| Author | Message | ||
     Caféelite |
I was leaving work today a bit early to meet my lawyer(child custody, dont get me started  ). Well not to far from work I was going from a side street to a main and the light was in my favor. Went around the corner and the rear wheel kicked out on me as if I hit water or sand. I dont recall if I got scared, if my body fell the wrong why or what but I must have got on the throttle cause when it caught traction the thing took off. It pretty much stood up and wheelied right from me. I did hit my head but lucky I had on my helmet coat and gloves. I did obtain a small scrape on the knee but its nothing crazy. I feel like an ass cause I had a lot on my mind and I was not paying attention to the ground like I normally do. I did get lucky in regards to the bike though. The puck gaurds saved the frame from scratches. Exhaust has very small scratches but no dent. Tail section including light housing are done as well as the left and right support bars. Hand gaurds saved the bars from what I can see. Interesting that the Darkhorse rear slider broke off and my swingarm obtain scratches while the fronts did the their job. I am going to look for the rear sliders tomorrow since I was so pissed about getting my bike in a state to ride and not be late to the lawyer. I would post pics but our daughter dropped the camera two days ago and it didnt make it. If anyone has a Lighting XB9 tailsection and taillight I would be extremely greatfull to take it off your hands. The seat rails are damaged so I could use those as well but they can somewhat still be used if I had to wait a bit there. Leason learned is no matter how much you got on your mind before you get on your bike clear your head or you will pay the price. sorry to beg for parts but its my daily ride... (Message edited by caféelite on June 19, 2007) | ||
| Xbullet |
glad yer in one piece. i've dropped my bike too. i too had my head up my a$$. frame pucks are the best when that happens. again, glad you are ok. be careful out there. hate to see a bueller down. bullet | ||
| Beachbuell |
Sorry to hear of your spill. Might your tires have not been warmed and up to full traction mode? Interesting about the Dark Horse Moto slider breaking off. First I've heard of this. Glad you are OK. | ||
| Ds_tiger |
Cafeelite- Not to bring too much personal into here- Your profile picture is really cool- what a beautiful little girl. Sorry your bike got whacked. Good advice about clearing your head before a ride. How many of us hope to do that WHILE we ride?- Me for one. Hang tough Bro> Tiger | ||
| Tdiddy |
Glad to hear your ok. At least you wern't moving to fast. I'd rather eat crap from my own mind wandering than from someone in a truck or car not paying attention. | ||
| 07xb12scg |
This sucks. Glad you're OK and glad the bike isn't hurt too bad. We probably all ride when we shouldn't and it's those instances where you have a lapse in concentration that gets us. | ||
| Slaughter |
It has taken me a LONG time to learn NOT to ride when my mind is somewhere else or if I'm just tired. I've done stuff that scared me after the fact too. Fighting sleep and busting a stop sign, stuff like that can happen easily. Glad you came out OK (though the bike is dinged - ALWAYS a bummer) | ||
| Buelltroll |
Thats ONE way to put the slider test questions to bed... | ||
| Reepicheep |
Glad the damage was to the bike and not the body. Some surface hazards are simply invisible, and it becomes a crapshoot as to how it turns out. As for the swingarm sliders, probably the only true conclusion you can reach so far from this case is that they can't protect swingarms from damage in every scenario... which probably should not be a surprise to anyone. It's another thing to be annoyed about though... The bike was half (or perhaps fully) looped, and the slider was broken. I don't know what kind of crazy forces it would take to break one of those sliders, but whatever force it took was not imparted on your bike, instead the slider took the hit. So the glass is half full  | ||
| Firebolteric_ma |
Glad you were able to walk away from the mishap. We have all ridden when we really shouldn't have, live and learn. Key word..LIVE. I have tested BOTH sides of my bike's Dark Horse Moto Sliders and they saved my swingarm both times. The pucks are also a worthy installation also. Cosmetics on a bike are much easier to fix(and cheaper) than cosmetics on your body. so look at the good side of things....Ya got to go home and see your little one, THAT is the important part of ALL this. Ride safe! | ||
| Djkaplan |
"...I must have got on the throttle cause when it caught traction the thing took off. It pretty much stood up and wheelied right from me." I'm glad you're alright, but I sure wish I could have seen that. | ||
| Caféelite |
Thanks for all the kinds words. I would agree I am lucky I got to go home to my kid and not trucked off to the hospital. Just wish I didnt have to fight to see her at least 50% of the time. 80\20 what kind of BS is that.. ex can kiss my a55. uhh bah I dont want to get off on a rant. Went back to the scene this morning and located the sliders(pics below). It looks as if the sliders dug into the pavement and pretty much bent them tell the rod broke. I am going to get a hold of Dark Horse Moto and see if they want the sliders back for R&D or just to see if it can make future sliders better. Maybe if the outer section was more rounded on both sides it wouldnt have dug in or something. I also noticed after further inspection my front wheel is dented. Scratches and stuff like that dont bother me but a damaged wheel is not good. Suggestions on getting a replacement wheel super cheap? When it rains it poors!     | ||
| Reepicheep |
Sorry again about the crash and about the custody fight. Nobody wins those, and in spite of our non discrimination policies and culture, men trying to get custody fight one hell of an uphill battle. Thanks for the slider pictures! (and I have that same SANS add sitting here on my desk...) Looks like the slider dug into the asphalt, and took enough force to bend that lower lip up, and stretch off that threaded rod (which looks like high grade stainless). Thats got to be an insane amount of force. Wonder how the the slider managed to dig so far into the asphalt? Really hot day? Really soft asphalt? Or did the bike come down post loop directly onto that slider? Regardless, without it I am guessing that swingarm would have been toast. Even with it, I would be looking at that swing arm VERY closely. Thats a lot of energy to absorb. | ||
| Djkaplan |
"I also noticed after further inspection my front wheel is dented. Scratches and stuff like that dont bother me but a damaged wheel is not good." Pffft... I have two dings in my front wheel (one for 7 years!) and can't feel a thing when I'm riding. If it's causing a problem with balance or vibration, I can't feel it. | ||
| Isham |
I can imagine how that bike landed with all that weight on the slider. Nothing would have protected it from that impact. | ||
| Skully |
Hi Jess, I am truly sorry to hear of your accident and thankfully, you had your gear on. I can tell you first hand, crashing sucks. We are definitely interested in looking at your sliders as we have used others returned to us to improve our products. Please contact us at darkhorsemoto@earthlink.net Sincerely, Keith DarkHorseMoto | ||
| Strato9r |
Soooooo glad you are OK. I know what you are going through as far as your distractions. All I can say is keep your head clear and focus on being the best person you can be. It worked for me, and now my beautiful little girl is one of the best damn machinists I've ever worked with. Strange how things work out. Sorry, I'd love to help you out as far as parts go, but all I have is Firebolt stuff. Good luck, and Godspeed, Jess. Get lots of sleep, avoid suspicion like the plague, and know that the power of a strong and good male role model will make all the difference in the world to your little girl; Trust me, buddy, it will all be worth it. | ||
| 07xb12scg |
I didn't realize the rod holding on the Dark Horse Moto sliders was that thin! Has it been upgraded at all? If not, is there a plan to upgrade it? | ||
| Swordsman |
The rod shouldn't have to be thick, I wouldn't think. That fat shaft fits into the wheel nut, and should take all the sideways force from the impact. The rod just has to keep it pulled in tight so the shaft can do its job. Looks like it caught on something though, and tried to snatch it outward, where the shaft couldn't support it. From the pics I've seen on the Net while shopping for sliders, they all look like they use the same size tie rod. Mine held up great in my little spill, but it was very low speed. I think this may have just been a case of bum luck. BTW, that is THE cutest little girl I've ever seen! ~SM | ||
| Fookinbueller |
Looks to me like the same cheap .187-.250 threaded rod I have at work... I've been meaning to make myself a set but, I put aside some .312 or was it .375, I didn't mic it, just pulled it from the material shed. I thought immediately that the thinner stock would never hold up in an accident and now I believe this post confirms my thoughts. | ||
| Skully |
Looks to me like the same cheap .187-.250 threaded rod I have at work... I thought immediately that the thinner stock would never hold up in an accident and now I believe this post confirms my thoughts. We use only 18-8 stainless steel for our threaded rod. At three times the cost of a plain steel threaded rod, it is definitely not the least expensive material that we could be using. 18-8 has a 70,000 psi minimum tensile strength. Therefore the threaded rod connecting the two sliders will require more than 2, 225 pounds force to break it. We know from the feedback of our customers, this has proven to be more than adequate for all but the very worst of accidents. That being said, I am very sincere when I say that we are always interested in improving our products. We have incorporated features in the new composite sliders to improve their ability to absorb an impact and protect. We will also incorporate some of these features in our existing aluminum racing style sliders. I asked Jess to email me so that we could arrange to have his sliders returned to us for examination but we have yet to hear from him. I also attempted to private message Jess and found that his profile no longer exists. I understand that he has bigger problems to deal with right now but if any of you know him, ask him to get in touch with us as soon as he is able. Sincerely, Keith DarkHorseMoto | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
I think the composite slider is the best design by far. The delrin should allow less dig by giving when it needs to and yet the toughness to survive a substantial slide. It doesn't look like the connector is the problem but that the slider snatched on something "immovable". If you look the bend on the lip closest to the connector is almost perpendicular to the gouges on the metal collar that fits inside the axle. It looks like it caught on the outside lip, pried the slider up and out of the hole and gouged the collar on the way out. The delrin slider would have simply sheered off a slice and kept on sliding. Skully, should there be a specific torque spec? Might the sliders have been too loose allowing enough "stretch" in the connector for the slider to get levered out of the hole? Did you get your testing rig built? | ||
| Skully |
Hi Jeremy, Our installation instructions suggest tightening the slider hand tight and then an additional 1/4 turn. This will provide sufficient preload on the threaded rod. As to what may have happened in Jess' situation, it would only be a guess until I am able to discuss it with him. Keith | ||
| Fookinbueller |
My apologies Skully... it's exceptionally hard to tell the material used, simply by looking at a low resolution photo... may I ask why a thicker material wasn't used? I'm guessing you wanted the greatest amount of Aluminum in the boss that extends into the axle hole as it would obviously be taking the brunt of the force exerted on the slider, I'd assume if it were too thin it would simply tear off on impact. Perhaps I just answered my own question...  | ||
| Skully |
Hi Boyd, Thank you for saying that though I didn't expect it as I felt you were honestly expressing your opinion. You are correct in stating that we wanted the boss to be as large as possible but we wanted to keep the weight as low as possible since the sliders become a contributor to the unsprung mass of your Buell. Interestingly enough, I was finally able to PM Jess so hopefully we can get the sliders on their way to us shortly. Thanks, Keith | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Keith, you got the new design for the T-Shirts done yet? | ||
| Skully |
Ask Glitch!  | ||
| Ft_bstrd |
Ask Glitch! Whiny, pestering PM sent!  | ||
| Caféelite |
Sorry for not keeping up on this thread, just super busy and stressed. Got the sliders packed but just need to find time to send them back.. Moving this weekend so maybe I will try and fit it in. Just want to say even though the rear slider broke doesnt mean its a bad product. If I didnt have the sliders my swing arm would have been pretty tore up, probably lost more on the pegs, brake and handle bars. Since it did break I think the front wheel took more abuse then it would have if the bike would have just slid a bit. No matter what when you go down things are going to get damaged no matter what preventive measure you take. The only thing I am dissappointed about is that the new sliders came out like less then a week after I got mine. Sometime in the distant future when I have money again I am positive I will put up another rear slider. |
