Rocket nearly killed me

Manic_Mechanic said:

Come to think of it, there is no way I was downshifting to second on THAT curve the first time around. So maybe the gear was just floating around in the box with no circlip to reign it in.

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warp9.9 said:

You could be right its hard to say. When you took her apart how was the nut on the output shaft the one on the helical gear. I've seen a few of them come loose from improper torque. The shaft will float and thrust forward pushing the front bearing on the output shaft a couple mm further in the bearing bore. Making shift out of first harder under load. So you of course apply more pressure shifting and maybe when she pops out as your hitting second and slams into fourth gear output forcing it towards the rear and forcing undue pressure on the third gear output and the cir-clip popping it out. I helped a fellow captain from Ohio while I was in Virginia last year fix his transmission which had the shaft float and the loose nut on the helical gear.

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Manic_Mechanic said:

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Manic_Mechanic said:

Just found these pics of my circlip induced wreck My son had them on a shared Google Drive folder that I never knew about.

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Manic_Mechanic said:

April 13th. Going out for a ride with my son following on his cafe racer Ducati. Just over a mile from the house I crashed on a mild curve. Broken ribs, clavacle, scapula, and a concussion which put me into an unconscious state. No memory of what happened. Son said he saw my rear tire skid out to the right but I recovered it. Skid out to the left and once again I recovered. One more time only this time it launched me into the air and the rocket went off the road in the other direction and into a fence. I came down on my left side and was not breathing. My son tried to pry my mouth open but my jaw was locked shut. After not having any air my jaw finally relaxed enough that he could get my mouth open. Still not breathing, he pulled my tongue forward and gave me mouth to mouth. Ambulance ride to trauma unit and two more days in the hospital.

On mothers day I rolled the rocket out of the garage and cleaned it up. Removed most of the damaged parts, changed the oil and fired her up. Ran her around the yard in first gear and it seemed good to go. Well I strap on a helmet and take her very cautiously on some back roads. A few miles into it I am feeling confident enough to go on some main roads. Still it seems fine. I get to an open stretch with no traffic and wind her up to 85 or so in third gear and grinning ear to ear. I am noticing that I am having a hard time getting into fifth now and have to downshift twice and then back up through the gears and fifth is ok. Now I am thinking that there is an issue so I take it cautiously again. I get into a small town and approaching a nasty railroad crossing. I start downshifting and all of a sudden (I have no idea which gear I was in) there is a LOUD CLUNK in the engine and the rear tire locks up. The bike skids out to the right and I recover it. She skids out to the left and I recover again. Starting to sound familiar? One more time she starts to skid out but fortunately I am slow enough that I can get her off the road without dumping.

So now there is a fifteen foot skid mark on Main Street and a smaller one in my underwear. At least now I know what happened in the first place but no way in hell would I ever feel safe on her ever again even after the issue was repaired. Found an 09 for sale just 15 minutes from me and put money down to hold it til insurance check arrives which it did this week. Friday I will once again be mounting a Rocket but I don't know If I can shake the thought of a tranny issue getting me killed.

Wish me luck!

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Manic_Mechanic said:

April 13th. Going out for a ride with my son following on his cafe racer Ducati. Just over a mile from the house I crashed on a mild curve. Broken ribs, clavacle, scapula, and a concussion which put me into an unconscious state. No memory of what happened. Son said he saw my rear tire skid out to the right but I recovered it. Skid out to the left and once again I recovered. One more time only this time it launched me into the air and the rocket went off the road in the other direction and into a fence. I came down on my left side and was not breathing. My son tried to pry my mouth open but my jaw was locked shut. After not having any air my jaw finally relaxed enough that he could get my mouth open. Still not breathing, he pulled my tongue forward and gave me mouth to mouth. Ambulance ride to trauma unit and two more days in the hospital.

On mothers day I rolled the rocket out of the garage and cleaned it up. Removed most of the damaged parts, changed the oil and fired her up. Ran her around the yard in first gear and it seemed good to go. Well I strap on a helmet and take her very cautiously on some back roads. A few miles into it I am feeling confident enough to go on some main roads. Still it seems fine. I get to an open stretch with no traffic and wind her up to 85 or so in third gear and grinning ear to ear. I am noticing that I am having a hard time getting into fifth now and have to downshift twice and then back up through the gears and fifth is ok. Now I am thinking that there is an issue so I take it cautiously again. I get into a small town and approaching a nasty railroad crossing. I start downshifting and all of a sudden (I have no idea which gear I was in) there is a LOUD CLUNK in the engine and the rear tire locks up. The bike skids out to the right and I recover it. She skids out to the left and I recover again. Starting to sound familiar? One more time she starts to skid out but fortunately I am slow enough that I can get her off the road without dumping.

So now there is a fifteen foot skid mark on Main Street and a smaller one in my underwear. At least now I know what happened in the first place but no way in hell would I ever feel safe on her ever again even after the issue was repaired. Found an 09 for sale just 15 minutes from me and put money down to hold it til insurance check arrives which it did this week. Friday I will once again be mounting a Rocket but I don't know If I can shake the thought of a tranny issue getting me killed.

Wish me luck!

Click to expand...