Oops, Crunch.

[Showtime 1-1]

Well, I took a page out of Asper's book today...

I've had a job at a local motorcycle shop since June this year. One of the liberties I am allowed to take comes at the end of the day, when I help bring the bikes back in to the shop. Needless to say, this is the best part of the day.

Anyways, one of the bikes in the shop over the last month has been a '97 Kawasaki KDX 220, a strange animal in that it has a lot of internal components which do the same jobs, but look much different then their counterparts in a '98 KDX 220. Thus, we dubbed the bike The Prototype.

The Prototype was bought by my boss for $80 because the top end was toast, and it was missing a gas tank and some panels. Today marked the day it was completed, and it fired up second kick, on the new components and everything. After we were finished in the shop, It was my job to bring it in.

Being who I am, I couldn't pass up this opportunity to ride The Prototype, so I hopped on, gave it some choke, and it fired up first kick. Awesome! I took it around the front of the shop, and across the parking lot, gave it the beans to see how it ran. It responded with very quick acceleration and a surprisingly low-end biased power curve, for a 2-stroke. I came to a stop at the end of the parking lot, looking to turn left onto a small residential street to go around the other side of the shop building. I gave it a rev and slipped the clutch, completely neglecting the low-end power.

In a snap, the front wheel jumped up. I instantly leaned forward to keep it on the ground, and then the back end kicked out. I just barely had time to countersteer, but it was futile. The back was gone, and in another flash, I was on the left side of my ass, sliding down the street, looking at the front of The Prototype. My arm bent weird and I felt my shoulder pop out, but all I could think of was "SAVE THE BIKE! SAVE THE BIKE!" I had a huge adrenaline rush, so much that time seemed to slow down as I skidded to a stop. I jumped up and pushed The Prototype off to the side of the street, then, still in slow-motion, pushed up against a pole and popped my shoulder back in. After that, the rush subsided, giving way to shock and pain.

I pushed the bike back to the shop and parked it in the back, then went to find my boss. He was on the phone. I told him that I had brought in the last of the bikes, then added that I took The Prototype, and kinda low-sided it. He laughed and said that I looked kinda pale, then made sure that the bike and I were okay. He also insisted on inspecting the skid mark and scrapes in the road where I went down. He was thoroughly impressed with the 30-foot skid mark and subsequent scrapes, and he said it was a good "Learning Experience."

Anyways, the sky seems so much bluer and the grass so much greener all of the sudden; I'm extremely fortunate that my big low-side didn't turn into a high-side that would have done much more damage to the bike and myself. I still plan on riding The Prototype again tomorrow, but needless to say, my ride home tonight was a lot more careful then usual.

[Eagle Kammback]

Glad it wasn't too bad, that is a learning experience.

I remember when I worked at a repair shop a couple years ago, I was backing a customers car to the parking lot across the street it was a Green Pontiac SV6 I think, I backed into a pole.

They called me Crash for a while

[Guest Julius Quasar]

DAMN! Glad that you (and the bike) are okay.