Welp it happened

[spicy.ramen]

The Oakland hills are a cruel mistress. It was just earlier today when I was enjoying the twistees without a care in the world. Made it home, bike and myself perfectly happy. I go to visit an acquaintance at the hills and do a poor, inclined u-turn. With a crash, my bike dropped to its side, snapping the clutch lever and bending my handlebar. I'm perfectly fine, but my ego will never recover.

BARFers, what should my plan of action be? No leaks anywhere, and it runs fine. Should I do a valve check in case things got jostled? Can the handlebars be salvaged? It's not horribly bent but I have no tools or idea how to bend it back properly. A replacement is already in a virtual shopping cart if not.

 

[budman]

The motor is 99.9% OK.

Two strong dudes can probably bend the bars back. If there is a crease in them then replace.

If it is easily affordable to replace and they are pretty damn bent I would go that route.

 

[berth]

If you have an Enfield, I think you're obligated to hammer the bars back straight over a home made coal forge in your backyard.

Being that it's (likely) a generic tube handle bar, if it were me, I'd replace it. Hard to get those back straight, and hard to ignore them. And they should be cheap.

 

[W800]

If this was India, someone with a hammer would fix it!

But since you were also having that shifting problem in the other thread, I would get it towed to Rockridge Cycles. Join AAA and get the deluxe plan. You get 3 "free" tows.

Also - u-turns are tricky!!!!!

There are a couple of ways to do them - there's some good videos on YT. I either use back brake to keep the bike upright, or lean outside (other way), or both. If you feel the bike starting to go down, back brake will make it stay up. There's actually not a way to do a u-turn without one of those two. The bike will just low side. There's not enough centrifugal force to keep it upright when you are moving slow. LOL - learned that the hard way once!!!

TTYTT - not even sure why back brake works. But it works for me!!!

 

[ctwo]

Join AAA and get the deluxe plan. You get 3 "free" tows.

Are you sure that covers motorcycles? They told me towing is covered through my MC policy and not by the AAA membership plan (I have auto insurance with AAA and they also broker a MC policy for me).

Oh, it's a specific add-on:

"Members may add the Optional RV and Motorcycle Roadside Assistance as an additional upgrade to any level of AAA benefit."

 

[W800]

Are you sure that covers motorcycles? They told me towing is covered through my MC policy and not by the AAA membership plan (I have auto insurance with AAA and they also broker a MC policy for me).

Oh, it's a specific add-on:

"Members may add the Optional RV and Motorcycle Roadside Assistance as an additional upgrade to any level of AAA benefit."

Unless they just changed it - for NorCal AAA, it's part of the Premier membership. Had my bike towed 2x in the last month (for flat tires).

 

[ctwo]

https://www.calif.aaa.com/content/dam/ace/pdf/CA-MemberGuide.pdf

 

[spicy.ramen]

Alright thanks for the help everyone, the new one is on its way! I should try some more, not as inclined u turns to get a better feel for them. I'll try to use the rear too.

 

[W800]

https://www.calif.aaa.com/content/dam/ace/pdf/CA-MemberGuide.pdf

That's SoCal - (look at logo on PDF) I can see no upgrades in NorCal beyond what I have. They dispatched a M/C flatbed, so I know it wasn't a mistake.

NorCal is here: https://calstate.aaa.com/

SoCal is here: https://www.calif.aaa.com/ (also - look at the URL for the PDF).

 

[Butch]

The RE moto is built for this very application. We are lucky and can just get new parts. But do save the old ones so you can bash them straight with a rock and keep the bike authentic. Original rocks.

 

[W800]

The RE moto is built for this very application. We are lucky and can just get new parts. But do save the old ones so you can bash them straight with a rock and keep the bike authentic. Original rocks.

Yes! And do what I used to do when I had an RE > order the parts straight from India via eBay!!! OMG - everything is so cheap, even with shipping.

 

[GPzPop]

Alright thanks for the help everyone, the new one is on its way! I should try some more, not as inclined u turns to get a better feel for them. I'll try to use the rear too.

There is good training to be had for not too much money at the civilian outreach portion of the Alameda County Sherrifs Office Motorcyle training :

https://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=539731&highlight=acso

Pro tip - rent the beater kz1000p ex-police bikes for this class, they can tip over and get back up virtually damage free, on the regular

many Barf members can attest to the real life usefullness and extreme fun factor of this class

 

[ST Guy]

There is good training to be had for not too much money at the civilian outreach portion of the Alameda County Sherrifs Office Motorcyle training :

https://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=539731&highlight=acso

Pro tip - rent the beater kz1000p ex-police bikes for this class, they can tip over and get back up virtually damage free, on the regular

many Barf members can attest to the real life usefullness and extreme fun factor of this class

My brother and I took the class a few years back. It was the basic class but we did so well, we got intermediate certs. I remember riding my rental Kawasaki (highly recommended, mine was an ex Beverly Hills bike) at lunch time doing the tight "W" formation over and over in both directions. I never dabbed at all. The officer was a little peeved at me for riding at lunch, but he saw how I was doing so it was OK. A great and fun class. Highly recommended!

 

[shoelace]

Apply counterweight

Alright thanks for the help everyone, the new one is on its way! I should try some more, not as inclined u turns to get a better feel for them. I'll try to use the rear too.

Put your butt on the outside of the seat and really keep your weight out there when you're doing U-turns at a really slow speed. It will save you from these types of accidents. Practice practice practice.

 

[ScottRNelson]

...I go to visit an acquaintance at the hills and do a poor, inclined u-turn. With a crash, my bike dropped to its side, snapping the clutch lever and bending my handlebar.

If the bike went down but you were able to step off of it without hitting the ground yourself, it's just a dumped bike, not a crash. I seem to regularly dump both of my bikes off road and rarely end up on the ground myself. But they're both designed to take it, so I rarely even bother to check for damage.

A couple of reference photos:
https://i.imgur.com/UPE9WfA.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/WtdpSND.jpg

I would replace the bar and the lever, then do more parking lot practice of tight turns. What happened to you is common for newer riders. I've probably broken a dozen levers in my riding career until I started riding bikes with quality hand guards.

You'll get better at it.