JDRiderCoach

First off, glad your ok. Could have been much worse. I also won't pile on. I think you've had enough scolding. I'm what you call a "safety professional". Does not mean I'm perfect, or that I won't screw up some day but here's what I've learned. EVERY SINGLE CRASH COULD HAVE BEEN PREVENTED. There actually was something YOU could have done to prevent the crash(es). Regardless of the fault of others, there's always something YOU could have done differently leading up to the crash. In your case maybe it was selling the bike, taking a class and starting out on something more managable like an SV650. So before you get all butt hurt about people blaming you, please realize you had the crash prevention in your hands, regardless of what the cager douches did. Example: would you have crashed if you stayed home or taken the car that day?

CANADAVTR

I tried my first VTR five years ago. At the time I had a Z 750 Kawasaki. The power of the VTR scared me sh8888ss...and I've been riding since the 70's.
Instead, I went to a Buell Lightning XB9. 85 hp and a good transition. I kept the Buell and after 3 years added the VTR.
Cautious? Sure. But 54 years old, 40 years of bikes and still here? Priceless.

And I'm not an old git on a fast bike, I can be fast when I choose to. But like the Corvettes, Porsches, BMWs and Lotus that I've owned in my life, I've learned that if you drive anything like a ****, you absolutely will come unstuck.
Just my 2 cents! And delivered with a smile, not judgement...

shayne

First things first - you are still with us to tell the tale so that is the main thing. Celebrate that, rather than think of the loss of your bike and money.

It will take time for you to heal up physically, but also mentally. To be able to ride again after a big crash can take longer then just the injuries healing.

As for your bike, it is un-insured and not worth much for parts. I would consider keeping it for a few reasons. The repair cost may be a lot less than the loss of selling it for almost nothing. Take some close up pictures and make a list of what is damaged and then post it up on here for everyone to look at. There is not much about the VTR that isn't known on this forum, so we can tell you what to do. If you do not have any experience or the tools, perhaps now is the time to learn? We all started somewhere, and most of us are not trained mechanics. I also mention the mental healing process. Many riders recovering from accidents report that knowing they can eventually ride thier bikes again when they are fixed, was a great help in their recovery. It gave them motivation to get better. I have seen guys that could not walk yet, writing how they could not wait to get in the garage to get their bike fixed so they could ride it again. No kidding!

As for the accident, some members on here have posted that in some way we are contributors in every single accident we are involved in. No exceptions. This is the thinking of many people. The point is that there is always something we could have done to change things. As an example - getting hit from behind when stopped at a red light. It has been stated that we should have our bike in gear, and be watching the mirror to see what the vehicle behind is doing, so that we can take avoiding action if necessary. We have to anticipate what the other road users are going to do, because they do not worry about us. It all helps.

Hope you mend up well, and soon.

Karbon

this +100



you said it yourself

Everyone does stupid ****. I've been there myself. I recognized my poor decision making, though about it long and hard and decided to work to improve my judgement and patience. And decided I want to ride as long as I possibly can.

I'm just glad no one else was hurt or killed in your poor decision making.

I don't know where you ride, but around here bullshit stories about how, "I used to ride too" are a dime a dozen. So pardon me if your story sounds way too familiar.

good luck.

insider

I'm not looking to repair the bike, I have other issues to attend now. And let's just say I have a fixation about not getting back on this bike again, once it's been wrecked. I just don't feel safe on it...

It's a good thing that I didn't pay that much for it, mind you...it was not in perfect/mint condition.......so I'm not losing all that much.... I'd be losing more if I were to invest in it now, which I really cannot afford..

Hopefully they won't become extinct by the time I will ride again, or perhaps then I should take on the SP so I could really give you guys a reason to yack about (kidding).

Just an offtopic question, all VTRs come with carbs? no models with EFI? not even the later ones (2003/2004/2005) ? Or only the SP is FI ?

I find the carbs a bit of a pain...

shayne

No model was fitted with EFI.

If you go looking you will find that the Varadero has the same engine and runs EFI, but the throttle bodies are 42mm, so are too small.

The SP also runs EFI but it is not a bolt on swap either. There is a lot of work to do to make them fit. To my knowledge no-one has done it yet. I have a long term project under way to do the swap, but the cost will be prohibitive for most VTR owners.

autoteach

Shayne,
Stop me if I am wrong, but most vehicles that have made the transition to EFI have gone down in hole size (48mm carb to 42mm EFI)

CentralCoaster

You're 100% full of ****, and with your attitude you WILL go down again. And I'm sure that will be "the other guy's fault" as well, that is, if you even live to tell about it. You wouldn't know good advice if it crawled up your ***. I feel sorry for all the people that posted up here thinking they might be of help to you. Ride on *******!

insider

I just feel sorry for you ...posting the dumbest reply yet.

Sometimes when you don't have anything usefull to say about something,there's no need to open your mouth and 'spit' all over the place...

I 'know' good advice.... I don't know bullshit judging behind the monitor...

I was wondering how come there are no ******** on this forum....well until you came along...
Don't feel the need to further reply to this..after all, i'm an *******. You don't wanna be mistaken with one,if you start arguing with me.

WolfManRawd

Sorry, but that made me laugh.......the part about being able to handle the bike quite well. Really??? If that's how to handle ANY bike well, I guess I have been wrong all these years keeping the rubber side down. I must've been lucky that my father told me to pretend like I'm invisible when riding out there on a bike with all those nimbly-bimbly cagers all around you just waiting to put you in a tight spot at least. This is just good, simple advice that has always kept me out of trouble on the streets. Car drivers simply don't have the same visibility or handling capabilities as a cyclist; plus I don't trust them NOT to crash me and put me and my bike in the "shop" - I don't think there is much of a point in assigning blame to the cager in these cases, either.....the biker is the one with their life hanging out there on a limb. It is a biker's responsibility to avoid smack-ups and get-offs even if a cage is trying to "cut you off." Just my 2 cents. Ride safe all...

nath981

welcome to the forum wolfman! do you have a SH?

I take it your laugh is not like the comedy channel laugh, but more one of disbelief at how some people think or don't think. Your dad gave you some good advice relative to riding safely. Realizing our extreme vulnerability in a country that is basically asleep at the wheel, preoccupied, indifferent in some cases, and aggressive, competitive, angry and unskilled is at least a necessary survival strategy for motorcyclists.

As one who takes riding/driving seriously, a manifestation of life's philosophy, a skill that requires focus, awareness, analysis, objectivety, foresight, and predictability, as well as honed skills in terms of the vehicle operation and control, I have found that we in the US share the roads with a preponderance of dangerous, arrogant, unskilled, and apathetic operators.

Worse yet, there is no sign of this changing anytime soon, so survival is dependent upon a fortuituous combination of luck and minimizing the probabilities of mishap, so, as riders, we need to continuously hone our skills and hope the luck is on our side.

alwayshonda

+1

insider

Is this a new trend for somebody to rephrase various stuff written by others, before him, on e certain thread?

Is it that hard for some to understand that when I stated that I was handling the bike ok I didn't mean that I was f***ing Jedi Master of VTR...what I meant was that I was pretty much familiarized with the bike and it had never put me in a tight spot. There's always more to learn, it's not like I said that the bike had no more secrets for me...

WolfManRawd, are you going to pretend (like some other individual here) that every accident can be avoided? How? Invoking retarded reasons as "leaving the bike home on that day" bla bla bla? Then why would I buy the damn bike if I would 'leave it home' on the day of an accident?....

thusspakebenji

@nath981: very well said. You speak the truth and you speak it well, I could not agree more.

@ins(L)ider: I know you mentioned it but I dont think anyone should get a liter-bike as their first ride, and I'm sure an army of MSF instructors and motorcycle professionals will tell you the same thing. If you have riding "quirks" or faults (which every new rider will), they'll be magnified tenfold by a large, powerful motorcycle. The crash may have had nothing to do with the bike, but it's a pretty well founded fact that: noobs + overpowered bikes = eating ****. Just please, for the love of Buddha, tell me you werent wearing a t-shirt and shorts...

EDIT: Now that I've read this entire thread from start to finish, I'm going to agree with CentralCoaster. If you think your only options are sport bikes, and then because you dont like any of those your only option is a Superhawk, you're a fool. I went from a 250 to a 650 to a 750 (from sport to dual sport and in between)to my recent SH and I have nothing but the utmost respect for it, it's a very mean machine, one that I would never under any circumstances recommend to a novice (and you ARE a novice at best). In addition I also took a safety class and the more advanced control class. Even my father who has been riding for a vast majority of his life says the SH is not to be trifled with. Say what you will but it looks like you want people to feel sorry for you, to sympathize or empathize. From me you'll get none, go find a different hobby, something more your suited to your mental acuity...binge drinking and hitting on fat chicks comes to mind.

MP660

vtr1000 is not a good starter bike at all. the general recommendation is 70hp or less for a first ride. i agree with you that the superhawk isn't the fastest, sharpest, most dangerous bike around, but for the weight of the bike it has decent enough braking power stock, and it accelerates much too fast for what anyone honestly needs, much less a beginner. This kind of capability in a machine can get you into trouble a lot faster than an EX500, Sv650, gs 500, or kawi 650r can. Obviously not the vtwin monster everyone desires here, but I strongly suggest a smaller bike to anyone who's starting up, especially someone who can't mentally control themselves and finds out he is riding like a "lunatic" when it's already too late. The mistakes made by a beginner on a ninja 250 are far less fatal, and a lot less expensive than what they are on a large displacement vtwin sport bike.

insider

thusspakebenji: Let's not judge each other. Please, for the love of Shiva... Before I got my first bike (the VTR) I pretty much thought that starting with 1 liter bike would be pretty much suicidal (well,some of you might think that it almost was the case,but you're wrong).
I totally understand and agree with what you say regarding the amplitude of rider faults being magnified by the bike's "1 liter" features (sort of speak).

Let's be honest, If I were to be a dick/noob riding a liter bike, I would have crashed it earlier, not after 6 months.. I'm just saying that the fact that I was on a VTR when that crash ocurred had nothing to do with it... I was not speeding or anything... Perhaps more ...rider error,misjudgement, lack of experience etc...
I was wearing a Nolan helmet, a probiker leather jacket (with elbows/shoulders/back protection), vanucci short gloves, jeans, and some probiker boots. I was a retard not to have my knee protection on (since I was going to work).... but rest assured, I'm not the type in the T-shirt. Seeing a rider in a T-shirt on the street sends chills down my spine.

If I were you, I would have spared myself from the "Later edit"

I didn't quite pick up what you meant by "sport bikes and me liking sport bikes" , au contraire, I said I'm not into the superbike/supersport business, i'm more into the sport-touring business. I don't think you can judge me for my choices in life. I mean you can't judge a guy by the bike he chooses to ride. That's why we have diversity (enduro,naked,superbike,supersport,sport touring,touring, quad, bla bla).

I'm not looking for simpathy...brotha....or empahty or other nice words you learned in school when you were young.
I owned a Firestorm, I am registered to this forum. I find this forum very usefull (apart from the ******** that tend to judge a person).
By posting my accident here I didn't seek for simpathy, it's just called "sharing".... I don't need for somebody to feel sorry for me,especially not folks like you and especially it was my mistake (the accident).
I'd suggest you take on those hobbies that you mentioned for me, perhaps you speak from experienece (related to fat chicks & hitting on them)..
Perhaps you're the type of persons that chickens out of motorcycling after his first crash...go hide behind your daddy's skirt... and stop throwing **** at me...

I can stand the advices ,the opinions here,the bla bla, but really I can't stand for some **** to judge me & insult me. It's not like I ******* killed a person, I only had an accident... It's not like I'm the first idiot that does this.

insider

I totally agree with you.... I was thinking of getting a SV650S as a next bike, or another VTR (you may start throwing stones)..

I pretty much learned my lesson (in regards to lunacy) and I'm also thinking of takin some class regarding to sports/safer riding so I can handle the bike better.

Everybody learns to handle their bike well after a while,but I'd like to shorten that period of 'self learning' with some professional help.

It's nice to see a decent post once in a while..

Tweety

insider: It's OK if you take break from digging on the hole and just be sociable on the forum instead... This is an argument you can't win...

Yeah you are being judged... And quite fairly I'd say as an inexperienced rider on a too powerful bike making a bad judgement call... I'm not saying you could have avoided the accident... But with more experience it would be very unlikely that the result of that situation would have been a crash... An "Oh ****!" moment most definetly, but nothing worse...

Right now you are just as much a **** and idiot insulting others as they are insulting you... Feel free to insult me as much as you like if you enjoy that...

Accept it and move on... Instead of defending yourself try to learn from it... It takes a bit of character to be humble enough to admit it was wrong, and you are atleast halfway there if you can say that you fucked up (which you did say before you threw a hissy fit...)

Tweety

And you did just that, at the same time I posted...

Actually the SV is a really good beginners bike... It's got the nice characteristics of a twin, a very nice chassi and decent power without the ability of the VTR to get you into trouble faster than you can process it...

Because that is something the VTR most certainly can do for a beginner... It might not have 160+ hp like never supersports and it might not beat them on speed... But that twist of the handle you did... In those situations it gains speed faster than many never literbikes...

59burst

Glad you made it ok. If you ever ride again, I would urge you to assume any car (or truck, other bikes, etc) near you are trying to kill you. Always have an exit strategy. And concerning speed, don't let your bike take you somewhere your brain hasn't been at least 3 seconds earlier. Best of luck to you.

steve29

Another casualty of the bigger bike equals a bigger dick mantra. I haven't been riding forever like some of these guys. But I can say that in my years of doing so, I've seen enough guys go buy the biggest bike they can afford, then promptly lay it down and wonder why. I actually knew a guy who thought the 'busa was a good idea for a first bike. He made it 6 days before spilling at 90. The point is when it comes to selecting your first bike, like so many other things in life, just because you can doesn't mean you should.

insider

Pardon my cynicism mate, but how does your statement relate to my misfortune? I could have afforded a much powerful bike than the VTR but I did not chose the VTR for my small dick, but for other reasons which seem to elude your imagination right now...

@ tweety: It's kinda hard to be 'humble' when pretty much everybody's up your *** telling you this and that and how you should have done this and that and bla bla...

In fact I don't think somebody should be humble, just true to themselves.

insider

I feel you.... Thing is...I've put myself in the situation of being f**ed. It was not the other guy's fault

amhsraptor

After reading the thread I just want to thank everyone's input. My VTR is my first bike, I have ridden bikes before just never owned one. I have been very cautious and after reading this I will probably be even more cautious. I am very fortunate to have a roommate with a lot of experience who has been mentoring me and goes on long slow rides to help me get comfortable. I definitely respect this bike have no plans of getting on the throttle anytime soon. When I get home I will def do some practice braking. I know I am going to catch hell for this post, but I appreciate all the veteran riders for their input and knowledge.

Good to hear you are alright Insider.

-BA

thusspakebenji

Take an MSF course, you wont regret it.

amhsraptor

I planned on doing so before I got a motorcycle. Next free weekend I have I will be doing so.

hondavtr1000sp2