My Poor, Beautiful Bike...
Have I got a story for you.

I visit esportbike.com alot. I mean...alot. This site has one heck of a forum where people from all over the world talk about sportbikes. What's new, how to fix, mods, etc. Anyway, after being on the site for several months, I decided to get some of the guys together for a meet. I figured it'd be cool to see the faces that I chatted with over the net. Good idea, eh? I decided that a place where sportbikers usually hung out would be a great place to meet up at, so the Ice House on Guelph Line, in Campbellville on a Sunday would be perfect. Any given Sunday morning, there are over a hundred sportbikes, cruisers, etc at this restaurant/gas station. I asked who'd be interested, and several people (Coldhands, __sabre__, Jammer, and Lord Jim) had thought it'd be a great idea. We set up a time to meet, and then waited for August 18th to roll around.

Well, I suited up in the morning, and headed out for Campbellville, catching the 401 towards Toronto. I decided to get myself an egg Mcmuffin at the service station just after Guelph. I was a little hungry. I parked beside __sabre__'s beautiful ZX-12R, without even knowing it. I went in, got my breakfast, and came back out to eat it. __sabre__, coming out from Mickey Dee's, noticed me from my profile on esportbike, and we started shootin' the breeze. Then, Jammer came in as well. We all talked for awhile, then decided to get some gas, (I had still had 3/4 of a tank, so I didn't bother) then head out to Campbellville together. We got back on the 401 with Jammer in the lead, myself, and __sabre__ taking up the rear.

15 minutes later, we were taking the off ramp. Here is where things got interesting. Jammer took the corner, and then started applying the brakes. I was just coming into the corner, and noticed he had applied the brakes, so, on instinct, so did I. Bikes have a tendency to either turn or stop, and it is hard, albeit not impossible to do both, so with me on the binders, I wasn't turning anymore. My entry speed was 75 kmph, which wasn't fast for the ramp at all. When I applied the brakes, the bike also developed a head shake (tank slapper) where the handlebars started violently going left to right. I was in trouble. I knew it. I really got on the brakes then. The tankslapper wasn't going away, (Which I knew it wouldn't) and I was running out of road in a hurry.

When I got into the weeds, I was doing about 40 - 50 kmph, and I thought - for a split second - I might get out of this no problem. Then...the front end dipped into a fox hole, and down I went.

Damage:

Handlebars bent bad. No straightening those suckers out.
Right mirror busted clean off by the ground.
Left mirror busted by my shoulder.
Tachometer cable stripped.
Speedometer cable stripped.
Tachometer completely wrecked.
Instrument panel where the speedo and tach rest on bent all to hell.
Intrument cover that encases the speedo and tach cracked - destroyed.
Cracked front fender.
Assorted scratches to body work.
Steering stop busted clean off. (This part is welded to the frame...very hard to break off)
Helmet.
One bruised ego.
One bruised rib.

Amazingly, the forks were fine, and the front tire didn't go flat. After coming to a stop, I got out from underneath the bike, and took my dirty helmet off, and kissed it. Best 200 bucks I had ever spent. I looked at the bike, with __sabre__ and Jammer helping me getting back on it's legs, and inspected the damage. I figured the damage was under a thousand dollars, so I decided not to get the OPP involved with this crash. We decided to go into Campbellville anyway...it was only 3 blocks away anyway. I wasn't the bike that day that had gone down, but I still felt like crap. I rode home after meeting Coldhands, and shootin' the breeze with all the guys that had shown up.

Campbellville is close to Milton, and I rode the 401, onto the 8, and caught the 7/8 - 86 to home; all the while without mirrors, tach, or a speedo. SCARY STUFF!

The total cost, to get the bike back into pristine condition is $3000, including labour, and a helmet. I am not going to do that. I'm going to fix it so it is street legal, that's all. The bike is off the road for now, and will be fixed up as money comes in. My Dad will be helping me out, and should be back on the road by Spring. Write it off, you ask? Nah...Remember I left the scene, and who knows...with my luck, they'd nail me with leaving the scene. Can't sell it, I still owe money against. I could trade it in for a new bike, but I'm not going to bother. I can't afford that either, and besides, I wouldn't get anything for it.

Pics are coming of my bike, but I do have some pics of the other guys bikes that Jammer took while we were at The Ice House. Hope you enjoy them.