Fortunately, I didn't go off the cliff side...

I went into the mountain side.

I crashed (first time) on Monday, at the edge of Appalachia in Kentucky, USA. I got knocked out and can't remember what I did to cause the crash. I suspect I let out the clutch too quickly with engine speed not matched to my coasting, made the back tire slip, and "regained control" facing into the side of the hill... all I know is one second I was enjoying the curves, a lot, and a minute later three guys were helping me get up and get the bike out of the way, and someone came with a towtruck, and someone took me to the hospital... I was very spaced out from being knocked out.

I was very lucky. Nothing broken or seriously injured, I rented a truck and carried my bike home the next day.

My helmet cam was set to shoot every five seconds, and I can tell from that I was going 47 coming into a gentle curve, and that five seconds later the cam was on the ground, debris in the air, and 30 seconds later I am standing up again and 5 seconds later someone else is there with me.


Nice road!


Flying debris!


I'm alive...


Poor bike. (Looks like a lot of stuff on it, but those top two bags have just my sleeping bag, camping hammock, and some warm clothes, a total of about 10lbs secured behind me.)

I think I must have plowed straight in, the only damage on the bike is all the cowling stuff, and I had a muddy scrape straight down the middle of my helmet/visor. I wish I'd been in video mode on the camera!

I'm thinking of doing a naked conversion now, after I get the bike checked out.

But first, a question. I have only run the bike for about 30 seconds since then... and it's blowing a lot of smoke. Any guesses whether this is just oil that is coming down from being upside down or something else? There's no sign that anything impacted the engine, sides, or back of the bike -- my soft side saddlebags weren't hurt, etc.

So... ATGATT. I'm sure glad I was.

Kevin

Glad you are OK:thumbup: Not sure about the smoke Good luck

Yikes! Glad you're ok.. could've been very very bad.

I'm wondering if the oil made it into cylinder heads when the bike was upside down (unlikely). I think I'd try to let it run for 15 minutes and see if it got better. I'm sure someone else will chime in with better ideas.

A helpful bit of information would be what color the smoke was? White, blue? Also, did it have any particular odor to it? Is the bike leaking any fluids? Did you make sure to clean out the air filter/box before running it since there is likely mud from the accident in there? Is the bike making any unusual noises or did it just fire right up?

rsw81 said:

A helpful bit of information would be what color the smoke was? White, blue? Also, did it have any particular odor to it? Is the bike leaking any fluids? Did you make sure to clean out the air filter/box before running it since there is likely mud from the accident in there? Is the bike making any unusual noises or did it just fire right up?

Click to expand...

Thanks, good questions.

It fires right up and sounds normal.

There was a little leakage, maybe a tablespoon total, which seemed to come from around the shifter shaft on the left side.

The oil level is about what it was before the crash.

I didn't clean the filter box, I'll lift the tank and look into that soon.

Ah here's an image of the smoke when revving it...




The smoke was slightly blueish I think, and had hints of rainbow...

ah... that makes me realize I didn't look at the coolant level -- first watercooled bike I've had... the hoses are all fine, the radiator doesn't look damaged at all...

Any other things to look at without too much mechanicing (yet)?

Bluish smoke is typically burning oil. I suppose it's possible that if the bike was upside down that some oil could have just collected in the combustion chamber and just needs to burn off. If the bike sounds normal, fires right up, but is blowing a large amount of blue smoke... it could be just some oil that collected that needs to burn off or a damaged head gasket. I'd hope for the first one. If the smoke goes away, then I'd bet on the first one. If it continues to do this, I'd bet on the second.

Factory coolant is green in color. If the bike is leaking any fluids, you want to know what color it is. Put some white paper or an aluminum tin underneath it to collect.

Once you get the tank lifts, inspect all the lines and the air filter. If it all looks kosher, I'd just put it back together for now and start tearing down the front of the bike. Given the majority frontal damage, inspect the forks for any damage/bends.

You imply that you aren't to mechanically inclined. Got a local buddy who might be able/willing to help you in looking at it?

Also, you mentioned loss of consciousness from the accident. Did you feel unsteady on your feet afterward? Any trouble remembering any part of the event? Cloudy thinking? All of these things point to at least a concussion which is considered a mild traumatic brain injury. In the following days, your brain is quite vulnerable to subsequent injury if you aren't careful. Even the slightest bump and increase in metabolic needs can injure the brain at this state. If you haven't already, consult a physician for an evaluation and detailed history.

rsw81 said:

Bluish smoke is typically burning oil. I suppose it's possible that if the bike was upside down that some oil could have just collected in the combustion chamber and just needs to burn off. If the bike sounds normal, fires right up, but is blowing a large amount of blue smoke... it could be just some oil that collected that needs to burn off or a damaged head gasket. I'd hope for the first one. If the smoke goes away, then I'd bet on the first one. If it continues to do this, I'd bet on the second.

Click to expand...

I ran it for another minute, still smoking...

rsw81 said:

Factory coolant is green in color. If the bike is leaking any fluids, you want to know what color it is. Put some white paper or an aluminum tin underneath it to collect.

Click to expand...

Just oil so far, and that was just the first night after the accident as it sat in the towing company's garage (he put a tin under it).

rsw81 said:

Once you get the tank lifts, inspect all the lines and the air filter. If it all looks kosher, I'd just put it back together for now and start tearing down the front of the bike. Given the majority frontal damage, inspect the forks for any damage/bends.

You imply that you aren't too mechanically inclined. Got a local buddy who might be able/willing to help you in looking at it?

Click to expand...

I took the whole cowling off, including instruments and lights, and the fork *looks* OK, but I don't want to trust that until a pro looks at it.

rsw81 said:

Also, you mentioned loss of consciousness from the accident. Did you feel unsteady on your feet afterward? Any trouble remembering any part of the event? Cloudy thinking? All of these things point to at least a concussion which is considered a mild traumatic brain injury. In the following days, your brain is quite vulnerable to subsequent injury if you aren't careful. Even the slightest bump and increase in metabolic needs can injure the brain at this state. If you haven't already, consult a physician for an evaluation and detailed history.

Click to expand...

I did get 5 CT scans (which were sent to someone in Australia to read!) and they said they didn't show any bleeding/bruising or damage, but I do plan to be careful! I'll read up on what else I should be careful about in the near term. I will also see my local doctor soon. Thanks for the thoughts!

katkins said:

I ran it for another minute, still smoking...

Click to expand...

I'd say you need to let it fully warm up and keep it running for at least 5 minutes after at temperature to really see what's going on here. Just running it a minute doesn't allow the bike to heat up and burn off whatever might be sitting in there.

katkins said:

I did get 5 CT scans (which were sent to someone in Australia to read!) and they said they didn't show any bleeding/bruising or damage, but I do plan to be careful! I'll read up on what else I should be careful about in the near term. I will also see my local doctor soon. Thanks for the thoughts!

Click to expand...

Glad to hear the CT scans showed no damage. An MRI would have been better, but probably not warranted if you were basically assymptomatic at that time.

For what it's worth, I just put together a lecture for my hospital on this topic, regarding "return to play" after concussion. The general consensus is that even after you are symptom free, your brain is still metabolically healing and susceptible to injury. Thus, a minimum of 7 days of relative rest, both physically and mentally, is warranted after injury. Even surfing the internet or text messaging can be considering too much mental exercise to some experts.

For what's worth, that smoke looks mostly white to me. It can be hard to tell in pictures, but I don't really see a bluish hue to it.

rsw81 said:

I'd say you need to let it fully warm up and keep it running for at least 5 minutes after at temperature to really see what's going on here. Just running it a minute doesn't allow the bike to heat up and burn off whatever might be sitting in there.

Click to expand...

OK, I'll wait for some wind and do that when it will dissipate away from my neighbors' houses. I stopped tonight because it was like the old days of DDT fogging.

rsw81 said:

Glad to hear the CT scans showed no damage. An MRI would have been better, but probably not warranted if you were basically assymptomatic at that time.

For what it's worth, I just put together a lecture for my hospital on this topic, regarding "return to play" after concussion. The general consensus is that even after you are symptom free, your brain is still metabolically healing and susceptible to injury. Thus, a minimum of 7 days of relative rest, both physically and mentally, is warranted after injury. Even surfing the internet or text messaging can be considering too much mental exercise to some experts.

Click to expand...

Thank you so much for letting me know. In between your last message and now I was, ahem, surfing the web looking for information on concussion care. It sounds like I've been stupid about this -- the morning after the accident I rented a U-Haul truck, picked up the bike, drove to the accident scene, took some photos, then drove 6 hours home (I was really weighing whether I would be a danger to myself or others, and felt like I really was OK... now that seems dangerous!), unloaded the bike, went out to dinner with my partner, and crashed for the night. Then I worked most of the next day, all of today, removed the cowling/fairing and mowed my lawn tonight! Yikes! :rtfm:
I'll see how I feel tomorrow after another good night's sleep.

I was loopy the evening at the emergency room, clearing up by the time they got done with me, slept well (but alone, since I was travelling solo when this happened), but woke up feeling really normal that next day. So hopefully I had a VERY mild level 3 concussion. Just enough to lose consciousness and to lose the last 5 seconds of my short term memory (I can tell from the helmet cam that I remember clearly right up to that last turn, I even remember what I was thinking as I came into it).

Thanks RSW81 (and everyone) for thoughts and wisdom.

Cheers,
Kevin

Well you are lucky not to be hurt seriously. Poor FZ6 did not fair so well. Good Luck and heal up soon.

Anytime Kevin. Just take it easy from here on out during the recovery period. You can tell your partner that I said they need to wait on you hand & foot for the better part of a week.:thumbup:

Dr. Rob

Thank you Rob (rsw81)for caring about us. I had broken 3 ribs in a crash last year. Actually I broke them twice within 5 months. The second breaks were much worse and much more painful. Rob contacted me when I was on the road with my wife to check on me and give advice....A good brother to us all. In fact if I get in a jam with anything and need to, I'm calling him! :rockon:
Thank you for all of us that you care for!

Get better Kevin!

Motogiro said:

Thank you Rob (rsw81)for caring about us. I had broken 3 ribs in a crash last year. Actually I broke them twice within 5 months. The second breaks were much worse and much more painful. Rob contacted me when I was on the road with my wife to check on me and give advice....A good brother to us all. In fact if I get in a jam with anything and need to, I'm calling him! :rockon:
Thank you for all of us that you care for!

Click to expand...

You know I've got your back Cliff...:thumbup: