My bike continues to work, mostly, though I would really like to sell it and buy something more sane for the winter months.
Today I got bored, and having found a can of silver Simonez wheel spray in the shed, I did a bit of turd-polishing on the Xsara Picasso. It's made it look like a reasonable vehicle again, amazingly.
I need to replace the head-unit with a bluetooth one, that plays modern media, and to service and MOT it again. I'd also *love* to work out how to stop the wind noise from the corner of the sunroof over the passenger's head!
Michel's Motors
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
So, rode over 300 miles and around the Brecon beacons yesterday with my friend..
All going swimmingly until a misjudged overtake on her part resulted in this....
She was following 2 cars, one close behind the other. The front car slowed and indicated to turn right (he did, I was following her), but due to her inexperience she was a little to close, didn't see him indicate, dropped a couple of cogs and overtook..
Obviously seeing this, there wasn't a lot I could do other than yell "NOOOOOOOOO" from under my helmet. She hit the side of the black car hard enough to set off all it's side airbags. I heard the impact from under my helmet, with earplugs in , then she got knocked up the side road out of my sight.
I stopped quickly, killed my engine, dashed round the corner on foot expecting to find her badly injured (or worse). As I got there, she was running across the single track road to sit on the kerb, clearly in shock but essentially unharmed. Bruise on elbow, sprained ankle and twisted knee. Checked out in ambulance, breathalysed and checked by police and all documents swapped.
Bike is a write off. Frame and forks bent. We had a couple of hours wait for a recovery truck to bring her and her bike the 150 miles home.
All going swimmingly until a misjudged overtake on her part resulted in this....
She was following 2 cars, one close behind the other. The front car slowed and indicated to turn right (he did, I was following her), but due to her inexperience she was a little to close, didn't see him indicate, dropped a couple of cogs and overtook..
Obviously seeing this, there wasn't a lot I could do other than yell "NOOOOOOOOO" from under my helmet. She hit the side of the black car hard enough to set off all it's side airbags. I heard the impact from under my helmet, with earplugs in , then she got knocked up the side road out of my sight.
I stopped quickly, killed my engine, dashed round the corner on foot expecting to find her badly injured (or worse). As I got there, she was running across the single track road to sit on the kerb, clearly in shock but essentially unharmed. Bruise on elbow, sprained ankle and twisted knee. Checked out in ambulance, breathalysed and checked by police and all documents swapped.
Bike is a write off. Frame and forks bent. We had a couple of hours wait for a recovery truck to bring her and her bike the 150 miles home.
Last edited by myglaren on 07 Oct 2019, 11:14, edited 5 times in total.
Reason: Images corrected, dead ones removed.
Reason: Images corrected, dead ones removed.
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
Please could a moderator sort the pics out?
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
Thanks Steve!
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
Amazingly, apart from a few bruises from the impact and a twisted ankle, she's perfectly ok. I took her (almost against her will!) to the Minor injuries unit this morning where she had some x-rays and a good examination. They saw the crash pics and couldn't believe she walked away either!
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
How's her confidence ? Will she get back on a bike ? Car occupants only shaken but ok, I hope ?
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
She was wanting to come back with me on the back of my bike , until it was pointed out that her helmet was a bit damaged, she had to accompany her bike back, and she'd had about 5 pints of cider between the Police and ambulance leaving and recovery arriving.bobins wrote: 07 Oct 2019, 13:33 How's her confidence ? Will she get back on a bike ? Car occupants only shaken but ok, I hope ?
Car occupants surprised more than anything. Mostly by all their side airbags going off.
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
OUCH!, but that experience SHOULD make her a safer biker.
James
ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.2HDi VTX+
Yes, I am paranoid, but am I paranoid ENOUGH?
Out amongst the stars, looking for a world of my own!
ex BX 1.9
ex Xantia 2.0HDi SX
ex Xantia 2.0HDi LX
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.0HDi VTR
ex C5 2.2HDi VTX+
Yes, I am paranoid, but am I paranoid ENOUGH?
Out amongst the stars, looking for a world of my own!
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
Well, she's already looking for another bike, and taking the p**s out of me in her usual way despite some decent looking bruises to the knee and ankle, so I'd say lesson learnt and no real harm done.
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
Well, on the 16th of October I had ankle surgery. This meant 2 weeks and 3 days off the road, and not being allowed to walk or do anything much at all other than go quietly mad.
Operation seems to have improved things, I saw the consultant yesterday and he gave me the all clear to start riding my motorbike and driving the car again in small doses. Walking more than 100yds still hurts like hell - the wounds and healing rather than the joint the car is painful after about a mile - "avoiding twisting motion" - pretty much impossible to brake in the car without it
Riding the motorbike is painless, but as any arthritis sufferer will know, getting it cold is bloody horrible and i got that instead.
At least I got a chance to get it dirty again after spending two weeks cleaning it...
Operation seems to have improved things, I saw the consultant yesterday and he gave me the all clear to start riding my motorbike and driving the car again in small doses. Walking more than 100yds still hurts like hell - the wounds and healing rather than the joint the car is painful after about a mile - "avoiding twisting motion" - pretty much impossible to brake in the car without it
At least I got a chance to get it dirty again after spending two weeks cleaning it...
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
And yes, my new neighbour is a young hippy sort who drives a 1989 Nissan Micra. If any of you are on Autoshite, it's been on there recently, and not put there by me!
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
My next door neighbour has an older Nissan Micra, she's 90 and drives it like a boy racer. 

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. (Albert Einstein)
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
Is it as nice as this one?Gibbo2286 wrote: 04 Nov 2019, 10:21 My next door neighbour has an older Nissan Micra, she's 90 and drives it like a boy racer.![]()
It's even an auto! It still works. Obviously built in the days before the French infiltrated Nissan..
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Re: French car fatigue and a Japanese crotch rocket.
Still got a Skoda, though going to look at a 2014 C3 Picasso to replace it tomorrow.
Also replaced the ZZR-1100 with a Yamaha MT09 earlier today, a mention to James Hellrazor for giving me a lift over to Watford to collect it from the dealer..
Here's the cheesy pic that the dealer took to put on their website earlier when I collected it..
Also replaced the ZZR-1100 with a Yamaha MT09 earlier today, a mention to James Hellrazor for giving me a lift over to Watford to collect it from the dealer..
Here's the cheesy pic that the dealer took to put on their website earlier when I collected it..