Death of a 900... And it's replacement

50k kms, 3 years later and she's dead....

Riding home from a training course a couple of weeks ago, past a school, and a teacher driving a 2008 Suzuki Swift pulls out of the school car park, fails to check traffic coming from her right and it's game over for my XJ900.

20 or 30 minutes earlier there was another accident in the same spot. Police are in attendance of that accident when one of them hears a loud profanity, turns his head just in time to see me (and my bike) hit the front drivers corner of her car at around 50kmph. He said to me it was like watching a stuntman in slow motion go flying, high flying and in to a forward roll only to get up off the road and walk to the footpath.

Took my helmet and jacket off to find a blood nose. I looked myself over at this point and wondered why I wasn't in more pain... It was a hell of a hit. Got a mild concussion, bruised elbow and groin. No other damage to me (much to my surprise and delight).


Moral of this story for me is "Take NOTHING for granted". I say this because I believed she would turn her head before pulling out of this driveway and she didn't, because she didn't I wasn't slowing down or expecting to have to make an emergency stop. After the profanity I got in about 2 metres of heavy braking.

End result is that my tidy XJ900 with 65k kms on it will never be the same again, it's written off because the frame is bent.

Good news is the insurance company are selling the wreck back to me for $200 and I have everything needed to build a new bike... All I need now is the insurance payout so I can buy a new bike

 

Re: Death of a 900

Glad you're ok. I trust no one when I'm riding or driving.

 

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Straight after posting this I checked my account for the insurance money, it was there so I bought this...

 

Re: Death of a 900

Wow. Glad you're ok! Apt username...

That 900 looks very nice... what are you going to do with your wreck?

 

Sorry to hear about your wreck! Glad your alive and well! Such a shame though, i love that white/red coloring on your original Well if your going to part it out at all, I am in need of a few or mine. PS, how do you like the new replacement?

 

good to hear you're ok. trust no one, make no assumptions on the road. keep safe.

 

Very sorry you wrecked your old 900.

Most importantly, glad to know you were not badly hurt.

That New 900 is quite a good-looker! Bully for you on that!

 

of course the already mentioned, glad you didnt get squashed but....

(and please take no offense) the replacement looks nicer than your wrecked 'R...

is it an 84? it has a different gauge pack i see and it has the medium sized frame fairing...

 

Shucks, I was going to sell you this one, there's a lot of your parts on it anyway. Glad you are OK. Wiz.

 

I'm going to rebuild the wreck...

Yes the new bike is an 896cc 1985 as opposed to my wrecked 853cc 1983.


Wiz.. .Package heading your way as of this morning.... When I move to Queensland I'll take you up on that offer lol

 

Glad you're ok. A real testament to what proper gear and a bit of luck can do.

New ride looks pretty nice too.

 

I totally believe that my gear has a lot to do with why I walked away from this wreck in one piece... So much so, I having the jacket and pants repaired

 

Making the most of a bad situation. Glad you are okay. Glad you ride protected. Love your new bike! What a looker!

 

Glad you made it out mostly unscathed...

Sorry to see the old 900 go, but must say, the new one is sweet

 

Glad to hear you're not seriously hurt.
I always liked your red-white-and blue bike.
Does this mean that Wizard will finally get some proper tank scoops ??

BTW- - I need a "perfect" plastic lens for my cluster. (anybody).

 

Good to know you didn't get hurt bad. Nice replacement bike, you'll find the fairing is a big improvement over the bikini job on your' old machine at stupid speeds, and the 894 pushes out a bit more grunt in the midrange.

 

Yea I like my white one so much I'm planning on restoring it to it's former glory... I might have some of those lenses but I suspect the plastic housing they're glued in to is damaged

 

hey alive, glad to hear you're OK. like the look of the new ride, clean and tidy. when and where are you moving to in queensland, i'm in brisbane myself and skeetergrimshaw is only a couple of hours away in grafton NSW.
hope to catch up with cheers mate, greg

 

Hey Greg.... Not sure, I have family in sth Brissy and Nerang but tied to Auckland until I sort out getting rid of an investment property that I owe more on than it's worth... Could be a while

 

I can't believe you actually thought that the driver might LOOK. They NEVER do that. They aren't TAUGHT to do that. Are they even SUPPOSED to do that?!?!

How much was the ticket you got for "assuming driver will look" ?

Glad you're ok, glad you found a ride, glad you will rebuild.

Dave Fox

 

Yes, I learnt that... The hard way.

Completely her fault in the eyes of the law, which is why it was her insurance that bought the new wheels.

Seller of new bike said it was in storage since 91 and only has 55k kms on it, but judging by how loose this motor feels, I'd be surprised if that milage was correct... Still starts first pop and runs well... Even if no 1 carb need float levels adjusted i.e. carb swap

 

Ltdave , as far as I,m aware its basically an xj900N (naked) It came out with the same instrument cluster and round headlight as the xj650H. and no fairing , This one has been moded to fit the faring and square headlight .off the later model R/F series

Cheers, Murray

 

and ,by the way,it,s been very nicely done.

once again, Murray

 

during the bike rally a bike got rear ended by a car, the car jumped the curve and drove away, the bike got messed up and locked up guy was ok, road rash, and we helped him, but it brought up a conversation that upset me but i didnt chime in to ruin the mood, they were talking about how its crap you gotta wear a helmet in michigan, they were saying "wearing a helmet didnt prevent that car from hitting him" and they were talking about how a guy they knew hit a deer before the meet, and were saying that a helmet wouldnt have prevented the deer from running into his path, but he wasnt wearing his helmet, and somehow his eye got messed up and is going to be blind in the eye.. a full face helmet like I was wearing probably would have kept him from using his spare eye

 

I hear ya Schoot.... All the gear all teh time brother, only way to go.

Good news is my Spidi gear has been lovingly repaired and good as new & My helmet is going in the bin because it did it's job perfectly in this accident.

Bad news is that I've already had to do an engine swap from the wreck in to the new bike due to a chain noise coming from the new motor that needs fixed before it blows the motor to pieces.

I learnt something interesting form the engine swap... To get my old engine running like it was in the old frame I had to swap carbs and TCI because the other set are tuned to the other motor