Well, I've officially been given a "Biker" name.

While I was hoping to find a way to make my moniker of 'Kbar' stick as a nick name with my friends who ride, an unfortunate incident involving target fixation got me branded with a much different name...I guess I should consider myself lucky that they went against convention and 'let' me choose from three names of their design... 1. Mailbox, 2. Concrete, or 3. Road Rash...I went with Road Rash... and my buddies are getting me a vest with the name tape on it and everything.

So what happened was while practicing on my bike after finally getting my endorsement I lost control and throttle dumped into my neighbor's mailbox. Broke the orbital bone in my face, got my self a real nasty shiner, a halo of road rash around my head, road rash on my shoulders and left fore arm, and I tore up my right leg pretty good. Got my first concussion, lost consciousness, and pissed my self...the whole nine yards. Kicking myself in the nards for not wearing my bleeping brain bucket. "I'm not leaving the neighborhood." I said, "I'll be driving slow." I said. Well, I'm not listening to myself anymore.

3 ER visits and a case of cellulitis later, I'm finally on the mend and have since been able to get back to work. No permanent damage to me, thank God, and the bike isn't to worse for the wear either. Frigged up the clutch perch, bent the break pedal, banged up the headlight ring, lost my right front blinker, and put a scuff on the front fender. Clutch perch is already fixed, break is bent back to its original shape and working fine, headlight still works, The bike already needed a paint job, and I am not ready to leave the neighborhood yet, so blinker is currently a non issue. Also, I've got a light bar in my amazon cart that will replace the stock front blinkers anyway, so I'm not to bent out of shape about it the condition of the bike.

So yeah... Yesterday was the first time I got back on and did some light riding around the neighborhood. I still find it enjoyable, even though I am a tad apprehensive at this point. But I don't plan on leaving the neighborhood for a while.

That said, how many guys do yawl know that can say they ripped a mail box out of the ground, concrete anchor and all, with their face!

In any case, I didn't post any pics of the bike yet, so I'll do that now, since I was going to post pics of the damage anyway. For those that haven't seen my other posts, I purchased a Honda Shadow Ace VT750. It runs really well and has low miles, but cosmetics are a bit of a basket case and its going to take me a lot of work to get the bike looking good and cleaned up. The dealer was asking for $2200, I talked them down to $1600 Tax, Tag, and Title. I sat on 17 bikes the day I bought this, and this is the only one that 'spoke' to me, and I can do most of the work entirely on my own. I sat on it and just fell in love with it...not trying to be corny, but it is a disasterpiece to look at...and I couldn't care less.

Hold on, I'm having difficulty with the pics.

Sorry for the delay, lie got away from me. Pic issue figured out. These are all taken post-accident, but most of the stuff wrong with it was before. Here you go.

Dang, sorry ya went through all that. Now that you got a wreck done, ya don't need to do any more, OK?

I took my Suzuki DR650 out yesterday for a little bit. Was sub-freezing and snow flurries, but fun, though the pain from the cold did take a lot of fun out of it. I guess I should have worn the full-face helmet, oooops.

Thanks. No I do not plan on wrecking again, though I do recognize that it is a higher probability of happening.

That said I've officially taken it out of the neighborhood and even took it on the interstate. ...then I lost power to the rear wheel.

My buddy came over and we made some adjustments to the clutch and the chain and bike rides like a dream now! Better than when I first bought it!

I just bought a 127 db horn, lol. But I'm planning on taking back roads to Tampa. just as dangerous in their own ways...not well lit, single lane roads with lots of lights, intersections, and homes. but at least I'll be going 60 mph tops instead of 80.