show that you need 100% concentration on that road. Steve...I don't think the frame sliders would have helped in that situation. Most of the damage was done by slamming into the side of the embankement. I've already started shopping for replacment parts. I may need to have a part or two machined. Do you have a flo-jet? | ||
| Steve_mackay |
Unfortunately, no waterjet machine  All we've got is 7 machining centers ranging from 16"x30"x20" to 64"x32"x24". Two CNC EDM sinkers(uses machined graphite electrode to "burn" complex shapes in to steel), and an old manual engine lathe. Send me some pics of whatcha thinkin' of replacing. A waterjet machine may not be needed. | ||
| Steve_mackay |
Ahh, I'm betting you're thinking about the dash needs a waterjet. It doesn't. It can easily be machined on a machining center. What I'd do is setup the square aluminum plate clamped on the outside of the plate to the table. Cut out the holes for the gauges. Then put clamps coming up through the gauge holes, and remove the ones on the the outside. Then cut the outside shape. Since you're replacing the dash, I'd take this opportunity to add a small extra guage or two, by re-designing it. | ||
| Lake_bueller |
I was actually thinking about the broken brake lever on the rearsets. Because that part hasn't been made for about 5 years, I can't beleive it will be easy to get a replacement piece. The dash is an relatively easy part to find on ebay for under $20. | ||
| Steve_mackay |
Weren't the Buell rearsets made by crossroads? Ya gonna be in my area any time soon? Do you have the original rearset part#s? I just happen to work about 4 blocks away from Buell's head of Parts and accesories. I can see if they can locate you a brake lever. | ||
| Japbikeboy |
Glad to hear you are ok. I had a very similar accident on an X1 that belonged to the owner of the shop I work at. Hit the brakes at a bad spot and found a guard rail with a cliff on the other side of it. Bad times. I fortunately came out unscathed, but the bike looked almost as bad as yours. Fortunately, I still have my job; the owner did not hold it against me saying it happens to the best of us. Learned my lesson. | ||
| Coolice |
Lake- Glad you are ok. The bike is easily fixed, just glad your alright. | ||
| Oldog |
Lake: Glad that you are all right, I have an X1 dash drawing that has 2 gauges extra in it if you want Steve Mackay to cut it out for you as described. I asked Aaomy to do mine (by hand) Steve can you take an auto cadd drawing? its an X1 drawing soo you may want to mirror it for an S1 | ||
| Daves |
Lake, Kandie just told me she saw this thread. We are both glad you are ok! | ||
| Dana P. |
Holy Crap Dennis glad you are OK. Sucks about the bike but you'll get her fixed up.Give me a shout some time. | ||
| Loki |
Dennis, Call Crossroads! Mark will have the replacement parts you need for the Pro-Series stuff. He set me up last year after bending the shifter side. He went into the back room and pulled a very slightly blemished part out. Something that just did not make it pat the quality person. You need to check out the carb mount he has. One cool item vs the stock steel one. | ||
| Blake |
Those darn early apexes will get you every time. I'm thankful you are relatively unscathed. Score another one for The Dragon. Don't sweat it, you are in good company. Shoot, I went to inadvertently offroading in Oklahoma! LOL! Thing is though, I bet if you had a new Uly, you could have ridden her out. Better go get one asap.  | ||
| Koz5150 |
So does this mean you won't need that derby cover right away? Dude, I felt an aweful pit in my stomach looking at those pics. Honestly I read the post before looking at the pics to find out your condition. So do they have a good workout room where you work? If there is anything I can do to help let me know. I got tons of paint equipment (which I have never really used yet) that you are more then welcome to use at the shop. | ||
| Lake_bueller |
Loki...Thanks for the heads-up!!! I just fired off an email to Mark. Koz...It looks like Marylin will out until next year. I was planning on tearing her down anyway. I have to replace 1st gear on the transmission; put in new base gaskets plus new rings. With 42K on the odometer, I may decide to have the the cases bored over .005 and put in new Pro Series pistons also. Blake....I don't think the Uly would have helped too much. But there are other interesting areas around the Gap that scream for a Uly | ||
| Koz5150 |
Sounds like fun. I think I would have to take a serious look at an 88" kit if I were getting the cases bored anyway. I had it figured out that it would be about $2,000 to do the case boring, new pistons and buckets, port the heads, new cams, and all the other crap tha goes along with it. I have assembled all the pieces for a new paint set and am looking at doing that over the winter. If I am lucky I will have it done for Cyclemania in the spring. I am thinking about white bodywork with an orange race stripe and some black and white checker board pattern in there somewhere. I will have to wait and see. Who knows,maybe in the spring we can go out and ride together next year... Trackday? I got an enclosed dual bike trailer. Speaking of which, I have my single open bike trailer stored at the shop in Appleton. If you ever need to use it, just ask. | ||
| Bomber |
Mennis -- looks like ya might wanna call your friendly dash maker, eh? glad yer OK, bud -- good thing I didn't send the flask south with you guys! |
