One of the best bikes I ever owned was my 1988 BMW R100RS. Of course there is the small matter of it trying to kill me but what is a broken collar bone and a few ribs between friends?
I had always thought that the R100RS was one of the most beautiful bikes ever built. The proportions were just right and every line and curve had a purpose. Many consider it the first Super Bike.
I had just sold my '76 CB750F (bad move) and bought the RS with the money (good move). Just after bring it home I was riding up Rt 32 in Connecticut to show it off to friends from Boston. Wide right hand curve at moderate speed and suddenly I was down and sliding towards the curb.
This is when wearing a helmet pays off. My head hit the curb and bounced off. Then my shoulder hit the curb and went crunch, then the ribs followed with crunchiness of their own. Minus the helmet my head would have gone SPLOT like a watermelon hitting the ground after a five story free fall.
A semi was behind me but saw what happened and stopped diagonally to block anybody from further mangling my body. I never got to thank him but he's one of my heroes.
An ambulance showed up but I declined a ride because I had no health insurance and didn't need hospital bills on top of bike repair bills. Even in emergencies one has to maintain perspective. I'd broken the collarbone before and ribs are no big thing.
My friends showed up as I was bidding the ambulance crew adieu. We examined the scene but there seemed to be no explanation for the crash. After securing the bike at the home of a friendly onlooker, one of the guys volunteered to take me home on the back of his bike. Just imagine 35 miles of bouncing along back country roads while holding my arm up so my shoulder didn't hurt any more than it had to.
When I got home I conceded that maybe this was more than a minor scrape and deserved a better look. The urgent care clinic x-rayed the damage and informed me that my collarbone was now in four pieces and some assembly was required. I gave Dr. Lars Richardson at Massachusetts General Hospital and asked him when he would be free to put me back together again. He has a rather large file on me.
I went back to pick up the bike and really couldn't figure out what went wrong. I wasn't speeding, there was no sand in the road, nothing obvious jumped out at me. Surprisingly the bike was nearly unharmed except for scrapes on the valve cover and a crack in the fairing that I artfully covered up with a CT Rockers sticker.
I took the bike to Peter Boggia at MotoBorgotaro in Brooklyn. Peter is one of the best mechanics in the world for European bikes and we'd done business before. I trailered it down and told him that I Wouldn't need it back any time soon since I was banned from riding for a while by Dr. Lars.
The verdict came back that it was a combination of bad luck and poor maintenance by the previous owner. The tires were old and hard as a rock and the steering head bearings were worn and loose. It was a cold night and the pavement was frigid also diminishing my traction.
The BMW is a shaft drive that has a torque reaction as you get on and off the throttle. Normally this is not a big deal but that night, as I got back on the throttle to exit the curve, the rear end jacked up a bit, which caused the forks to shift position in the loose bearings, which caused the old, hard tires to lose their grip on the frigid pavement. A chain of insignificant events that would cause me view the world horizontally.
Peter
put the bike in perfect condition, finding and fixing a few other
problems for me. By the time my body was ready for the bike, the bike
was ready for me. After that it was one of the most enjoyable bikes I
have ever owned. Fast without being twitchy, able to eat miles with
speed and comfort, and able to breeze through corners thanks to
Peter's wizardry and a new set of tires.
Make my day, tell a friend about this blog!
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