Soon to be operational (again)

After four long months of jumping through hoops and getting my shoulder working properly again, my KZ650/750 should be operational this Saturday. I'd put about 60 miles on it when a blind guy in a Cadillac turned left across my lane at the last minute. Since I don't much care for the modifications he'd made to my forks and exhaust, the big box of parts arriving on Friday should put it back to my preferred configuration.

Before:



After:



With unauthorized modifications:





I'll post some pictures once it's pieced back together. I'm tickled to have a shot at covering a few miles while the weather is still decent.

glad your ok...looks like a hard hit....good to see you are getting back on the horse after its fixed....I had a old couple turn left in front of me out of Perkins the other day....I stopped in time!

wow....you are one lucky guy..did you have a helmet? gloves? any gear?

that is story worth hearing if you dont mind?

left turning drivers are my biggest fear when im facing oncoming traffic where a turn can me made by them

i watch em close knowing how my brother got nailed and hurt bad in the late 70's on his short bike stint in his life... and i just found out , the other day he
was commuting to his law firm in the city with a scooter last year (not anymore,fun while it lasted i guess) and was nailed ....NAILED...again same deal after 40 years same exact move by a car...got him good this time too...but if your gonna hit a bike dont hit one with a lawyer and let him live :lol: he got the driver pretty nice in wallet i'm told
anyways welcome,glad your okay somewhat and the blue bike is cool
keep us posted

I was wearing a helmet, gloves, jacket, boots and jeans. I've seen too many people get screwed up from things like this to go without.

It was around sunset during a test ride after getting some electrical oddities and carb stuff sorted out. I was within a mile of the destination after about 30 minutes of riding. Running eastbound at 35-40 mph with a green light and a car in the westbound left turn lane. The car looked like it was gonna stay put until I rolled by until I was about 40 feet from it. Much to my disbelief, it continued with the turn (note to self: check the horn button and consider something more menacing than a factory horn). I made what has always been a sensible correction and pointed the bike toward where the car was, figuring it should be gone by the time I got there and I'd be able to cut back to the right without getting into the wrong side of the road. This was fine for about 0.0734 second until the guy mashed his brakes. Being out of time and space, I somehow threw the bike down without trapping my leg nor scraping a hole in my clothing. I remember looking over the side of the bike and watching his right rear tire while thinking "[expletive deleted]! I need to stay on the back side of that tire!". There's a big spot of no memory between that and regaining consciousness with a gasping breath, lying on my back somewhere in the intersection. By this time, the police had arrived and implemented traffic control measures. I stumbled around for a bit and the police grabbed me to have me sit in the open cruiser until the ambulance got in. I vaguely recall studying at some new-looking dents in the right quarter panel of a light-colored Cadillac. Then I spent the weekend in the hospital with a right shoulder that didn't work. I wouldn't recommend such activity for a holiday weekend. Hospitals are kinda boring.

Probably the most bothersome thing, for me, is that there's a period of time I can't account for after something bad happened. It seems I didn't yank anyone out of a car to bounce their head across the pavement, so I guess it's all good.

It took infinitely less time to take a sound thrashing than to type out the incident.

Yup, that's the type of situation where you have zero time. The car needs only move a few feet for you to go from totally in the clear to totally screwed.

Sorry to hear about the damage to you ad your bike.

I had the same thing happen, but with the front end of a FedEx truck. The front of my bike looked very similar to yours afterward. In my case, the frame was shot because the backbone of the frame bent from the impact. Make sure to check yours.

Sweet looking bike before the Caddy remodelling.

My first thought seeing that was "bent frame"....Im terrible :pinch: , glad your ok bro.

i got this stupid habit but i am programmed now to do it...but in busy traffic it does not upload...only when there is a an upcoming lefty on a straight...but i do a quick weave like the guys warming their tires...everyone for a half mile radius stares at me like...look at this asshole....in my mind im like yep thats right look at me asshole

trianglelaguna wrote: i got this stupid habit but i am programmed now to do it...but in busy traffic it does not upload...only when there is a an upcoming lefty on a straight...but i do a quick weave like the guys warming their tires...everyone for a half mile radius stares at me like...look at this asshole....in my mind im like yep thats right look at me asshole

Thats funny, your description allowed a good mental visual. At least the road debris on the sides is off your tires when you do that.

Speaking as somebody whos actually seen craig on his kz900 moped up close I would think it would cause more accidents from the people screaming and the kids yelling look mommy,its shrek! :sick: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Made a bunch of progress over the weekend.

Yanked the front end apart for surgery


The old, modified fork uppers


The old, modified exhaust


Old exhaust from the frame side


Forks reassembled and mounted




I would've taken the thing for a ride, but the lower that lacks a dust cover in the picture is tweaked and has a sticky spot. A replacement is on the way from ebay and should be in place this weekend. With a bit of luck, the weather will be kind enough to give me a few days to tear around and debug. It'll likely get pulled apart once the snow hits to clean up some detail stuff and some electrical items.

trianglelaguna wrote: i got this stupid habit but i am programmed now to do it...but in busy traffic it does not upload...only when there is a an upcoming lefty on a straight...but i do a quick weave like the guys warming their tires...everyone for a half mile radius stares at me like...look at this asshole....in my mind im like yep thats right look at me asshole

I may have to develop some similar trademark strategy... perhaps fireworks or a Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tubeman™ as a passenger would provide adequate visibility for the cage drivers.