HotRodZilla
GOD BLESS AMERICA
:angry2: I am SO friggin sick of this!!! This F-ing bike falls over like that's what it was made to do. In ONE year, I have dropped this bike four times. In the 19 years prior to this bike, I have only had 2 bikes touch the ground, and one time was not my fault. What pisses me off is that the first time it went over today there was absolutely no damage, except a small scrape to the slider. Of course, the second time made up for that and bent the right side mirror mount, broke the right side foot peg off, scratched the recently replaced right side bag, and gouged the crap out of the slider.
I was on my way out of Albuquerque and stopped at the last gas station headed out of Rio Rancho on Unser. I had a great ride planned and was looking forward to enjoying the road and the new music on my mp-3 player. The gas station has a slanted driveway, but is relatively flat at the pumps. I have probably gotten gas there 5 times, three of them on this bike, with no problems. I put the bike on the center stand and get gas. After fuel, I get it off the center stand and that's when the trouble starts. As soon as the rear wheel hits the ground, I know the bike is leaning hard right. There is just no holding it up, so I guide it down. It touched the ground SOFT. I even switched it off because I still had my hand on the throttle.
I somehow raised the kickstand during this time, so I reached over the bike and put it down by hand so the stand would catch it as I lifted the bike. I'm pretty strong, so I lifted the bike by the bars and stood it up on the stand. I gave it an extra push to make sure it was solid. It was! I look the bike and paint over, and nothing is damaged, except for that small scrape on the slider and an almost unnoticable mark on the outside edge of the mirror. Nothing I give a crap about, so I make sure everything is square with me and go back to the left side to get back on.
As soon as I touch the left handlebar to swing my right leg over, the bike starts its fall to the right again. This time I do not have enough of a handle on the bike, so it goes without me and hits HARD. One of those hits were it seems like it bounces and you can year the plastic slap the pavement. Now I'm pissed, but I think, "Ok, it hit the same spot as before, so the damage should be minimal. Lemme just pick this thing up." That was the wrong answer apparently, because now I cannot get it onto the wheels. A pretty buff girl that was parking when the FJR fell the second time offered to help me lift it. Together we got it back onto its stand. There was no way to lift it putting my *** in the seat and walking it back because it was about 6 inches away from the raised pump island.
After this girl helps me get it standing, she comments on how heavy the FJR really is and then tells me her brother has dropped his bike at this same pump two times. Says everyone who lives in the area refuses to get gas there because so many of them have dropped their bikes on the slanted drive. Apparently it looks worse than it is, but I hadn't realized it was so bad and was comfortable with it because I had stopped there before without a problem. We look the bike over and now find the scratches on the bag and the gouged slider. The slider did it's job though and saved all the front fairing. Now I'm a little irritated, but it's nothing some paint can't fix and I'm still ready to ride and just get the stupidness out of my mind.
I get my helmet and gloves back on and check everythign over one more time. That's when I see the foot-peg laying on the ground. It broke at the mount. *********!!! I put it in the saddle bag and decide to ride the 13 miles home without it. This time I am able to get on the bike without a problem, althought I was very cautious of it moving. As I start the ride home, I realize my right mirror is out of adjustment. I try to fix it and realize the mount under the fairing is bent. Now I am really pissed. I get home and my wife, who doesn't expect to see me for about 5 hours hears me in the garage. She asks what happened and I rant about the whole incident and the money its gonna cost to fix. Then I get on the bike and hit the top of the bent mirror while letting out some cuss words.
I must have hit it just right, cuz it immediately went back into adjustment. Well, after looking it over, I think I actually fixed it, cuz now it seems fine. I know I bent the sub-frame underneath the mount and probably just bent it back to near pre-drop. If not, F-it, I'll just fix it later. For now, I will have to take the bag to the guy at BMW and head to Yamaha on Tuesday for a damn peg.
I love this bike, but I am sick of it falling over. No more slanted driveways, gas stations or parking spots. This thing is way too top heavy for that ********. Sorry for the rant, but I actually feel a little better. :angry2:
I was on my way out of Albuquerque and stopped at the last gas station headed out of Rio Rancho on Unser. I had a great ride planned and was looking forward to enjoying the road and the new music on my mp-3 player. The gas station has a slanted driveway, but is relatively flat at the pumps. I have probably gotten gas there 5 times, three of them on this bike, with no problems. I put the bike on the center stand and get gas. After fuel, I get it off the center stand and that's when the trouble starts. As soon as the rear wheel hits the ground, I know the bike is leaning hard right. There is just no holding it up, so I guide it down. It touched the ground SOFT. I even switched it off because I still had my hand on the throttle.
I somehow raised the kickstand during this time, so I reached over the bike and put it down by hand so the stand would catch it as I lifted the bike. I'm pretty strong, so I lifted the bike by the bars and stood it up on the stand. I gave it an extra push to make sure it was solid. It was! I look the bike and paint over, and nothing is damaged, except for that small scrape on the slider and an almost unnoticable mark on the outside edge of the mirror. Nothing I give a crap about, so I make sure everything is square with me and go back to the left side to get back on.
As soon as I touch the left handlebar to swing my right leg over, the bike starts its fall to the right again. This time I do not have enough of a handle on the bike, so it goes without me and hits HARD. One of those hits were it seems like it bounces and you can year the plastic slap the pavement. Now I'm pissed, but I think, "Ok, it hit the same spot as before, so the damage should be minimal. Lemme just pick this thing up." That was the wrong answer apparently, because now I cannot get it onto the wheels. A pretty buff girl that was parking when the FJR fell the second time offered to help me lift it. Together we got it back onto its stand. There was no way to lift it putting my *** in the seat and walking it back because it was about 6 inches away from the raised pump island.
After this girl helps me get it standing, she comments on how heavy the FJR really is and then tells me her brother has dropped his bike at this same pump two times. Says everyone who lives in the area refuses to get gas there because so many of them have dropped their bikes on the slanted drive. Apparently it looks worse than it is, but I hadn't realized it was so bad and was comfortable with it because I had stopped there before without a problem. We look the bike over and now find the scratches on the bag and the gouged slider. The slider did it's job though and saved all the front fairing. Now I'm a little irritated, but it's nothing some paint can't fix and I'm still ready to ride and just get the stupidness out of my mind.
I get my helmet and gloves back on and check everythign over one more time. That's when I see the foot-peg laying on the ground. It broke at the mount. *********!!! I put it in the saddle bag and decide to ride the 13 miles home without it. This time I am able to get on the bike without a problem, althought I was very cautious of it moving. As I start the ride home, I realize my right mirror is out of adjustment. I try to fix it and realize the mount under the fairing is bent. Now I am really pissed. I get home and my wife, who doesn't expect to see me for about 5 hours hears me in the garage. She asks what happened and I rant about the whole incident and the money its gonna cost to fix. Then I get on the bike and hit the top of the bent mirror while letting out some cuss words.
I must have hit it just right, cuz it immediately went back into adjustment. Well, after looking it over, I think I actually fixed it, cuz now it seems fine. I know I bent the sub-frame underneath the mount and probably just bent it back to near pre-drop. If not, F-it, I'll just fix it later. For now, I will have to take the bag to the guy at BMW and head to Yamaha on Tuesday for a damn peg.
I love this bike, but I am sick of it falling over. No more slanted driveways, gas stations or parking spots. This thing is way too top heavy for that ********. Sorry for the rant, but I actually feel a little better. :angry2:
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h34r: .
