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View Full Version : Whining... geez, this gets 'spensive!


Slaughter
Mon 5/14/07, 4:59PM
Sometimes it gets to this... decicions on whether to take the poor horse out and shoot it...

Turn 8 at Willow springs ate my motorcycle.

My left hand is healing well enough to start working on the wreckage of the bike - and turns out that nearly everything that was connected to the engine, tranny, chassis, suspension was torn to bits in T8 last month.

When the bike landed upside down, looks like it tore the Penske shock apart and the swingarm swung forward into the crankcase, smashing a big-assed hole in it.

I'm just whining because now I'm stuck with more time to wait for parts on order and still trying to figure out what broke coming outta 7 that tossed my dick in the dirt.

Really looks like the rear engine mount didn't take too kindly to 3 prior crashes and just busted going into turn 8 - sending the engine forward, locking the front end when the fairing got mashed into the tire... dunno. Steveb went out to pick up my transponder during the week - outside of Turn 8 - and said that he paced the skidmarks off at 260 feet to the edge of the dirt and followed the dirt groove to where the transponder and pieces of the subframe and tail section were on the ground.

All in all, it's kinda weird working through the wrecked bits with a dozen boxes laid out to organize all the stuff.

Looks like I need a new bike since I guess 4 crashes - T8, T9, T1, T8 - were a bit much for the poor little bike - and I probably shoulda replaced the engine mounts a couple wrecks ago... live and learn...

Dagnabbit, it's gonna be a couple more months of paying bills, turning wrenches and re-assembling a new scooter out of boxes of parts.

Thanks for listening - I'm just whining today, not looking forward to a lot of wrenching ... broken hand, busted rib, and an orthopedic surgeon and neurologist who are both thanking me for their job security. Ortho says we're still lucky we haven't had to do any surgery after 8 busted bones in 2 crashes (that he's known about)

Reality bites.

Nice thing about head injury is (again) no memory.

This is the less-than-fun part of the racing thing - dang looks like a couple months to pay bills, order parts. Steveb has a thrashed bike I can buy for about $3K and use all my good engine goodies... but hooo boy, it's amazing what can break when the bike tumbles!

dapittbull69
Mon 5/14/07, 5:04PM
well if you're gonna spend 3k...check this out http://www.socalsvriders.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=361701#post361701

sunrisesvrider
Mon 5/14/07, 5:27PM
Steve - You've got to stop falling off your bike! We old farts don't heal too fast. Maybe you should just race at the Streets track where you don't go as fast and it doesn't hurt as much when you go down . Or go back to just turning wrenches and let the young guns ride for you.

I'm sure Kurt would ride for you! He doesn't do as much damage to the bike or himself when he goes down.

Monsterdood
Mon 5/14/07, 5:39PM
Ha, a team with Slaughter and Kurt..... "Team Crash" or something to that effect....

Steve, I feel for you and it must be a little annoying for all the Harley jokes to come true and cause a crash. It's one thing for you to goof up and go off, but it's another thing when metal fails and flings you into the pits of turn 8....

If only an experience materials engineer could have inspected the bike before you did that last race... if only....

You could paint an SV orange and black and hope no one around notices it's not a Buell.... but then again, the speed and the not breaking might give it away......

One more vote for joining the reliable dark side.... :) You can still race BOTT MW and know the bike has more left in it....

Slaughter
Mon 5/14/07, 5:50PM
Yeah... but two sliding crashes in excess of 90 MPH, add to that one tumbling crash at 130 - end of T8 - and I didn't replace the engine mounts after all that. I shoulda been replacing parts each time - since when you hit the dirt kinda hard, probably ought to replace EVERY fastener and EVERY piece of casting or billet that connects ANYTHING to ANYTHING.

Geez, what really SUCKS is that I am a materials engineer and have sat on failure analysis boards... think I'd learn something from all that???? ... naaawwwww!!!

I destroyed the SV on its second crash (well, just destroyed the frame), took me 4 crashes to destroy the Buell.

Heck, now at the speeds I'm running after a 2 year lay-off, I'm pretty easy on equipment.

Just gotta decide what's next. Dixon has run for me in the past - dunno.

I gotta pay the med bills when they come due and after my T1 get-off I agreed to myself to STOP racing the VISA payments, so it's CASH ONLY... and a medical deductible.

Yeah, I have been around racing since the mid 1970's so none of this is news to me but old bones get sore.

morbidelli17
Mon 5/14/07, 7:28PM
Buy an Ascot and go kick Larry's ass!

Sorry, man. To quote someone smart: Everything between races is just ... waiting ...

Slaughter
Mon 5/14/07, 9:47PM
Today's just a really pissy day.

Spent the day yesterday on the water and really farcked up the hand trying to get it down the sleeve of the dry suit (can't wear the wetsuit yet because the road rash is still weeping)

Left hand is kinda bugging me. Doc is gonna YELL at me if I go back this week and tell him I was spending the day yesterday trying to get in the water with a camera... geez, can't explain it to nobody.

Michael - you're right - it's the waiting in between... but I figure I've waited since the late 1970's - I can suck it up another couple months.

morbidelli17
Mon 5/14/07, 11:25PM
I can tolerate - barely - the waiting as long as I know that I'll race again. It's the times when I try to quit that I start to lose my fuckin' mind. I might not be good at it, but you don't have to be good to be a racer to your core ...