Repairs, Battle Scars, and Breaking 100 Miles!

Hey Everyone!

Finally posting some updates.  This one should be good, I have a lot of pictures, and everyone loves pictures!  I'm currently using my cellphone (5MP) to take shots because it's easy to take around, however eventually I hope to get a separate camera or a much better phone, so I can bring you all some better shots in the future.

Cowling damage, massive crack and scrape

Fender damage, another chunk missing!

Anyways to kick off, I'll finally show the damage to the bike, which amounts to about $1000 or so in parts and probably $500-700 in outrageous labor fees.  I "fixed" it for $30 and about five hours of my time, not too shabby!  The bulk of the damage is in the front of the bike, and was caused by the guard rail.  The slide did not do much damage except for a cracked left cowling and a little chunk of plastic missing.  The front right side was heavily damaged by the railing. There is also a nice long scratch running down the right side cowling.  It's not too terrible though.  I might bring up a scratch remover from my parents place and try to buff it out!

Left cowling.  It happens...

Front view. Ouch!

Also, either when the bike crashed or my rescuers helped pull the bike out from under the guard rail, the front wheel came out of alignment.  I ended up taking all the front cowlings off and using a breaker bar and some sockets and wrenches borrowed from a friend, I loosened the nuts on the triple trees and let the front fork unwind.  Google is our friend!  If you have a Ninja 250R or are planning to get one, I highly recommend joining the forum Ninjette.org.  There are a lot of riders who have a breadth of knowledge!  

Chunk missing? Oh well!

Ahh! She's naked!

I was lucky that my frame was not damaged.  And I am also lucky that bikes are much simpler to work on than cars.  All screws are easily accessible, and things snap together pretty easily.  You don't have to be all that handy to figure things out!  In order to repair some of cracks, especially on the front, I used a combination of clear silicone sealant and super glue.  I also had to use them to keep the left turn signal from coming loose and dangling around.  Here is the end result, and the scrape on my leg (which wasn't too bad, but man, taking a shower made it sting like crazy, I was almost bawling like a baby!).

Glued the separation together. Voila! 

Closer View. Can't even see the long scrape!

Can you spot the crack? 

Scrape.  There was a big bruise too, but that's going away!

Now that my bike is all repaired, it's riding like it came straight out of the factory.  But before I put many miles on it, I got to celebrate my birthday!  I only got one candle, but that's cool too, it makes me feel younger.

Once I returned to my area, it rained day in and day out.  I guess April showers carried into May as thunderstorms. This past weekend I finally got a chance to ride my Ninja.  I brought my backpack too, so I finally got use experiment with transporting groceries, and it worked wonderfully!  I'm able to manage to carry enough food for a few days at a time, which is plenty for me since I never know what I want to eat days in advance anyways.  I'm clearly very indecisive.  

Yesterday I went on a trip to find Simply Grapefruit juice, which is a godly fresh(er) squeezed grapefruit juice.  I was so excited I was singing in my helmet all the way to the store..Juice juice, juice juice jujuice juice, juice..!!!  On the way, I passed a pedestrian who turned and stared, I'm sure she thought I was a nutter LOL.  Sadly, when I arrived at the store, they were all out of Simply Grapefruit, so had to substitute it with some type of blueberry pomegranate concoction, which is just ok. Regardless, I sang the juice song on the way back home.

I also went for a long ride around town, out for an hour, and practiced leaning and being smooth on the controls.  I am getting better at controlling the throttle, and downshifting and upshifting without upsetting the bike stability too much.  It's remarkable how much you can feel the difference when you slightly speed up in a turn, as opposed to holding the throttle steady or slightly letting off.  The bike feels so much more stable and confident when rolling on the gas a bit, and that confidence also transfers to the rider too.  After my spill, road conditions are becoming extremely important to me too.  I've taken to scanning the road surface and remaining very cautious about any sort of debris: pebbles, cut grass, leaves and petals, oily surfaces.  It's becoming easier to spot such dangerous substances!  Road, I will not be sliding across you ever again (at least not for a long time I would hope)!  

Got a chance to park my ride out in a quiet area, and got to take a somewhat decent shot of my bike.  I would like to find a beautiful scenic area to take some more pictures, but this will have to just be a start.  Ideally, I'm on the hunt for a nice mountainous overlook, but I have yet to venture out further.  Soon, soon..  

And finally, my bike is now at 126 miles on the odometer.  Actually had to fill up the tank a bit since fuel was running low.  I pumped 3 gallons, setting me back only ten dollars.  This equates to just over 40mpg, which is not bad for mostly slow speed parking lot action, or wide open throttle on the back roads.  Driven more conservatively and on longer rides, I'm sure this little Ninja will get about 50-60mpg or even better!

And to wrap this post up, I have to say that I have fallen in love. I ride my damaged bike and am proud of it.  It's damage is part of me, part of my experience, part of my adventure.  It serves as a reminder that when you fall down, you need to just get back up and continue going.  Never give up! Friends and family always ask why I want to take such a risk riding a motorcycle.  All they hear about is gruesome accidents and deaths.  Yes, it can happen, and it's tragic.  But riding a bike is like flying.  There is nothing that feels as exhilarating and inspiring.  When I throw a leg over and go for a ride, everything else on my mind disappears.  I love every moment of it, and I love my bike.  Some people say they get very attached, almost like these things aren't inanimate objects.   I completely agree!

Have a great night friends!

-Pandabear