Now I can't blame anyone for the accident bar myself. It was late at night, pouring down rain and water laying on the road everywhere. Coming around a long sweeping right hand corner, I was slowing down from 130 km/h for a turnoff when the bike hit a sheet of water running across the road about 20 foot wide. The bike aquaplaned and milliseconds later the back slid out and the bike was over on it's side with my boot trapped underneath. Pushing the bike away with the other foot freed the trapped one but consequently succeeded in changing the direction of the bike from sliding along the road to sending it over a 30 foot embankment. The bike gets airborne as it goes over and lands heavily on the tail and flips at least once and lands upside down.
Well the first thing I had to do to fix the bike was to remove all the fairings and see how badly the bike was bent. Close inspection revealed the subframe severly pushed to the right and the back fittings mangled. The bike hit so hard that the grab rails were twisted so that to ends almosy touched each other. The first step was to pull the frame back to centre.
Using block and tackles, tirfor winches and just about anything we could get our hands on, the bike was strapped to a concrete post with fibre slings and the subframe attached to the hauling devices. With a bit of gentle persuasion and a lot of grunting and swearing, the frame was brought back to dead centre. Now to the job of straightening the clips and braces that holds the grab rails and fairings in place.
Using oxys, welders, hammers, pliers, multi-grips and just about every hand tool known in the modern world, the frame was as straight as it ever was. The fairings had been ordered a month earlier so it was just a matter of clipping them back on. A new addition to the bike is a PipeMaster slip on can. The bike sounds great now and has a little more bottom end.
All up the bike was off the road for about three months, and once the funds were available repairs took about three weeks to complete, working on at night after work and on weekends. What does the bike look like now???
I cant finish of this page without thanking the people who made it all really happen with regards to getting the bike fixed. Huge thanks go to Grant who never said die and kept my spirits up when I was at my lowest. Without his help and expert knowledge and skills, the bike would still be a wreck underneath the house.
Huge thanks to Dean who never gave up and hunted around endlessly for the best prices for new fairings and locating parts I thought I'd have to get from Japan. Thanks for organising the freight and helping me refit the fairings. Once again I could not of done it without you. Big thanks to my housebuddies and good mates, Pete and Bob who always made me laugh when things werent going right, and kept me in a positive frame of mind. Legends, both of ya!! There are heaps of people who gave advice and helped in other ways too numerous to mention and I thank you all a tonne. It just goes to prove that bike riders are the best people to have around you when the going gets tough, and if I ever can help them out in the same way they helped me, I still don't think it will be enough..........
