Suzuki GSX650F Forum - www.GSX650F.biz

Hi all,

Every biker/motorcyclist I've ever talked to have said it's only a matter of time before I come off/drop my Suzi. I realise I'm a noob (about 10,000km/6,000mi so far), but surely there's a good percentage of unscathed folk out there.

Please ease my (back-of-mind) dread!

Cheers, Matt

This bike? Never in about 8000kms so far, including over 2 thousand in the last week or so...
Previous Spada? Never in nearly 3 years of commuting and punching twisties - bit over 30,000Kms...
Every bike before that? Oh hell yeah, somewhat regularly...

Just cranked over 9 000klms on mine last week. Bought it new from in January, so 10 months old... mint condish... Wednesday last week = stressful day at work, home time, cranked her over and let her idle a bit, lid on, gloves on, leg over, stand up, 1st gear, twist right hand... went about 1 foot and then was thrown off to the LHS... forgot to take off front disk lock (yeh I know... effiing eedeeott!) ... scratched LH bar end, snapped clutch lever, scratched shiny black engine cover in LHS... that night sand back scratched bar end and engine cover and sprayed with gloss black... not a bad fix up... now a good excuse to get a new pair of shorty racing levers (ASV, Pazzo, SDR??? anyone??? I'm thinking SDR... http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/220849039500 ... 1423.l2649)... had some throw over RJays panniers on and they saved my indicators and fairing (no damage at all to either)... luckily no damage to front rotor or caliper...

I adore you fellas, especially Nite.... congratulations. When I started learning how to ride a bike (and I will never be done learning to begin with!!) my instructor told me, if you haven't dropped your bike, you've never ridden a bike PERIOD. Well, as much as I want to say it never..... I have to say I did, yet to be honest, my pride took more away from it, than my SuziF which wasn't fixable. I learned from it, that's the point, now I now how to approach bus stops which might be covered with sand, as they aren't that used than the regular street. Leson learned and already applied a few times. I gained a sense of suspicion from it, which nowadays forces me to slow down and tell my pride (shut the F@#$% up, I ain't going fast in to it!) *LOL

@grey_spikes
I got the Pazzo levers AND LOVE 'EM!!!! Very nice material and the adjustments are so cool that now those levers feel like a second glove, no tingling in my fingers no more, no fatigue in my wrists of fingers.....

What!! You've never come off!!!!! Dude you gotta try it. It's something so wild it can bring a tear to a grown mans eye.

I'll never forget my first time staring down at the rushing bitumen only inches away from my shiny new visor, the feeling of the bike all loose as the rear tyre struggled to gain traction, watching the apex fade away into the opposite direction from the corner of my eye and then "POW" I was flat on my ass with my leg under the bike hugging a power pole and thinking "Yep, this is going to hurt like hell tomorrow".

The best part of falling off the first time, is letting go of the fear of falling off!!

BikerBoy, so true, before my "Cherry" was popped, every time I sat on my SuziF thinking, better be concentrated and cool, else you gonna drop the bike, you gonna drop the bike, you gonna drop the bike. Once done riding, puh I didn't drop the bike.......

Now like you said, it's; I'll do my best and have fun and if I drop the bike, well than I'm going to drop the bike, end of story, no more fear, no more paranoia!!!

Experience is the best teacher!!

Ah, you young'ins!

I'm thinking my age (and late-start) may keep me from a personal war-story. Ah, well!

Had my first ride with a mate yesterday through the country-side; 3-hour loop, sunshine all the way,
a stop at a bakery. He had a CBR-something, was somewhat experienced, but being my first group ride
(is it called "group" if there's only two?) I let him lead the whole way. I told him at the outset to ride as
hard as he liked the whole way and I'd do my best to keep up...

He was plenty quick in a straight line and happily flew around traffic, however slowed-up quite dramatically
for the twisties; being a Thursday, we had the road pretty well to ourselves and I found myself letting him
get ahead then I would "race" (well, as quickly as I dared) through the corners to catch up.

It was a good, safe ride (a cruise, really), however to be honest, I enjoyed my solo ride through the
Black Spur more where more than once I had a pucker-moment. Maybe next time I ride with him I'll strap
my dad on the back.

Thanks for the feedback.

Cheers, Matt

PS. A group of three riders on their "R's 'n' Blades 'n' whatever" pulled out just ahead of us as we were leaving
the Bakery and one of them was doing the imaginary cone-dodging dance - left-right-left-right, big lean-overs,
very very quick. I tried to copy him but had to laugh; flicking the F was like turning a truck in comparison!

I'm def. takin that one as a compliment.

Young bloke here! 6 foot tall and bullet proof! I'm also a P plater on the bike (Full licence in the car, so please dont bunch me with those backward cap wearing knob jockeys... I just got on the bike a little later) so naturally I'm a far better than every other rider/driver on the road! Just ask them! This is my 2nd road bike, and I'm yet to come off.... I've come damn close a few times, mainly due to my own stupidity and over confidence... Or through realising half way through a corner that I'm not quite as good as i thought i was when entering said corner and panic braking/rolling off the power like a noob... Or through cager's who just find it all too hard to see the big blue bike with the big shiney headlight coming towards them, or behind them... I dropped my gsx last year on the snowy's ride though, more of a place really (you cant even tell if you're not looking for it), and I've locked my back wheel up more times than i care to remember, but I'm yet to come off completely... I'm sure it's bound to happen though... I just hope it's not on the track where I'm not insured or something like that... I spose that if you ride hard, its only a matter of time really? We all make mistakes, so one day thats gotta come back to bite you? Btw, I'm also a big pussy... SO when the day comes, no matter how minor the incident is, it's bound to be an emmbarrassing and tear filled incident for all involved

Well, writing this will probably jinx me but 10 years riding and no off here so far.

7 years of that in my twenties on a 500cc Yamaha and 3 of it in my fifties on the gsx650F. Of course, I'm not counting the years of dirt bike riding where coming off was part of the fun.

I do believe the old saying that it's 'just a matter of when'. Doesn't make sense given the nature of this activity that sadly, at some point in time all of us will come in to some sort of strife. Hope it doesn't bang me up too much as I'd like to keep riding for another 30 or 40 years.

Does it count if you lay it down "gently" at 0kph/mph? (Paused for oncoming traffic on a gravel side road while u-turning, too much lean, not enough purchase with the right foot on the slippery surface, several f#@k$ on the way down as I tried in vain to hold the weight). Another f#@k as a car slowed, then continued on - would have seen me sprawled out.

No, probably doesn't count; little damage done (a couple of small scratches and a dent to the yoshi) and just a week-long wrist strain to the throttle/wanking hand sustained lifting the bastard back up - and of course a bit of pride skimmed off.

Matt

went to boots to buy showergel and shampoo... had 3 large bottles in my cloth backpack and riding back home
coming up to a huge roundabout with 2 lanes in and 3 lanes on the first exit i planned to sweep the long wide left curve into the roundoubout and first exit
while approaching i see an audi a3 coming from my right and at my current speed he will enter the roundabout before me and have right of way so what do i do
accelerate into the curve - into the roundabout i lean and feeling so confident that i look over my right shoulder at previously mentioned audi who is now in the roundabout and probably thinking "this guy sure can ride that bike"
next thing a loud scraping sound, immense heat on my knees, i am being dragged front down by my baby sliding uncontrollably across the path of previously mentioned audi a3 and towards the kerb 2 and a half lanes away
then i let go of the handle bar upon realizing that i am not able to stop my bike from sliding as she is pulling me rather than me her... and as soon as i let go the dynamic changes...
now i roll onto my back and sliding backwards hit the kerb with the 3 bottles of shampoo and showergel and do a backflip landing on all fours... 1 head and shoulders anti dandruff bottle has burst and is leaking all over
you should have seen the face of the driver of previously mentioned audi a3 as he jumped out and came over to see if i was ok
the rest is history and a torn pair of Levis jeans.... oh and 600 British pounds in repairs using some brand new and ebay parts
precisely 8 days later i was at Lydden Hill race track http://www.gsx650f.biz/lydden-hill-track-day-with-the-gsx650f-t4414.html

PS - i never ride with jeans and for some reason that day... i thought i looked cool in jeans and timberlands... STUPID fa5tbob!!!

new handlebar
new engine casing
new mirror
new grip
new bolts
new indicators front and back
ebay clutch assembly
ebay rear fairing
ebay footpeg with mount

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!IF YOU ARE A PU55Y DO NOT SCROLL DOWN FURTHER AND LOOK AWAY NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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luckily i crashed on the left side and not the right side where my pride and joy of a Yoshimura lives

I had a similiar on a roundabout - pissing with rain and I must have gassed it a bit too much, back slid out and it went down.
I had some oxford bar ends, maybe helped save some.
I knee scraped, and the arse of my rain pants gone.

Bike damage -
rear view surround scratched (cleaned up with some very fine wet and dry)
Indicator broke ($30 oxford replacement)
bent handlebar
broken clutch lever(around $300 for oem, both shipped)
scratched lhs fairing (with one big patch - working it with wet and dry - not sure if I will do anything about it yet)
scratched magneto cover (again, not sure I will fix it - may go down again?)
top box scratched

The worst thing was, I was on the way to a "management retreat" on the Central Coast from sydney, and peak hour traffic was particularly feral. Cracking 150 on the freeway to make up some time, and I would have just made it. As it was, 10 minutes late, no coffee and back aching.

Why did it go down - rear tyre 22 psi when I checked it after. I saw the nail, but didn't have time. Tough lesson!