Any guesses for the cause of this?

[Yambabe]

Had a bad day today. :( Thought we'd go out for a ride as Himself had just put new pads in the Eliminator and wanted to bed them in, so he decided to ride that and I got the Zephyr out. About 10 miles from home on the M62 there is a cloud of blue smoke from the Eliminator and when we pull off the mway and stop we find this.......

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/Yambabe/03032007034.jpg

...it looks like the bevel box cover has just decided to leap off for no apparent reason.......... :(

Luckily I picked up a "spares or repair" off ebay last year so I do have a spare to go on, but your thoughts and siggestions as to what might have caused it to ping off would be much appreciated cos I really don't want it to do it again if I can avoid it!

Oh and you wouldn't believe it. We're parked at the side of the road waiting for the AA truck to come and take it home when some dozy bint doesn't know how wide her car is and crashes into it! So as well as a missing cover and no oil it now has a "rippled" exhaust, a snapped-off peg and a cracked hanger on the side she hit, and a scuffed exhaust and casings and bent lever on the other where it went down. If it wasn't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all with this bloody bike......... :(

[odie]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, lucky the blind bint didnt hit you!
Could be a blown seal (no jokes) due too to much pressure, over fill the oil?

[lowrider]

It is odd,i would check the compression.
Just in case the head gasket is suspect and pressurised the engine.

[minxy]

Bloody hell, Jo :(

[kiffer38]

check the nut on the bevel gear, it could of worked loose, and pushed the cover off !

[lowrider]

check the nut on the bevel gear, it could of worked loose, and pushed the cover off !
Yeah at second glance there don't seem much thread there

[Bosun]

thank goodness you didnt slip on it

hope you got details of blind bat

hope you fix bike soon

[Yambabe]

Thankfully we realised quite quickly and got off the motorway, if he'd have tried to lean the bike at all he'd have been straight off I reckon cos there was oil everywhere, the back tyre was completely coated......... as was his leg......

http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/Yambabe/03032007035.jpg

Not quite so good for me following behind on my other bike though, ended up with a good spray of oil on my visor, my glasses, my gear, my bike......... :(

Got all the woman's details so she will be paying for the cosmetic damage eventually thru her insurance, I'm just a bit worried though that they might try and write it off with it being quite an old bike. Obviously the money would be nice and I do have the Zephyr (and my 250 eliminator as well actually) as backup but despite its many foibles I grew quite fond of the old girl over the last summer.......... :o

[deegee]

If her insurance do try to right it off tell them you want to buy it back. That way you end up with cash and bike.