[flintbobbi]

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:

 

[billmeek]

Pass on to your friend that we're glad he wasn't hurt worse. As I'm heading into Nashvegas tommorow and will be parking in a simular garage, I'm glad you relayed this story. It'll keep me on my toes (even more) tommorow. One thing they stressed in the MSF Basic Rider Course that has yet to be mentioned here is that when you are running late is one of the worst times to be riding a bike. You're better off taking the cage. When running late, you're less likely to have your mind on riding and more likely to make mistakes. You are also more likely to take additional risks .... a BAD thing to do on 2 wheels.

 

[pauljo]

Flint,

At the top front of the lower leg shield (which is Suzuki's name for that long plastic fairing piece that runs the length of the scooter under the floorboards etc) there is a big plastic tab that the front of the legshield hangs on. At the bottom there is a small snap tab. If the big tab at the top is fractured, the small one at the bottom won't snap tight. Sounds to me that this is one area of damage you are talking about.

The shop apparently fractured the big inner tab during one of the services. All I could see was that the tiny external tab at the bottom wasn't clicking tight. I eventually removed the lower legshield to take a look, and saw that the big internal tab was badly fractured right where it is attached to the legshield.

I went to Ace Hardware. They have about 192 different types of plastic glue. Slight exaggeration - but close... You can go blind trying to read the instructions and lofty claims on each package. I tried two types - neither one held. I went back and bought some JB Weld, which I'd heard works great for plastic repairs on other motorcycle forums. It has two tubes and you have to mix the contents - use a container & stir stick that you don't mind throwing away afterwards. I used it to "weld" the tab in place. Not real pretty - but no one will see it anyway on the back side of the legshield. I let it cure for awhile, then reinstalled the legshield. Perfect - the little tab at the bottom snaps tight again too.

I've got about 6000 riding miles since doing the repair -and the legshield has been on & off several times for maintenance tasks. The repair is holding up great! JB Weld is good stuff! The store had 2 versions of it. I used the "quick cure" version, which cures in 4 hours - I think the other takes 12 hours.

Note: I did show the service manager at the shop. I couldn't prove they did it - but I know they did, because I first noticed the little tab was loose right after they did that "dieseling noise" fix. And the mechanic confirmed that they'd had to remove the lower leg shield on that side to do the repair. I had never previously removed the leg shield myself.

 

[JD]

Glad your "friend" wasn't hurt. I guess it would be a little embarrasing, but to me I would rather be embarrased that injured. At least the bike and rider came out with only a few scratches, alot better than being run over by a cage coming up that ramp!! 8)

 

[NormanB]

Flint,

[snip]
[snip] I went back and bought some JB Weld, which I'd heard works great for plastic repairs on other motorcycle forums. It has two tubes and you have to mix the contents - use a container & stir stick that you don't mind throwing away afterwards. I used it to "weld" the tab in place. Not real pretty - but no one will see it anyway on the back side of the legshield. I let it cure for awhile, then reinstalled the legshield. Perfect - the little tab at the bottom snaps tight again too.

I've got about 6000 riding miles since doing the repair -and the legshield has been on & off several times for maintenance tasks. The repair is holding up great! JB Weld is good stuff! The store had 2 versions of it. I used the "quick cure" version, which cures in 4 hours - I think the other takes 12 hours. [snip]

I will second that - I am a recent convert to JB Weld - it is a most excellent product.

 

[Randy]

Glad your friend is OK, fixing the bike is easy compared to fixing people.
I can see your friend being embarrassed but he is not the first or last rider that will make a mistake and that's is one of the ways we learn .
BTW tell your friend to pull out his computer and log on, tell the story himself

 

[Invincsum]

Flint,

Glad to hear your good buddy is OK. Remind him that ice/cold is good for sore muscles in the first 24 hours, then heat works best.

Sounds like the guys have given your friend some good advice re: repairs. And it's wonderful your friend got back on the bike again.

You're a really good "friend"!

Bryna

 

[JD]

Just goes to show you that Suzuki makes a quality product. Even though it was not a serious drop, the damage was still minimal. If that would have been a Silverwing they may have still been picking pieces of it up off the concrete!!! J/K!!! :wink:

 

[flintbobbi]

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT EVERYONE!

Thx everyone. I'll definitely pick up some of that JB Weld stuff. I've used it before but it's been awhile. Pauljo, I think you described exactly what happened - the big plastic tab broke and the small one towards the top front won't stay hooked now. So hopefully I, er, my "friend" can repair his as well as you did yours.

And good advice about running late. I'll definitely remind myself that when I'm running late, which doesn't happen as much as it does when I'm with my wife in the van, but it does occasionally happen for me when I'm on the Burgman. Seems like time "slows down" on the bike. Too much fun to worry about anything!

My friend's shoulder is much better by the way, but his ego will take a bit longer to heal I believe. Ugh. :roll:

Flint

 

[pauljo]

Re: THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT EVERYONE!

Pauljo, I think you described exactly what happened - the big plastic tab broke and the small one towards the top front won't stay hooked now. So hopefully I, er, my "friend" can repair his as well as you did yours.

Don't be shy about globbing the JB Weld under and around the base of the tab... Like I said, nobody's going to see it anyway since it is on the back side of the panel. And although the cure time for the "quik cure" variety was 4 hours, I let it cure for 6 hours before re-installing the panel - just to be safe.

Years ago, I was turning into a parking lot on my motorcycle. There was a very attractive young lady off to my right who was rather scantilly clad (well it was hot out you know). I, um.., "fixated" on her, and totally missed seeing the big rock in my path. I hit it while leaned over for the turn... Next thing I knew, I was sailing through the air parallel to the ground. My motorcycle was also sailing through the air about 15 feet away from me... No physical damage to me. Minor physical damage to the motorcycle. HUGE damage to my ego... But egos heal a lot cheaper than broken bones. You, er your friend, will get over it.

 

[Monterey10]

Bridge from hell.

Once, I rode from Seattle down to Santa Cruz in one day. (1100 miles) Approx 1100 pm, I hit the Golden Gate bridge. It was dark, the wind was blowing a thick misty fog over the bridge. I could feel the bike jumping. I moved to a lane closest to the on coming wind. (slow lane) At that point, a gust picked up the bike and pushed me accross the fast lane into the oncoming traffic lanes. Fortunately, there were no on coming cars.

When I got to the toll booth, I paid the man and gassed the bike to get
away from the bridge. The bike just sat there. I was just thinking
the clutch must have blown or I wasn't in gear when the bike slid side
ways a touch. I looked down and realized the road was covered
with oil where the cars stopped to pay the toll. I was right in the middle
of it and the wheel was in fact turning, but I wasn't going. I pushed
myself out of the wet and oil til I could get going again. Whew!

I pulled into my drive way at 0300 HRs., rather pale, dizzy and tired. I
tried climbing off the bike, but drug my foot
and it tipped over, pinning me against the
garage door. As I wiggled and clawed to get out from beside the
Gold Wing, it pressed me in harder to the door. I thrashed around
for 10 minutes until my sister came out and helped me out. Very
humiliating.

To this day, there are still claw marks and scrapes on the garage
door.

That morning I slept with dreams of headlights and
road signs passing.

In retrospect, I should have been off the road at the 500 mile mark.

This all happened 25 years ago. These days I'm lucky to go
300 miles before my body is crying.

Ride safe folks.