tighten and torque any used bike you buy
Posted: Tue Nov 25, 2008 10:12 am
On Thursday October 30, 2008 I lost the rear wheel on a BMW R1100 I had purchased a week earlier. I had put about four hundred miles on her. The incident occurred on Rt 27 in Sherborn Ma heading toward Holliston Ma. I was traveling at approximately 35 to 40 mph when the rear wheel came off. I landed hard on the undercarriage then rolled to the side on my elbow and shoulder and I proceeded to slide. This is where the Bike and I parted ways, I was in a slide the bike flipped over me. As you can see from the photos from this crash I was amazed walk away with some bruises (admittedly I am sore as hell) and minimal damage to the bike. . There appears to be no front end damage most of the impact was to the saddle bags and the engine case guards, I was really surprised when we got the bike home my buddy Steve hit the starter button and she started right up. This crash is a testament to BMW engineering to the minimal damage as for me I sustained no serious injuries due to the gear I was wearing. A Harley Davidson FXRG Armored leather Jacket, The jacket I am convinced saved my shoulder and elbow from being broken. As I landed really hard, the armor absorbed the brunt of the impact and also saved me from a severe case of road rash. I was also wearing a full face helmet that had impact marks and abrasion skid marks. The pants were fleece lined jeans and had suffered from road abrasion but my wallet and credit card saved me from picking out asphalt from my butt. . The sleigh ride on the asphalt gave me road rash burn holes in both toes in my boots I did get some bruising on my instep and toes. When I finely crawled to the side of the road and sat up. I surveyed the scene, then look to see if I had my legs and arms intact took off my helmet and laughed I survived and it was a great day to be alive. When I got home I jumped on my Electra glide rode to the drug store and bought a big bottle of Motrin. I had to get back on a bike before any fear set in. So lesson learned in retrospect any time I buy a used bike go through it tighten and torque and protective gear helmet, gloves, boots minimal . I posted this in the R1150 section and forgive me for reposting here but I thought this was very important to people who are new to the r1100r like me.
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