The Adventures of Dusty, Belle and Rusty!: 2009

"I have this theory that the more one progresses at their craft, the smaller the margin for error to operate in. It's kind of like sharpening a blade; everything converges at the very tip, where the blade is at its most effective, and dangerous.

We then become masters of walking the fine line."

My last trackday for this year was on December 5th at Infineon Raceway, and it lasted only until the fourth lap of that day's first session. It was my first time back at Infineon after my last visit there, which resulted in a highside. That's 0 for 2 now.

It was also Trung's return to the track since his Thunderhill incident back in July, and it was an even more special day as at least a handful of our other street riding friends were able to come out and join us. Unfortunately for Trung, his day never got started cause we found out that the wheel bearings on his track wheels were shot, essentially not allowing the front wheel to rotate on a straight axis. He played moral support the rest of the day (read: the whole day) for the rest of our friends.

At least he fared better than I did.

Despite never having been a competitive person, I still try my best to improve on my craft on each and every outing; it's fun to just have fun, but it's better to also learn from. This time around, I was working on getting comfortable rev-matching at downshifts WHILE braking, as I am already comfortable rev-matching at downshifts THEN braking. My success rate since I started doing this was a fair 50-50; half the time I'd pull it off smoothly, and the rest of the time I'd inadvertently put too much input on the front brake lever, loosing smoothness at braking and diving the front end more than intended.

Well, the morning conditon on the 5th was already non-conducive to traction. Coming up on Turn 11 and downshifting to 1st gear from 2nd, also on the brakes, it wasn't one of my successful attempts and so I inadvertently pulled on the front brake lever, losing all of the already limited traction I had on the front wheel, and the bike just slid from underneath me.

Belle saw the whole ordeal, and didn't quite understand what happened at first; in her words, I was completely upright one moment, and the next, the bike and I are on our side, as if we simply "fell over."

Save for a couple of parts necessary to repair/replace so I can ride the bike, the damage was completely cosmetic. As follows:

Rizoma bar end sliders that I've now proven
to be functional, not just bling. :) Brembo MC
brake lever broke off at the breakaway point.
Very effective.

Right Sato rearsets. The peg will need to be replaced,
along with its bolt and the toe peg for the
rear brake pedal.

A hole on the right lower fairing where there
shouldn't be a hole.

The left side of swingarm.

The aluminum piece that was welded on over the actual
swingarm was pushed in by my exhaust muffler.

Took a hammer lightly on the crack to flush it a bit
more, then slapped on a sticker for a bit of a cover up.

The exhaust muffler of my Graves titanium system.
Titanium rocks. So light, yet durable.

Dented and rashed, but still perfectly functional.

To my insurance company, yes, that is damage to be replaced.

This one too. (If you can see it.)

And this. (Rash the bottom of the fork shoe)

Frame and clutch sliders that gave me protection
well worth their price.

So. Now what? It's winter, and even though prime riding season is still months away, track season starts in only a couple of months, and I know you didn't think I was going to stop. I'm taking this unfortunate incident as an opportunity to do the things I've always wondered about for the R1. Such as buying a Mivv Carbon Fiber GP exhaust muffler, and perhaps boxing up the stock fairings and slap on some cheap race replica fairings for good measure.

No, the stock fairings are not unuseable, and like I've already state, the Graves can is simply rashed and dented, but still 100% functional. Still, now's as good a time as any to see about what I've always wondered.

Stay tuned.