Thinking of the experiences in the few months i have been riding

[G Blaze]

Hey, i havent written in a while, but ive been checkin in from time to time... so lets see... well since i purchased the seca II i have realized... when u guys say i will drop it eventually... i didnt think it would be immediately... lmao... 2 drops were minor.. getting used to the bike and laying the bike on its side while idling when im leaning to far to one side... but the last one... ugh!

okay so i'm pulling out of a spot in front of my house, its a local street in queens so there are cars parallel parked on both side... i am power walking out of the spot while looking to the right making sure no oncoming traffic is coming ... so i pull behind a van going up my block... im still going really slow by the way, so i start to accelerate, when i see the van in front of me STOPS... and its not a normal stop... its an emergency, OMG CHILDREN ARE LAYING ON THE FLOOR I MIGHT HIT THEM kinda stop... so i try to go around it, but i'm going REALLY slow because im still in first and i braked and wanted to downshift... (MSF courses) i lose balance and end up bashing the right side of my bike into a car ON MY FREAKIN BLOCK!

The car was a 92 Cavalier... nice and kinda rusted all around... it was mostly green with one white door... seems like he replaced it before... it was interesting... the whole car is green... and i hit the part thats all white that this guy wanted to fix , leaving black streaks from my bike... and a HUGE dent from the bike landing kinda downward onto it.... i didn't hit the floor... so that was cool... and i don't blame the van in front of me or anyone else, cuz i need to be more aware of what i'm doing and what other people are doing and expect stuff like that!!!

So yeah... i look around.... and then wait for like 5 seconds... but what are the chances this guy is gonna come to his car in the next 10 mins? so... i had to go to work... and now that i think of it, it was a dick head move, but i left... lol

so i go to work, and all i noticed when i checked the bike with all my adrenaline pumped was that the paint was scuffed... i was like... jeez i hit that car kinda hard... cool... so go to work, and when i park and actually look at my bike... i see that i cracked all the plastic surrounding the screws holding down the fairing on the right side of the front fairing... ill take a pic if anyone is interested and u will see what i'm talking about... so i think... DAMNIT!!!! the parts for this bike are so rare!!! UGH!!! im never finding a replacement!!!!

anyway... so i get home... and the next day i feel real guilty... cuz i left the scene... so i go to leave a note on the guys car (shit he does live on my block whoever he was) and when i get to his car... hes sitting in it!?! like... car not on... staring out the windshield... older guy too... im like... great... hes CRAZY?! i have the best fuckin luck ever! i look at the car, its full of cardboard boxes... and this guy is fuckin ZONED OUT!!! lol...

so i say fuck it... i walk up to the window... knock on it, he gets kinda startled... and rolls down the window... i tell him i dented his car when i lost balance with my motorcycle... he said it was fine... and he was really cool about it, i asked him if he wanted me to pay for the door and he didn't seem to care, he said give him 20 bucks and its fine.... so i did, and i felt way better....

but yeah, i have been looking for a replacement front fairing for like... months now... and i cant find one... the bike is still ridable... its not even bad... i'm just worried since half the fairing is now not bolted down that the fairing could come loose on the highway... i'm going to take pics and hopefully someone will tell me if its possible to fiberglass the parts back together...

yeah... also i locked the back wheel while going 70 on the LIE the 3rd time i was ever on the motorcycle... that was scary shit... but i kept the front straight, and eased off the back brake... and i was fine... the swaying from side to side was scary! hmmm... that part of the Long Island Expressway always keeps me in check when i ride... its a good constant reminder that im not invincible.... but yeah.... so thats what has been happening since i got the seca II... lots of learning and scary experiences... i cant imagine what would happen if i had a faster bike! i think ima stick with the seca II for a while, till i can avoid these stupid incidences from happening... well yeah, thanks for reading if you did...

and if you think this post is too long... don't read or comment on it... you don't have to... if your bored enough to comment negatively, then u should have had enough time to read it...

[Spyke_Da_Fresh]

I always heard dispite what the MSF teaches that in a emergency situation you should just focus on grabbing the clutch and squeezing (not grabbing ) the front break and if your going to apply the rear brake to just apply it and forget about it and focus more on squeezing the front brake.

From my experience this works a lot better then what the MSF teaches i hthis concept before so I went out and did a little pratice with it and applied it to my real world training and i must say it works a lot better for coming to a complete stop in those certain moments

just my .2 cents ( 3000 Miles 6 months - Ninja 250 )

[mofoiar]

i disagree. in an emergency, i do the following:
Downshift
squeeze front brake
apply rear brake

at first, its a little clumsy trying to coordinate the clutch, gear lever, right hand, and right foot but if you work on it, it gets easier. it just takes practice.

i think its beneficial to use both brakes because using both tires to slow down is better than using only one. the downshift is important also: if you find a way out the situation you're in, you want to be in a gear that allows you to escape.

[Spyke_Da_Fresh]

Speaking for a 250 I think it is but thing of the SS bikes

If you squeeze and brake hard enough the front wheel will have so much stopping power that it will lift the rear wheel at that point applying the rear brake has just about zero benefit so it would be best to focus on the clutch and your squeezing of the front brake

[UberGoober]

I think the van accident was really caused by you following too close. If you had had more space, you would have had time to react. I know its tough to space yourself out too far in the city, but you still need to.

On the faring, pull it off, run a big old piece of duct tape down the inside to stop it from vibrating and getting bigger. Depending upon how bad it is, you might just forget about it and ride the bike the way it is. Many older bikes (probably most) have small faring cracks, if it was an important stress area, it probably would have broken off by now anyhow so don't sweat it.

Meanwhile, keep on livin' and learnin'.

[donkeyman]

Following too close is the biggest I have when riding too. I mean, I'm not tailgating but I still need to be conscious of how close I'm following to ensure that I have just enough room for any sudden emergency stops.

[G Blaze]

yeah i said i would show you guys pics... so here they are

the bike's right side

the biggest thing to me is this, because i see it whenever i go on... lol

this doesnt seem good either

another angle

and the windshield... but on the left side


the bike still runs good and straight... the left side besides the windshield is fine.. if you have read my previous posts its much better than it ran when i first got it... after i had the tune up done in oct... so yeah... on a scale of 1 to 10... 1 being not serious and 10 being wtf are you doing!? how safe do u think this would be when goin on a highway with alot of wind?

should tape do the trick till the season starts? right now, i only ride it once in a while because its cold and i dont wanna risk going somewhere and leaving the bike cuz the roads get icy... but when i do ride... i normally go about 60 miles away by highway... so... any advice?

[Goin Ape Nutz]

get your seca neked!!!!!

glad to hear you are ok, and a stand up guy for going back and trying to right the wrong of leaving the scene... though I understand the need to get to work. If you've got an empty parking lot you can go practice in, it might be worthwhile to go there and practice your emergency braking from various speeds.

[G Blaze]

yeah, i think that would be a good idea too... i wanna buy some cones! have some friends come and have a Motorcycle Safety Party!!!.... actually... that sounds really fun! mostly cuz my friends don't know how to ride but talk a whole bunch about getting a motorcycle lol... and i wanna keep goin naked as a last possible option... cuz... i bought this bike cuz i liked the fairing! it would be weird to ditch it... when thats the reason i chose it

[kevin_stevens]

Think how happy you can be now that you didn't do that to a new bike!

KeS

[UberGoober]

Those gaps might be a little big for the duct tape method to work very well. It might be a good stop gap until you find new parts though.

[MotoGiya]

nice story, got lucky with the old guy in the car. What if it was a BMW.

Honestly i would stay in a parking lot until you feel really comfortable stopping and going. Doesn't matter how close you were to the van you could've stopped without swerving to the right into a car.

what i'll do is pull the clutch > downshift and brake ... if its a emergency.. use both rear and front.. but not too hard on the front

You can look on eBay for parts or go to a Cycle Salvage company

[G Blaze]

yeah, ill prob duct tape it when it isnt raining outside... also i feel plenty confident starting and stopping now... just a lapse when i should have been more aware... i start and stop all day, i live in New York City.... i dunno what happened there tho... ah well...

i tried ebay... i gotta check regularly, its rare to find parts in the US... especially the front fairing... ill try the salvage thing tho, maybe ill get lucky! thanks!

[Jim Moore]

Originally Posted by G Blaze

yeah, i think that would be a good idea too... i wanna buy some cones! have some friends come and have a Motorcycle Safety Party!!!....

Buy two cans of tennis balls and cut 'em in half. Works like a champ.

[sqchram]

Originally Posted by Jim Moore

Buy two cans of tennis balls and cut 'em in half. Works like a champ.

Why spend the $$$ unless you play tennis or have a dog? Just grab a few cans of Pringles.

Entertaining story too. I like how you ducked out since the car was a beat up piece of shit, then felt remorseful and went back and saw the owner and had the nutsack to talk to him.