Brand New Bike - Crashed!!!

13350 Views 82 Replies 27 Participants Last post by lau, Nov 23, 2017

cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · Jul 30, 2017

Got discharged from hospital yesterday and won't have use of my left arm for awhile.

Two days ago, after waiting close to a month, I finally picked up my brand new, leftover 2014 ZX10R with ABS. The bike was stunning and I was very much looking forward to a new chapter of motorcycle ownership. This was my 2nd litre superbike among dozens of bikes I've owned in the past 30 years. Well shit happens, the bike went down and I ended up in the trauma ward.

So this is the story behind the crash. It had been raining lightly and I had my rain gear on. Then it cleared up and got warm so I pulled over and put my rain gear in my backpack along with my motorcycle jacket liner. I completely zip closed the backpack. Over an hour later as I'm doing about 60 mph the bike's rear wheel locks up and I'm fishtailing madly for a few seconds and then get thrown off. Lost most of my memory of what happened next until the ambulance arrived. While being loaded into the ambulance the police officer pointed out to me the cause of the crash. My jacket liner somehow slipped out of my backpack, made its way down toward the rear of the bike and got tangled in the rear wheel causing a catastrophic rear wheel lockup. I believe I had just over 100 miles on the odometer.

I'm getting the bike transported from the tow company to my local Kawasaki dealer and will soon find out how bad the damage is. Spoke to the tow company guy today and he said the bike looks bad.

So, while I wait for my arm, ribs and collarbone to heal, and wait to hear the insurance company's verdict, I have plenty of time to contemplate on whether to get another ZX10R or something else.

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obijack

· #2 · Jul 30, 2017

Damn man, I can't believe this. Simply incredible! Just last week you were adamant about having sliders on your bike before you left the dealer. And now this freak accident. Very very sorry to hear. Did you have the bike insured prior to the accident? Health up man!

cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 30, 2017

obijack said:
Damn man, I can't believe this. Simply incredible! Just last week you were adamant about having sliders on your bike before you left the dealer. And now this freak accident. Very very sorry to hear. Did you have the bike insured prior to the accident? Health up man!

Bike has full coverage. My good friend who works in the bike parts business and also works on bikes regularly doubts frame sliders would have done much in this kind of high speed crash. But we'll see when the dealer has a chance to look it over thoroughly. Thanks for wishing me well. Wife is not so sympathetic. :lol:

renais

· #4 · Jul 30, 2017

Sometimes life's lessons are hard :frown2:

Hope you get it all sorted soon :|

obijack

· #5 · Jul 30, 2017

I am glad the bike is insured. Not being insured would make things much worse! I didn't mean to imply the frame sliders would have prevented any damage. Rather I was just commenting on the irony of the whole thing.

evilaugust

· #6 · Jul 30, 2017

Question, when you zip your backpack, do you have both zippers in the middle at the top, or off to the side? I'm asking because I had a friend lose a bunch of shit because he made the critical mistake of having his zippers at the top. Wind gets in there and away it goes!

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Helitech

· #7 · Jul 30, 2017

Damn that’s unfortunate that a liner caused the crashed... happy you’re posting about it though! Heal well!

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cwrzx

· #8 · Jul 30, 2017

evilaugust said:
Question, when you zip your backpack, do you have both zippers in the middle at the top, or off to the side? I'm asking because I had a friend lose a bunch of shit because he made the critical mistake of having his zippers at the top. Wind gets in there and away it goes!

You are correct, I lost a water bottle while the zippers were both at the top. After that I always put the zippers to one side at the very bottom.

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cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 30, 2017

evilaugust said:
Question, when you zip your backpack, do you have both zippers in the middle at the top, or off to the side? I'm asking because I had a friend lose a bunch of shit because he made the critical mistake of having his zippers at the top. Wind gets in there and away it goes!

Evilaugust you are dead on! It took me a little while to think it through, but I came to the same conclusion. The backpack was full to the brim with the liner at the top and the zippers meeting at the top. On my ZRX1200R and my YZF600R I've never ridden for an extended period of time with the backpack full and from what I recall I usually keep the zippers closed to one side or the other. In fact, when the police gave me my stuff in the "evidence" bags at the hospital, the zippers of the backpack were opened enough for the liner to come out and were at the top.

From now on I'm going to go a step further from always making sure the zippers are closed to the side, I'm going to secure them every time with something like a mini carabiner.

cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jul 30, 2017

obijack said:
I am glad the bike is insured. Not being insured would make things much worse! I didn't mean to imply the frame sliders would have prevented any damage. Rather I was just commenting on the irony of the whole thing.

I know what you weren't implying anything re the sliders. And yes, the irony is too real. :lol:

th3r3ds0x

· #11 · Jul 31, 2017

Sorry to hear about the bike but it's a blessing you're able to tell everyone about it. Hope you get well quickly.

Reactions: 1

Diescrap95

· #12 · Jul 31, 2017

Glad to see you are ok, heal up and just get yourself another one.

Reactions: 1

cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · #13 · Jul 31, 2017

In hopes of helping other motorcyclists avoid the nightmare accident I experienced, I've created an image collage showing in 3 steps exactly how my jacket liner managed to slip out of my backpack and through sheer bad luck end up in my rear wheel causing it to lock up and throw me off the bike at 60 mph. The last image shows the best way to securely zip close a full backpack along with a recommendation to use a mini carabiner to secure the zippers. Keep in mind I do remember very clearly completely closing the zippers, but the problem was that I closed them at the top and the backpack was full, so over the course of the hour I rode before the accident, the combination of wind turbulence and vibrations jiggled the zippers open enough to allow the liner to slip out. Please pass this info onto anyone you know who rides a motorcycle with a backpack. One should also practice extra vigilance when it comes to other types of motorcycle luggage or items tied/strapped to the bike.

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obijack

· #14 · Jul 31, 2017

For your next backpack, get an Ogio Mach 3 or 5. They open on the inside of the backpack (the part that is against your back) vs. the outside like a standard backpack. Plus, they are superb on a supersport because of the hard shell contour. Really helps when tucked and higher speeds. And they have ingeniously customized the interior storage compartments for motorcyclist. Ogio makes them in Red, Hi Viz, and Black (I got red, because red means stop, right?). PM Mike at Riders Discount for the best price i could find.

smurfslayer

· #15 · Jul 31, 2017

I’m glad you’re ok. That’s a painful and expensive lesson learned, for sure. only you know how “stuffed to the gills” the bag was, but I learned this lesson the easy way when I got to a ride destination to find my backpack zippers open, but nothing missing. My pack wasn’t full to the gills, but it was heavy, - on the way to the range. I tend to now use the backpack as a tail pack, and wrap it in a cargo net on the back seat. If that’s not an option for you, it’s possible to thread a small clip through the zipper handles. This won’t suffer a lot of load, but will prevent the zippers from walking loose.

Good luck and get well soon.

Reactions: 1

cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · #16 · Jul 31, 2017

obijack said:
For your next backpack, get an Ogio Mach 3 or 5. They open on the inside of the backpack (the part that is against your back) vs. the outside like a standard backpack. Plus, they are superb on a supersport because of the hard shell contour. Really helps when tucked and higher speeds. And they have ingeniously customized the interior storage compartments for motorcyclist. Ogio makes them in Red, Hi Viz, and Black (I got red, because red means stop, right?). PM Mike at Riders Discount for the best price i could find.

Thanks obijack for the info

cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jul 31, 2017

smurfslayer said:
I’m glad you’re ok. That’s a painful and expensive lesson learned, for sure. only you know how “stuffed to the gills” the bag was, but I learned this lesson the easy way when I got to a ride destination to find my backpack zippers open, but nothing missing. My pack wasn’t full to the gills, but it was heavy, - on the way to the range. I tend to now use the backpack as a tail pack, and wrap it in a cargo net on the back seat. If that’s not an option for you, it’s possible to thread a small clip through the zipper handles. This won’t suffer a lot of load, but will prevent the zippers from walking loose.

Good luck and get well soon.

Good alternative idea to using a mini carabiner clip.

cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · #18 · Jul 31, 2017

Went to see bike in tow yard. Got a good look at my jacket liner wedged in the rear disc brake rotor.

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rcannon

· #19 · Jul 31, 2017

Im glad you are somewhat ok, and thank you for the warning.

Its rare to see an accident where the owner did NOTHING wrong. Ive never had mine blow open, but from seeing your situation, thats just luck.

Reactions: 1

cmbnyc

Discussion Starter · #20 · Aug 1, 2017

Pictures of the damage.

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