Someone told me once there were two types of bikers in this world...those who have gone down and those who will. Well, I joined the club of the former tonight! And oddly enough, I'm laughing about it! Maybe now that it happened, it's out of the way...

It started out as a simple 20 mile ride, 10 each way to get gas & warm up the bike and see how she ran. Filled it up and added the Seafoam. I gotta tell you, it was running great, even before the Seafoam--no backfire or popping on decel, nothing.

So, I'm on th freeway both directions, no problems. I get back into my neighborhood, which is ancient, and the streets are not exactly what you call even, level, or well maintained.

So, I'm making a left hand turn at about 10 MPH, front wheel goes into a pothole, no big deal. BUT...on the side of that pothole is a nice dollop of asphalt the road crew had left from some previous patch job. And that dollop was positioned perfectly to catch one of my new floorboard extensions. Lucky me! Next thing I know, the front wheel jerks violently to the left, ending my smooth turn in a hurry, and sending me & my Wide Ride into the pavement.

Luckily, there was a young couple there stopped and watching me make my turn. The guy hops out and asks me if I'm OK and helps me pick up the bike. And now here's where I tout the importance of engine guards or crash bars or whatever you wanna call them...my leg went down under the bike, but I was able to stand up and hobble around the bike because it came to rest on one of the highway pegs attached to the engine guard. No engine guard, and I'd have a helluva lot more than a twisted ankle & sore knee!

Now, here's the weird part...the bike sustained almost no damage. I can't figure it out, but I'm thankful. More thankful, granted, that I'm just sore with a few scrapes (didn't even rip through my jeans!), but it's weird. Here's pics of the carnage:

This is the floorboard at it's interesting new angle and the dented front fender. Luckily, the fender dent is not creased, so I'm gonna try the rubber mallet. The red circle in the pic is the only paint damage...everything else just wiped off. But that floorboard came darn close to the exhaust.


Another angle of the new floorboard direction and the highway peg that saved the new Big Bars that saved my right leg...


And finally, an underside view of the floorboard extensions new non-linear angle


Anyway, I'm OK...hobbling a bit, sure I'll be sore in the morning, and a slight cut on my nose from the sunglasses. The bike damage is so minor, I'm amazed and not the least bit concerned. Could have been a lot worse! I'll take off the floorboard extensions and break out the touch up paint and all will be fine.

One thing that perplexes me, though, and I didn't even notice until I got home (rode the bike home just fine...she started right up after some fuel got pumped into the carb to replace all that had drained to the pavement while on it's side). The entire running light system is out. No headlights, passing lamps, running lights, nothing. Dash lights work fine, and the turn signals and brake lights work fine. Any ideas on what that could be? Do all lights go out if the headlight burns out, sorta like an old Christmas tree light string when one lights goes out? I haven't checked any fuses or anything yet...I just parked it and came in and got a beer at the time...go figure.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I just felt the urge to share! Be safe and watch the road!

RK

RK

Real sorry to hear of yer misfortune......thank goodness yer OK

No ...one bulb burning out should not affect another....

Check your fuses.... could be just a coincidence... maybe you overloaded the lighting circuit or have a wiring short...after yer light mods....??? especially
if yer passing lamps are wired with the running lights .

What year is yer bike is it a 2005 or later Silverado with a separate passing lamp circuit????<br><br>Post edited by: Pop Rivet, at: 2007/04/10 01:01

Pop--

That's top of my list to check...gotta be something simple like that, though. All lights had been working fine up until tonight. I installed inline fuses in everything I did, so I'll go through those and see. Fragile AGC glass fuses, y'know...

RK

RK

Again what year is yer bike????and model may be ya flipped on yer hi beam for the first time???? pickin yer bike up???? and poof... over load?????<br><br>Post edited by: Pop Rivet, at: 2007/04/10 01:13

Pop Rivet wrote:
RK

Again what year is yer bike????and model may be ya flipped on yer hi beam for the first time???? pickin yer bike up???? and poof... over load?????Post edited by: Pop Rivet, at: 2007/04/10 01:13

2004 R* basic, dressed up to be a Silverado. And I figure something fragile got jarred when the bike went down. I had had the high beam on a bunch of times with no problem. I just can't figure, with out poking around, what would make the whole stream go dead. Horn works...everything electrical except the running/headlight system. It's a stealth bike (until I signal or brake).

RK

ok so yer passing lamps are on the head lamp circuit too..hi beam on passing lamps on and with all running lights on...maybe over load

I bet it is the headlamp fuse ...check the fuse panel... or a wire shorted out --or maybe simply a connecter pulled in the fall<br><br>Post edited by: Pop Rivet, at: 2007/04/10 01:39

Pop Rivet wrote:
ok so yer passing lamps are on the head lamp circuit too..hi beam on passing lamps on and with all runing lights on...maybe over load

I bet it is the headlamp fuse check the fuse panel... or a wire shorted out --pulled in the fall

I like the way you think, Pop...those are my top two guesses as well. I'll know tomorrow night after work. At least, I HOPE it's that simple...

RK

That sucks RK. Yeah it happens to everyone sooner or later but so soon after doing all that work. That sucks! Glad you're OK.

Sorry to hear about your spill RK, glad it was a low speed one. Hopefully you're not too sore this morning.

I'm gone down about a month ago. Same story, big bars saved my leg, and left floorboard bracket was bent.
The not so funny thing is that Yamaha does not sell only the bracket, you have to buy the whole floorboard set, if you want to replace it<br><br>Post edited by: eirinn99, at: 2007/04/10 08:58