K1200GT SE First crash report

[pipenslippers]

Hi all.

 

Well, I guess this must be the first combined ride/crash report for the new K1200GT SE. On Saturday morning we picked up our gleaming crystal gray GT from the dealers. The bike looked beautiful with matching large topcase and all the extras. Our plan was to travel to see some friends in South Wales and take the scenic route back to Huddersfield in West Yorkshire on Sunday, thus racking up most of the initial 600 miles for the first service/checkup. The weather was predictable – rain, rain and more rain. Still, we are hardened all weather bikers and we had the right bike for the job. So, off we set, mindful that we were on a new bike with new tyres.

 

First impressions.

Our first stop was to be Bolton, to pick up a friend on his immaculate but 10year old VFR 750. This involved about 20 miles of twisty “A” roads followed by about 20 miles of motorway. The bike was effortless. Even with the new tyres and rain, handling on the twisties was precise and inspired confidence. The standard fitment tyres (some kind of Bridgestones?) were great. Pillion comfort was good, and the heated rear seat was tested to good effect. From my point of view, the riders seat seemed to have several different positions. I could sit back on the flat part of the seat for straight roads, and I felt this would be comfy for motorways and dual carriageways. Then there was a nice position hard up against the tank. With my toes on the pegs, this was more sporty and gave good control in the bends (with the ESA set to sport). There was also an in-betweeny position which was comfortable and a bit sporty. Heat two on the front seat became a bit to warm after a while, but with the seat and the bar grips on one I was snug in the cold and rain.

 

The power was a bit special. Because I was running in a brand new bike which I intend to keep, I wanted to do it properly, which meant no heavy acceleration and stay below 7000rpm. Ha, like I needed to go above! It didn’t seem to matter which gear I was in. Sixth gear was perfectly happy at 30mph and had NO trouble holding or accelerating. Fourth gear in the bends was fine, third or fifth would have been equally fine. As much power as you need for normal riding in any gear.

 

The motorway bit gave me a chance to play around with the electric screen a bit. Riding at a motorway speeds, the screen position makes a big difference. If I had it high, my ride was silent with no rain or noise. Unfortunately this caused a bit of buffeting for my wife on the back, and I had to look through the screen (which I don’t like). Fully down was ok, but most of the wind & rain went onto my visor. The best position for me was about one third up, which cleared the rain from my visor, shifted most of the weather off me and gave Amanda a smooth ride. Top gear was fine and again, the word “effortless” comes to mind. Slow down, speed up, whatever.

 

After we picked up our mate in Bolton, we were to go down through Wales on the A49, which is a good, fast road with some twisty bits and easy safe overtaking. We let our mate go first, confident that we could keep up or catch up if we needed to. Even running in a new bike and tyres we had some good, spirited riding as the rain had stopped and the roads were drying out. Life should always be this good. With a bit more grip on the road and tyres, we started to open up a bit more on the corners, and the bike was impeccable. Two up with gear, and the bike didn’t even notice it. Corners were a joy and power was just THERE. You need the gear indicator just to make sure you don’t stay in top gear all the time. I never felt the need to stray above 7000rpm, but from the demonstrator bike we rode I know there is another world waiting for us up there. Someone said it sounds like a race car above 7000, and that is exactly how I remember it. Awsome. But I ain’t doing that on MY bike until it’s properly run in. After a fair stretch on these roads we came in to some built up areas, and that’s where it all went wrong.

 

The crash.

Well, what can I say. MUPPET sounds like a good word right now (thanks John). We were travelling through the built up area at about 20 – 25mph, approaching two joined mini-roundabouts. I guess I was about 10ft behind my mate (I know, too close). As we approached, I thought he had started to go across the roundabout. I looked to the right to check – one car approaching but plenty of time to go across. As I start to simultaneously accelerate and look back to the road in front there he was, STOPPED. I tried to swerve right to avoid him, but I was to close. We hit him, slewed to the right and then crashed down hard on our left side. At this point, my head and left shoulder hit the deck, HARD. This knocked me unconscious for several minutes, and the following five hours are a bit of a blur. Now, 48 hours later, I have put the pieces back together. As we collided with our mate, Amanda’s knee hit his seat and rear subframe. The right side of his bike is trashed, subframe bent, footpegs ripped off, fairings smashed, exhaust pointing at the sky. He has a bruised leg but is ok. Our new GT is trashed all down the left side, headlight and sidelights smashed, and when it was started it ran on two cylinders and flames came from the exhaust (they had to pour water down to put it out!). Amanda has serious bruising and trauma to her left leg above the knee, and might have a torn or separated tendon. We will see the specialist tomorrow. I got away with concussion and muscle damage to my left shoulder, upper arm and chest. My helmet was smashed.

 

Moral of the story.

I have not had a crash since 1980. I drive about 35,000 miles a year in my work car and we ride about 10,000 pleasure miles a year on the bike. I’ve been riding since 1978, and the last 10 years have been 800 cc bikes or above (the last 5 years 1100cc or above). I always thought that regardless of my bike skills, my traffic skills were good, and if I was going to crash it would be going around a corner too fast. Anyway, that wouldn’t happen to me because I am INVINCBLE. Well, here we are, a low speed crash, in traffic, caused by my stupid mistake. And look at the damage, to two bikes and three people. Imagine what might have happened if we WERE going too fast on a small road with stone walls etc. I will treat this as a wake up call, telling me to ride more carefully and smoothly, and to be more responsible. Both myself and my wife love riding bikes. It’s what we do whenever we can. But that could so easily change through one silly mistake.

 

The bikes are only chunks of metal, and this time the flesh will heal ok. Enjoy your riding, as we will do as soon as the bikes are fixed. But remember folks, we are only human, which means we do make mistakes and we do break very easily.

 

All the best,

 

Brian & Amanda

[Francois_Dumas]

Bummer !

 

Wishing you well and quick healing !

[tom collins]

thanks for posting that story. it is just the kind of "real world" reminder we all can use. i am glad the price of that knowledge was not too high for the 3 of you. get well soon and please post again when you are back up and running.

best wishes.

 

tom collins

[Ralph]

Sorry to hear of your crash. The bike is fixable, you just heal quickly!

[marcopolo]

What a story. Almost unbelievable. I hope your recoveries are smooth and that the bikes are soon up and running again. As you say, we can all use a wake-up call.

[Boffin]

That is a tragic tale - but it is good that it was a low-speed incident. The A49 is fun but has no run-off.

 

Here's hoping your good lady recovers quickly and fully.

 

Andy

[SageRider]

Best wishes to all involved for a speedy and complete recovery.

[Firefight911]

Brian and Amanda,

 

My wife's and my heartfelt wishes go out to you for a speedy and scar free healing.

 

It takes a humble person to admit to their mistakes such as you have done. I truly hope we all take a moment to reflect on our own circumstance, and learn form yours.

 

Situational awareness is something that we all take for granted at some time. Some times it involves a quickened heartbeat and a change of panties (yes, I said panties!! ) and other times it is a little more involved.

 

Thanks for being strong and sharing your tale.

 

Now, get back up and running and send some photos of you when you are back up and riding again!

[Couchrocket]

Thanks for sharing. It is a great example of how any of us, no matter how experienced, can have that one little "moment" when we lose the concentration that keeps us safe(er) than we might otherwise be.

 

It is also a reminder to me, of how the same small lapses that would be a "fender / bumper scrape" in an auto, can result in injury and large $$ loss on a motorbike.

 

My prayers are with you and your wife, and your friend, for rapid and complete recovery.

 

Thanks again for a very graphic reminder of something I NEED to keep in my mind at all times.

[AdventurePoser]

Brian,

 

Thanks for having the courage to post this tale. It is a cautionary story for all of us.

 

I hope you both heal up quickly!

Steve in So Cal

[sideways]

What everyone said!

Best wishes for complete recoveries, and thanks for sharing the whole story!

Will keep your experience in mind as I ride tomorrow.

[casticus]

Brian,

 

Let me just say that I am glad to hear that you both are still with us. I hope your wife's knee isn't too seriously injured also. That is a heck of a reminder of how little it takes to have a pretty significant crash. Lastly, so sorry to hear about the new bike but I am assuming it was insured ;-)

[pipenslippers]

Thanks to all of you for your best wishes. Went to the specialist today - looks as though Amanda's leg will be ok. Insurance is dealing with the bike etc. Lessons learned (hopefully) and I thik we got off lightly. Can't wait to get the bike back and start clocking up the miles again.

 

Again, thanks and best wishes to all of you from both of us. Keep on riding and stay happy.

[AlexB]

Thanks for the write up and I am very sorry to read that you crashed. I too am interested in this bike as a replacement for my 2000 K1200RS. I hope you and your wife are able to get back in the saddle and enjoy many more miles safely.

[BereIsland]

Brian & Amanda, I hope you recover from this very quick. I think you are very brave to let everyone know what happened, its a valuable lesson for us all, thanks.

[pipenslippers]

Brian & Amanda, I hope you recover from this very quick. I think you are very brave to let everyone know what happened, its a valuable lesson for us all, thanks.

 

Thanks for the thoughts. Our bike was delivered to our local dealer yesterday and we will go and see it today. I haven't seen the damage yet, so I am a bit apprehensive. I'll take some photos and post them this afternoon. I wonder if I am the first person in the UK to crash one? It will be interesting to see how well they stand up to an impact.

 

Hope my baby is not too badly hurt. I can't wait to get back on the road again.

 

Cheers, Brian

[pipenslippers]

Thanks for the write up and I am very sorry to read that you crashed. I too am interested in this bike as a replacement for my 2000 K1200RS. I hope you and your wife are able to get back in the saddle and enjoy many more miles safely.

 

Hi Alexb.

 

It's not easy trying to replace the K12RS. It's such a good 2up sports tourer. If it wasn't for the new GT, I don't think we would have changed. I think the GT is the only bike which can top the RS.

[SteveHebert]

Brian,

 

That was an excellent story and description of your mishap. Thanks for posting. I have been there as well. Diverting attention for a brief second, especially in traffic is never a good idea, but we all do it at one time or another.

 

I am happy that the three of you are okay.

 

Take care,

[Michael_T]

Brian,

 

After reading your recollection of the crash, I had a question: do you think that you "out performed" your friend into the roundabout, i.e., it seems that you thought you could merge into the traffic when he thought that he couldn't. Or might it have been that you may not have looked forward fast enough in light of your excelleration?

 

I think that your answer would be a valuable piece of information for those of us that what to upgrade our rides.

 

Speedy recovery.

[pipenslippers]

Brian,

 

After reading your recollection of the crash, I had a question: do you think that you "out performed" your friend into the roundabout, i.e., it seems that you thought you could merge into the traffic when he thought that he couldn't. Or might it have been that you may not have looked forward fast enough in light of your excelleration?

 

I think that your answer would be a valuable piece of information for those of us that what to upgrade our rides.

 

Speedy recovery.

 

OK, a couple of parts to this.

 

1 If you ride into the back of someone else it IS your (my) fault. I should have left enough space to stop regardless of anyone else's actions.

 

2 Approaching the mini roundabout, the nearest car to the roundabout was (I think) about two car lengths away. To some extent this would be confirmed by the absence of any car on the roundabout after the collision. In my mind, there was no reason to stop at all. I still stand by this and would do the same again in the future.

 

So, why did I crash???

 

3 I was riding with someone who rides with me a fair bit, but normally follows me. I had noticed earlier on in the ride that his riding style does involve fairly fast starts and fairly sharp stops. I think this is because he doesnt carry a pillion on board, and all regular two-uppers will know that you need to be a bit smoother with a pillion. I think I was riding too close to him (bearing in mind I had already realised his riding style was different to mine). He judged that it was better to stop at the roundabout and carried out his stop quite sharply while I was looking at the approaching car. As I had judged it safe and smoother to just continue across the roundabout I wasn't slowing down (we were only doing 20 - 25 mph). As I looked back in front he was there, stopped. I avoided running into the back of him but coulnt avoid hitting the side of his bike.

 

So finally, why did I crash? I didn't leave enough distance between me and him and I didn't adequately take into account our different riding styles.

 

Dont forget the golden rules. Expect the unexpected and treat EVERYONE else as though they are out to get you. Even your mates.

 

Cheers, Brian

 

P.S. The bike didn't have anything to do with it.