first time lay down

[beeber]

hey guys,

newbie rider here and i have some questions after my first lay down.

i ride an 02 monster 750 dark got it for 3000 a few weeks ago. great condition but already a few cosmetic nicks and scratches at the time of sale. mechanically the thing is flawless and has all the service records. anyway, yesterday, i was doing some drilling, (slow turns, hills etc.) when i decided to try some starts on a pretty steep hill. did it once perfectly, but the second time the bike got away from me. this was a parking lot after hours, but there were a few cars at the top of the hill and when i lost control i just laid the bike down. i think i was going between 10-15 mph.  broke the front left turn signal and mirror, bent the shift arm 90 degrees and bent the handlebars. some scuffing on the front wheel nut, clutch, handlebar point, gas tank, and muffler. i picked up the bike and rode it home and it seemed to be fine. the clutch had a little up and down wiggle but nothin serious and it seemed to work fine.

i already bought a replacement signal and i plan to bend the handlebar back into position with just a bit of brute force. is there anything that i am missing? the scuffing sucks but i have a few scars of my own right? basically, i want to know if i can just fix what happened and ride on. is the monster prone to any serious damage on low speed lay downs that i might not know of? also is there a problem with bending the handlebars. i know that it potentially weakens them, but i dont want to spend the money on a new set right now.

any opinions or advice is welcome. excellent site. very collegial. glad to be a part of it.

rgb

[beeber]

also forgot to mention bending the shift arm back. i have heard that these cast aluminum parts are brittle. again, though, i would rather fix it myself for a while until i have some more $. a little heat and elbow grease?

[Spidey]

Sorry about the fall.  Good to hear that it happened while you were practicing and not at high speed and/or in a situation where you might have screwed yourself up.  I hope you've already invested in some riding gear.

Re the bike, you should be fine.  You can bend back the shift lever.  The handlebars can be bent back too, but I'd think about replacing them.  IIRC, they're pretty cheap.  alternatively, you can pick up a used set of handlebars online from someone who converted to clip-ons.

You probably don't need to do this, but after a crash, I always loosen the triple clamps, twist the upper fork legs, and then tighten the triple clamps again.  The fork legs can sometimes bind in the triples.  You just need to release the tension.  Again, this is probably overfill for the type of crash you described, but since you asked, I thought I'd mention it.  One other thing to check is your brake rotors.  If you wheel was scratched, make sure your front brake rotor doesn't have rash on it or an obvious bend.  If it's messed up, you'll beging to feel it under hard braking.

When you have some $ to spend, think about a set of frame sliders.  They're made for exactly this type of crash.

Good luck.  Glad to hear it wasn't worse.  [moto]

[sfarchie]

Sorry to hear about your accident, but glad it wasn't worse. I agree with getting the frame sliders, I'm picking them up today and ordered handlebar sliders as well. I have a new M696 and I'm doing what I can to minimize damages.

Ride safe

[arsenalfan]

Bad new on the lay down...good news you didn't hurt yourself.

I'll agree with Spidey about the gear and with everyone else on the frame sliders.  If you you don't have the sliders, I'd move them closer to the top of the wish/want list.

As for the handlebar, a new one for an 03 Monster was ~$85.  Ask me how I know.   

You can bend the shift lever back, if you're careful, with a vice and a dead blow hammer.  Again, ask me how I know!   

Have fun with the new toy!   

[Spidey]

You can bend the shift lever back, if you're careful, with a vice and a dead blow hammer.  Again, ask me how I know!   

You don't need a hammer though it works.  You can use a wrench if ya like.  While it's in a vise, put the shift lever through the closed circular part of the wrench (the part what would fit completely around a nut).  Then you can use the wrench for leverage to bent it back.  No need to strike it, which would increase the chance of it snapping. 

[Scottish]

Instead of hitting the lever directly with a hammer... which experience tells me is bad. I place it on my wood top work bench and sandwich it under another piece of wood which I hit with the hammer(a piece of 4X4 on end works well). The wood absorbs and spreads the impact out. It worked for me... as to the rest of the stuff you should be fine. FYI bars can be had in most motorcycle shops for under $25 for street, non-tapered ones 7/8 diameter I believe. Fancy ones are $75. Just avoid the Duc shops for bits like this, they don't need to be brand specific so you're just paying more. Take your old ones along to compare over all width(for cable length) and curvature, to avoid tank clearance issues.

[blue tiger]

Count yourself lucky. My first Ducati accident was on my 08 Tricolre. It happened at a faster speed than yours and happened to total the bike. It had a bent frame and forks as well assorted cosmetic damage and a trashed radiator. It had 4500 miles on it and the settlement was just a few hundred bucks short of 17,000. Glad you were OK.

[The Bacon Junkie]

First off,  glad to hear your ok.

Second, I just put a set of Suburban Machinery bars on my '99 M750. 

Stock ones are yours, if you want.   No  $$$  required. 
 
Let me know...

-Ryan

[DesmoDisciple]

Thats it....I'm getting frame sliders.....and axle sliders......

[Jobu]

You don't need a hammer though it works.  You can use a wrench if ya like.  While it's in a vise, put the shift lever through the closed circular part of the wrench (the part what would fit completely around a nut).  Then you can use the wrench for leverage to bent it back.  No need to strike it, which would increase the chance of it snapping. 

I did that to one.  It works fairly well.  Once you get it bent somewhat straight, you can actually put it in the vice and use the vice to straighten it out.