The time I wrecked my Suzuki

The picture from the Craigslist ad before I bought the bike in 2013.

There was a time I owned a 2002 Suzuki Bandit 1200s. I bought it in 2013 with around 5k miles on the clock from a guy in Minnesota. One day, I saw a puddle of gas under the bike when leaving work and decided to rebuild the carbs. I must have done a terrible job because I couldn’t get it to idle after that. Off to a local shop it went. It died during the post-work test ride causing me to lose my footing in gravel and dropping it. That shop replaced the turn signal that had broken off at no charge.

After throwing money at it and it still not running right, I took it back and it sat until I decided to another shop. I contacted Hornung Cycle and Power Sports in Hubbard, Iowa from a Craigslist ad and told them to take it back to factory spec. They came to my house, picked up the bike and, about a month later, it ran great. I don’t think they’re in business anymore. Too bad.

Should I have dumped more than $1k into a bike that I barely paid $4k for? Likely not my best financial decision but the bike worked again…until I crashed it.

I downsized quite a bit in preparation for moving to California. The Suzuki didn’t sell and traveled West with me in the back of a 26ft Penske rental truck. It mostly sat in the garage for a few months until Iowa tags were about to expire and had to go to the DMV and get it all legal.

A few days after I had California plates, I had a shop spoon on new tires and decided to take the bike on some twisty local Southern California roads. You’d think the new tires would be the cause of the crash but the cause was a lot dumber.

I hadn’t been riding much and my stamina wasn’t what I thought it used to be. San Francisquito Canyon Road isn’t the most twisty road out there but it must have been enough to wear me out. I briefly locked up the front tire braking before a corner and remember being quite proud of myself that I didn’t crash. I was down literally two corners later.

The accident was nearly 6 years ago but I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was approaching a 25mph left hand turn and wasn’t entering at excessive speed but I had hit my mental limit. I made a split second decision to go straight into the shoulder instead of following the curve.

The shoulder was dirt. I was braking so as to not fly off the cliff when the rubber left pavement. Traction is a hell of a thing especially when you don’t have any. The Suzuki slipped out from under me. My 300lb self and much of the bike’s 543 pounds landed on my left knee. My unarmored jeans did little to protect me.

A woman pulled up and asked if I was ok, commenting that she crashes her bike all the time. I seemed fine at the time and told her I didn’t need medical assistance. My helmet was trashed from the dirt/gravel and I was pretty dirty. Otherwise, all was well.

Years before the crash. Beadrider seat cover and giant Givi case still intact. Not sure there’s a way to make a bike look less cool.

I picked the bike up and inspected the damage. Fairing was not completely broken but definitely pushed to the side. My ‘alien head’ Givi top box was rendered useless. The worst damage was the shifter was broken.

If you are new here, you probably don’t know I’m a weird guy. The best course of action was likely to call a tow truck. I decided to ride it home 20+ miles in first gear instead. Bystanders asked me at every stop sign and red light if I was ok. I must have been a sight, dusty, scuffed up, riding around in first gear with a jacked up fairing.

When I arrived home, I parked the bike in the garage and went in the house. I took off my jeans and realized I had grown what looked like a second knee on my left leg. I knocked on my stepdaughter’s bedroom door who happened to be a former Air Force medic and asked her if there was anything she could do. She was speechless except for telling me to go to the hospital. Of course, I didn’t do that.

It is probably a good time to point out that I was unemployed and didn’t have medical insurance when I crashed. I had resigned from my job in Iowa and moved to California to find new employment. Going to the hospital or seeing a doctor didn’t seem like something I wanted to pay for. Instead, I sat on the couch and turned on the TV. That was the last time for over a month that I was able to stand up without assistance.

I don’t know what the actual damage was to my knee but it was pretty serious. Mrs. Bald Rider bought me crutches and I ordered a knee brace. Even if I could make it to my car, I couldn’t drive because it was a manual and my left leg couldn’t operate the clutch pedal. For that month or so, I moved as little as possible.

Eventually, I got a job and insurance. After some time, I went to the doctor and had x-rays done. They found no damage and provided referrals for an MRI and physical therapy. Would you be surprised that I didn’t do either of those things?

Nowadays, my knee has its good and bad days. I can’t kneel down on hard surfaces at all without some sort of pad. I have that thing where I can tell the weather is changing if my knee starts to hurt randomly.

What happened to the Suzuki? I cancelled the insurance and registered it non-op with the state. It sat in the garage while I thought about whether I wanted to fix it, change it to a non-S (unfaired version) or do something else with it. Reality set in that I wasn’t going to do anything with it and, because we were moving, I posted it on Craigslist for $500. A guy drove all the way from Joshua Tree (3 hours away) to pick it up and I helped him load it into the back of his pickup.

It was the better part of a year before I had another bike. I should have gotten back to it right away because it took a significant amount of time to get my confidence back. Lesson learned.

I wish I still owned some of the bikes I’ve sold. The Suzuki isn’t one of them. It was a fine bike and very comfortable on long trips. It never felt special, though. That’s why I don’t have many pictures of it. I was bikeless and owning it allowed me to be on two wheels but I never formed a bond with it. I don’t think it was the wrong bike for me but I don’t miss it.