By the grace of God my brother is still alive.

[FZ6-ZN]

On Sunday afternoon, whilst returning home from a morning outride, my brother and I were racing each other, he on his Thundercat and I on my FZ6. My brother used to race motorcycles so he is a better rider and his Cat is slightly faster so I was about 100m behind him when it all happened; his chain broke!

About a month ago the Cat’s chain was replaced with a DID x-ring chain by a reputable Yamaha dealer and to our disbelief the connecting link came apart at around 210kph.

The chain slapped a hole into the engine casing removing the clutch pushrod and gear shift on its way out. With oil spewing everywhere and the back wheel locked, my brother managed to hang on to his bike and bring it to a stop.

DID have established that the connecting link was incorrectly riveted; lesson learnt, never trust the work of others. Going to a dealership doesn’t guarantee quality workmanship.

FZ6-ZN

 

[Have2BeFree]

Wow - I'm glad your brother is ok - like you said "by the grace of God". That is scary!

 

[lonesoldier84]

holy mother of wow.

that is completely nuts.

your brother did extremely well to bring a locked rear tire to a halt from ~210 kph??? it was locked the whole time????

jeez man. thats just plain insane. insane in the membrane. insane in the brain. I would go ape**** at the dealer and demand all sorts of concessions from them like free gear or something. definitely not free service for a year....

 

[Bates121]

Um wow that is amazing he was able to stop it especially with teh oil spewing and locked wheel. Glad he is fine and able to tell the story

 

[FZ1inNH]

Thank God he is an accomplished rider! That took a lot of skill to control a bike under those conditions. High praise to him! :rockon:

Now, please stop racing on the street, ok? You two should be on the track instead.

 

[The Toecutter]

I Hope ya'll take it back to that dealership and CHEW ON SOME A$$ !!!! HE could have died!!!

 

[mstewar1]

As the lone dissenter (non-believer), I'd have to say it was by his own good graces that he's still alive. But that's just me. That is such an amazing story and feat. Really glad that he walked away from that.

And I would also be totally up the grill of that service department. There's no excuse for something like that.

Now I've got to learn how to install a chain (properly).

 

[urbanj]

Very lucky indeed. Good thing he's safe. Obviously there will be repercussions.

As for not trusting others work. The problem also lies on people with no skills or experience feel that way and try to do things themselves and they are way way way more prone to screwing up. Giving the mechanic the benefit of the doubt, this may be his first and last screw up. Fortunately no one was hurt and unfortunately someone had to go through this. Everyone makes mistakes. Hell even the space shuttle engineers screw up and cost lives.

Unfortunately in this world we are forced to trust people.

 

[FZ1inNH]

Now I've got to learn how to install a chain (properly).

http://www.600riders.com/forum/how-tos/3579-how-replace-your-chain.html

:thumbup:

 

[sm00thpapa]

WOW, Thankfully he is alright. That is my one fear of riding that I hope never happens to me. Would of been nice if you had a cam on your bike so we could of seen how he managed to keep the bike upright.

 

[Boneman]

Man that is scarry!!!! Wow. Glad he is ok.

I would hope that the dealership will be bending over backwards to help anyway they can to avaiod a lawsuit!!!!! Perhaps a new bike....

 

[Cali rider]

I'm glad to read that your brothers skills saved him from injury. Having said that...

Snipped to here....DID have established that the connecting link was incorrectly riveted; lesson learnt, never trust the work of others. Going to a dealership doesn’t guarantee quality workmanship.

Well, of course D.I.D. is going to distance themselves from culpability. I guess this means that they took possession of the chain AND defective masterlink, tested and inspected both, declared themselves faultless and you'll never be able to prove otherwise.

Allow me to modify your quote slightly:"Never trust the work of anyone. Going to a dealership or doing the work yourself doesn’t guarantee quality workmanship."

Very lucky indeed. Good thing he's safe. Obviously there will be repercussions.

As for not trusting others work. The problem also lies on people with no skills or experience feel that way and try to do things themselves and they are way way way more prone to screwing up. Giving the mechanic the benefit of the doubt, this may be his first and last screw up. Fortunately no one was hurt and unfortunately someone had to go through this. Everyone makes mistakes. Hell even the space shuttle engineers screw up and cost lives.

Unfortunately in this world we are forced to trust people.

Urbanj hit it hard, +1.

I have made mechanical mistakes before, and product failure can happen to any item ever produced. We all have to have a degree of providence/luck/positive karma as we pass through life.

 

[jtarkany]

Happy to hear that your brother is ok. Thank God!