My bike blew over yesterday...

[Gearhead]

...during a big ol' T-storm at work. It was parked near the security guard shack; as I was walking out he asks me if I know who's bike that is. Yeah. Poor guy felt really bad for me; he kept apologizing, like he blew it over or something - hehe. A couple years ago I had a 440 lb, 600cc bike blow over, but it didn't lean very far over on the kickstand. I figured there was no way this 800 lb monster would blow over, but it did.

 

In both incidents the bikes were covered - read, they had a sail attached, and they fell away from the kickstand. After the first incident I was paying attention to the prevailing winds, location of wind breaks, and which direction my bike was leaning while parked at work. Over time I kinda forgot to keep doing this.

 

It was completely sideways. It musta hit the crash bars first (which did their job), but it had enough momentum at that point to keep going until the mirror and upper fairing near the mirror stopped it. It could be alot worse. The pavement was rough, so everything that touched down (mirror, fairing, crash bars) got a good roughing-up. Hiway bar just moved on its mounts, front crash bar had to be bent out a little, mirror OK except for scratches. The upper and lower fairing broke some mounting tabs and exacerbated some already-existing cracks near the mirror mount and the rear mounting point. It has Baker Air Wings. The wing is OK, broke off the mount at the nylon screws just like it's supposed to. I think the lower wing mounting arm is what hit the ground and caused the lower fairing mounting tabs to break. However, when I installed them I fabricated and installed extensive reinforcement and the fairing did not break at the wing mounting points. I rode it in again today.

 

Partly makes me glad it wasn't pristine. The other part of me wants to fix and paint it and make it pristine. I'm certainly glad I wasn't on it and nobody got smushed. Oh well, nothing some more JB Weld and TIME won't fix.

 

Just yesterday I was reading about PermaPoxy for fixing fairings. I think that was a bad omen :-) I'll have to go get some.

 

Jeremy

[gibvel]

Sorry to hear about the accident. Only one word comes to mind... Centerstand.

[mtman]

Sorry to hear about yer scoot falling. I live in a T'storm prone area and have wondered if the scoot would fall over; now I know:( I also wondered a little about the kickstand. It seems to leave the scoot a little more "upright" than I would like and I don't see any kind of adjustment for it.

[Gearhead]

I've got Progressive Suspension front and rear which makes the bike sit a little higher. It's similar to having the stock suspension with MAX air in both ends. Before, the bike was a little more upright on the stand, but now it has a nice lean to it. I've read that the bike is actually more stable on the kickstand than the centerstand, as long as there's some lean. It's because the 3 points of contact (both tires and the stand) are farther apart than the 3 points when using the centerstand (front tire and two stand legs).

 

Jeremy

[mtman]

Obviously the "nice lean" ain't quite enough in a stiff breeze especially if it's got a cover on it. Guess I'm gonna have to keep my eye on the wx and the scoots surroundings like you were doing Jeremy. Maybe have to "engineer" a kickstand that allows a lot of lean or is adjustable or something. Or leant it on a tree like I did my bicycle eons ago:rotf:

[BradT]

LAst when we were heading to Yellowstone we ran into one hell of a wind t-storm, we took cover at a gas station and parked the bike near the wall of the store.

 

There was a newer Goldwing with a trailer and the wind blew it over. I was shocked, but that was a big wind.

 

BRad

[skydoc_17]

Hey Jeremy,

Sorry to hear about your 87'. I have an 86' V65 magna as well as an 87' VR and while riding the V65 at the beginning of the summer I went to pick up Jean (co-pilot) at work and when I pulled into the parking lot I noticed that it was freshly paved and I thought "wow, this is nice and smooth" I got off my bike, covered it and went inside to wait for Jean. When I came outside, I was horrorified to see the bike on it's side! I pulled off the cover and saw that the kickstand had sunk into the pavement! Every time the wind would blow, the bike would pivot on the kickstand, it scuffed up the seat, sidecover, muffler and the handlegrip. I was so bumbed I almost called a cab! After the accident, I was so mad I decided to redo the seat, bought another side cover and handlegrip and Installed headers on the bike. It looked really great after that, But I found that I didn't use the cover nearly as much after that. Also I stay away from fresh pavement now! I hope this spures you to make your 87' look even better than before!

Good Luck on the repairs,

Earl

[ventureblue]

SORRY ABOUT YOUR BIKE. i INSTALLED THE LEVELING LINK ABOUT 2 MONTHS AGO AND NOT ONLY DOES THE BIKE HANDLE BETTER IT ALSO HAS MORE LEAN WHEN ON THE SIDE STAND. BEFORE THE L.L. I WONDERED IF THIS BIG BOHEMOTH WOULD EVER FALL IN THE RIGHT WINDY CONDITIONS. I GUESS YOU JUST ANSWERED THAT. SORRY AGAIN.

[Condor]

Wow! I'm glad we only have earth quakes....

[bongobobny]

I had my '83 Honda CX650 get blown off the centerstand once. It too had a cover on it and yes the cover must have made an excellent sail! Glad there wasn't more damage to your scoot!!

[GeorgeS]

You should Always !!! Park, heading INTO the Wind !!!

[Guest BigJohnD]

Wonder is this falls under "act of God" kinda thing...bummer.

[Gearhead]

The thing is, you never quite know in the morning how the wind will shift in the afternoon. That said, in my parking lot the wind almost always comes from one of two directions, and it's kinda seasonal.

 

Regarding the cover, my bike sits out in that bloody lot in the direct Arizona sun for 9 hours a day, every work day. After a while that really beats up the paint and seat. However, I have certainly felt the downside of using a cover.

 

Jeremy

[gibvel]

I was going to say that maybe a half cover would be a better option but that won't cover all of the paint.

[Semi-retired]

Sorry to hear about your "loss".

 

If it isn't one thing it's another, as Rosanne Rosannadanna used to say.

 

I'm always paranoid that the 869 lb. (full tank!) is going to fall over TOWARD the stand, with or without wind.....just from the shear weight that must be bearing down on that 2 square inches of stand "foot".

 

Now I know they can "go both ways". Cool......politically correct falling! LOL.

 

Make 'er good again!

 

Cheers from Niagara,

Michael.

 

... and they fell away from the kickstand. Jeremy

[painterman67]

never had one blow over (knock on wood and hope it doesn't happen). But I hav ehad one work the stand into the asphalt. So my idea was to expand the footprint of the kick stand. What I did was to get a 4x4 electical junction box cover from a electician friend of mine, drilled a small hole on one of the corners and tied a piece of leather to it. Then I put a loop on the other end so I could hang it on my bike somewhere in reach. I simply park the bike , get the cover out of my little bag there and place it under the stand, then do the reverse when I mount the bike. Works wonders.

 

 

Now how to stop the wind I guess we can always pray.

David