P500 Walker Evans or Elka Stage 3

[educ8tedguess]

Pics or it didn’t happen

Not proud of it but I will take every opportunity that I can to use it as a PSA so others don't have the same experience.

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[Admin]

 

[Chooglin]

Not proud of it but I will take every opportunity that I can to use it as a PSA so others don't have the same experience. View attachment 101484

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Ouch!

 

[Fatsquatch]

Not proud of it but I will take every opportunity that I can to use it as a PSA so others don't have the same experience. View attachment 101484

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

Ouch! Definitely not the way one wishes to customize their SxS.

 

[jak9922]

Not proud of it but I will take every opportunity that I can to use it as a PSA so others don't have the same experience. View attachment 101484

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oh holy s***!!! hope everyone is ok after that

 

[Eltobgi]

Thank you! Hope everyone is ok! Looks pretty banged up is it salvageable

 

[JCart]

Geeez... hope everyone is ok. Hopefully all you have to replace is the ROPS bars, looks like they did the job though. Man that looks like it would have been an exciting few moments, holy. Thanks for sharing, not an easy thing to do and a good heads up for all of us.
j

 

[educ8tedguess]

Thank you! Hope everyone is ok! Looks pretty banged up is it salvageable

I was the only one in it (thank goodness) and I was okay. I probably could have used a couple of stitches on my forehead and I did have a minor concussion. But, everything considered, I was lucky.
Unfortunately, the p500 was totaled. Initially, I thought that I could replace the bent ROPS sections but once I got the plastics off and took a closer look, the frame was bent as was just about every piece that connects to the ROPS. When I let the insurance company know that, they met me at my local dealer and we started going through everything there. After taking a damage inventory and pricing it out, repairs were more than it was worth. I was sad to see it go.

My key take-away's from this incident:

• Honda ROPS system is very robust and is tied into much of the machine. Very good protection. (The cut on my head was from the visor snapping off my helmet and hitting my face, not from an issue with the Honda)
• The 500 is set up the way it is for a reason. From the factory it's pretty safe. But if you go taller (lift, tires, etc) you need to go wider. Not a Honda thing; it's a physics thing.
• The suspension options may ride better but they don't add much (if any) travel. Better ride leads to moving quicker over the rough stuff. But just because you don't feel the rough stuff doesn't mean it isn't as big as before. You are using more travel but not feeling it. Unfortunately, when you run out of travel, no matter what shocks you have, the result can be the same.
  • Here is what happened to me: I had just put the skid plates and shocks on about 5 days before my trip to the UP of Michigan. Prior to that, I had taken the P500 through rough stuff but had to go slow in order to keep my teeth and functioning kidneys. Once I got up there, I realized the machine had a new identity. It was suddenly more capable, confidence inspiring, and fun. And it really did soak up the bumps very well.
  • Prior to riding with the new shocks, I tied a strip of rubber around each shock shaft to measure the amount of travel I was utilizing. (Same concept as the O ring on a mountain bike shock. As travel is utilized, it slides the rubber piece to the point of greatest compression)
• On the trail, I was moving at a whopping 17 mph and coming into a right hand curve. I took the curve tight and hit a decent sized rock with the inside front tire and a rut with the outside front tire. This was enough to tip the machine and before it hit the ground, I had slammed the drivers side of the ROPS into a tree.
  • After getting it back to camp and shaking some of the cobwebs out, I started to try to figure out what happened. I looked at the shocks and saw that the right front shock had been fully compressed and all the others were nowhere close.
  • My assumption is, I bottomed the shock out when I hit the rock and because I ran out of travel, it just pushed it over like nothing.
  • My overall conclusion was that I had gone past the limitations of the machine. It isn't a long travel woods ripper. And although that isn't how I typically ride, the smoothness of the ride made it feel as if the machine was more capable than it was.
• I take full responsibility because I did a few things wrong.
  • I didn't widen the stance when I went to taller tires. I never rode it with stock tires so I never new what it was supposed to feel like.
  • The 26 inch tires I put on were very stiff for that light of a machine. So not only was it taller, it was less flexible/forgiving.
  • I allowed the suspension to inflate my abilities and the abilities of the machine instead of just enjoying the better ride at my typical, leisurely pace.

Well that ended up being a lot longer than I had anticipated. But, I hope it helps someone avoid the same mistakes I made.

*** Speed measurement was taken with a handheld GPS. I found the spot on the where I tipped and then looked at my "Tracks" on the GPS with speed readings. I like to look at my ride data so I typically have all my nerdy gadgets with me.

 

[Eltobgi]

I was the only one in it (thank goodness) and I was okay. I probably could have used a couple of stitches on my forehead and I did have a minor concussion. But, everything considered, I was lucky.
Unfortunately, the p500 was totaled. Initially, I thought that I could replace the bent ROPS sections but once I got the plastics off and took a closer look, the frame was bent as was just about every piece that connects to the ROPS. When I let the insurance company know that, they met me at my local dealer and we started going through everything there. After taking a damage inventory and pricing it out, repairs were more than it was worth. I was sad to see it go.

My key take-away's from this incident:

• Honda ROPS system is very robust and is tied into much of the machine. Very good protection. (The cut on my head was from the visor snapping off my helmet and hitting my face, not from an issue with the Honda)
• The 500 is set up the way it is for a reason. From the factory it's pretty safe. But if you go taller (lift, tires, etc) you need to go wider. Not a Honda thing; it's a physics thing.
• The suspension options may ride better but they don't add much (if any) travel. Better ride leads to moving quicker over the rough stuff. But just because you don't feel the rough stuff doesn't mean it isn't as big as before. You are using more travel but not feeling it. Unfortunately, when you run out of travel, no matter what shocks you have, the result can be the same.
  • Here is what happened to me: I had just put the skid plates and shocks on about 5 days before my trip to the UP of Michigan. Prior to that, I had taken the P500 through rough stuff but had to go slow in order to keep my teeth and functioning kidneys. Once I got up there, I realized the machine had a new identity. It was suddenly more capable, confidence inspiring, and fun. And it really did soak up the bumps very well.
  • Prior to riding with the new shocks, I tied a strip of rubber around each shock shaft to measure the amount of travel I was utilizing. (Same concept as the O ring on a mountain bike shock. As travel is utilized, it slides the rubber piece to the point of greatest compression)
• On the trail, I was moving at a whopping 17 mph and coming into a right hand curve. I took the curve tight and hit a decent sized rock with the inside front tire and a rut with the outside front tire. This was enough to tip the machine and before it hit the ground, I had slammed the drivers side of the ROPS into a tree.
  • After getting it back to camp and shaking some of the cobwebs out, I started to try to figure out what happened. I looked at the shocks and saw that the right front shock had been fully compressed and all the others were nowhere close.
  • My assumption is, I bottomed the shock out when I hit the rock and because I ran out of travel, it just pushed it over like nothing.
  • My overall conclusion was that I had gone past the limitations of the machine. It isn't a long travel woods ripper. And although that isn't how I typically ride, the smoothness of the ride made it feel as if the machine was more capable than it was.
• I take full responsibility because I did a few things wrong.
  • I didn't widen the stance when I went to taller tires. I never rode it with stock tires so I never new what it was supposed to feel like.
  • The 26 inch tires I put on were very stiff for that light of a machine. So not only was it taller, it was less flexible/forgiving.
  • I allowed the suspension to inflate my abilities and the abilities of the machine instead of just enjoying the better ride at my typical, leisurely pace.

Well that ended up being a lot longer than I had anticipated. But, I hope it helps someone avoid the same mistakes I made.

*** Speed measurement was taken with a handheld GPS. I found the spot on the where I tipped and then looked at my "Tracks" on the GPS with speed readings. I like to look at my ride data so I typically have all my nerdy gadgets with me.

Did you remove or unbolt the rear sway bar

 

[educ8tedguess]

Did you remove or unbolt the rear sway bar

Nope. Wanted to get a baseline with the shocks before making that decision.

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[jak9922]

sad its totaled but glad you are ok

 

[tomcj2]

Did you drive it back to camp?

 

[Duckhunt]

Thank you for sharing your experience but most importantly glad you're okay. Never want to see that.

 

[Wallace]

Glad you had a helmet on

 

[trigger]

But if you go taller (lift, tires, etc) you need to go wider.

You told us about this a while ago but many must have missed it. Glad you are telling the story again for more to see...hell, glad you're able to. I've been preaching about widening the stance when you lift it since I got mine and occasionally someone will tell me I'm full of crap and it does just fine with taller tires on stock wheels and no spacers. Sorry you found out the hard way and I hope others will take note.
Again, glad you're okay Ed!

 

[Chooglin]

More importantly, stay within the limits of the machine !!! This could have been real ugly.

 

[educ8tedguess]

Did you drive it back to camp?

Yes I did. It got me back to camp.

 

[jak9922]

More importantly, stay within the limits of the machine !!! This could have been real ugly.

have to push the limits to find them sometimes

 

[educ8tedguess]

You told us about this a while ago but many must have missed it. Glad you are telling the story again for more to see...hell, glad you're able to. I've been preaching about widening the stance when you lift it since I got mine and occasionally someone will tell me I'm full of crap and it does just fine with taller tires on stock wheels and no spacers. Sorry you found out the hard way and I hope others will take note.
Again, glad you're okay Ed!

Yep, and I will continue to post it as needed just to make sure others don't make the same mistakes. I have had several atv's and SxS's and have never had an experience like that. Even with experience, there is always something you don't know or something that goes overlooked.

More importantly, stay within the limits of the machine !!! This could have been real ugly.

That's 100% spot on. And what I learned is that add on accessories don't necessarily raise the limits. Sure, there are several upgrades that make a machine better for an intended purpose but every machine has it's limit. Wider machines are more forgiving. The powerful machines from Polaris and Can -am have limits but they are not seen as much by the average rider due to width and setup.

The p500 is an awesome trail machine. But at 50 inches wide, the margin of error is much less than the 60+ inch cousins. Greater attention to details is important when building it up.

 

[Chooglin]

have to push the limits to find them sometimes

I am not one to intentionally push a machine to find its limits , I can feel it in the seat of my pants we all have a built in limit switch , when it puckers , you have reached the limit !!!

 

[Duckhunt]

Not to steer this in a different direction but what is the front and rear widths from outside to outside tire with stock wheels/tires? I've read many things here and seems they are actually less than 50" and correct me if I'm wrong the rear is narrower than front? Mine came with different wheels and I'm at 50" front and rear but I always thought that was standard. Maybe it is???