I dropped my bike

[IronFist]

I got caught in the street car tracks, walking speed, feet off the pegs walking. I thought I was in the middle in between the tracks, but I was at a street car junction where they can turn. There were extra tracks heading off to the right and my wheel caught in the rut. My head was up looking for traffic. Bike went down hard. :oops:
Twisted forks, bent handlebar, crushed signal light, broken front fender, bent heat shield on muffler. :evil:

I pulled off the road and did some sidewalk surgery. I loosened the bolts holding the forks to the triple clamp.(?) Held the tire between my knees and twisted the handle bars till square, then re-tightened. That's when I noticed the right side of the handle bars were bent. I took both halves of my fender and carefully drove home.
Since I need a front fender to be legal, and I need my bike to go look for a front fender and handlebars, I've done an ugly fender fix. Glued the signal light, and straightened the heat shield. After buying a joe rocket jacket today and putting an $80 downpayment on a helmet, the last thing I can afford is handlebars and a fender. On the bright side I never liked that fender, and I didn't scrape a knee, or worse. :roll: Pics in gallery pg.8 End of album.(as soon as dialup will allow.)

[knothead]

That really sucks, but sooner or later every bike will fall in some fashion.

I think Acrebis makes a motard fender that sells for $26 or so. It's even vented to let more air reach the engine.

[AZ200cc]

That sucks, It always happens at the worst times it seems. An Acerbis should not be more than forty bucks...And it won't splinter on impact.

[TeamCheap]

That does suck sorry to hear it.
The good news is you didnt get hurt the bike can be repaired with a little time/money.

I have put aftermarket front fenders on both our bikes.
MY wife fell/crashed hers offroading and her front fender just broke to pieces and I just wanted a more flexible fender on mine so I put one on.(still got my stock fender)

When we fall offroading and the forks always get twisted, all I ever have had to do is roll the bike up to a tree with the tire next to it and twist the handle bars back to straighten the forks out.
My wifes bike still has a slightly tweaked set of handle bars on hers though.

[ob1]

No helmet? Glad you fixed that problem!

Gotta watch out for any railroad track or steel decked bridge. Triply so if they or your tires are wet. Steel plates over unfinished road repairs as well.

Rubber and steel do not play well together.

[IronFist]

Ohhhhhh man no, I wear my helmet. I dropped cash on an even better one. I got joe rocket stuff so I don't have to wear my heavy leather when it's blistering hot. ATGATT! always for me, I really don't care what it looks like. I'm new, I'm not supposed to be cool yet.

I went out riding last night, and I'm back out today, getting back on the horse. As for the fender, I'm following the wife's wishes and staying away from internet purchaces. I'm overdue for a trip to the salvage yard, and I plan to get something there that I can mod up. I might go back to the store I bought my bike from to get handlebars, cheap, cheap. I've never had to swap handle grips yet and don't know how it's done. I'll pm one of you guys when I get stumped. Besides that, I just gotta learn to keep the shiny parts off the pavement. Hey does this make me a little less new?

[SamM]

new2riding,
I have a set (why do we call them that, if there is only one) of stock chrome Jialing Viva GY-2 handlebars. They are yours, if you want them. I may have a stock turnsignal or 2. What do yours look like? Check my Viva thread to see what the stock Viva turnsignals look like. Mine were basically junk and the wires broke off. Like I said I may have one good one. I'll let you know.

Send me your address again and I will get these out to you sometime this week. Probably not until Wednesday. I start back to work Monday!

SamM

[katoranger]

I have a new set of blue scott grips.

Allen

[Jim]

the grips are relatively easy to change on these, you just pull them off... the only hard part is thier tight fitting, I pulled the inside back a bit, then worked the outside out, then the inside again... it took a while but it worked...

I bent my bars too, but we just had a few guys pull them till they were straight again.

I know you said you dont want internet purchases but I bought my gy2 fender from RPM and I dont think it cost too much.


edit,

actually, didnt you want a chrome front fender?

[img]/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=6024& g2_serialNumber=2[/img]

should be a good time for this? (or is that white one not supposed to be chrome?[/img]

[IronFist]

I'm sitting here shaking my head. I'm not going to get sappy. I'll just say yes and thank-you.

Sam, I'll PM you. 8)

Kato, thanks, but if I don't ruin the stock ones swapping the bars, I'll be ok. :wink:

Jim, nice work getting that pic into the thread. You are right about the fender. Chrome or black I wanted more of a sport bike fender anyway.

Team Cheap, that's basicly what I did, save the tree was a work bench.

I think I got the forks straight, but it's hard to tell with a bent handlebar . Safe to say I got them really close. As for the blinker, it's been glued and seems to be fine enough for now. I took the dent out of the rear heat shield, but the scratches remain. I don't care at all about scratches. My biggest worry was the barz.

I'm still shaking my head. Saying thank-you seams weak.
Humbly, New to riding. Mike

[IronFist]

Since dumping my bike I can't quite come to trust my front forks. I don't know why. I loosened the top nuts that attach the forks to the triple clamp, and the ones lower, that hold the forks. Rolled the front tire up to my work bench and straightened the alignment by twisting the handlebar. I then retightened everything. The forks don't look bent. I've had the wheel off and checked the front axle bolt and it's ok.

Since then I've hit some decent bumps at speed, but in a turn, I just don't trust it. Standing in front of the bike, wheel between the knees, if I grab the bars and twist, there is a bit of movement but not much, and it won't move past a certain point. It might be very uncool to say but, I think I might have the jitters? :oops: But I was out riding on the highway last night at 60mph and I was out today too so I don't think it's all in my head.

The end of my riding season isn't too far away now.(Toronto, Maybe 2 months, maybe?) The closer it gets, the closer I come to the realization, I'm going to get another season out of this bike. Almost 4000 kilometers and I've got the engine just about right. Along with all the mods I want to do over winter, I'd like to check the ball bearings in the stearing column. I'm sure the triple clamp and shocks and stearing (race?) on the average 200cc chinabike is of way better quality than mine, my front end looks a lot like the canadian Tire bikes. As for the gitters, I'll be back out tomorrow. I see nothing wrong with slowing down a bit when fighting city traffic anyway. :wink:

[katoranger]

Check that steering stem nut. It could be loose give you some play and it could cause some vibes and especially cornering.

Allen

[IronFist]

I checked that nut when I got the bike and after I dropped it. I can't budge it. It won't move. I don't want to break anything kind of tight. I don't know if the stem is really tight, or the nut was jammed on, back in china. I read that the proper test is to check it on and off the box with your finger underneath the stem, and feel if there is any play when the wheel is pulled up. Off the box, when you hit the front brakes. I'm a newb but I didn't feel anything loose. I also read ( I think fatboy 250) wrote something about having to make shims to fit under that nut to take up the (looseness?) I'll know more when I get the new handle bar mounted. My handle bar mounts might be bent as well, they are also made of a really soft metal.

I think I've been stareing at the stearing page of the clymer toooo long :? Hey Kato: I forgot to tighten that brake bolt again after doing the greasing. 8O Brake kicked back again. I don't know how you guys stand it. I'm loosing patience with myself :P Thanks for the heads up bro, but the stuck nut is the reason I was saving the stearing work for the cold season. I'll need help later when I'm in way over my head and can't breathe. :oops:

[katoranger]

When winter rolls around you will probably want to take the steering apart and grease then put it back together. We will help you through it.

Allen

[IronFist]

That's exactly what I meant to say, but clearer and shorter. Again cut and paste. I shouldn't have any problems with you guys around.