New member Introduction

[XGTR1400]

Hello all , Took delivery of my  Carbon Black Metallic on the 15 th December ( See pic ) . On the 1 st of May this year while on a 5 day tour with our club I had the unfortunate experience of hitting a Warthog at about 140 kph on my 2010 Kawasaki GTR 1400. It was like hitting a solid concrete block, I was thrown over the bars , suffered a couple of broken ribs , displaced collar bone , punctured lung and bad roasties on knees. Fortunately was wearing an airbag jacket otherwise I believe the injuries would have been a lot worse .[size=2px]Spent 6 days in hospital with a [/size]drain[size=2px] to drain the fluid and once [/size]that[size=2px] was [/size]done,[size=2px] was released. [/size] Bike was written off with broken forks , front headlights assembly , fairings and panniers all damaged. Warthog was cut in two.
Took a while to decide that I wanted to ride again and once having made the decision , looked around at various options. Wanted something lighter than the 300 Kg of the GTR as it was a bit of a handful manhandling in parking areas as well as getting out of the garage . The only real option as a tourer with a shaft , good screen and comfortable seat was the RT albeit not as light as I would like. Looked at the RS but screen , seat and panniers as an extra would not have been viable . Was given a good deal on the RT where they included an Akropovic as a sweetener and I'm telling myself that the extra noise will deter any future warthog encounters , maybe wishful thinking but sounds great without the insert.
Busy running it in at the moment and have done about 250 km. Initial impressions are that the windscreen is much better , had to add a lip to the GTR to keep my pillions head form being badly buffeted , seat is more comfortable and much more responsive in the corners . Do miss the extra get and go, though


The farkling has however already started.


1. Used the Radio control panel and mounted 3 momentary waterproof switches to open and close the electric gate as well as switch the alarm on and off. See pic Panel outside view. Used a standard remote and just picked the points on the board which activated each function and soldered wires to these . These were soldered to the switches.
2. Already had a Tomtom Urban Rider and the BMW navigator was pretty steep and didn't have the functionality as available on the GS , so decided I would stay with the Rider. On the GTR it was mounted on a Ram ball attached to the clutch lever with a short extension allowing some adjusting. I was able to find the same RAM  fitting that fitted the BMW but had to buy 2 off 45 mm long M8 bolts as those supplied by Ram were too long.See 2 pics below.


I was a member of the GTR 1400 US and UK forums and found them to be an invaluable source of information , advice and humour.
Having browsed this forum , the layout is very similar and it looks like the same kind of information is provided so really looking forward to learning more about the RT

[Nemesis]

Welcome from a fellow newbie, looks great. Are you in UK or US? you can amend your profile to show location and avoid confusion when advice is offered (judging by sunny weather in photo, you're not in UK lol). Enjoy your new bike.

[Casbar]

He hit a Warthog, haven't seen many of those in the UK. Unless he shipped his bike and was touring.  8)

[Paggers]

Again, welcome. Nice looking bike there.

[guest2360]

He hit a Warthog, haven't seen many of those in the UK. Unless he shipped his bike and was touring.  8)



The word farkling gives it away as does the what's been farkled.

[Nemesis]

Some members on here seem to have a hostile attitude. Think I'll not use the forum again. Pity.

[Maz12]

Hope the warthog was ok.

[Levisp]

Some members on here seem to have a hostile attitude. Think I'll not use the forum again. Pity.

You are joking. This is one of the best forums I have seen for friendly banter and helpful advice. Notice I used the word banter, don't think anything that was said on this post could be called hostile.

[paulh]

You are joking. This is one of the best forums I have seen for friendly banter and helpful advice. Notice I used the word banter, don't think anything that was said on this post could be called hostile.

+1  8)

[guest2360]

Warthog not OK. EGTR1440 said it was in two bits. Can they be recycled as bacon I wonder.

[Casbar]

If anyone thinks this forum is hostile, you ought to try UKGSER forum, you will get eaten alive. This forum is pretty friendly and there is some banter. But I assume we are all grown ups and not wilting flowers 

[Steve F]

You are joking. This is one of the best forums I have seen for friendly banter and helpful advice. Notice I used the word banter, don't think anything that was said on this post could be called hostile.

+1

[Sullivj]

Nice neat job on the switches. Welcome to the forum.

[XGTR1400]

Many thanks for the words of welcome. Didn't intend it to be a " Guess the country" as thought it would pull through from the initial application. I am however in South Africa in an town adjoining Johannesburg.
I think the warthog was recycled as the farmer that assisted with the bike recovery took it . Would post a pic of it but it's a bit gruesome

[guest2360]

There you go, you learn something every day. You can farkle in SA as well as the USA.