| Author | Message | ||
     129cbrider |
A friend of mine is doing an extended tour of SA on his Uly and had a 'shocker' of a mishap with a huge pothole in Costa Rica...read his rendition: "...curtis was picking up some speed, i was behind not too far, relaxed, my concentration broken and then.... BLAM-BLAM taken totally by surprise...i knew i hit a killer pothole..the bike went down on its rear suspension..and didnt come back up, and quickly i realized my back wheel was locked up and sliding,, the bike was so low that the muffler was scraping the pavement... i realized my fate and controlled the skidding rear wheel to follow the front wheel still turning to the edge of the road where i came to an abrupt stop just on the edge of the pavimento. i couldnt believe it! all the sh** we rode thru to come to an even partly civilized roadsystem. and screwed! quickly, i unloaded the bike, waiting for curtis and janet to return wondering what happened. the front wheel is bent, the rear wheel is bent and broken, the shock absorber flange on the swingarm broke and the shock jammed into the rear wheel. we got a ride to the next town on the back of a toyota" His wife flew down with the parts and he got it all fixed for $400 labor, including changing the tires over to the new wheels and an oil change. | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Sounds kinda like Froggy. | ||
| Froggy |
0.o that is alot like what happened to me, except that i did not have 2 blams, and the damage was alot worse. Hell i even broke my foot. My threads: http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?142838/313684 http://www.badweatherbikers.com/cgibin/discus/show .cgi?4062/316099 | ||
| 129cbrider |
Sounds like the shock mounting point on the swingarm is a weak link in the rear suspension. One of them breaking off would not be of great concern, but two breaking off under conditions that really should have blown out the tire first is just bad design. | ||
| Bertotti |
I would like to see a pick did he take any? | ||
| Reepicheep |
It was enough of an impact to break the rear wheel... that is one heck of a shot. Is a cast wheel tougher then a spoked wheel? One solution could be a weaker wheel, to allow the wheel to fail and absorb the damage. You are still stuck at the end of the day though. | ||
| Bearly |
I believe that a aluminum spoked rim will take a lot more of a shot that a cast rim. I drive around Costa Rica a couple time a year in Rental cages (with full insurance) with 15" wheels. when it's raining or wet, (almost half the year) those pot fill with water and you can't see them. Tire insurance is extra down there. Take the tire insurance. They can appear very fast. In just a few days they can grow to be a foot deep with steep sides. I've bent two steel rims down there. (and was worried about my teeth!) It's sort of weired as you can be sliding around a very nice road at great speed then WAM your in a pot whole field. I think the locals know that you must be going very fast so your wheel doesn't drop in. What part of Costa Rica was he riding? | ||
| Froggy |
Any update? | ||
| Thunderbox |
I have to ask. What were you doing that caused you to miss that big of a pothole? Hard to imagine sitting here at my desk. | ||
| Meandrlily |
The potholes in Costa Rica are TREMENDOUS. I've done quite a bit of driving down there, and it's terrible. Even the cross-country "highways" are ridden with pot holes that take up the entire lane -- the only way to avoid them is to swerve into oncoming traffic, something the locals do without a second thought. I love the country and seriously considered moving there, but I was so frustrated with the infrastructure after a few weeks that I gave up on the idea. |
