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<title>DR650 fender bender</title>
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<h1 class="title">DR650 fender bender</h1>
<p class="date">2020-02-26</p>
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<p>Yesterday I had my first traffic accident on my motorcycle. After thinking about it, it was fully my fault.</p>
<h2 id="the-accident">The accident</h2>
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<a href="photos/path.png"><img src="photos/thumbnails/path.png" alt="The red line is a stop sign, the green line is the car pulling into a driveway, the blue line is me"></a>
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The red line is a stop sign, the green line is the car pulling into a driveway, the blue line is me
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<p>I knew there was a stop sign there, but I normally expect cars to turn right (which means they never cross my lane) or left (which means they're heading away from me, and if I have to I can swerve around the rear of their vehicle). In this case they went straight at the stop sign and headed for a driveway. So they kind of came towards me and then suddenly they were blocking the entire road and I t-boned them and went down. That makes it sound like it's their fault, but my skid mark is about 10 feet long so I'm sure I was speeding. Also my rear tire is quite bald, and my bike doesn't have ABS. So if I'm going to ride on a bike like that, I need to be more conscious of potential hazards in front of me.</p>
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<a href="photos/car_damage.jpg"><img src="photos/thumbnails/car_damage.jpg" alt="car_damage.jpg"></a>
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<a href="photos/bike_damage.jpg"><img src="photos/thumbnails/bike_damage.jpg" alt="bike_damage.jpg"></a>
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<p>I felt some bad bruising on my legs and my left ankle, but nothing terrible. Some cops showed up, and the driver and I agreed that a police report wasn't necessary. I told the driver that I would tell my insurance that I was at fault.</p>
<h2 id="repairing-the-damage">Repairing the damage</h2>
<p>My bike was initially flooded but after a minute it started up fine and I was able to ride it home with the forks bent (although the clutch was a bit too tight). I took the front tire off and found that the front axle was actually bent (wow).</p>
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<a href="photos/bike_damage_2.jpg"><img src="photos/thumbnails/bike_damage_2.jpg" alt="bike_damage_2.jpg"></a>
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<a href="photos/bent_axle.jpg"><img src="photos/thumbnails/bent_axle.jpg" alt="bent_axle.jpg"></a>
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<p>The right side fork tube was also bent, and as I took the fork tubes off I noticed that the lower fork bridge was bent as well. I measured my DR350 and found that the fork tubes should be compatible. Since the front brake rotor on the DR350 is smaller than the DR650 and has different mounting holes, I opted to use the entire front wheel of the DR350 as well as the fork tubes.</p>
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<a href="photos/bent_fork.jpg"><img src="photos/thumbnails/bent_fork.jpg" alt="bent_fork.jpg"></a>
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<a href="photos/two_bikes.jpg"><img src="photos/thumbnails/two_bikes.jpg" alt="two_bikes.jpg"></a>
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<p>I had to pry the fork crowns into position to get the fork tubes to slide in, but in the end I managed to assemble everything together. I had a bit of trouble bleeding the brake line because the DR350's caliper bleeder outlet is sort of recessed and not easy to access with a crescent wrench.</p>
<p>I took it for a ride and the front end is still crooked. So I bought a replacement lower fork bridge and front axle from eBay and I'll swap them in when they arrive. If everything looks good at that point then I'll</p>
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