GhengisT
Junior Member
I was on my way to work a few days ago, riding my normal route. There's a few miles of hillside road that I usually run through on the way to work. Just got done changing my fork springs a couple days before and enjoying the increased front end response.
As I exited the last turn of the hillside road, I entered into a nice two or three mile straight away. Cruising down this stretch of straight-away, there was a car waiting to make a left turn in the opposing lane. I could tell the driver was debating the distance as I covered the front brake lever about 60 ft out. The car then stopped, so I felt safe continuing forward. As I approached 20ft or so of the opposing car, he decided to go for the turn, leaving me about 10 to 15 ft of braking distance.
I grabbed a handful of front brake, skidding across a front-wheel mounted Dunlop Q3. Although I managed to shave off a ton of speed in a very controlled upright slide, I was headed towards the rear passenger-side quarter panel of their car. There was another car behind him waiting to turn, so going to the left of the driver wasn't an option. Going to the right, wasn't an option either, since they were already moving through the turn.
The front right headlight on my FZ6 made contact with the rear passenger quarter panel of the turning car. My FZ6 and I ricocheted off and past the vehicle, to the right side of the road and down in a nice patch of dirt in front of a fence.
My right side absorbed all of the impact, bent my right handle bar. Sheered off my right headlight and fairing assembly. The bike held up very well, minus a slight bend in the fork assembly. I was able to ride it home after the exchange of information with the other driver. Pumped w/ adrenaline, I still went into work after cleaning the wound running down my right leg. The next day, had to call out due to stiffness and limited movement.
Could have been much worse and I'm thankful that I was able to walk away with minor injury. Bike is currently sitting at the shop awaiting inspection by the other party's insurance. I'm a bit saddened by the fact that I had the bike dialed in and all mods were done. I had scheduled a track day in a few weeks as well. Guess I'll have to wait until I get my next bike.
As I exited the last turn of the hillside road, I entered into a nice two or three mile straight away. Cruising down this stretch of straight-away, there was a car waiting to make a left turn in the opposing lane. I could tell the driver was debating the distance as I covered the front brake lever about 60 ft out. The car then stopped, so I felt safe continuing forward. As I approached 20ft or so of the opposing car, he decided to go for the turn, leaving me about 10 to 15 ft of braking distance.
I grabbed a handful of front brake, skidding across a front-wheel mounted Dunlop Q3. Although I managed to shave off a ton of speed in a very controlled upright slide, I was headed towards the rear passenger-side quarter panel of their car. There was another car behind him waiting to turn, so going to the left of the driver wasn't an option. Going to the right, wasn't an option either, since they were already moving through the turn.
The front right headlight on my FZ6 made contact with the rear passenger quarter panel of the turning car. My FZ6 and I ricocheted off and past the vehicle, to the right side of the road and down in a nice patch of dirt in front of a fence.
My right side absorbed all of the impact, bent my right handle bar. Sheered off my right headlight and fairing assembly. The bike held up very well, minus a slight bend in the fork assembly. I was able to ride it home after the exchange of information with the other driver. Pumped w/ adrenaline, I still went into work after cleaning the wound running down my right leg. The next day, had to call out due to stiffness and limited movement.
Could have been much worse and I'm thankful that I was able to walk away with minor injury. Bike is currently sitting at the shop awaiting inspection by the other party's insurance. I'm a bit saddened by the fact that I had the bike dialed in and all mods were done. I had scheduled a track day in a few weeks as well. Guess I'll have to wait until I get my next bike.