Kawasaki Concours Forum
The C-14, aka Kawasaki Concours-14, the new one :) => Accessories and modifications - C14/GTR 1400 => Topic started by: danl on July 19, 2012, 10:53:34 AM
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Had a bad day yesterday. On the final leg of our 2400 mile trip, cruising on Rt 218E outside of Fredericksburg, VA, around 11am. I'm leading, my wife behind me on her Vulcan. I check my mirror and notice she isn't there. Not unusual on twisty roads. I pull over and wait. She doesn't show. So I turn around, figuring she had her highway peg come loose again or something like that. I'm going and going, no sign of her. Finally I come around a curve and she's standing there on the side of the road, on the phone. I attempt to make a U turn on a road that is banked and going uphill, and drop the bike. The Canyon Cages worked perfectly, no damage at all to the bike. Picked it up, got it off the road. If that was the worst part of my day, it would have been good.
The rest of this is off topic for accessories, more of a rider down thing, but this is what had happened...
I say "where's your bike?" She says "down there, I crashed". I ran over to her, she's all banged up. Split lip, bumps and scrapes all over her. She later told me she had gone around the curve and started scraping her floorboards, but not just the momentary scrape, it was long and sustained, and she panicked because she knew she was going to go too wide and hit the guardrail. So she decided rather than hit the guardrail, she was going to go off the road where someone else had already removed the guardrail in a prior accident. She went off the road, hit a couple orange barrels, got airborne, and landed in the ravine, the bike low sided, and she slid about 30' into the brush. Stayed with the bike the whole time, when it came to rest she was still holding onto the bars.
The ambulance came and took her to the ER, and I stayed and dealt with the police and the wrecker guy. It took us about a half hour to get the bike out of there in 100+ head.
Her bike is probably totalled, the left side is pretty torn up. Crash bar and floorboards are bent up into the shifter, all kinds of mangled parts. It's a shame because it was a nice bike and she finally had it customized the way she liked it.
They ran all kinds of tests on her, x-rayed and cat scanned everything. She has some ugly bruises, a huge one on her thigh and her arms and neck look like she got into a fight. Her left shoulder is really sore (along with everything else, but that is probably the worst part), She insists on wearing the piece of crap half helmet,so she has a nice knot under her eye and scratches all over her face from the brush. Some big bruises on her neck from the helmet strap and a cooling gel thing she had on. Not a single broken bone. One of her CAT's came back weird, so they wanted to transfer her to another trauma center, which was around 1am. I went back to a hotel room I had and the plan was for me to deal with the wrecker today and release the bike for the insurance company and get whatever I could off of the bike (she had clothes and stuff in the bags, but I couldn't get to one of them because of how the bike was down). Then I was going to ride 3hrs home, pick up our truck, ride 4 hours back to where she was, and bring her back. I called one of her friends yesterday when they said they were going to release her and she came down to take her home, but when they transferred her, I had the friend drop me off at my room and she was heading home. Well, she decided to stay somewhere else on the way to the 2nd trauma center and thankfully is there to bring her home so I don't have to drive another 8 hrs today.
I think how lucky she got with such minimal injuries for a 40mph wreck with no gear on. How lucky it was she didn't hit a tree, or crash on the roadway surface, because the grass and soft dirt definitely saved her. If she had been more severely hurt, I would have driven right by the accident scene, because you couldn't see her bike at all in the brush.
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WOW. Glad to hear she's all right!
Can you take pics of the canyon cage to show where the contact points were? Do you have forwards and rears? When you have time, of course....
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WOW What a story. I am glad she is relatively OK. Maybe a lesson to wear the proper gear (sorry to Preech). Next tome maybe she will be wearing a full face helmet etc.
I am more interested in the Canyon cage. I may have to get them for my 2010 C14. I would love to see what scrapes are on them.
Ride Safe
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Chap, I preach it all the time, till we both get mad at each other. She's an adult and makes her own (bad) choices, but I can't force her to gear up. Most of the time she does, and the irony is we had just stopped for gas and it was 100+ out, and she took off her jacket and swapped her 3/4 helmet for the 1/2. The 3/4 helmet was a compromise, I want her in a FF, or at least a modular. She says they are claustrophobic and doesn't like the modular she already has. Maybe now this will change her thought.
Here's the contact points of the CC, both front and rear. I think most of the marks are road grit and tar, there might not be much damage to the powdercoating. This is about a 5mph tipover. The bike landed on the left side and was coming downhill, and it didn't rock up or have any other part of the bike touch except for what you see in the pics.
(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj60/dan88z/4952d906.jpg)
(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj60/dan88z/09e2d02e.jpg)
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Danl,
Damn man! I'm VERY glad to hear that your wife wasn't hurt more than she was, that's a miracle right there! What did they find at the second trauma center?
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Wow, that sucks Dan, glad to hear she is ok. I wish your wife a speedy recovery!
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Geez, I know 218 very well. Some funny curves on that road and you have to know them to take em at any kind of speed. Glad your wife is ok. If there is anything I can do for you (don't know where you are out of) let me know. I'll be home on the weekend. Jim
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Conrad, the 2nd scan showed some kind of abnormality in an artery that runs inside your spinal column that supplies blood to the back of the brain. The docs said that in an accident, they can stretch, and if they stretch too much, tear on the inside. Then the body tries to fix it by clotting. Too much clotting you get the risk of stroke. So they transferred her to a higher level trauma center that could deal with better diagnosing the situation. They had 3 docs on it today and they all agreed there was no problem, she just has different sized arteries like your feet are not always the same size. The docs at the 1st center said she would probably be ok but they didn't want to say probably, they wanted a definite answer. Better safe than sorry!
Virginia Jim, thanks! I'm home now, she just texted and said she's leaving the hospital in Fairfax now and will be home in a few hours. We picked 218 on a whim. We had done 2 full days of BRP and decided to forego Skyline Drive, and take 20 up to Fredricksburg and then hop on 218 to get out to 301. Nice road! I was having a blast till I realized she wasn't behind me anymore.
And thanks to Necron, ZG and Chap for the well wishes too!
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That's good news Danl. Now that your wife needs a new bike, how about a C14? No danger of scraping the floor boards. ;)
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That's good news Danl. Now that your wife needs a new bike, how about a C14? No danger of scraping the floor boards. ;)
She can't get on mine, she's way too short. I'd love to get her on a ST though. Maybe one of those Beemers you can lower down a good bit, or the small Honda 700cc. I think she's a VTwin girl though...
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Holy cow! I'm relieved to hear your wife is okay, danl! That sounds like quite a nasty spill. Sounds like the situation could have just as easily been much worse. I'm glad to hear the Canyon Cage saved your bike from any further damage though! Are you planning on replacing that side or are you just gonna touch up the scuffs?
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Ryan, I'll look at it later, I think a lot of it is just gunk from the road that will come off. It's in such a small spot, I dont' think I'll replace it, just touch it up if need be. I have a bunch of black rattle can from an old lighting project I had worked on for my band.
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With mine color matched, I was really curious where the scuffing would be. This is pretty much what I thought would happen. If I go down (knock wood) and have this level of damage, I think I'll rhino line the contact area instead of go to the expense of re-coating.
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Glad the wife is OK. the pics you show look a lot like mine ( tipped over last week ) I'm hoping to find some flat black touch up paint this week and give it a little face lift.
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She can't get on mine, she's way too short. I'd love to get her on a ST though. Maybe one of those Beemers you can lower down a good bit,
I don't think they lower all that much
or the small Honda 700cc. I think she's a VTwin girl though...
VTwin??? No comment!
I am very glad she is OK and hope she will wear correct gear from now on. Thanks for sharing the pics of the bars and the story.
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With mine color matched, I was really curious where the scuffing would be. This is pretty much what I thought would happen.
The contact points are in the exact place that Ryan said they would be :)
If I go down (knock wood) and have this level of damage, I think I'll rhino line the contact area instead of go to the expense of re-coating.
Well imagine if you have chrome canyons, like me... I don't think anything is going to work on touching THAT up. Oh well.
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Well imagine if you have chrome canyons, like me... I don't think anything is going to work on touching THAT up. Oh well.
I bet Harley makes something to fix that... ;) :-X
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Wow. Really glad your wife is going to be OK. My wife rides her own mean-streak and I find myself looking in the rear-view often to check on her. We just got off the Bear Tooth and I let her ride lead. I stayed about 1/2 mile behind her so I would not be pushing her. By the time I caught up it was time for a photo. Due to all the switch backs I usually had a good visual on her. I have found she rides her own ride when in front. I have convinced her ATGAAT because I want her around. It was a fight at 1st but we shopped around for gear that fits her/women 5'2" 115 and its much less of an argument now. She has turned into my favorite riding partner. I hope you and your wife have many happy rides together and this is just a bump in the road. God's speed on her recovery danl.
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I have convinced her ATGAAT because I want her around.
OK, I Googled "ATGAAT" and it came up with genetic sequencing or "All The Gear All The Time", looks like the latter fits.
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Really glad your wife is okay. Hopefully she will want to ride again. Also glad the cages did their job for you. I wonder if she would be interested in the Honda 700 you mentioned. It looks interesting. Let us know if you look at one/ buy one. I would like to get my wife riding her own and that looks like it might be the right fit.
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ATGATT (just sayin') :)
I know that's where they said the contact points were and we saw that in the laid-over pics. I was more curious to see if there would be extra damage in just this kind of lay over, while moving some.
Hope you are able to convince her to wear a better helmet. "Honey, I love you. I love ALL of your head and ALL of your face, so can we protect it ALL please?" :)
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Wow. Really glad your wife is going to be OK. My wife rides her own mean-streak and I find myself looking in the rear-view often to check on her. We just got off the Bear Tooth and I let her ride lead. I stayed about 1/2 mile behind her so I would not be pushing her. By the time I caught up it was time for a photo. Due to all the switch backs I usually had a good visual on her. I have found she rides her own ride when in front. I have convinced her ATGAAT because I want her around. It was a fight at 1st but we shopped around for gear that fits her/women 5'2" 115 and its much less of an argument now. She has turned into my favorite riding partner. I hope you and your wife have many happy rides together and this is just a bump in the road. God's speed on her recovery danl.
Interesting conversation. Glad to see the pics of the Canyons in action. Cant wait to put them on my ride. I still love my Mean Streak for just easy riding but I would have some problem with my SO riding that instead of the 1100RT if we are travelling. When my SO is on the bike she is ATGATT unless it is hot and she will peel the jacket off. The Scala g9 has made a huge difference in riding together. I usually let her lead as she goes much faster when she leads rather than follows. When I lead she pouts and complains that my speedo must not work correctly so I am happy for her to be scurrying down the road when I am behind her (and like the above poster I give her plenty of room so she does not feel me behind) Fascinating thread. For the OP.....Give her a kiss and keep at her to get a full face or at least a modular and some gear.....the G9 will make it easier to get that done if she likes talking to ya....once you do that though be prepared to give up your road noise and silence :o
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Thanks for the comments everyone. The sad thing about this is she had just changed out of her 3/4 helmet and took her jacket off. I have her pretty convinced on the jacket thing, she wears it 90% of the time. Just unfortunate that she had taken it off just prior to this.
I'm going to wait a little bit about pushing her towards a FF. She has a modular now, a Scorpion, and hates it. A couple months ago I was trying to get her into my GMax just to try the fit, it is a lot more roomy in front of your chin and is lighter, but she wouldn't put it on. I figured the 3/4 helmet was a decent compromise. If she had it on, she wouldn't have the shiner she has not and I think she'll realize that without much prodding.
She will definitely be back on a bike. My son asked her last night and she said, hey, I can fall down the stairs, that doesn't mean I won't use stairs anymore.
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Glad to hear your wife is healing. I am happy to hear there are wives out there that love to ride. My wife is starting to want to ride. If and when she does start riding with me or on her own she will be wearing ATGATT.
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Glad that the injuries were kept to a minimum. You may want to consider the Nolan N43E Trilogy. It converts to 3 different types of helmets. The BMW RT comes in a lowered suspension model but they are pricey. Good luck with the recovery.
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She has a modular now, a Scorpion, and hates it. A couple months ago I was trying to get her into my GMax just to try the fit, it is a lot more roomy in front of your chin and is lighter, but she wouldn't put it on. I figured the 3/4 helmet was a decent compromise.
I hear ya on that. Mine went from a Harley 3/4 that lost the spring in the visor to an HJC Symax 2 after trying every bit of a hundred helmets. We went from Competition Accessories in SPringfeild OH to Iron Pony in COlumbus and down to Bloomington IN and Lousiville KY trying on helmets and ended up back in Springfeild to get the HJC. Now she is happy and loves her helmet. I have never seen her ride without it save for one night when we decided to try the Harley Dyna 2 up without helmets to go to diner. We both hated the feeling and that was the last of that.
Glad she is willing to get back on quick. A good sign. Lots of Meanies out there with lo miles but I stumbled across a great buy on a low mile 26k RT that I prefer her to get on and ride. Previously owned by an obsessive complulsive with too many bikes and not enough time to ride between cleaning and working on perfecting each one. Nice thing is it goes a lot faster than her dyna and I got it for less than 4K. Lower center of gravity for her and lots of trunk space. I like having it when my Connie is in the shop and put 3K miles on it waiting for the TPMS sensors to be done. NOt my cup of tea after the COnnie but works to keep it in the barn and use when needed.
(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/393566_3042407299892_1071207899_n.jpg)
Good luck in the next few days. Glad all is well.
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Really glad your wife is okay. Hopefully she will want to ride again. Also glad the cages did their job for you. I wonder if she would be interested in the Honda 700 you mentioned. It looks interesting. Let us know if you look at one/ buy one. I would like to get my wife riding her own and that looks like it might be the right fit.
WHICH 700cc Honda? The NT700V? If so, the seat height (31.7) is almost the same as the Concours 32.1).... Much lighter though, and better MPG (although only 5 speed, and still a 2 cyl).
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Thanks for the comments everyone. The sad thing about this is she had just changed out of her 3/4 helmet and took her jacket off. I have her pretty convinced on the jacket thing, she wears it 90% of the time. Just unfortunate that she had taken it off just prior to this.
Same mentality when people say "I am not going to wear my seatbelt because I am just going to the store 1/2 mile away"..... BAM. Statistics show that most accidents happen close to home.
A friend of mine was not using his turn signal all the time- I asked about it. He said "I don't use it when nobody is around." I replied "so you are using extra mental energy to decide when to or not to use it? Why not just make it automatic- use it always, just like checking blind spots?"
Nobody really likes wearing FF helmets, heavy jackets, boots, gloves, etc... most especially when it is freaking hot. But to me, it is just a requirement for riding. Keep trying different helmets with her, maybe one that fits or operates better will win her over... especially after the accident.
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She will definitely be back on a bike. My son asked her last night and she said, hey, I can fall down the stairs, that doesn't mean I won't use stairs anymore.
I fell down some stairs 5 years ago and I STILL feel some of the residual injury. I recommend against it.
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Same mentality when people say "I am not going to wear my seatbelt because I am just going to the store 1/2 mile away"..... BAM. Statistics show that most accidents happen close to home.
The problem with that over-quoted statistic is that most people spend a disproportionate amount of time close to home. If 90% of accidents occur within 25 miles of home but you spend 98% of your time within 25 miles of home, you're actually statistically safer, not less safe.
A friend of mine was not using his turn signal all the time- I asked about it. He said "I don't use it when nobody is around." I replied "so you are using extra mental energy to decide when to or not to use it? Why not just make it automatic- use it always, just like checking blind spots?"
I agree... I thumb the turn signal, 25 years of riding says "thumb the turn signal before you lane change or turn." Why train yourself to spend time thinking about whether you do it or not...it's not like it's hard.
Nobody really likes wearing FF helmets, heavy jackets, boots, gloves, etc... most especially when it is freaking hot. But to me, it is just a requirement for riding. Keep trying different helmets with her, maybe one that fits or operates better will win her over... especially after the accident.
Oddly, some of us DO like wearing ff helmets, gloves, etc. Doesn't matter how hot it is (and I live in Dallas, TX), I'm miserable without a helmet on. Dust whipping into my face and eyes, etc... no thanks. I spent the first 18 or so years of riding wearing hard contacts, and I really couldn't handle riding without a full face helmet. One tiny fleck of dust and I had to pull the heck over. No gloves and my hands don't feel right on the controls. Good mesh jackets aren't MUCH hotter than being outside...
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Thanks for the comments everyone. The sad thing about this is she had just changed out of her 3/4 helmet and took her jacket off. I have her pretty convinced on the jacket thing, she wears it 90% of the time. Just unfortunate that she had taken it off just prior to this.
I'm going to wait a little bit about pushing her towards a FF. She has a modular now, a Scorpion, and hates it. A couple months ago I was trying to get her into my GMax just to try the fit, it is a lot more roomy in front of your chin and is lighter, but she wouldn't put it on. I figured the 3/4 helmet was a decent compromise. If she had it on, she wouldn't have the shiner she has not and I think she'll realize that without much prodding.
She will definitely be back on a bike. My son asked her last night and she said, hey, I can fall down the stairs, that doesn't mean I won't use stairs anymore.
Good to hear she is OK, and not letting a few bumps and bruises keep her from riding again. Also good that you had tip over protection on your bike. That definitely kept a bad day from being worse.
About the Scorpion modular she has, is it the EXO-900? I'm curious what she hates about it. If it fits too tight in spots, you can sand / trim the Styrofoam a little at the pressure points to make it fit better. I had to do this with one of mine. This is true with most helmets with removable liners.
Unfortunately, if she's not fully sold on ATGATT, then all you can do is overcome the objections to wearing the gear (more comfortable, more breathable in hot weather, etc.). Even a modular helmet with the chin bar up is probably less safe than a 3/4 helmet, since there's extra helmet sticking up (the chin bar) to catch on things in a crash, and strain the neck more.
As for jackets, I find my mesh coat (w/armor) is more comfortable in hot weather then without it. Makes that an easy decision. With my mesh pants, I can wear shorts under them, and again, no heat issues.
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yes, it's the 900. She just says it's too heavy and restricts her vision. I've worn it, it's not as comfortable as my Symax was or the new GMax I have now.
She's got a mesh jacket, and a leather one. She had the mesh on the entire trip up until the crash. Perfect timing!
I dress like you, mesh jacket (or a kevlar draggin jeans shirt), mesh pants, good boots and gloves. Rarely will I ride without the pants and wear jeans, but I will do that once in a while. The fact is, when it's hot, there is little that will keep you from feeling it. The day we did the Dragon it was upper 80's but I had my full textile coat on because it has better armor than the mesh one.
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Glad to hear that your wife is doing ok and that she is planning on getting back on a bike.
Hope that she heals well and is back riding soon.
Thanks for the info on the Canyon Cages - looks like they do their job well !
Paul in MD
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Geez, I know 218 very well. Some funny curves on that road and you have to know them to take em at any kind of speed. Glad your wife is ok. If there is anything I can do for you (don't know where you are out of) let me know. I'll be home on the weekend. Jim
Glad your better half is ok. Small world, I grew up in Fburg and my father resides in Fairview Beach.
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Yes, it is. Hang around for awhile and we'll fix that FJR thingy you ride.. ;)
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Yes, it is. Hang around for awhile and we'll fix that FJR thingy you ride.. ;)
...that's the idea.
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Yes, it is. Hang around for awhile and we'll fix that FJR thingy you ride.. ;)
If you end up keeping the FJR and would like some fairing protection, we just finished designing a set of Canyon Cages and are getting ready to put them through production!
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Please don't tell him that. We're trying to get him off that thing. ;) ;) nudge, nudge...
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Well, she's back on a bike and has me spending all my time adding farkles to her new ride, an 09 V Star 1300 Tourer (which means it has a windshield and hard bags). She seat tested a bunch of bikes, was disappointed that the Victory she liked had a brake and shifter pedal that were too far for her to reach comfortably, and started looking at some smaller rides. Test rode a few, decided she didn't want to drop down from a 1500 to a 900/950 size bike (she was looking at a Vulcan 900 and Star 950). Our dealer had this 1300, she test rode it, liked it, and we bought it. $7300 out the door, and it had only 3300 miles on it.
So far I've changed the handlebars (the stock bars were too far forward and too low), Mustang seat, light bar, engine guards, rear bag guards, some LED lights, luggage rack, Fuzeblock for all the electric stuff, and a bunch of chrome do-dads. We had a Cee Bailey windshield coming as the stock one is a barn door and is way too tall for her.
It's way off topic but here's a couple pics...
(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj60/dan88z/20120827_133740.jpg)
(http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj60/dan88z/20120827_133721.jpg)
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Totally off topic...
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Totally off topic...
Jim, would you mind putting that sword to good use and loping off some of those chrome do dads? ;)
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Will chrome cut chrome?
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Will chrome cut chrome?
I'm sure that Jim's sword is made from superior English materials.