It was a beautiful day yesterday - sunny, temps close to seventy, blue skies. It was windy, though. Gusts maybe 25 - 30 mph. I fiddled around in the shack in the morning but since I had a couple of books to return to the library I thought I'd get the Himalayan out and take it. I rolled it outside, got suited up and a dead battery even though I had it on a trickle charger all winter. I hooked it up to the big charger for a while and it lit right off. I got suited up again and took off for the library.
When I parked at the library the blacktop was on a bit of a slant, so I made sure the kickstand was on the downhill side since the stand is too long. I went inside and sure enough when I came back out the wind had blown the bike over on its side. I got it stood back up with no real damage. The crash bars were a good investment and my helmet was hanging on the handlebars where it hit. It got a scuff but didn't hurt the throttle grip. I went home, took my helmet off opened up the saddle bag on the kickstand side to take the mail out and the damn thing fell over again. I was holding the lid to the bag when it started to go but I could feel the hinge bending so I sold it out. So my first ride of the year ended up with the bike being blown over twice within a span of about fifteen minutes. Lifting it up the first time wasn't too bad but I felt it in my back on the second one. The old biker rule of not riding it if you can't pick it up hit home. It's rare that you need to do it twice within fifteen minutes, however.
I read an advertisement for the new Himalayans and it said they were fitted with an improved kickstand, so there is definitely an issue. I'm not going to ride my bike again until I shorten the kickstand. I'll take about a 1/4" out of it and that should keep it from falling over again in the future. Hard on my bike, my helmet and my back. Enough is enough.
2 comments:
Next time back to the bike when you pick it up.
I thought about that before picking it up. Since the left wrist has been broken twice, I wanted to have my right hand on the case guard when I picked it up. With the case guard and the saddle bag frame I could get a grip fairly high up so I could use my legs for the initial lift. Surprisingly enough, only the usual aches and pains the next day. It's a good thing I do at least a little strength training. Thanks for the tip, though.
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