Well, the Mrs. and I decided to go for a ride tonight. About two minutes from our house on the way home, I decided to hit a few side streets. Come to a stop sign, stop, pull forward to turn right, "oh shit this doesn't feel right" Down we go. Pick the bike up, see if the Mrs. is ok, she is, push bike to side of road, check myself out, I'm fine, then turn to see what the make the beast with two backs happened.

Look back to where the bike went down and there is about 1/2 inch of pea gravel ALL over the road, so much that it just looks like really old pavement. Never saw it. I could've skated across it.

Go look at the bike. My right brand new rizoma is done, scraped front brake lever, scraped right fork leg, some rash on the clutch cover, brake lever is done, and my "pipes" are jacked up.

Could be worse I guess. Glad we are both ok.

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The goddamn gravel



Might be a long night in the garage 

Bummer man! Glad you two are ok.......insurance claim?

No insurance claim. I'll probably just get a new rear brake pedal, some new front levers  , sand and repaint my pipes, and sand and repaint my mirror. Only "permanent" damage will be the rash on the clutch cover and on the fork leg. I may have bent my rizoma bars too...not sure. I've been contemplating cipons for awhile now though, so maybe I'll just do that.

Oh, and wear your gear people!

We both had everything on except for pants (stupid), My jacket got a little roughed up, but nothing major, I'm sure it would've given me some rash tho.

After closer inspection, my right boot is pretty torn up too.

Will a pedal from a 620 work? found one on ebay.

edit/ Looks like the part numbers are the same. New pedal on the way.

Dude that sucks.  At least you two are OK and the damage is minor 

Honey, if you didn't like the bars I got you, you didn't have to drop the bike....you could have just told me!

Quote from: mrs minnesotamonster on July 16, 2009, 05:23:29 AM
Honey, if you didn't like the bars I got you, you didn't have to drop the bike....you could have just told me!

Hehe.   Sorry to hear that your bike is down but I am very happy you guys are OK.

Gravel is ass-tastic and should be outlawed.

The downside... I wanted those Rizomas, too.  Now I see the downside of bar-end mirrors.

Yeah, I know. That's the part I'm most pissed off about    BUT, I only damaged the arm, the mirror itself is still good, so hopefully I can get a replacement for just the arm and it won't hurt the wallet too bad. If not, I'll just repaint it. I already have it sanded down.

I still don't understand why the whole road was covered in gravel. After going further down the road after the drop, there was a sign posted that read "loose gravel" but the ENTIRE road, which has perfectly fine pavement underneath, was covered in that pea gravel for about 1/4 mile. Some little kids who witnessed the incident told us the city had just dumped the gravel all over the road earlier that day. Why?

Quote from: minnesotamonster on July 16, 2009, 09:06:30 AM
I still don't understand why the whole road was covered in gravel. After going further down the road after the drop, there was a sign posted that read "loose gravel" but the ENTIRE road, which has perfectly fine pavement underneath, was covered in that pea gravel for about 1/4 mile. Some little kids who witnessed the incident told us the city had just dumped the gravel all over the road earlier that day. Why?

They DOT puts down a wear coat on many well travelled roads. It consists of spraying a tar or asphalt on the road then spreading a layer of pea gravel over the top. Cars driving over the road embed the gravel in the tar. After a week or 2 the remaining gravel is removed. The effect is that the more heavily travelled parts of the road get a very economical resurfacing. I, personally, am a little skeptical about the value but the DOT seems convinced it is a good idea.

Quote from: rose_guy on July 16, 2009, 09:49:03 AM
They DOT puts down a wear coat on many well travelled roads. It consists of spraying a tar or asphalt on the road then spreading a layer of pea gravel over the top. Cars driving over the road embed the gravel in the tar. After a week or 2 the remaining gravel is removed. The effect is that the more heavily travelled parts of the road get a very economical resurfacing. I, personally, am a little skeptical about the value but the DOT seems convinced it is a good idea.

huh. Thanks.

I think it's stupid. but I may be biased

Quote from: minnesotamonster on July 16, 2009, 10:02:11 AM
huh. Thanks.

I think it's stupid. but I may be biased

It is so stupid.  How much can a steamroller really cost?  Instead of nice roads we have to deal with loose gravel everywhere.

This doesn't just affect motorcycles -- it definitely affects safety for cars too.

The loose gravel for two weeks phenomenon seems to be a recent development.  Anyone know who we can yell at?

This is so much less expensive than resurfacing any other way.

If you want to change things, you should become govenor and appoint the next transportation commisioner. I can help you out with the filing.

Quote from: filter on July 16, 2009, 10:14:56 AM
How much can a steamroller really cost?

About $160k.

They use this technique quite a bit in Nodak.  They could use an asphalt compactor to embed the pea rock into the top coat but it would crush it making it less effective. 

I'm sorry to say that MN (along with many other states) doesn't have the funds to do much for road construction this year, the stimulus package requires the state to match the federal contribution.

Minnesotamonster
Glad to here you and the mrs. are ok.  The bike and be fixed easily, you....not so much.

Keep an eye out everyone and ride safe

Dang man sorry to hear that ..... def glad both of you are ok ... its time for more mods i tell you , like lose some of extra weight in the back  ....