You know you hear it a lot, we all fall down, well for me its wasn't much of fall, more of a fling over the high side of the bike. So I a sit here Monday morning nursing my bumps and bruises, I think back to Saturday. Trying to figure what I did wrong and learn how a absolute joy can turn in to utter disgust and personal humiliation.
So lets go back to Thursday 15 of Feb, as I prepare to to head to Vegas with my bike in tow. But when I go to load her up, I see she has a rear flat. Being that this is my second rear, I decide to change both tires. So I purchase a set of Pilot powers and head to a local shop to have them mounted. Once at the shop, my list of mods come to mind and since I hadn't had much time lately to do them I decide that since she wont be making the trip to Vegas, that she could have some upgrades done. So in goes the HID kit, both high and low beam, the LED kits, the Hump mod, and Faring Grills. She was looking sexier that ever when I went to pick her up on The following Tuesday. As the tech is showing me the work her starts her up and I notice a rattling sound, I had heard it before but is was really pronounce with the bike up on the lift. I ask the shop to look into and low and behold its a crack in my collector, even the shop foreman was surprised, he said he had never seen a oem exhaust break like that. Well since she was there with a bad exhaust and I needed a new header I decided to get full system, 4 to 1 Yosh TRS titanium. But I had to wait because the exhaust was in Nevada. This was Wednesday, by then my GIPRO/ smart TRE gear indicator and speedohealer had come in. Since they had to take the plastics off to install the new exhaust and do the pair valve block off what would be a problem with adding a few other mods. So the bike is finally done on Sat. I am like a child at Christmas, I am up early and out the door, arrive at the shop as soon as the open. I drop a sizable chick of change for the new exhaust and labor. Then proceed to walk to the shop area to, finally after a week and half, get back on my bike.
Now this where things get fuzzy for me, I remember paying for my bike, putting on my jacket, gloves and helmet, and easing around the parking in preparation to take my 5 min ride home. As soon I get the the entrance, I see there is heavy traffic and I dont want to gun it with a new tires. So I ease out in to the street and then proceed to accelerate. Well it had been sometime since being on the bike and I dont know if it was the excitement of being back on her, or the new tre but as soon as I hit the throttle I had a lot of rear slippage. As I try to compensate the rear and front realine violent, flicking me off, in the middle of the street right in front of the shop that bike had been at for the last week and a half. Next I hear the crunch and hissing of plastic sliding along the pavement, as my beautiful machine comes to convulsive stop. Still daze, I am looking at a full bus heading at me on a busy street as I scramble to gather myself and my bike from the street. As I limp out of the street, one of the parts guys comes out and gives me a hand. As I look over the damage, I have a cracked and rashed left lower and a scrapped upper, my double bubble windscreen was toast, my left foot peg was still in the street. My entire left side hurt particularly my hip making it hard to walk. So after waiting for a week and a half to get my bike, I had to wait another 45 min just to be able to ride home, the guys at Saugus Suzuki really helped me out. So moral is , new exhaust $950, Labor to have everything installed about $850, high siding right in front of the shop like a noob, priceless. My pride is still hurt along with everything else on the left side of my body.
So lets go back to Thursday 15 of Feb, as I prepare to to head to Vegas with my bike in tow. But when I go to load her up, I see she has a rear flat. Being that this is my second rear, I decide to change both tires. So I purchase a set of Pilot powers and head to a local shop to have them mounted. Once at the shop, my list of mods come to mind and since I hadn't had much time lately to do them I decide that since she wont be making the trip to Vegas, that she could have some upgrades done. So in goes the HID kit, both high and low beam, the LED kits, the Hump mod, and Faring Grills. She was looking sexier that ever when I went to pick her up on The following Tuesday. As the tech is showing me the work her starts her up and I notice a rattling sound, I had heard it before but is was really pronounce with the bike up on the lift. I ask the shop to look into and low and behold its a crack in my collector, even the shop foreman was surprised, he said he had never seen a oem exhaust break like that. Well since she was there with a bad exhaust and I needed a new header I decided to get full system, 4 to 1 Yosh TRS titanium. But I had to wait because the exhaust was in Nevada. This was Wednesday, by then my GIPRO/ smart TRE gear indicator and speedohealer had come in. Since they had to take the plastics off to install the new exhaust and do the pair valve block off what would be a problem with adding a few other mods. So the bike is finally done on Sat. I am like a child at Christmas, I am up early and out the door, arrive at the shop as soon as the open. I drop a sizable chick of change for the new exhaust and labor. Then proceed to walk to the shop area to, finally after a week and half, get back on my bike.
Now this where things get fuzzy for me, I remember paying for my bike, putting on my jacket, gloves and helmet, and easing around the parking in preparation to take my 5 min ride home. As soon I get the the entrance, I see there is heavy traffic and I dont want to gun it with a new tires. So I ease out in to the street and then proceed to accelerate. Well it had been sometime since being on the bike and I dont know if it was the excitement of being back on her, or the new tre but as soon as I hit the throttle I had a lot of rear slippage. As I try to compensate the rear and front realine violent, flicking me off, in the middle of the street right in front of the shop that bike had been at for the last week and a half. Next I hear the crunch and hissing of plastic sliding along the pavement, as my beautiful machine comes to convulsive stop. Still daze, I am looking at a full bus heading at me on a busy street as I scramble to gather myself and my bike from the street. As I limp out of the street, one of the parts guys comes out and gives me a hand. As I look over the damage, I have a cracked and rashed left lower and a scrapped upper, my double bubble windscreen was toast, my left foot peg was still in the street. My entire left side hurt particularly my hip making it hard to walk. So after waiting for a week and a half to get my bike, I had to wait another 45 min just to be able to ride home, the guys at Saugus Suzuki really helped me out. So moral is , new exhaust $950, Labor to have everything installed about $850, high siding right in front of the shop like a noob, priceless. My pride is still hurt along with everything else on the left side of my body.
