Cadet 64265-MCS-G01 reporting for duty!

[Blrfl]

Well, after ten years, it finally happened. It didn't happen on the cheap bike I bought figuring I'd drop it. Noooooooo... It happened on the big, expensive bike with all the Tupperware.

The Scene of the Crime: Saturday morning. Roy Rogers, Leesburg, Virginia. Parking lot. Very, slight decline. Very lousy pavement.

The Maneuver: Tight, near-lock left turn after backing out of a parking space. Something happened involving pulling my right leg up onto the peg, my 'Stich getting a little bunched up around the back of my right knee, me doing something to try and correct for it, and down she went.

The Damage: Not much, but more than I thought initially. The left tip-over wing has a hole and some scuffs on it. The bar underneath is scraped up a bit, and the bracket for the side stand has a teeny little scuff on a corner. I think the bracket is just going to get a little dab of black paint, and I'll probably do something with the tip-over bar to keep it from rusting. True to form, there are photos of the damage here (http://st-gallery.notonthe.net/main.php?g2_itemId=1088). ETA: The cost to replace everything that was damaged is under $100. Not bad.

A big thanks to gregj for the assist in getting it back on its wheels and to him and the VTXers for giving me only minimal grief about it. Greg volunteered to keep a lid on it, but somehow I think it's more fun to admit it here and submit to the ridicule.

So...

HEY EVERYBODY, I DROPPED MY BIKE!

Never in a million years did I think I'd be the recipient of my own award, but here goes:

http://www.st-owners.com/pp_gallery/data/500/toa.jpg

You may now heap on the scorn and ridicule as you see fit. I can take it. :doh1: :oops:

--Mark

[gregj]

:lol: :lol: Funny, I dont remember volunteering to keep a lid on it. :shout1:

I dont think it would have done any good if I'd tried, seemed everyone at Loudoun Motorsports knew of the guy dressup like a lolly-pop (Hi-Viz 'stich) that dropped his bike. :doh1:

We were leaving the Roy Rogers, I was waiting for Mark to pull out, I looked to my left at him, to my right to see where everyone else was, then I heard a crash and a very mournful sound of an ST that had been TOT'ed. Ohhh, the humanity of it all!! :eek:

I looked back over to see Mark's ST on her side, and Mark saying "Well, that's a first!". If it had been me, I would have been a little more colorful.

We got her uprighted, and Mark collected himself, we got out of there. :07biker: :04biker: Cant wait to see the lighter. :bow1:

[John Anthony]

No ridicule from these quarters. BTDT in front of my ol' lady nonetheless. Be glad you don't own another bike that's not as well protected. And don't let it get to your ego too much. A couple of pops tonight and you'll be good to go.

John

[BigTom]

So. I'm going to tell you, my young friend, what my riding buddy Ray tells me.

"That'll get worse!" He's dropped 3 in the last year and a half or so. 'Course he is 75:)

[Bones]

Uh, congratulations, Mark.

Kinda of makes you want to frequent local restaurants instead of chains, doesn't it? ;-)

[gene]

it could have been worse :D When i dropped mine at Roy's in Brunswick I had Lisa excitedly telling me to pick it up before someone sees us !! Now that was :o: :o: Maybe we should ban Roy's from being on the approved places to stop :D

[Blrfl]

No ridicule from these quarters.

Not even a little? Man! Where does a guy have to go to get some abuse around here? :rolleyes:

And don't let it get to your ego too much.

Funny you should mention that. It did give me the same feeling I had after my last car accident, although to a much lesser degree. I still had a good time riding, though.

Kinda of makes you want to frequent local restaurants instead of chains, doesn't it? ;-)

I usually do where I can. It never came out in the course of things that the VTXers were actually meeting up at the Roy Rogers, so I arrived at the dealer having the open house, hung around for a half hour and left. I headed further down the street instead of going back out onto the main road and on the way back spotted Greg's silver ST and a bunch of VTXes parked out front.

Maybe we should ban Roy's from being on the approved places to stop :D

That must be what it was: punishment for encroaching on the VTX guys' sacred stomping grounds. :eek: Yeah, that's it.

One other amusing bit I neglected to mention:

R.E.M. released a new album this week, and one of the Sirius channels I usually listen to has been featuring the band all week. When I started the bike, they were in the middle of The Great Beyond, which was written for the film Man on the Moon (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0125664/). Just as I was pulling out, they were into the chorus, which starts like this:

I'm pushing an elephant up the stairs
I'm tossing up punchlines that were never there
Over my shoulder a piano falls
Crashing to the ground

All of that except the punch lines came to pass within seconds. Weird, huh?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYu9E_kprEs

--Mark

[NoBull]

Blame it on the stich Mark, must have been the stich...It was probably a good thing, sometimes we all need a reminder to keep our minds in the game. This was a gentle nudge maybe...

[gregj]

That must be what it was: punishment for encroaching on the VTX guys' sacred stomping grounds. Yeah, that's it.

That, my friend, will never happen. Anyone, anytime is welcome. Hell, there was even a Hardley with us!

I will say though, after watching you trying to pick up that blue beast, I think you'd have better luck "pushing an elephant up the stairs". :lol:

[maxib]

Welcome to our club! I think it is remarkable that you even found a theme song...great work!

As opposed to the concept that yin and yang balance the universe, gravity and two wheels fight and oppose each other, so we have to have inner peace right before attempting to upright the fallen.

The machine is fixable...the ego...? maybe not so but now you got the first time out of the way, so it won't be such a big deal the next!!!

[Trekker]

Stand in the place where you live
Now face North
Think about direction
Wonder why you haven't before
Now stand in the place where you work
Now face West
Think about the place where you live
Wonder why you haven't before

If you are confused check with the sun
Carry a compass to help you along
Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your STeed is there to move you around

(R.E.M.- Stand, slightly altered)

Congrats! You did it! There are two kinds of bikes, those that have been dropped, and those that will be. Tip Over Wings ROCK!

[EASt]

I'm glad to see our membership ranks are growing. Welcome.

Enjoy the Zippo... I've got two. :D

[Blrfl]

Ultimately, I can't put the blame for this anywhere except myself, since it was me who put the bike in a position to go over. I have a habit of getting my feet on the pegs as soon as I can, and I think in this case I went for it too soon while wearing unfamiliar, not-broken-in gear and threw everything out of kilter in the process trying to correct it. I should probably have kept my feet down until everything was straightened out.

Greg: Yeah, that thing is a beastie, alright! I think I might hold off on repairs until after the tech event later this month. Maybe we can ease it back down and I can practice picking it up. I thought I was in the right position to do it, but after one attempt, I figured that with help nearby it was better to not risk throwing it over the other way, too.

I'm still astounded at how minimal the damage was considering that the bike was in motion when it fell. After I got home, I gave it a thorough once-over, and thought I kept finding things that turned out to be just dirt.

--Mark (Surprised nobody's commented on the title of this thread yet.)

[Scooterb]

(Surprised nobody's commented on the title of this thread yet.)

OK... If you insist: CVR, L. ENGINE GUARD (64265-MCS-G01) :cool:

I knew it was a Honda part number but wasn't sure which one until I read your post. Then I had a good idea.

How fast do you think you were moving when you went down? I suppose that it doesn't take much to wear through the plastic.

[Blrfl]

It was walking speed or less.

--Mark

[John Anthony]

Not even a little? Man! Where does a guy have to go to get some abuse around here? :rolleyes:

--Mark

Well, OK. That was a really, really stupid thing to do to a great bike. What a moron. What were you thinking about?? It sure couldn't have been riding! I'll get you some training wheels for Christmas. Sheeze!

John

[Blrfl]

Much better. Thanks! :D

--Mark

[elmer phudd]

Well funny you should say....... oops!!!!!!! Picture it Easter Sunday,the annual gathering of bikers to raise cash and chocolate eggs for the Sick Kids Hospital, 8000 bikers sitting waiting to go on the run to the hospital. The run sets off and at slow speed involved doing a slow speed u turn onto the road with the other half on the back of the bike and with the steering on hard left hand lock and at nearly stopped pace the run comes to an abrupt halt which stupidly led to a handfull of front brake and an oops as the weight was too much and down she went but was stopped and so I just laid it down as the wife stepped off and I went for a wee roll around the tarmac.My mate was riding behind us and caught it all on video.It's cost me a fortune to keep it off U-tube. lol. But as I said thats the first one out of the way but I did not want to do it in front of 8000 s******ing bikers:policeST:

[Finewest]

Well that leaves me out of the equation seeing how you awarded youself. Humph! You probably did it on purpose just to get a TOA Zippo... :( :rolleyes: ;)

[clmixon]

Look at it this way, you don't have to worry about the first drop anymore. I dropped the 04 in the yard right after I got it on it's left side :o: , than Ian (my son) dropped it on the right while trying to move it while I was on crutches after my fall.:o:

I dropped on the left side again while pulling out of a parking space in Big Bend when I hit a wooden post marking the edge of the lot.:o: I got both sides the day I totaled it :o:

I have dropped the 06 once, I was dehydrated and beat, stopped at a rest area in 114 degree heat, came to a complete stop and remembered thinking " something is not quite right" then realized I had neglected to put my feet down and proceded to drop it on it's right side.:o:

Whats amazing is that all the drops ( not the crash, just the drops) added up to one scuff and some shoe polish for the wing cover on the left side.

I added Jay's tipover bars and they work great, I have not dropped it once since I added them. :) (looking for wood to knock on, uses head)

When you are ready to sit at the feet of the master, let me know...:rolleyes: Gravity LOVES me...

Still not as good as the day Liz pulled up next to me and her husband in a parking lot, tipped left and knocked both her and her husbands bikes down :D

Chris :06biker:

[Bribak]

You'll never catch me rubbing salt in the wounds 'cause I figure my day will come eventually. I've already let it fall over twice in my storage shed.

Glad it wasn't any more serious.