XJ900 Down - September 1999
As previously mentioned 1999 was not a good year for me and crashes. After
coming back from the Bol D'or I returned to work. At the end of my 1st week
back i was commuting through Manchester, not filtering as I had a lane to
myself, when a car on the inside lane thought it would be jolly nice if he
flashed another car to pull out of a junction on my left. Fortunately for
me I was already doing less than 30 and as the car pulled out (driver looking
completely the wrong way) I slammed the anchors on an hit the car between
the front wheel and drivers door. This was the first the driver knew about
it as he was too busy looking the other way. I had scrubbed off enough speed
to avoid going over the top, but as I stood there in amazement/shock I let
the bike fall to the side.
The driver then wanted to move his car, so I picked up the bike, stuck it
on the side stand and stood in front of the car while I rang the police.
Totally ignoring his rants of wanting to unblock the road I stayed there
until a police officer had see the scene and positions. Then I pushed the
bike to the side and swapped details. I then sat by the side of the road
and shook like a leaf until the recovery vehicle arrived. I went home, got
the GS550 out and returned to work on that.
The bike was close to a write off. Damage was forks, bars, wheel, exhaust,
indicators (again!) and top box. To stop it being a write off I had to agree
to drop the top box from the claim.
I never found out what happened to the driver, it took nearly 2 years to
sort the insurance out on this one. I am just happy the bike is still working
and touring.
If I ever dig out pictures , I will insert them.