Wenesday morning in Sainsbury's car park, touch brakes approaching sleeping policeman, doing all of about 15mph, and front end goes from under me big time. Slid down road, but got up unhurt. Felt the tarmac with my hand, and it's as slippery as a very slippery thing. This is always a bad spot; it's in a bit of a hollow, and the first rain for quite a while brings the diesel to the surface.
The number of people who, unprompted, have said to me since that their car tyres always squeal on that bit of road!
The bike, however, is not so good. Amazing the damage such a low speed spill can cause:
Scratched upper and lower RHS fairing.
Nosecone damaged, probably a write-off.
Nosecone support fractured.
Seat unit badly cracked.
Gear lever bent double.
Both LHS indicators bust.
LHS footpeg damaged.
And that's just what I noticed with a cursory glance.
The bike's now with louigimoto, and he's going to price it up for me. I think it's a bit beyond the "get some second-hand panels and get them re-sprayed" optiion, so reluctantly I'm making an insurance claim (£500 excess notwithstanding
).
My concern is that it may still be deemed "beyond economic repair". It's a cracking engine, and I'd really like to keep it; I was looking forward to that 50,000 mile milestone in a few months.
My other concern is louigi pointing out that bikes that go over on their sides often suffer from subsequent big-end failure.
Right, I'm off down the pub!
Oh joy.
Well, there goes the summer...