[chrish]

Hi, on Monday evening i was on the way to visit a friend.
On Fwy 85 I apparently overbraked and lowsided at 30mph.

Not quite as bad as zjones' wreck (get well soon, Z!) but
not fun either.

Upside: Not hurt except for scraped open heel of left hand.
Monster has minor damage (Handlebars, turn signal, footpeg,
except for dent in tank, Leathers suffered minor damage.

Downside: Sliding over concrete sucks. Gloves totalled.
Dent in tank will cost an arm and a leg to fix.

Helpers: Mike (also Duc Monster rider stopped right away to
see whether i was ok). CHP Freeway Service Patrol truck had
first aid kit and we fixed up my hand, bike was still rideable.

Lesson learned: Concrete can be very slick to brake on but still abrasive.
Cheapo ($70) gloves suck, even if they are full leather supposedly
strengthened with kevlar.

Overall, could have been worse.

Btw, how much would a used fuel tank be approximately?

Chris

 

[MonsterHooligan]

Dent in tank will cost an arm and a leg to fix.

sorry to hear about your wreck.
tank-fixer: Norm Brown- [email protected]
$250 to fix, seal, and primer tank. (if memory serves)

 

[Duc_N_Har]

chrish, glad to hear only minor injuries to you!! And not too bad for the Monster.
Curious as to what brand the "cheapo- $70" gloves were?

 

[scrappy]

Ouch - take care of yourself, and get back on to the bike soon...

scooby

 

[chrish]

Golves are from Olympia , Kevlar series. Otherwise I was wearing a Shoei RF800 helmet (which was not put to the test, didnt even touch the road), Dainese leathers (two cuts in the left elbow and some of the trim leather came loose) and boots (no serious damage).

Thanks for the info on the tank - Ill contact him. Any local suggestions in the SF Bay Area?

 

[test-reg]

chrish, glad you're pretty much OK. i also wear some model of Olympia glove w/ kevlar. guess it's time to go shopping.

 

[mmoore]

<snip>Thanks for the info on the tank - Ill contact him.

 

[chrish]

Where is Norm located? Sending a tank is not without risks, I imagine...

Chris (who remembers having received some packages smashed up good...)

 

[trigger]

Can sombody explain lowsiding? This is for sombody who does not ride but is probably buying a duc any day.

Mike

 

[Finger]

To lowside is to fall onto the side of the bike that is closest to the ground. For new riders the most common occurrence of lowsiding takes place when you do not not apply enough power when leaning into a turn and simply fall over.

 

[azmonster]

Norm is in North Carolina. I live in AZ and sent him my tank via FedEx. Just pack it really, really well. He'll prep it, coat the inside, pull dents and send it back to you ready to paint. I'm very happy with the work he did for me.
Dion

 

[chrish]

That's good to hear

I was thinking about having it coated inside anyway to prevent rust, so might as well get it done while I am at it.

On a different note, is the Monster Dark paint difficult to spray (in other words, can it be painted by any good car paint shop)?

Chris

 

[midwest]

The other most common cause of low siding is exactly what Chris did. That is locking the rear brake. Of course if you release the brake while sliding you more than likely will high side which is even less fun.
Now that I look again, he didn't say "rear" brake so... never mind.

 

[NitroFish]

I didnt lock the rear brake, in fact I didnt even use the
rear brake at all. I overbraked the front (at least I figure
I did) and the front end washed out on me.

There might have been antifreeze or oil on the road, but
I am not suicidal so I did not jump into traffic to investigate.

By the way, I went to Helimot today and bought a pair of
Held gloves - Im not going to try the Olympias again.

Chris

 

[dreamse83]

In regards to matching the monster pain job. I put a post up (it finally happened, i crashed) I dented my gas tank on my 2003 620 dark. Before I found out it was totalled :'( they told me that they would just replace the tank (this is insurance covering the costs of course), the shop, Powersports in Sand City, CA, said that while they can get close, they can never perfectly match the darks paintjob. He explained that ducati uses multiple coats of multiple shades to obtain their trademark reds and yellow, and the same applies to the dark. Maybe you can find a guy in your area who can match the paint but this is what I was told. Glad you're okay, believe me, I know what you're going through. The three week old hold in my chin is almost closed up! Get some better gloves!! Go with the real deal (alpinestars, Icon, Joe rocket, etc.). Hope you feel better. Get back on the horse!

 

[DaffeDuc]

there's a place in Fremont that will match the paint... it's called Cycle Finish

they do lots of repair-work

- btw, didn't know you are in Monterey - i used to live near Monterey! I got my monster at that dealer.

 

[newbieduc]

first of all, good that you are ok.

and then interesting about those Olympia's, I have a pair of the gel ones, but I just replaced them yesterday with a pair of Alpinestars sp2 gloves. I don't think that my Olympias even have kevlar in them, but they just didn't seem like they would hold up that much in a slide, so, they are my back up gloves for now.