Yep. It finally happened to me. I've come close before, even went down on one knee with my super duke. But this time on the 14. Bam!
I had just put new tires on and refitted the wheels etc. pumped front brakes to be sure of pad contact. I put my gear on then started the bike, straddled her and pushed my way backwards out of the garage. My driveway is very steep and so I'm used to keeping a finger on the brake lever. Well as I passed the point of no return and squeezed the lever....nothing. Lever all the way to the bar. I pumped like mad, but nothing. Hammered the rear brake & it helped a little but not enough. I had to jump clear before the bike took me into the street screaming like the noob I felt I was.
End result is a cracked a scratched left lower, scratched frame slider and mirror tip. Honestly not as bad as I had feared. To add to my misery about 10 of my neighbors were outside watching my fail. However they did come over and help me get the girl back upright.

Ugh!

* Last updated by: GPfan on 2/8/2015 @ 8:53 AM *

F%$#!Glad it wasn't too bad...geez.

Sorry to hear. Better there than coming to a busy intersection.

Have you diagnosed what happened to the brakes?

My thoughts on possibilities...
if you compress the calipers (c-clamp method for example) forces fluid back into the reservoir. As long as you didn't have to open the reservoir and drain off fluid it shouldn't have made any difference once you pumped them back down, fluid was just moved around in the system. If you bled fluid off (at the caliper, or reservoir) to compress them, and didn't refill the reservoir as you pumped them up I could see that causing issues. Or maybe you just did a brake fluid change and there was air in the system or something.

At any rate damage isn't bad, maybe a couple hundred if you can find used parts to put on. No biggie, a few weeks it'll be a distant memory.

"I had just put new tires on and refitted the wheels"...."Hammered the rear brake & it helped a little but not enough".

It should have stopped the bike(locked up the rear wheel).Decline or no.Your bike has ABS?

You pumped the front and it locked,yes?Then you tried to use it on the decline...it failed,yes?The rear didn't stop the bike.You hammered it.How far did the pedal go when you applied it?

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/8/2015 @ 10:31 AM *

ABS doesn't operate at speeds below 6kph (~4 mph) (at least per the '13 owner's manual).

I assume he's got a Gen 1 cause where this is posted.

Check those brakes. If you are sure you had pressure after installing the wheels, they should have stopped you. Come to think of it, removing wheels shouldn't reduce brake pressure. Do you have some stuck brake pistons, maybe?

I'm really sorry to hear this, GP. I know how bad this sucks. It has happened to me on the 14. Forgot to put the sidestand down. I had the same damage. It was all repaired by hand. Sounds like you might need more than a few spots of clear coat since you must have been moving at a decent clip (how fast can most of us go in reverse, I wonder?).

This sounds like a real freak incident. It's not something I would expect so don't feel bad. Cosmetic damage, call in a claim. get on and ride again right away.

* Last updated by: Rook on 2/8/2015 @ 11:10 AM *

"ABS doesn't operate at speeds below 6kph (~4 mph) (at least per the '13 owner's manual)"...exactly.If he has a Gen 2.

"Come to think of it, removing wheels shouldn't reduce brake pressure".KEEERECT!Long as the bleed valves haven't been opened,all pressure should be the same.EXCEPT...when removing the rear caliper for the wheel install...I've found a couple of times that the rear pedal needed to be pumped after installing the rear wheel(caliper).The front?I never noticed any problem.But then,whenever I remove calipers,and reinstall..I do what GP did...I pump em just to make sure they're working ok.Never had one 'stop working' after doing that.That IS strange.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/8/2015 @ 11:19 AM *

If you bent a rotor, it would push a piston in causing excessive brake pump to push it back out. But you would really have to bend it good.

I'd guess that will be the last time that happens at least.

It's a 2007 model year.Rook may be onto something with the idea of stuck pistons.May have NEVER been cleaned inside there?

Mate, so sorry to hear this.
Not that it helps but you are not alone as pretty much all of us have done it.

After about 7 years since my last one, I nearly did it again about 3 weeks ago.
Was pulling into a mates place on uneven ground, wasn't concentrating, and over she started to go.
Touch and go but just caught her with all my strength.
Taught me yet another lesson.

Easy for me to say but accept, learn, fix and ride on.

* Last updated by: yannih on 2/8/2015 @ 11:45 AM *

It's the 'doing it in front of the neighbors' that really kills;)

Thanks everyone. I stayed away from the bleed nipples during removal & install. I also went to the trouble of placing a sock on the brake lever while the wheels were off to remind me to not touch the lever.
Sorry for not reporting what gen/year.its an 07SE.
Grn hit the nail on the head lol. Why did the neighbors have to out right then!!
Bike bandit has the lower available for $132. That's better than used on eBay so I think I'm going that route. I have a friend coming over this evening and we are going to bleed the brakes again, this time from calipers up.

Good idea and obviously make sure the pads grab when you apply the brakes.

My neighbor just walked into his garage a few seconds before I dropped mine. I was thankful for that. Damn it was about the 4th day I rode the thing. I was in shock for about a week.

Yeah, I think it's best to stay away from fairings on Ebay. They're likely to be damaged more than the one you have.

"ABS doesn't operate at speeds below 6kph (~4 mph) (at least per the '13 owner's manual)"...exactly.If he has a Gen 2.

You commented or questioned something about it having ABS?

It should have stopped the bike(locked up the rear wheel).Decline or no.Your bike has ABS?

If it has ABS it's a Gen 2. If it has ABS, ABS wouldn't have been a factor at those speeds. You're such a stupid asshole. Can't even remember one post to the next what you've said.

Something pushed the pistons back into their bores after the lever pump check post front wheel fitment.

He probably pushed them out to put the wheels back on. If he pumped the brake, that should have pushed them back out. If he felt pressure, that should have pushed the pistons back out. It seems unusual that he needed to pump the break to build pressure. The pressure should have been there even if he did push the pistons in to reinstall the wheels. It doesn't matter how far the pistons are pushed in, if you have brake pressure that should push them out immediately no matter where the rotors are ....unless the pistons fell out somehow? Something fishy is going on here.

If it has ABS it's a Gen 2. If it has ABS, ABS wouldn't have been a factor at those speeds.

Ok, here is what we found. We re bled the system again, with no bubbles to speak of. Vibrating the lines and tapping the calipers as we went. A firm consistent lever continued. Then I put the front fork stand on and rotated the the wheel and no a soft lever was the result. Pumped it a couple of times and a firm lever was the result.
So we checked the rotors and both a warped. So I remembered my test ride on the bike. Back in November I picked up the bike used with 7K on the odo from a guy who had the bike on craiglist for months. The test ride revealed a vibration at the front under braking and a annoying click while braking over bumps. The clock I fixed by adjusting stearing bearing slack. The vibration I put down to a bike that had been sitting for a long time and had corrosion on the disk. I cleaned the rotors then went out and did some long progressive stops from speed and some hard braking from high speed. This fixed the vibration.
So tonight we coaxed the disks back to a more "true" state, then I went and rode a couple of miles making ever increasing harder stops. This seems to have done the trick.
Are the rotors an issue on these bikes?

they have been known to be a problem. At least i used to hear about rotor warpage happening. i haven't heard many comments about that in the last several years. yours is an 07 though do could be the older rotors were inferior.

Thanks Rook et al. I appreciate all the help from everyone, it helps to have so much experience in one place when theses things happen.

Sorry for your misfortune! Glad you were able to make repairs without too much cost and sort the issues.

Warped rotors.Hmmm...When you replaced the front wheel...did you remove the calipers as well?

Hag said.."Something pushed the pistons back into their bores after the lever pump check post front wheel fitment"..even so...if the pistons were working correctly,they would have stayed 'out' of the bores.Not retract back in..they ALWAYS try to close against the disc...to a point..GP said he pumped the lever and they were fine until.....This is quite the mystery.Even a warped rotor wouldn't push the pistons away from the disc as they apparently were.BOTH sets of calipers?I'm goin with stuck pistons here like Rook suggested.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/8/2015 @ 8:10 PM *

"Then I put the front fork stand on and rotated the the wheel and no a soft lever was the result. Pumped it a couple of times and a firm lever was the result"...like before.

However...whatever was causing those pistons to stick most likely got freed by having to manually spread em to go over the discs...twice now..You would do well(if you didn't)to get some brake cleaner and spray some in there around those pistons.This episode could quite possibly happen again if they aren't cleaned up?????Even though they worked on your test runs. Spray em good,or remove caliper completely and inspect.You COULD also have some failing rubber parts happening in the caliper(s).It's an 07...that's quite a while...sitting.

Vic said.."If it has ABS it's a Gen 2. If it has ABS, ABS wouldn't have been a factor at those speeds. You're such a stupid asshole. Can't even remember one post to the next what you've said"....Someone else said.."Strain at a knat,and swallow a camel".Figure out what THAT means first.Before you throw stones at someone else.

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 2/8/2015 @ 8:26 PM *

Geez GPfan, the very LEAST you could have done was to get the crash on a Go Pro so we could all join your neighbors in the laugh. I mean it's only fair!
Glad to hear it wasn't worse.

Mad

LOL MAD i am selfish like that.