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Laid my new 2016 versys down.

4K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  JackImpact 
#1 ·
Was coming up my dads gravel driveway at about 5mph and hit the tiniest rut in the gravel. It was filled with tiny pebble sized stones. Basically felt like hitting ice I was on the ground in like 1/8 second. Banged my knee up and lost some skin on my elbow. (was wearing full protective gear). My bike only had 800 miles on it :(. Its in the shop currently. Missing the best weather we've had in North Carolina this year and looking around a month to get it back.

Damage includes:
Scraped engine cover left side
Scraped black plastic piece (not sure what it does exactly)
Scraped stock bark busters and hand guard
Bent my horn down.

All minor cosmetic and no paint scratches on that sexy matte orange. Ready to get back on that baby. Gonna be more careful on gravel now.

FML
 
#2 · (Edited)
My foot slipping in gravel several times in parking lots was the reason i put crash bars on my V-650. Good thing i did they came in handy several times....:wink2: Sorry about your drop but it happens to all of us sooner or later. One good thing the Versys is lighter to pick up than say an FJR...
 
#3 ·
My foot slipping in gravel several times in parking lots was the reason i put crash bars on my V-650. Good thing i did they came in handy several times....:wink2: Sorry about your drop but it happens to all of us sooner or later. One good thing the Versys is lighter to pick up than say an FJR...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyI40dXxr8s
It definitely felt light when my idiot strength kicked in, looking at my brand new versys on the ground. I basically picked the bike up with one hand and then started yelling the worse words that came to mind at the ground.
 
#5 ·
It literally happened so fast my feet were still on the pegs when I hit the ground. It's definitely a good lesson learned. Both my brother and dad were walking behind me and they both ride fairly often.. They said the same thing "it happens to everyone at some point and it usually happens on gravel". Very true. Maybe time to invest in some crash guards since I also live on a gravel driveway at my house. Just so happens he has a different kind of gravel that is smaller and loosely packed. Luckily I was wearing a riding jacket he gave me when I was leaving. I showed up in a thin leather jacket. The Armored elbows definitely saved me from pulling pebbles out of my skin.

SLIGHTLY OFF TOPIC WARNING.

please suggest good crash guards. Thanks!

-Hank
 
#8 ·
dont worry it happens to us all, and those who say it hasnt are full of it or they just dont really ride there bike (like a harley owner xD)

its better when you get it on video



and if you want something worse then illegal gravel try wet leafs



or just ice



 
#9 ·
Sounds like you need some gravel practice. The only way the bike would go down at 5 mph is because you leaned it over or grabbed brake. I ride gravel all the time. My driveway is gravel and I ride my 900 lb touring bike on it.

You have to keep the bike upright and use only the clutch to reduce power.

Glad you had gear on and will ride again.
 
#10 ·
I'm sure your 900 lb. touring bike is a LOT more stable on gravel than the Versys! I rode an Electra Glide for 10 years, and it was easy to ride that on all kinds of terrain (even grass and dirt) -- but the Versys is light and top-heavy (especially with a full tank), and to my mind, a lot harder to maneuver than my Electra Glide. Just my two cents.

Hank, if you want to sell/donate me your left-hand OEM handguard, PM me -- I broke mine last week. Thanks!
 
#14 ·
It was a washout in a driveway. Something a 35 years of experience rider went through and a 12 years experience rider and myself. Why can't we just admit that **** happens ? I'm sure several variables came in to play as to the reason why my bike went down. But you weren't there on the sidelines with a slo-mo camera so don't tell me how it went down buddy. I'm glad you haven't dropped your 900 on gravel but when you do, remember that **** happens, experience or not. That's life on two wheels.
 
#15 · (Edited)
Experience = Sh**T Happens

It was a washout in a driveway. Something a 35 years of experience rider went through and a 12 years experience rider and myself. Why can't we just admit that **** happens ? I'm sure several variables came in to play as to the reason why my bike went down. But you weren't there on the sidelines with a slo-mo camera so don't tell me how it went down buddy. I'm glad you haven't dropped your 900 on gravel but when you do, remember that **** happens, experience or not. That's life on two wheels.

:thumb::thumb::thumb:


As a tradesman, one co-worker use to say if you aren't bleeding you aren't working, no one plans to get hurt, no one purposely crashes a bike, some of the recent video's shows experience/ speed, driver error on both the car and rider, which could be deadly, to make a general statement that it is the rider is just that a general statement, and in my opinion in this thread it could be offensive to some.
That pretty much covers many things, I recall people learning to ski, also recall me teaching people to XC ski, several times I was laying in the snow with egg on my face, fell over standing still, had just come down a really tricky slope. Same thing with my 07, dropped it twice in the garage, both times the kickstand had gone up. If you watch off road racing, bikes go over all the time, nothing to do with experience. My crash in September had nothing to do with the rider or experience, other than the FRESH GRAVEL sign should have had a 3rd word UNGRADED 6 inches deep. I got lucky, noticed something didn't look right, got about 100 feet before going over, front wheel was plowing gravel and not turning, took two of us to get it up, and in first gear with one pushing from behind to get to the shoulder, flag guy, road crew and grader were all down a second branch of road, the supervisor had also gone a mile down the road in a Gator, so no one was doing their job, a car would have crashed as well, only thing happened was a few scratches on the barkbusters and a few on the Trekker case. So my opinion , the previous post , It is not the bike, it is the rider. Was a poor choice of words and a poor explanation.
 
#20 ·
SW-Motech crash bars work great at protecting the bike in a drop or minor crash. They will usually pay for themselves in prevented damage.
I checked those out on revzilla. A little pricey for how minimal they appear to be. I believe they would work ok but they look like just a single bar. Id like to find something with more of a cage like build. Do you think those crash bars would protect the fearings or just the engine?
 
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