Pedrosa takes out a Duc......and Donnie saves the day!

[inka]

Hello all,

So yesterday I had a scheduled appointment at DucPond to get a dp ECU installed on my S2R1000. As some of you know, I've been having a hard time with my Rapid Bike unit and after an entire season of fiddling with it, I threw in the towel and bought the dp part.  I was really excited to finally have the bike running right and it was a beautiful day to go for a ride.  The ECU transplant took a bit longer than expected because they had to remove the octopus like RB unit first and then discovered that I had extremely poor compression on the vertical cylinder.  Apparently at the previous service (Battley's) they put the  belts off a tooth and greatly degraded timing.   Maybe that's why I couldn't get the RB unit to work....Anyway, Donnie showed me what was going on, they corrected the problem and the bike has never sounded better or smoother.  They also dipped into their parts collection to install a previously troublesome Pazzo clutch lever.  At this point it was about 3 pm and I was really late and needed to get home for some obligations my wife and I had that evening. I was going to slab it all the way, and if I made good enough time, I was hoping to sneak off on some twisty secondary roads for a bit to enjoy my "new" engine. Fate had other plans...

I was heading down N. Loudon about a block from the shop marveling at the low speed fueling when a minivan turned left directly in front of me.  It was a quick succession of "oh no he's not really going!" , "he is!" "oh SH.." and followed by panic front brake stab, front end tuck, me sliding along with the bike and bike continuing to hit minivan, my body in oncoming lane and general shock and disbelief.  The gear did its job,  and I was relatively unhurt.  The bike had severe front wheel damage, rotor damage, gearshift broken off, brand-new Pazzo clutch lever scraped, cases scraped  and other odds and ends. I gave Jason a call, he and another tech came, loaded up the bike, offered their condolences and said they'd do their best to get me on the road.  After speaking with the police, I went back to the shop (the walk of shame), and saw four people including Donnie hard at work to get the bike back together.  After phoning the insurance company and my wife in that order. ( bad move said Jason) The bike was ready to roll.  Donnie and crew really went the extra mile getting me back on the road, using their own stash of used parts, staying late, picking up the bike and many little things that I can't imagine any other shop I've been to doing.  It was an amazing effort and greatly appreciated.

So I get home, attend said obligations that I had to go to, even though I felt like sitting on the couch and  .  This morning, I'm looking through the papers the police gave me, and you know what the name is of the unlicensed, under insured, , nonyielding, non-owner of the vehicle who did this?  I kid you not...........PEDROSA!!!!

-Kirk

[zooom]

wholly shite!...that totally sucks man...I am glad you are okay and I hope that for the most part that Pedrosa gets the can or someother viscious set of circumstances heaved at him!...I am assuming of course that the dude got assigned the blame and a ticket or few?

[inka]

Thanks Zoom, I'm just way sore and will see a Doctor manana just to be sure.  Fortunately the driver did not run and was cited for failure to yield and driving without a license.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes with the insurance company.  I have gear and accessory coverage which is good because my very pricey lever and Rizoma mirror are definitely worse for wear.  My helmet, gloves, and pants will have to be replaced and my jacket repaired, but as far as these things go, I feel pretty darn fortunate.

-Kirk

[zooom]

were you wearing your BMW-esque Textile touring stuff?....

and did the guys at DucPond get a few snaps of your bike post accident and save those parts to the side that they swapped out to get you homeward? (for insurance purposes of course)

oh to your TDL designd Arai...you can at least start looking around at all the '09 gear that is starting to come out and get some really good new stuff!

[Ducatista]

OUCH!!!  That really blows.  At least it wasn't a logistical nightmare trying to get the bike picked up and in the shop.  I'm also really glad you're relatively unscathed.  Just a friendly reminder that damaged gear can also be claimed on insurance. 

And you have a new nickname:

Nicky

[twolanefun]

Bummer, glad you are okay. The increase in bikes on the road does not seem to be raising awareness. Glad you were wearing your gear, it has saved me a few times. When you have a moment perhaps you could share what you were wearing and how it held up. Also, hope things work out with the insurance company. - Gene

[dolci]

Glad you're ok and the gear did it's job. 

[inka]

Thanks for the kind wishes everyone, I appreciate it.  In the interest of science, and my insurance company, here is a link to photos of my gear post crash.  It all held up pretty well and fortunately there was armor wherever I impacted hardest.  As far as how I went down, I don't know if I'd have been able to do anything differently, it all happened so fast.  I know the preferred method is to keep the bike upright, but as things happened, going down probably kept me from impacting the grill of the minivan and out of oncoming traffic.  Will work on the panic stops more frequently however...Anyhoo, here be the pics:

http://s518.photobucket.com/albums/u348/inka72/Damaged%20Gear/

-Kirk

[Slide Panda]

Thanks for the kind wishes everyone, I appreciate it.  In the interest of science, and my insurance company, here is a link to photos of my gear post crash.  It all held up pretty well and fortunately there was armor wherever I impacted hardest.  As far as how I went down, I don't know if I'd have been able to do anything differently, it all happened so fast.  I know the preferred method is to keep the bike upright, but as things happened, going down probably kept me from impacting the grill of the minivan and out of oncoming traffic.  Will work on the panic stops more frequently however...Anyhoo, here be the pics:

http://s518.photobucket.com/albums/u348/inka72/Damaged%20Gear/

-Kirk

Woo - good that you're ok.  Seeing a rashed helmet always gives me the willies, even if relatively minor.

There's a stickied topic in the Gear section that's about how stuff held up to crashing.  You should post up in there as well and share your newfound gear insights with a larger audience.

[sbrguy]

hey you have the same bmw summer pants i have, good to see that they totally didn't fall apart on you.

how is the helmet on the inside? is the foam crushed there? if not it may be just cosmetic damage, that is the bummer iwth plastic it could be perfectly fine but the road rash on it makes it look worse than it is.