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FZ6 crash ....

vinpub said:
Crashed my FZ6 today in office traffic....... :(

Still trying to play it in my mind to see what went wrong. It happened so fast. Coming out on a very mild curve, speed at about 30 mph. Light was red so started breaking slowly. Feel the skid coming on, breaks havn't taken yet, light is red and cars are stopped in front. Bike starts to loose traction - cant throttle so tried to swerve (probably in the wrong direction) and the bike went down. I tried to get on my back to get behind the bike so that I didnt crash into the cars..... bike went into the two cars ahead and and spun away. I came to stop right behind the cars.
I am thinking - may be break lock up or steering in the wrong direction. I dont remember if I let up the rear break. I am pretty sure I was off the front break. I cant remember the clutch - if it was pulled in. should have tried to keep with the skid or straighten up rather than steer.
I remeber thinking - there was no way to throttle - cars in front and both sides - behind too.
Bike's front end is trashed. Sliders did good - no damage to engine or frame.
Handlebar is bent up, forks too. Fairing lights, mirror all are history of course. Cant steer the bike - column is locked up. Tank has a minor dent.

Overall not sure if the bike can be saved. Since there is no damage to the engine or frame, may be its repairable, or sell it for parts?. I just got it towed back to the house.

I am ok I guess - knee is banged up and limping. Should have had knee protection. Upper body protection worked good, helmet worked good. Little scapes on elbow etc but nothing broken - thanks to the Lord. It was a miracle that I was able to get up and walk away with office traffic in all the lanes. One reason may be that i had some time space in front of me (obviously not enough for a skid/lock up)
Surprising part - while I was waiting for the tow truck and my wife to pick me up (took ~ 2 hrs) I saw two more accidents at the same intersection while sitting at the gas station and icing the knee, i couldnt believe it.

I am still sulking - No more bike riding for a while - and thanking God that I can still walk !!
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Thats a scary story mate, a few feet either way or a few mph faster and it could have meant serious injury. Thank God that some one was watching out for you.
Did the crash bungs take much of the brunt? Glad your ok.
Neil
 
Very sorry to hear about your crash. Glad you're OK :)even though the bike isn't. There have been a few threads about emergency stops but it seems like there was something greasy on the road in your case which no-one could have overcome. Is the bike your main form of transport?
 
Good to hear you are ok,sorry about ya bike but at least it can be replaced un like yourself.Keep ya chin up dude :thumbup:
 
sorry to read about the accident,,glad that you are OK..of course everything is replaceable except health...breaking a bone is very easy in motorcycle accidents,,even a dislocated shoulder could be a pain in the neck for a while..
so glad that nothing happened to you..

i would never feel comfortable again on the bike if the forks are twisted ,but thats just me,,if there is insurance coverage on your bike,my advise would be , take the money and replace your bike with another one..if you are gonna pay for everything than instead of buying all the fairings and everything as somebody mentioned you could start a nice naked fz6 project and sell it after..

good luck with the process,,,let us know what you decide
 
Glad you're not hurt worse. The bike can be fixed or replaced.
It sure sounds like there was something slick on the road.
 
Glad you walked away with only a limp. That sounds like a dangerous intersection. Which part of California are you from? And what are names of the streets on which this happened?
 
Was your bike an '08? Looked like it was cobalt blue from the pics. Like everyone else said, main thing is that you were able to walk away from the wreck. Glad you were not hurt at least physically. Glad to hear that the protection helped too. You mentioned that you were not sure if you pulled in the clutch? Not sure if anyone else would agree or would be able to do the samething, but as far as breaking or an emergency braking, pulling in the clutch should come naturally when you encounter something unexpected. I will agree, during the middle of a turn is tough, and just adds another variable whether you are able to save it. You are not the first member to go down, nor will you be the last. A great reminder to us all, wear our gear. Thanks for the thread.
 
glad your ok!!! don't worry about the bike thats what insurance is for.
 
As unfortunate as it is there is really no way to "prepare" for an accident. You can say to yourself before it ever happens "I'll do this" or "I'll do that" but when the time comes , like you said, it happens so fast your mind and body seem to use instinct to try to do what's safe.
With my last bike, an enduro, a kind OLD man ran a stop sign and I couldnt stop in time. I hit his car directly in the side, flipped over the car, and landed on my head on the other side. I told people about it and their reaction would be "why didn't you land on your feet? I would of landed on my feet"! They just dont understand.
Anyway, Im glad you're ok. It took me a little while to gain confidence in riding knowing that lots of times people DONT see motorcycles.....can be scary!
 
Thank goodness for the frame sliders! I was simply backing out of my garage today, turned the handle bars the wrong way and the bike started falling to the right. I used all my strength to try to keep it balanced as the bike started rolling down the driveway slope. All I could do is really slow down the fall. My bike had no damage what so ever. The right frame slider was slightly scraped.

Cheers
 
Thank you all for all your comments, support and encouraging words. It really helped me to regroup. I haven't answered all your questions individually but here is an attempt to get to some of them so this a little lengthy.

It was '05 FZ6 with ~14K miles on it.

It was insured only for liability - so bike wasnt covered. Thats OK, it was my choice and I take resposibility for it. I got a good deal on it and it was my traininig bike so I was thinking it will be dropped/trashed some day anyway - just didnt want it to happen so soon and this bad.

Yes, I will be looking at replacing the front with the Naked look if it is doable and reasonable. If you have any resources for parts, how to's list please let me know.

This is not my only mode of transportation. I have a car but I used FZ6 more frequently, sometimes even to go to HomeDepot !! ... ;)

Question from someone in Southern CA - It was on La Jolla village dr, very close to the highway (first intersection west of I-5). I was East bound. Its in La Jolla (near San Diego)

Here is my final diagnosis and reflection on the event.
I went and checked the skid marks - I could see them coming around at least for over 30-40 feet going from one end of the lane (left end) to other side(right end). That is probably correct as I was thinking the lane on my right had less cars so I should try and swerve into that lane. I also saw the end of it where the bike went down, knicked the car in that lane and then the one in the next lane spinning away.

Its a busy thoroughfare and near the traffic light, so there are a lot of oil spots etc on the road. I'll howevere discount that because I had kept some time-space in front of me so possibly I could have come out of the skid.

So what could I have done differently to come out?
I point to two of my bad habits - I get lazy in up/down shifting. While upshifting I just go through shift-twist seq quickly and am in sometimes in 5th by the time I am at 30-35 going into 6th. With a 4 cylinder engine FZ6 has a wide powerband, it is forgiving and the engine does not complain much. While downshifting as well, I just coast down almost to the stop and do quick tap-tap-tap down to get to the 2nd or first just before stopping. Again if the light changes you can still move on because of the wider powerband. Not a good habit.
I am sure I was pulling the clutch in for emergency stop. But with a skid, I could have released it and if I was in lower enough gear there could have been a chance to catch traction on the rear.
So where would have I gone with a little throttle and traction - may be next lane with a little more space (I was attempting) or even between the lanes (Allowed in CA - but I didnt think that while slipping). But I needed to be in the right gear.
So if I was in the right gear and had relased the clutch, got off the brake, I could have possibly gained traction and tried to create some more time-space for myslef.
Also, I could have been watching the road a little better.
May be these would have helped and then may be not - hopefully it helps someone.
So here I am - waiting to get the bike back up again so I can stop being lazy and ride it the right gear.
Thank you again for all your coments.
Here are some other learning points -
The cops called AAA for tow. AAA said it would be there in 30 min, but never showed up. When I called they said they couldn't find it (a main road like La Jolla village drive - with ~4 lanes on each side right next to the highway exit?). Then AAA said I had not added the motorcycle towing to the membership so it will be cash (I didnt know there was a seperate add on to the basic roadside service). So I asked if I added it on can I use it today, the answer was no, not for ~7 days. AAA couldnt get me quote over the phone either (dont know why not they call them to dispatch anyway). Finally after 1.5 hrs when AAA truck showed up they wanted $275 to take it back to my house (~20-25 miles) . So I said no thank you - called ASAP towing and they did it for less than 200 as a flat rate. I highly recommend them if anyone needs them in southern CA area.
I have been with AAA for over 12 years. I am not very happy with their reluctance to bend the 7 day rule or even to get a quote for me over the phone when i told her that i was in an accident. Not only that, she wanted to send me over to the membership to add on the motorcycle service after telling me that i cant use it for 7 days, while i was waiting there bythe roadside after the accident. Ironic? Didnt feel good at that moment though!
 
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So sorry to hear about your accident. But, like the others have said, the important thing is you're allright. I appreciate you sharing the experience with us. We all need to be reminded just how fast these things can happen, and how powerless you can be to do anything about it sometimes. I know, I've been there too (3 times).

Hope the knee feels better soon. Hang in there.
 
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