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03-03-2003, 05:36pm
Hi all
Just thought I'd share a sad/happy story with you all. About 5-6 weeks ago I had an accident on the busa. Went for a ride on the Wollombi road to kill a few hours, rode from the pub up to the petrol station (going south), stopped to fill up and get a drink. When I was ready to leave I seen a couple of riders on 600's heading back down toward the Wollombi Pub, thought I would tag along for a bit of fun.
All going well so far with these guys pushing put not to hard, not sure of the exact location but probably about half way between the pub and the petrol station there is a section of road with some tight 35kmph and 25kmph bends. As we approached the first 35k bend which is a right hand down hill sweeper I was about 30 metres behind the 600 in front, I'm not sure of the approach speed but it may have been around 60 to 90k, picked a nice line set the busa up and started the corner with just a bit of trail brake on the rear.
Next thing I see is the 600 in front sit up mid corner and dive on the brakes as hard as possible. At first my thoughts were all for this rider as he heading straight for the guard rail, next thing I realise is I've got a problem, my line was shot, the two options available were to run up the arse of the 600 or to try out wide and take enough speed off not to hit the bike in front. I braked to the point where the back tyre begun to skid, speed coming off quick, the 600 beginning to straighten up things looked OK.
Next thing I see is the end of the bitumen coming up(which is broken away about 1-2 feet in front of the guard rail), tried, tried, tried but couldn't stop the front wheel going into the rutted nightmare, next I realise the whole bike is in this lose gravel/rut stuff, speed now is only about 15 to 20k but I could stop the bike. I bumped the guard rail on the left side of the bike which had the effect of sending the bike to its fate of being dropped on the right side. The Bike slide for about 1-2 meters on its side, no much in distance but as you could imagine enough to cause some serious damage to the bodywork.
Luckily enough no structural damage occurred, only scratches to the front guard, front and right side fairing and right exhaust can. The exhaust pipe just in front of the can was also scratched and dented. After picking up the bike and rolling down to a clearing on the side of the road to inspect the bike the two 600's came back to see if I was OK. The rider in front of me appologised for his slip up and went on to explain he is a novice rider and this was his first time on this road (just my luck). I explained to him is was all OK, technically it's my fault for being to close. After checking the bike was OK to ride, off I went, home to find my insurance policy.
You may be wondering where is the happy ending to this story, well to cut a long story short, because the exhaust system was damaged the insurance company accepted to replace the entire system, the dealer told me a full new standard system is about $2,400. So to save the insurance company some money we suggested fitted an after market system, the final result is a full Yoshi 4-2-1 with carbon fibre can for the cost of the excess $500.
I was a bit worried at first about the Yoshi and low down performance but boy, when I rode it for the first time it blew me away, it sounds great, deep and throaty, low revs seem the same if not better, mid range is just unbelievable and top end, who knows I haven't been able to get there yet.
I would suggest this exercise to anyone (at least not for a cheap exhaust system) but it certainly has given me a happy ending to a story which I would rather forget and never relive.
Just thought I'd share a sad/happy story with you all. About 5-6 weeks ago I had an accident on the busa. Went for a ride on the Wollombi road to kill a few hours, rode from the pub up to the petrol station (going south), stopped to fill up and get a drink. When I was ready to leave I seen a couple of riders on 600's heading back down toward the Wollombi Pub, thought I would tag along for a bit of fun.
All going well so far with these guys pushing put not to hard, not sure of the exact location but probably about half way between the pub and the petrol station there is a section of road with some tight 35kmph and 25kmph bends. As we approached the first 35k bend which is a right hand down hill sweeper I was about 30 metres behind the 600 in front, I'm not sure of the approach speed but it may have been around 60 to 90k, picked a nice line set the busa up and started the corner with just a bit of trail brake on the rear.
Next thing I see is the 600 in front sit up mid corner and dive on the brakes as hard as possible. At first my thoughts were all for this rider as he heading straight for the guard rail, next thing I realise is I've got a problem, my line was shot, the two options available were to run up the arse of the 600 or to try out wide and take enough speed off not to hit the bike in front. I braked to the point where the back tyre begun to skid, speed coming off quick, the 600 beginning to straighten up things looked OK.
Next thing I see is the end of the bitumen coming up(which is broken away about 1-2 feet in front of the guard rail), tried, tried, tried but couldn't stop the front wheel going into the rutted nightmare, next I realise the whole bike is in this lose gravel/rut stuff, speed now is only about 15 to 20k but I could stop the bike. I bumped the guard rail on the left side of the bike which had the effect of sending the bike to its fate of being dropped on the right side. The Bike slide for about 1-2 meters on its side, no much in distance but as you could imagine enough to cause some serious damage to the bodywork.
Luckily enough no structural damage occurred, only scratches to the front guard, front and right side fairing and right exhaust can. The exhaust pipe just in front of the can was also scratched and dented. After picking up the bike and rolling down to a clearing on the side of the road to inspect the bike the two 600's came back to see if I was OK. The rider in front of me appologised for his slip up and went on to explain he is a novice rider and this was his first time on this road (just my luck). I explained to him is was all OK, technically it's my fault for being to close. After checking the bike was OK to ride, off I went, home to find my insurance policy.
You may be wondering where is the happy ending to this story, well to cut a long story short, because the exhaust system was damaged the insurance company accepted to replace the entire system, the dealer told me a full new standard system is about $2,400. So to save the insurance company some money we suggested fitted an after market system, the final result is a full Yoshi 4-2-1 with carbon fibre can for the cost of the excess $500.
I was a bit worried at first about the Yoshi and low down performance but boy, when I rode it for the first time it blew me away, it sounds great, deep and throaty, low revs seem the same if not better, mid range is just unbelievable and top end, who knows I haven't been able to get there yet.
I would suggest this exercise to anyone (at least not for a cheap exhaust system) but it certainly has given me a happy ending to a story which I would rather forget and never relive.