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A good "friend" of mine who requests to be anonymous has a blue 650 Burgman absolutely identical to mine in every single way. He is quite embarrassed to relate the following event, but hopes to gain sympathy from all you Burgy-lovers.
Leaving home at 6 am Wednesday to catch a flight at the Phoenix airport, he realized he was running a little late to catch his flight to San Diego. Sitting at a light, he was happy to hear a guy in a truck ask him "Is that an automatic" and "how fast will it go?" After replying "yes" and "105 mph" and seeing the guys shocked look, he turned into the airport exit and headed for the short-term parking since it was a day trip to San Diego and he'd be back that evening.
Now the entry ramp into the short-term parking garages in Phoenix are a bit strange. They consist of a corkscrew type entry. You go round and round and round with an exit starting at levels 4, then 6, then 8. Level 4 is usually full, so my "friend" usually exits at 6. The ramp also "leans inward" to the center column which of course is pure cement with a small curb. It ends up that you have to be careful as you drive up, around, and lean very carefully to stay upright. After passing the first exit to level four, my friend forgot to concentrate on his riding, and apparently didn't "look into the turn." Perhaps a bit tired, in a hurry, or dizzy from all the turning, he didn't keep his speed up enough and fell onto his left side, slowly plowing into the small curb in the middle and stopping.
However, remember that this is basically a hill that slopes down and IN, with cars coming around a blind curve at 15-25 mph (approximate). A fairly dangerous situation to be in given the precarious position my friend was in. The bike started to slide backward, and with adrenaline pumping and his hands slipping off the handlebars, he grabbed both and tried lifting the bike up without success since he accidentally twisted the right grip as he lifted. This resulted in the rear wheel spinning, which did stop the rearward slide, but did push the bike back up to the curb where it had initially stopped. This happened twice before my friend collected his wits and applied the brake with his left hand and reached under the bike for the right rear rail.
Now remember, this is a tough lift as it is, but add the fact that he is lifting UP-hill! A small hill, but hill none the less, while holding the left handed brake on to keep the bike from sliding backward! With a heavy heave, and energized by a gallon of adrenaline due to an unknown car approaching from behind, my friend was able to lift the bike up and jump on, riding the bike to the next exit and park.
The end result.
My friend: Small tear in dress slacks on left knee. Amazing not worse. A very sore upper arm on the left - likely a sore muscle. Sore right arm as well. Left thumb with a little road rash because he had open finger gloves and probably rubbed the cement when the bike was on the ground moving back and forth.
The Bike: Very small mark on the left mirror cover. It folded in when it hit the curve. A similar very small mark on the left top corner of the Clearview XL shield. Small road rash mark on the center stand and side stand I believe. But the worst of it of course was on the bottom side of the left faring. One clip on the front underside of the faring is popped loose and won’t snap back on. Another small bracket has broken but might be repairable with a strong plastic glue. Seems like a lot of strong chemicals are available for this purpose, so we’ll see. The faring is still somehow close to perfect in its placement. These two failed brackets don’t seem to have caused it to pull much away from the frame.
My friend was of course absolutely furious :evil: at himself, but feels it is a good “wake-up” call :idea: to be much more focused on his riding when he is riding! Wife is very supportive, thank God, and when he rode the bike again today, the temp hit 109. He still enjoyed every minute of the ride.
Guess he’ll need some touch up paint and he’ll look for a strong plastic glue to see if that’ll fix the two brackets. He wanted me to share this with others to remind them to be careful riding, especially in twisty steep entry ramps such as those into the Phoenix Airport!
Ride Safe Everyone.
:wink:
Leaving home at 6 am Wednesday to catch a flight at the Phoenix airport, he realized he was running a little late to catch his flight to San Diego. Sitting at a light, he was happy to hear a guy in a truck ask him "Is that an automatic" and "how fast will it go?" After replying "yes" and "105 mph" and seeing the guys shocked look, he turned into the airport exit and headed for the short-term parking since it was a day trip to San Diego and he'd be back that evening.
Now the entry ramp into the short-term parking garages in Phoenix are a bit strange. They consist of a corkscrew type entry. You go round and round and round with an exit starting at levels 4, then 6, then 8. Level 4 is usually full, so my "friend" usually exits at 6. The ramp also "leans inward" to the center column which of course is pure cement with a small curb. It ends up that you have to be careful as you drive up, around, and lean very carefully to stay upright. After passing the first exit to level four, my friend forgot to concentrate on his riding, and apparently didn't "look into the turn." Perhaps a bit tired, in a hurry, or dizzy from all the turning, he didn't keep his speed up enough and fell onto his left side, slowly plowing into the small curb in the middle and stopping.
However, remember that this is basically a hill that slopes down and IN, with cars coming around a blind curve at 15-25 mph (approximate). A fairly dangerous situation to be in given the precarious position my friend was in. The bike started to slide backward, and with adrenaline pumping and his hands slipping off the handlebars, he grabbed both and tried lifting the bike up without success since he accidentally twisted the right grip as he lifted. This resulted in the rear wheel spinning, which did stop the rearward slide, but did push the bike back up to the curb where it had initially stopped. This happened twice before my friend collected his wits and applied the brake with his left hand and reached under the bike for the right rear rail.
Now remember, this is a tough lift as it is, but add the fact that he is lifting UP-hill! A small hill, but hill none the less, while holding the left handed brake on to keep the bike from sliding backward! With a heavy heave, and energized by a gallon of adrenaline due to an unknown car approaching from behind, my friend was able to lift the bike up and jump on, riding the bike to the next exit and park.
The end result.
My friend: Small tear in dress slacks on left knee. Amazing not worse. A very sore upper arm on the left - likely a sore muscle. Sore right arm as well. Left thumb with a little road rash because he had open finger gloves and probably rubbed the cement when the bike was on the ground moving back and forth.
The Bike: Very small mark on the left mirror cover. It folded in when it hit the curve. A similar very small mark on the left top corner of the Clearview XL shield. Small road rash mark on the center stand and side stand I believe. But the worst of it of course was on the bottom side of the left faring. One clip on the front underside of the faring is popped loose and won’t snap back on. Another small bracket has broken but might be repairable with a strong plastic glue. Seems like a lot of strong chemicals are available for this purpose, so we’ll see. The faring is still somehow close to perfect in its placement. These two failed brackets don’t seem to have caused it to pull much away from the frame.
My friend was of course absolutely furious :evil: at himself, but feels it is a good “wake-up” call :idea: to be much more focused on his riding when he is riding! Wife is very supportive, thank God, and when he rode the bike again today, the temp hit 109. He still enjoyed every minute of the ride.
Guess he’ll need some touch up paint and he’ll look for a strong plastic glue to see if that’ll fix the two brackets. He wanted me to share this with others to remind them to be careful riding, especially in twisty steep entry ramps such as those into the Phoenix Airport!
Ride Safe Everyone.
:wink:
