You can read the full thread here:
http://speedzilla.zeroforum.com/zero...d=36291&page=1 Rider/Owner’s Comments I'm not a scientist, nor a failure analysis professional. I am, however, an experienced, advanced motorcycle enthusiast. People say that i can get around the track allright.
I will be acquiring the services of a independent third party to analyze the wheel and the crashed bike to obtain the facts.
Recently, Dunlop notified us that they would like to examine the rear slick that came off of the wheel. Apparently, the crash is gaining notoriety as each day passes.
From a customers perspective, i find it interesting that Dunlop immediately wanted to see and examine their product and contacted Nichols for permission to do so. I find it even more interesting that BST appears not to be interested in gathering the facts to determine if there was indeed an issue with their product.
I had 5,500 track miles on this bike, about 2,200 miles on the wheels, I’ve never crashed before this incident and the bike was immaculately maintained. As you can see, the bike is totaled and i was lucky to get up and walk away from this accident.
I believe that the rear wheel was to blame for this accident.
I have about 4,000 track miles on this bike at Thunder Hill race park. If you do the math, that's approximately 1,330 laps around this track which means that i've been around turns 6, 7 and 8 approximately 1,330 times without a crash.
For the record, I've never crashed my bike. I did make the error of starting my bike on the wheel stand at thunderhill one day without having the wheel stand completely inside the rear wheel stand hole and the vibration of my full race exhaust system vibrated my bike off of the wheel stand and the bike fell to the pavement.).
When I was exiting turn 7, standing up the bike and rolling on the gas, the rear end of my bike felt suddenly heavy and then sensation of a chair leg breaking, a quick, sudden "snap" to the left. The turn 6, 7, 8 combination at Thunderhill is the fastest part of the race track outside of the front straight. I estimate my speed at the time of the crash of between 115 and 120+ mph. This is a highly unusual place to fall because the bike is upright.
My rear wheel separated from my motorcycle and the Dunlop slick was separated from the wheel.
The front fork on the left side is bent outward from the impact of the cartwheeling motorcycle. The clamp that holds the fork in place is broken in half. Certainly, the front wheel took several major blows, under tremendous force, hitting head on during the cartwheeling. However, the front wheel is fine.
Finally, look at the photos of the rear wheel that is still on the bike. It appears that the spokes shredded, peeled or tore off from the inner rim and did not "snap" or break cleanly as you'd think if something took on as much blunt force trauma as the front wheel did.
I'm glad to be alive writing this email. Sam Cece