Bezabor: RATS!!! ...dropped the bike! (posted from home)
Tuesday, 10/18/05 - More work on the van today. After all the excitement yesterday I finally got around to trying the repair and it didn't go well at first. I had found some specialized expansion nuts which I thought might work. These are essentially rubber tubes with a nut in the lower end. The tube/nut assembly goes into the hole under the roof track and then you install a machine screw which pulls the nut inward, expanding the rubber and making a tight friction-fit. But when I overtightened it, it popped out. So I investigated other types of blind anchors and found them all wanting in one way or another. I finally re-installed the specialized expansion nuts and didn't overtighten them, then mixed up some expoxy and used it to make a fillet of epoxy between the side of the track and the roof. Hopefully that will keep the track from moving or lifting up once I load the kayaks on and drive around-- I'll have to keep an eye on it. And tomorrow I'll seal off the track the whole way around with silicone seal.
Monday, 10/17/05 - Today I spent much of the day working on the van. Several years ago I had installed Thule top-tracks (base rails for the Thule rack system) on the fiberglass roof of the van in order to haul our sea kayaks. Everything went fine with the installation but that summer I had a problem. We had taken our kayak (we only had one at the time) to the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium in Grand Marais, Michigan for our vacation that year. After one of the tour events at the Symposium we loaded up the kayak onto the roof rack. During that process I somehow got distracted and thought I had tied down the front but hadn't. Unfortunately, I was using a too-long bow painter and as I pulled out of the parking lot I ran over it with the front wheel of the van. That caused the bow painter to be pulled down violently, pulling down on the bow of the kayak and turning it into a lever. The fulcrum for the lever was the front bar of the roof rack so what that did was lift up violently on the back feet of the rack and that pulled the back two fittings out of the fiberglass. I had attempted to fix the problem once we got home but the now-oversize holes for the fittings made that difficult--- the fix depended a lot on silicone sealer. I believe this is now a source of a water leak, perhaps made worse by our bouncing around the backroads of Maine.
I was using my motorcycle to chase supplies to attempt another fix of the top-track. That led me down the local interstate but because I saw a long line of traffic just beyond one of the exits, I jumped off that exit to take a back road. After a few miles I noticed a mail jeep ahead of me and a lady in a small car between us. The mail jeep suddenly pulled out without signaling as the small car neared and I remember thinking that it was somewhat dangerous for the mail jeep to just ignore other traffic. The small car braked and the mail jeep went on. It wasn't long till the mail jeep pulled over to another mail box. The lady in the small car appeared to be going around the jeep but (apparently) saw a truck off in the distance coming the other way. That oncoming truck was well off and she could easily have made the pass but I think she was afraid the mail jeep would suddenly pull out just as she came alongside. She started around the jeep but then must have thought better of it and slammed on the brakes, stopping in the middle of the road with her left wheels over the yellow line and her car nearly alongside the mail jeep. How she thought the oncoming truck was going to get by her is anybody's guess. But in any case that left nowhere for me to go. I was hard on the brakes and the rear wheel was sliding, bringing the rear end around toward my left. If I had continued sliding straight ahead, I would have hit the rear of the small car. But there was a little more space behind the mail jeep and I thought I might be able to just stop behind it-- if I could just maintain control. Unfortunately for me, there's a bit of a crown in the road and as I slid right, the right front of the bike started to drop and I couldn't save it. The Concours (my motorcycle is a Kawasaki Concours 1000) is known for being top-heavy at slow speed and it was clear I was not going to save it. I think I 'high-sided', a characteristic of a sideways-sliding motorcycle.... it slides a bit then stands up, then continues on over. In any case, it threw me off. I was going so slowly that I actually landed on my feet but had so much inertia that I couldn't stay on my feet-- I ducked my head and rolled, touching my helmet and shoulder to the ground as I rolled, then stopping on my right side. I remember thinking as I rolled that I was glad I had my padded gear and gloves on. I jumped up and went back to the bike in time to see both the lady in the small car and the mail jeep drive off. Incredible. A motorcycle screeches to a stop and crashes behind you and you drive off.
I looked at the motorcycle lying on its side and realized I would probably not be able to lift it. The Concours weighs over 500 pounds and was lying on the crowned edge of the road-- the back end was a foot or so on the road and the front end was in a driveway. I tried lifting it with my back to the bike so I was using my leg muscles but it was just too much. So I took off my helmet and took off the tank bag and was trying to figure out what to do next when I saw three guys walking down the road toward me and a woman pulling off into the driveway across the road.
Then the worst part of the experience (as it turned out) happened. The first guy to reach me said "What's going on, Dad?" Dad??????????? I'm not that much older for him to call me Dad!!!!!!!!! On the other hand I needed help lifting the motorcycle up so I didn't point that out-- I told him and the other three folks who gathered around about the mail jeep and small car.
With their help it was no problem to get the bike up and onto its kickstand. And, miracle of miracles, there was no damage-- just a couple of very, very minor scratches on the right mirror, on the right saddle bag, at the right-side front axle, and on the right footpeg. All of them virtually disappeared just by rubbing my hand over them to get the dirt off. Amazing!
The woman who stopped after my accident had done so because she recognized the bike as a Concours. Her husband had dropped his this summer. She pointed to the mid-fairing panel and said "I can tell you from experience that that panel costs $1000 to replace".
Once on its feet the bike started, though at first it sounded like the carbs had flooded it. But it came to life in the second push of the starter button and slowly cleared up and then just sat there purring as if nothing had happened. I love this bike!
Tuesday, 10/18/05 - More work on the van today. After all the excitement yesterday I finally got around to trying the repair and it didn't go well at first. I had found some specialized expansion nuts which I thought might work. These are essentially rubber tubes with a nut in the lower end. The tube/nut assembly goes into the hole under the roof track and then you install a machine screw which pulls the nut inward, expanding the rubber and making a tight friction-fit. But when I overtightened it, it popped out. So I investigated other types of blind anchors and found them all wanting in one way or another. I finally re-installed the specialized expansion nuts and didn't overtighten them, then mixed up some expoxy and used it to make a fillet of epoxy between the side of the track and the roof. Hopefully that will keep the track from moving or lifting up once I load the kayaks on and drive around-- I'll have to keep an eye on it. And tomorrow I'll seal off the track the whole way around with silicone seal.
Monday, 10/17/05 - Today I spent much of the day working on the van. Several years ago I had installed Thule top-tracks (base rails for the Thule rack system) on the fiberglass roof of the van in order to haul our sea kayaks. Everything went fine with the installation but that summer I had a problem. We had taken our kayak (we only had one at the time) to the Great Lakes Sea Kayak Symposium in Grand Marais, Michigan for our vacation that year. After one of the tour events at the Symposium we loaded up the kayak onto the roof rack. During that process I somehow got distracted and thought I had tied down the front but hadn't. Unfortunately, I was using a too-long bow painter and as I pulled out of the parking lot I ran over it with the front wheel of the van. That caused the bow painter to be pulled down violently, pulling down on the bow of the kayak and turning it into a lever. The fulcrum for the lever was the front bar of the roof rack so what that did was lift up violently on the back feet of the rack and that pulled the back two fittings out of the fiberglass. I had attempted to fix the problem once we got home but the now-oversize holes for the fittings made that difficult--- the fix depended a lot on silicone sealer. I believe this is now a source of a water leak, perhaps made worse by our bouncing around the backroads of Maine.
I was using my motorcycle to chase supplies to attempt another fix of the top-track. That led me down the local interstate but because I saw a long line of traffic just beyond one of the exits, I jumped off that exit to take a back road. After a few miles I noticed a mail jeep ahead of me and a lady in a small car between us. The mail jeep suddenly pulled out without signaling as the small car neared and I remember thinking that it was somewhat dangerous for the mail jeep to just ignore other traffic. The small car braked and the mail jeep went on. It wasn't long till the mail jeep pulled over to another mail box. The lady in the small car appeared to be going around the jeep but (apparently) saw a truck off in the distance coming the other way. That oncoming truck was well off and she could easily have made the pass but I think she was afraid the mail jeep would suddenly pull out just as she came alongside. She started around the jeep but then must have thought better of it and slammed on the brakes, stopping in the middle of the road with her left wheels over the yellow line and her car nearly alongside the mail jeep. How she thought the oncoming truck was going to get by her is anybody's guess. But in any case that left nowhere for me to go. I was hard on the brakes and the rear wheel was sliding, bringing the rear end around toward my left. If I had continued sliding straight ahead, I would have hit the rear of the small car. But there was a little more space behind the mail jeep and I thought I might be able to just stop behind it-- if I could just maintain control. Unfortunately for me, there's a bit of a crown in the road and as I slid right, the right front of the bike started to drop and I couldn't save it. The Concours (my motorcycle is a Kawasaki Concours 1000) is known for being top-heavy at slow speed and it was clear I was not going to save it. I think I 'high-sided', a characteristic of a sideways-sliding motorcycle.... it slides a bit then stands up, then continues on over. In any case, it threw me off. I was going so slowly that I actually landed on my feet but had so much inertia that I couldn't stay on my feet-- I ducked my head and rolled, touching my helmet and shoulder to the ground as I rolled, then stopping on my right side. I remember thinking as I rolled that I was glad I had my padded gear and gloves on. I jumped up and went back to the bike in time to see both the lady in the small car and the mail jeep drive off. Incredible. A motorcycle screeches to a stop and crashes behind you and you drive off.
I looked at the motorcycle lying on its side and realized I would probably not be able to lift it. The Concours weighs over 500 pounds and was lying on the crowned edge of the road-- the back end was a foot or so on the road and the front end was in a driveway. I tried lifting it with my back to the bike so I was using my leg muscles but it was just too much. So I took off my helmet and took off the tank bag and was trying to figure out what to do next when I saw three guys walking down the road toward me and a woman pulling off into the driveway across the road.
Then the worst part of the experience (as it turned out) happened. The first guy to reach me said "What's going on, Dad?" Dad??????????? I'm not that much older for him to call me Dad!!!!!!!!! On the other hand I needed help lifting the motorcycle up so I didn't point that out-- I told him and the other three folks who gathered around about the mail jeep and small car.
With their help it was no problem to get the bike up and onto its kickstand. And, miracle of miracles, there was no damage-- just a couple of very, very minor scratches on the right mirror, on the right saddle bag, at the right-side front axle, and on the right footpeg. All of them virtually disappeared just by rubbing my hand over them to get the dirt off. Amazing!
The woman who stopped after my accident had done so because she recognized the bike as a Concours. Her husband had dropped his this summer. She pointed to the mid-fairing panel and said "I can tell you from experience that that panel costs $1000 to replace".
Once on its feet the bike started, though at first it sounded like the carbs had flooded it. But it came to life in the second push of the starter button and slowly cleared up and then just sat there purring as if nothing had happened. I love this bike!
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 21:36
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