dave the german wrote:The FT 500 - I VERY nearly bought one of those - thought it looked fantastic!! there was a poster from Bike magazine of one on it's back wheel. The rider had a black bell lid, tight fitting jeans and a pair of Converse - looked so like me (obviously not as good looking with the lid off!!)
I had one in SA ......
Damn nearly killed me ...
Riding it in the old days in Super Single race class , basically the fore runner of Super Motard , it was a class for up to 250cc two strokes & up to 500cc four strokes .
Any way , I got a tank slapper while accelerating out of a bumpy corner, followed by an almighty crash ...
The pinch bolt side of the fork leg fractured & turned the wheel 90 degrees , resulting in an almost immediately over the bars ....
I had 14 broken bones, punctured lung & lots of roasties where leathers wore through ... rough tarmac ....
Yes , the lower fork leg was bored slightly off centre , with the thinnest wall thickness where the pinch bolt clamp was on the leg ....
Strangley 2 years later I was involved in another big crash , as a result of another fork failure on another FT 500 .
I was racing a 250 RM modified for the race track , a bunch of us were scratching for the lead on the last lap & Clive's fork snapped at the end of the main straight, all of us went down in the crash , oil , bit of bikes & men .... I managed to pick up my bike jump started it & tore off still in the lead .....
At the next bend I realised I only had an inch of front brake lever ....
While going very wide around the last bend I was over taken by my regular battle partner , Bruce who won , I was 2nd ...
Fortunately of the 6 crashers , only a couple of colar bones were broken ...
It was a fast crash though , well over 180 km/hr !!!
Yes , I will never ever ride a bike with that type of fork leg / wheel spindle clamp idea ever again .
6 days in intensive care & 11 days in high care, 6 weeks off work ....
I have a right shoulder 2 inches lower , from the way the 10 ribs healed .
But I survived to carry on racing for many years !!!
Old man ... now .
Ex Off Road & Enduro Rider...
