Hi all -
As the weather was good I went for a ride out yesterday on the 1400. A zip over to Box Hill cafe, a regular hot spot for bikes in the UK, where I met up with some fellow 1400 owners for a chat. Then it was off for a blast down to Brighton sea front, for tea and coffee - very British!
Madeira Drive is where we'll be on Sep 8th for the Speed Trials and was packed, as were all roads to it, but bikes make easy passage through traffic, so we made good time and again, parking was a doddle..
I once said that riding through the Dartford Tunnel sounded great, but have now heard something better...... a pack of 1400s being gunned off a roundabout onto dual carriage ways - all legal of course.... an intoxicating sound indeed!...
Anyway, getting back to the thread title, one of our group had a slight problem on the way home... In fact it was a very BIG problem, he first noticed a problem at speed in the outside lane of the motorway when his clocks stopped working, no speedo, tacho etc - hmmm he thinks, motor's still pulling like a train so I better check the instruments when I get home...
Then, he notices smoke in his mirrors and lots of it, something was on fire behind him in his 'blind-spot', hang on a minute, it was him!!
He instantly pulled across three lanes to the side, almost managing a 'stoppie' in the process and jumps off the bike leaving it on it's side stand.
He managed to get the seat off, as the foam was well alight, but the rear bodywork / undertray is well alight too.
5 seconds later the fuel rail and injector burst in a flash of flame...
30 seconds later the fuel tank blew-up knocking the bike over....
The fire-service reckon an electrical short under the seat kicked things off.
A very lucky escape for him and his forum screen-name? - Lucky13 - NOT!!
Still - he was not hurt, despite his jacket back having caught fire too and he is already trawling the adverts for a replacement..
A couple of 'Before' piccies, then the unfortunate mobile phone shots..
