[phatassgui]

I crashed my bike the first day i got it!!! i was driving down santa monica near the third street promenade and this taxi driver didn't yield to my straight away and he cut me off when making his left turn so i slammed on my brakes and i fell of my bike with my bike sliding on its left side and the taxi driver stopped for a bit and took off. Luckily there was a couple of witnesses that saw everything and took down his liscence plate.
So i saw fluid leaking when i crashed but when i pulled it to the side and was talking to the officer the leakage stopped. What does this mean???
I'm so bummed right now....first day on the bike and its scratched up already.....

 

[Vtec44]

Oh crap, sorry to hear that. Where was the leak?

 

[Shin-Rei]

Man.. So sorry to hear about that.. I had kind of a similar thing happen to me. Only a couple days after getting mine, I let my brother take it out for a spin and he took a spill... It was heart wrenching.. Trust me when I say I feel your pain. Fortunately, from my experience, these little bikes are built tough. You shouldn't have too much trouble getting it back into riding shape. There is always new plastics out there, though they are overpriced..

In any case, good luck with everything bud. It sounds like you have plenty of credibility on your side to defend you.

 

[ZMoe]

It could have been (probably) gas. Wash the bike to remove any gas residue from the paint then start it to make sure it's running ok. Maybe do an oil change to be safe, check the radiator, stuff like that.

 

[minizoom]

Damm that sucks! I feel bad for you.

 

[phatassgui]

thanks for all the responses guys i still feel like s#*t but it was a huge wake up call. Regardless of the fact that he cut me off maybe if i was a little more cautious i could've avoided it. I'm pretty bummed that i didn't even get to take pictures of my bike when it was brand spankin new and i know i promised pictures on another thread but its just going to have to be pictures of my bike with the scratches instilled in it. I hope to God that it was just gas like you said Zmoe. If it isn't, does anyone know a cheap bike mechanic? I'm a struggling student....

 

[minizoom]

Glad your ok and that's the most important thing.

 

[SubZero]

Sorry to hear of the mishap. Get her cleaned up and get back out there. As Zmoe said it's probably fuel.
Send us pictures anyway! I'm sure we'd all still love to see her.

Hopefully something will come from taking the license plate down. Chin up!

 

[Malaqui]

From what i was told when i took my spill, that it is gas. To be safe wipe it all down and get between the crevices. Dont worry about the plastics until after a year of riding. You never know when it may go down again. If at all possible try to fix the bike yourself or find a person around the area that can help you out. At this point your gonna get raped by dealerships and or shops to fix the bike. Parts will most likely be in back order and you'll spend 2 months without the bike.

 

[Platinum_blonde38]

:flame3i would be SMOKIN HOT.

I hate ignorant, careless drivers, especially those taxi morons.

I almost got hit 2 days ago when some chic was texting on her dumb phone coming out of Walmart...

They need to seriously put a stop to this cell phone while driving crap.

I hope this taxi driver has good insurance. GET A LAWYER THAT HANDLES MOTORCYCLE LAW.

 

[freakdawg]

Sorry to hear of this unfortunate episode... The leakage is most likely to be fuel or water from the overflow... Probably no biggie...

 

[angela7171]

So bummed for you. But now I am curious, did you have frame sliders (sounds like probably not), so do you think you will get them now? If so, which ones? Good luck with finding a mechanic - the guys at Santa Monica Kawi are nice (on Lincoln in Marina del Rey).

 

[SubZero]

My views on frame sliders

The only drawback to frame sliders for the 250 is that you either have to pay a pretty penny for the sliders with the extension on them or still pay a pretty penny and get the ones that require you to cut your plastics to fit them. So hardly anyone except racers (that I know of) use them for their bikes.

The other issue is that they really do not protect as well as some may think and it will only save that section of your plastics. The upper cowl, tail, belly pan and tank can still get damaged pretty good. Especially if the bike slides for a long period of time.

So it's not best to rely on frame sliders to save your bike /fairings.

Just my two cents.

 

[Shin-Rei]

So it's not best to rely on frame sliders to save your bike /fairings.

Well, if the crash is bad enough, you can't rely on anything at all. But in many cases, sliders can definitely help. I've got a set of intuitive sliders on my bike and they are positioned in such a way that if my bike were to go down under say, 30 mph, there would be significantly less damage than if I did not have them. And they are fairly sturdy at that. They stick out just about as far as your turn signals, so depending on the angle of the fall, they may even prevent a smashed signal assembly. I payed about $130 for them-- IMO well worth it just in case something does happen. With replacement fairings going in the hundreds, $130 is a small price to pay. Oh and they look pretty slick on the bike. That's always nice.