Suzuki Savage Accident Story




		On June 25 2002, I dropped my cycle at about 15 mph. I screwed up--it was avoidable. A pick-up in front of me stopped suddenly as I was looking left to pass him. I locked up the front tire to avoid a collision and I got slammed down on the pavement pretty good. The following table shows my damage and what I did to remedy the problems I could to get back on the road. I don't have a photo of my helmet with the 6" x 2" scratch down the side where my head bounced off the road. Needless to say I'm happy to have been wearing it.

Description of Problem	Damage Photos	Repair Photos
Foot peg bent		I took it off and hammered the peg as straight as I could. It's fine.
Turn Signal broke off. I had to buy a new one from Suzuki: $46.00. It went on super-easy though!		I had another problem after replacing signal assembly: signal relay (left) blew so the lights wouldn't blink. I ended up buying a cheap one to replace it. Not perfect, but it works. It tucked away nicely.
Forks twisted from the force of going down at 10 mph. I messed around a bit getting them straight, but they are very straight now.
Broken lower triple tree piece. The little "stopper" sheared off when the front wheel locked up and went down. This piece prevents the forks from hitting the tank when you turn the handlebars.		Hey! It works!
Dented shock housing--up & down (actual shock appears fine)		Leaving this "as is." I just spun it around a little to hide the scratches.
Windshield saved a lot of damage, but got wrecked.		I'm not replacing this right away, if ever. I'm actually still using it in cold weather.
Broken left mirror. I bought a set of teardrop mirrors from JC Whithey.	No picture
Gas tank was damaged bigtime. But, I had bought a replacement tank because the owner before me dented the tank. I never installed it, so I'm lucky in that respect.	No picture	No picture