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I rode around for a while today, just taking it easy. It got a little chilly, so I stopped at Tim's for a cup of coffee. It's not home-roast, but it's warm. I needed to get a stubby phillips screwdriver, so on to Princess Auto. Unfortunately, there wasn't much in the way of individual screwdrivers, and none of the sets was about to fit under the seat on my bike. I started off toward home, took a left hander a little too quick, and lowsided. Fortunately there was no traffic around so I didn't get run over too, and I didn't slide into or over anything. A couple people were near enough to see it before I got the bike back upright, and they stopped to make sure I was ok.

I'm a big proponent of wearing a full set of gear every time I go out on the bike. Helmet, gloves, jacket, pants, and boots - all designed as protective gear for motorcycling. I tested out a Joe Rocket Meteor 5.0 jacket, Joe Rocket Ballistic 5.0 overpants, and a pair of Joe Rocket gloves (no idea what model) and they all did exactly what they were supposed to. To my surprise, the only bits that show any wear on the jacket and pants are where there was something in the pocket. The pocket of the jacket has a nice round wear hole from the tire pressure gauge, and the pants have a scuff on the pocket that had a cell phone in it. The gloves have a little scuffing on the palms. The helmet never touched down, and there wasn't any jarring so I can't say whether it would save my melon in a 30kph lowside or not. I don't have so much as a bruise. Three cheers for gear!

My bike wasn't so lucky. Nothing actually broke off, and it was perfectly ridable to get home - although the left front signal wasn't held on right. Once I got it home I took a closer survey. Moderate scuffing to both left signals and mirror, significant wear on the clutch lever and bar end, a scuff on the left side panel, significant wear on the generator cover, and breakage around the signal stalk on the left cowl. The frame slider (don't know what brand) took a lot of wear, but that's what it's supposed to do.

I've already attacked the left cowl with Plastex, to make the left signal stay in the correct spot. It's drying up now. Replacement factory parts will run about $700USD. Replacement jacket around $250USD. Replacing the frame sliders should run somewhere around $40USD. A grand to learn what a lowside is like, that gear really is worth it, and to take it easy.

Pictures may (or may not) follow.