On my way to work on another rainy Friday morning the week before last, I lost my cool due to an aggressive and rude Provisional driver (aka “P-plater”) who decided to run me out of the lane on a dual-lane roundabout after I’d lane filtered past him.
I reacted badly and he ultimately ignored me. In my anger, I stalled the bike at the next roundabout and had another car driver in an expensive brand of car push past me.
I again reacted badly and hit a curve in the road at too high a speed to brake safely in the conditions, which resulted in another crash.
Fortunately I was not injured, although I can’t say the same for Sylvie!
The front windscreen was completed trashed, as were the right-hand mirror, brake lever and handlebar. The left indicator and the instrument cluster also took a bit of a hit and will need to be repaired or replaced.
Fortunately a fellow rider who happened to be driving past in a flatbed truck with a pneumatic lift stopped and helped get me and Sylvie home. Thanks Nige, if you happen to be reading!
Two crashes in the wet in too short a time says something to me about my level of ability as opposed to my perception of my ability. As a result, I have been driving a car to work for the last week and I’m seriously considering selling Sylvie to force me to concentrate more on my project bikes.
In order to move Sylvie on quickly, I decided to remove the remains of the windscreen and repair the damage to the best of my ability until replacement parts arrive.
I started by removing the remains of the windscreen.
Removal and replacement of the bvolt on the right side of the headlight was straightforward. Unfortinately the left side bolt was abit harder to replace, as the nut inside the headlight fell down. This meant I had to open the headlight cover to replace it.
With the bolts replaced, I refitted the headlight cover.
The windscreen was completely unsalvageable, as it seems some parts were left on the road when it broke off.
The brake lever had snapped off completely.
The right mirror came completely out of the casing.
The left mirror seemed relatively unscathed.
I removed the mirrors and set about removing the controls from the old handlebar
I was able to remove the handlebar despite the left heated grip being glued on firmly with J B Weld steel epoxy.
I fitted the new handlebar and took a break for dinner.
After dinner, I fitted as many of the controls as I could without removing the heated grip .
I used a hardryer to warm the heated grip enough to break it free from the epoxy.
I replaced the clutch lever, left switch block and heated grip controller on the left side of the handlebar.
I loosely fitted the heated grip and replace the bar end.
I removed the mirros from Eric and fitteld them on Sylvie.
I removed the remaining piece of brake lever
I took the brake lever off Rosie to use as a temproary replacement on Sylvie.
I fitted the repalcement lever.
I also taped the right indicator back together, although I forgot to take photos of that step. After that I called it a night.
That’s all for this update, hopefully some parts will arrive for Sylvie in the next fortnight!
Fred Builds Bikes 