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Safety Rant

Discussion in 'Hangout Lounge' started by PilotSmack, Sep 25, 2016.

  1. PilotSmack

    PilotSmack Active Member

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    Hey guys, been a while.

    As the weather turns darkish and dreary for some, riding season is almost up for us. That being said, I had an incident with my ride last week that makes me wanna say one thing: Practice your basic skills more frequently.

    I was cruising along at about 80km/h, when the retaining bolt for my (soft) saddlebags sheared off. The trailing edge of the right bag was pulled into the rear tire and swingarm, causing an immediate lockup. We've all been a little complacent from time to time, as was I; riding with one hand on the throttle, and the other on my lap. Such a cool guy....

    Fortunately muscle-memory kicked in and snapped my left hand back to the bar, and I was able to keep the whole thing sorta steady, though I did wobble toward the end - since I heard an audible "ping", I thought something on the front tire broke, and assumed a front lockup, not rear. Since I was busy troubleshooting instead of dealing with the problem, I started to wobble and veer all over the place, but, luckily, didn't bail.

    After a nice gentleman with a 3ft breaker bar helped me un-wedge the bags, the only noticeable damage was a bent chain guard, a scratched up rear tire, and some paint missing from my swingarm. I'd still call that one a win.

    Bottom line, I ended up making things worse by trying to hot-dog my way out on the fly instead of just dealing with the lockup. So bottom line, practice those panic stops, and be keep your skills fresh.
     
    rocs82650, k-moe and Stumplifter like this.
  2. Stumplifter

    Stumplifter Well-Known Member

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    Glad things turned out well. Thank you for the reminder!
     
  3. XJ550H

    XJ550H Well-Known Member Premium Member

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    be the bunny.

    every time i see the one handed rider I wonder if he checked his rear brake shoes.
     
  4. MiGhost

    MiGhost Well-Known Member

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    You know that extra set your supposed to carry. That would have been a good time!
    Glad to hear you made it out ok otherwise.

    Make sure that the tire did not flat spot!

    ~Ghost
     
  5. cgutz

    cgutz Well-Known Member

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    Even though you had a bolt shear, its also a reminder to do periodic preventative checks and services to make sure bolts are tight, oil is correct, cables in good shape, etc.

    One day I looked at my valve cover and one of the outer bolts was completely backed out. Not a life threatening problem, but reminded me to check the torque on other bolts. Found one transmission side cover screw slightly loose.
     

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