Sorry to read about your mishap. Damage could have been far worse.The day was nice here today. Sunny, around 72 F, 21 C.
One of the last ride of the fall, before the long hibernation of the bike.
Nice country roads, with workers in the field.
Every few miles, I stop, take the phone out of my pocket, take a nice picture, and keep on going.
At one point, immigrants workers were harvesting cabbages.
I stopped on the side of the road, to have a better look.
Hum, there was not much shoulder on the side of the road at this place.
A bit like this kind of shoulder. The one at the base of the picture.
The top of the grass is even and level, but the soil is not.
You have the asphalt of the road, then maybe two foot wide of sand and grass, but (contrarly to this picture) not at the same level than the road : it was in a light slope tilting toward the deeper ditch (12 feet).
So I stayed on the asphalt, just at the limit of it. Put my two foot on the ground. Had a look. Took a picture...
And then it happend.
While I was trying to put my phone back in the lower right pocket of my jacket, I leaned my upper body on the left side, to stretch the right side of my jacket.
I put my phone in the pocket, and then, as I had leaned to the left, the bike was lightly pushed on the right side.
It was a slow movement. It happend in three seconds.
From its normal position, the bike started to tilt toward the right side. I let it go a bit at first, being busy with the phone.
And when I realised the bike was going a bit too far, and that it was time to grab and hold it, my right foot slipped just a few inches on the sand.... and was now maybe 4 inches lower than the other foot.
It was too late.
Couldn't believed it was happening.
All I could do, was trying to minimize the damage.
I hold it the best that I could, and hoped for no damage at all.
The fuel cutoff valve worked as it should. The engine stopped running the moment the bike was on the side.
Geee... due to the fact that the soil was soft, and tilting toward a ditch, my ST was on his side, horizontal, flat to the ground, zero degree with the horizon.
To put it back up, I tried what they teached us during my course.
Turn your back to the bike, sit to have your lower back toward the seat, hold the handle and the back of the seat, and push with your legs.
No way. It doesn't worked.
So, i face the bike, took the throttle handle, and grabbed the guard behind the seat. And... up on his wheels it was.
I had put the sidestand down before, so I let it go a bit on the other side, until the sidestand touch the ground.
Only then, I realised someone had stopped his car to help me. I waved my hand at him, to thank him and show him all was allright.
After I catched up my breath.... I realised I had some damage.
The right tip over plastic guard was cracked.
And I later discovered that my right miror cover was also cracked.
That's a pity, because that tweny years old bike had both guard cover intact, before this.
Oh well...
I guess I broke the ice... And I am now a member of the club.
Oh yeah. Something else. Should I try to start the bike now ?
I waited maybe two minutes before doing so.
It started instantly, as I touched the button.
The sound of the engine was as smooth as before.
I didn't saw a drop of liquid anywhere. Not even a gas spill.
Having tried re-spraying, I would now leave it to the experts now because, as John Heath says, the shades of old and new paint differ.
With the camber on most UK roads, it worries me stopping with the side stand down because even on a flat surface the angle of incline seems steep and far greater than my old GL1500.
I appreciate the subject of tip-over point has been covered before on this forum - guess sometime I'll measure the standard angle on the side stand and the maximum angle when the peg would touch the road on a flat surface - the old Pythagoras' Theorem!
Paul
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