It’s never a good day when a mate goes down, but thankfully this story has a happy ending, at least as far as Ray is concerned.
Ray came unstuck rounding a roundabout near Cardiff, losing the front end and sliding off his CBR1000. Fortunately, he walked away with nothing more than a few bruises and a dented pride. The bike, however, wasn’t quite so lucky.
After getting the machine back and giving it a proper once-over, the damage tally made for grim reading. The left-hand side had taken the full force of the slide, with the mirror and indicator snapped clean off, and the engine casing and fairing ground down to a finish that only tarmac can provide. Dig a little deeper and it got worse, the gear change link arm was bent, the clutch lever had taken a knock, and the footrest hanger had cracked under the impact, forcing the heel plate hard up against the chain guard.
The saving grace is that the damage is mostly cosmetic. The bad news? Cosmetic damage on a CBR1000 doesn’t come cheap. New fairings, engine covers, levers and linkages are going to add up fast.
Still, as anyone who rides will tell you, the only thing that really matters is that Ray is upright and walking. Everything else is just metal and plastic, replaceable, if painful on the wallet.
The bike will be back on the road eventually. Ray, meanwhile, will just have to endure the inevitable ribbing from his mates in the meantime. No sympathy here, just a lot of well-deserved wind-up!
