reasons to start small

[silent_R1]

i'm posting this b/c of the thread chinga posted about the newbies going down and rather than hijack his thread, Spike asked me a question so I'm answering it here.

I started out on an EX250 2003 bought it brand new and rode the piss out of it. my skills improved with seat time (as was to be expected) but not quick enough to save my ass later when I truly needed it.

My bike was rear-ended while I was sitting at a stop light waiting for it to turn and was subsequently totalled out after being run over by an SUV (yeah yeah, i know, sounds stupid, first rearended then run over...what are the odds?) but anyway, while I was waiting on my insurance to pay out, I was jonesing to ride bad. It was my 30th birthday the day before and my bf knew I was wanting to play. So he asked me if I thought I could ride his R1. I'm like I dunno, I could try it and see. Now keep in mind, I was scared of it as a passenger so I was initally, I doubted I could ride it. But I was game to see so I headed out to his place. He had already lowered the front for me by like 6 or so mm b/c I was scared it would wheelie all the time. So, I was jazzed by the time I got there. I took it out and was like hell yeah, I can do this. So we headed out for the nights festivities. AFter riding for a while with everyone else, a smaller group of us split off. my bf had a passenger on his GSXR1K, there were like 6 other bikes and myself on the R1. Very much a n00b, i thought i could keep up, unfortunately, i hit a rolled curb doing about 60+ jumped into a grass filled median, tried to motorcross it off the other side and hit a concrete collection device located in the center of the median. The pics show what happened to my bike. Me? I broke my collar bone and realized a few things.

1) I thought my bf was going to kill me.
2) He didn't...he is a very special man and still loves me
3) DO NOT ride above your abilites.
4) DO NOT jump to an R1 after a mere 2 months of riding. You will hurt yourself.
5) Jumping to a bigger bike will hurt your learning curve...drastically
6) I'm not Valentino Rossi and never will be. Boy, I learned that fast.
7) While I was jonesing to ride, I now had 5 more weeks to be jonesing. But, I had 5 more weeks to learn about my bike that I had just bought.
8) I bought the bike.


Do I think jumping from a small bike to a big bike hurt me? hell yeah. Would I have done it differenlty if i could've? prolly. Don't regret it now, no time for it. But I've learned on the 1, I've learned well and I'm going to start racing this year.

I've now been on it for almost 3 years and I've survived despite my best efforts. Graduate from one to the next. It is the best thing anyone can tell you.
Now for the pics. the first one is fairingless, taken about two weeks before I wrecked. the second is the front end completely ripped off. the third is of the taco'ed rotors. i broke the spokes compeltly out of the rim and ripped both triples apart. the next to the last one is of the dent i put in the tank with my pelvis. it is still there. i did save the pipe though.

No flames please, let's keep this civil. I'm just offereing up my story and how come I don't usually offer up what bike I started with.


questions? comments?

[Spike]

thanks a lot silent, I appreciate that

[Chinga tu Madre]

Nice write up, and I wouldn't have minded if you hi-jacked my thread with it.

Damn, sportbikes don't stay together too well when you hit curbs at 60 do they?
Glad you made it out without too much bodily harm.

Later,
Skeet.

[silent_R1]

nah, actually the curb wasn't the prob...see once i hit it i had the insane thought to try and actually hit the concrete, straighten the bike up (pretty squirrely by this point) and motorcross it off the other side. it was once i hit the concrete collection thingy that it went to shit very quick. man, oh man was it a mess to pick up. we were walking around going "that looks like a bike part, and that is...so is that" it sucked.

[llynx]

wow, thanks for the story

[chsnprodigy]

Hey Silent R1, with your forks the way they are in the picture it will help you turn in faster to the right... Just trying to make you smile a little. Good post, Im glad you got out of the accident as well as you did. Ive also had a broken collar bone...yea it hurts. Is the R1 in the picture rebuildable? I cant tell how the frame was. Good luck with the racing this year, are you racing this bike or another?

[L8 Braker]

Excellent story...Thanks for sharing..

And dayum, that SUV really whooped that bikes arse

[hybrid]

dayum silent! what the hell did that bike ever do to you? Just kidding, and anyways I am glad to see that you are in favor of people starting small and getting bigger by experienced decision making skills and not the penis implant factor.

Still havent heard from you on the ninja 250 project you got going on, hit me up sista!!!

[ToxiC]

I have a question, would a sv650s bike be small enough to be a starter bike (mainly will be used for going to school/work)??

[silent_R1]

Originally Posted by chsnprodigy

Hey Silent R1, with your forks the way they are in the picture it will help you turn in faster to the right... Just trying to make you smile a little. Good post, Im glad you got out of the accident as well as you did. Ive also had a broken collar bone...yea it hurts. Is the R1 in the picture rebuildable? I cant tell how the frame was. Good luck with the racing this year, are you racing this bike or another?

actually, the bike has been rebuilt. here is a picture of it and me at the last track day of the year...
I"m hunting for an R6 to buy for my track bitch. I could technically race the R1 in CCs, but not in Wera or anything else for that matter. I'd rather get an R6 and race in more classes not to mention although I am smooth on the throttle, I"m almost a little too smooth b/c I want to be able to not have to worry about the throttle while I am worried about everything else. make sense?

hybrid, the 250 project, I'm working on it a little at a time...literally. I'm working like 6 days a week, so I'm working on it like 1 day aweek...sigh.

[silent_R1]

Originally Posted by ToxiC

I have a question, would a sv650s bike be small enough to be a starter bike (mainly will be used for going to school/work)??

although the SV650 is a good bike in general, I'd still recommend starting smaller. Hell even the 500 is better if the 250 is still too small. there are so so so many posts about the best bike to start on, and yes, the 650 has made a lot of them, but IMO, the 250 or 500 is better. Suzuki is the maker of the GS500 which is more sport-bike looking than the EX if it is looks (thou truthfully, you should'nt be worried about looks anyway, but we are people and we are) HTH

[ToxiC]

Ill look into the 250 and 500
tnx

[UberGoober]

Awesome post. This should be a sticky in the New Riders' Forum.

Great pics too. Looks like the short end of a holiday turkey's wishbone, amazing that it could be rebuilt. Happy you came through mostly unscathed.

[silent_R1]

Originally Posted by tmkreutzer

Awesome post. This should be a sticky in the New Riders' Forum.

Great pics too. Looks like the short end of a holiday turkey's wishbone, amazing that it could be rebuilt. Happy you came through mostly unscathed.

yeah me too. that little escapade taught me alot about throttle control. and lean angle, and what the bike can do. and the bike can do more than the rider in alot of instance and...


the list could go on for days.

[badgixxer]

yeah but know you pwn3d that R1 and you throw that thing into corners like nobody's business....