USA Midwest » Lowsided this morning

I picked up the R1200Rs from Sportland Motorsports (Champaign) with new shiny slippery tires. I was riding it home rather slowly when I leaned into a left turn, the road was also slightly greasy, and the bike went down with me under it. Two guys in a pickup helped me up, picked up the bike, and left me there after checking to see whether I needed an ambulance. I called the dealer and asked them if they could pick up the bike and Warren showed up in minutes and took charge (terrific nice guy). Then I called my wife and asked her to pick me up- by then my left leg felt decidedly unstable despite the adrenaline so I got dropped off at the ER, where they swung into action. After triage, evaluation, and X-rays, an ortho visited me and said I had a fractured fibula but in a place that allowed him not to prescribe a cast. So they shot me up with a dose of fentanyl (interesting to read the vitals monitor as the drug took effect), pumped a liter of saline into me, and fitted the orthopedic boot you see below, and sent me on my way with a presciption for Oxycodone, which I tore up on the way home. It could have been a lot worse. The bike will need some repair (BMW plastic is expensive). Wearing my expensive motorcycle gear made all the difference, I'd have been like kebab without it. Moral of the story- new cold tires are dangerous. Of course I knew that but I wasn't careful enough. The BMW jacket, gloves, and boots protected me from road rash, the Shoei did its job and my 5.11 Tac Pants almost did a good job but they're not designed to protect motorcyclists. The R will need a new cylinder cover, a new bar-end, and a new tail light at minimum. Anyway, all's well. Another reminder that being ultra-careful is better than being careful.

Sorry about your mishap as you said it could have been worse.

Yes, it was rather clumsy and it looks like fentanyl gets in the way of composition and spelling too...edited version below. We have a shelter-in -place order in Illinois, which will assist healing. There's probably enough red wine in the house to get me through the next 8 weeks.

I picked up the R1200Rs from Sportland Motorsports (Champaign) with new shiny slippery tires. I was riding it home rather slowly when I leaned into a left turn, the road was also slightly greasy, and the bike went down with me under it. Two guys in a pickup helped me up, picked up the bike, and left me there after checking to see whether I needed an ambulance. I called the dealer and asked them if they could pick up the bike and Warren showed up in minutes and took charge (terrific nice guy). Then I called my wife and asked her to pick me up- by then my left leg felt decidedly unstable despite the adrenaline so I got dropped off at the ER, where they swung into action. After triage, evaluation, and X-rays, an ortho visited me and said I had a fractured fibula but in a place that allowed him not to prescribe a cast. So they shot me up with a dose of fentanyl (interesting to read the vitals monitor as the drug took effect), pumped a liter of saline into me, and fitted an orthopedic boot, and sent me on my way with a prescription for Oxycodone, which I tore up on the way home. It could have been a lot worse. The bike will need some repair (BMW plastic is expensive). Wearing my expensive motorcycle gear made all the difference, I'd have been like kebab without it. The BMW jacket, gloves, and boots protected me from road rash, the Shoei did its job and my 5.11 Tac Pants almost did a good job but they're not designed to protect motorcyclists. The R will need a new cylinder cover, a new bar-end, and a new tail light at minimum. Moral of the story- new cold tires are dangerous. Of course I knew that but I wasn't careful enough. Anyway, all's well. Another reminder that being ultra-careful is better than being careful.

Glad you're OK-ish.

Bikes can be fixed easier than people.

Makes me proud that I successfully rode my lad's S1000RR on brand new tyres last week to the shop for it's annual test without mishap.

Get well soon.

Zitat von gc141x im Beitrag #4

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There's probably enough red wine in the house to get me through the next 8 weeks.

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Hi Paul- the bike will need, at minimum, a cylinder cover, a tail-light, and a new bar end (handle bar counterweight). The dealer's closed for the next two weeks on account of COVID so I'll find out. The leg is rather painful but I'll survive it. Might be 6 weeks before I can get back on the bike though. Back to the doctrine of ultra careful.

sorry to hear about the accident but pleased you are reasonably ok and so is the bike.

wishing you a speedy recovery and the red wine continues to aid your recovery.

Graham

Zitat von gc141x im Beitrag #1

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Moral of the story- new cold tires are dangerous. Of course I knew that but I wasn't careful enough. The BMW jacket, gloves, and boots protected me from road rash, the Shoei did its job and my 5.11 Tac Pants almost did a good job but they're not designed to protect motorcyclists. The R will need a new cylinder cover, a new bar-end, and a new tail light at minimum. Anyway, all's well. Another reminder that being ultra-careful is better than being careful.

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I was surprised to read that you had low sided due to slippery new tyres. I had no end of sets (Michelin PS4 and R5) and have never had a slippery moment on new modern tyres as they don’t really use a release agent these days. A couple of heat cycles to get full grip, but still very grippy out of the box. Not the skittish feeling you used to get on new crossply Avon Road Runners and Dunlop TT’s in the 70/80’s. Could it have been diesel or oil on the road?

Sorry to hear about your lowside.
Hope your leg feels better soon.

Wessie- makes a good point. I wasn't trying to blame the tires (Metzeler Z8s) alone but one can hardly ignore them as factors (i) brand new (ii) only half a mile of riding when I went down. Add a slow entry speed from start into curve (15-20 mph), gentle roll on, and didn't touch the brakes. That does leave oily wet road but I didn't see any evidence- there was no sign of anything oily after I got up but I wasn't at my most observant to be truthful. From my memory of what happened, the rear wheel started sliding and then the front wheel lost traction. I remember saying, "whoa" and then hitting hard and rolling. The rest is reconstruction but I think it was fairly spectacular because the pickup truck guy opposite had his mouth wide open as he watched the event. :) So I'll stay with my theory of cold new tires, wet road with maybe a film of grease on it, and I should have handled the curve even more suspiciously and/or maybe taken a psi or two out of the tires and ridden round and round the parking lot with some hard braking till they warmed up. Can't think of anything else but open to advice. Thanks for the good wishes all, much appreciated.

Praying you recover quickly and completely. I had a similar incident on my '16 RS. Exited the dealer lot (after getting my bent front rim replaced & a new tire) traveled less than a mile and proceeded to turn left to enter the highway on ramp. Next thing I know, I'm on my back. watching my bike continue across the intersection without me. On the left side, still in second gear, the bike made a nice sweeping arc to return back to me, as if I had a leash attached to it, lol. It was cool and damp and in an intersection, so road surface was a big part of the equation. The amazing thing was the lack of damage. With MaM X-Heads installed, there was no damage to bar ends, mirrors or bodywork. It was only later that I realized the plastic ring at the rear axle had been scuffed.
All this to say. cylinder head protection is a must on these boxers