On 4-Dec, 2021 I COG member 13295 dropped our C14.
The feeling of dropping your motorcycle can only be truly understood looking backward but first you have to live through it forward.
NEVER have I dropped a Connie (C10 or C14) or any machine out riding; won't happen to me - right...? Only time, before this weekend, I dropped a machine was winter of 2008 repositioning a 1979 KZ750 in the garage. So here goes....
Sitting in the pilot's chair, machine idling / warming up, I reached with both hands to the left plugging in my heated gear when I let the machine rest to the left. After the machine 'rested' to a certain point I recognized the kickstand was not down and I was in big trouble, momentum built rapidly.
Crossed my mind "I can save this" but then thought wiser move was to slow the drop to a gentle landing instead of trying to save, possibly hurting myself with the already established momentum or cause more damage by almost saving then falling with or atop the machine... I managed to slow the drop to a gentle landing.
My wife thankfully hadn't saddled up yet and was a few feet behind me taking in a last look at the scenery. Since machine was running (in neutral) when I grabbed the bars to slow the drop I twisted the throttle and scared the heck out of her. We were @ Calvert Cliff State Park in Delaware, very quiet place, she thought I was trying to wake the fossils as the full exhaust barked a rev-bomb like no other!!! She turned around shocked, then immediately asked if I was ok, realizing I was not being a hoodlum but rather something went very wrong.
I was fearful there would be significant plastic or saddle bag damage. Just two minor underbelly scratches that unless one knew where to look would not see.
Looking back now I/We got very lucky First and foremost my wife had not saddled up yet, secondly I did not get injured (other than ego-which I don't take very seriously anyway...) and only damage to the machine is equivalent to road debris scratches.
Lesson Learned: Length in the saddle can lead to complacencies and nowhere is your guard down as sitting in a deserted parking lot... Always doublecheck the kickstand is down before removing your hands from the handlebars and 'resting' a machine.
The feeling of dropping your motorcycle can only be truly understood looking backward but first you have to live through it forward.
NEVER have I dropped a Connie (C10 or C14) or any machine out riding; won't happen to me - right...? Only time, before this weekend, I dropped a machine was winter of 2008 repositioning a 1979 KZ750 in the garage. So here goes....
Sitting in the pilot's chair, machine idling / warming up, I reached with both hands to the left plugging in my heated gear when I let the machine rest to the left. After the machine 'rested' to a certain point I recognized the kickstand was not down and I was in big trouble, momentum built rapidly.
Crossed my mind "I can save this" but then thought wiser move was to slow the drop to a gentle landing instead of trying to save, possibly hurting myself with the already established momentum or cause more damage by almost saving then falling with or atop the machine... I managed to slow the drop to a gentle landing.
My wife thankfully hadn't saddled up yet and was a few feet behind me taking in a last look at the scenery. Since machine was running (in neutral) when I grabbed the bars to slow the drop I twisted the throttle and scared the heck out of her. We were @ Calvert Cliff State Park in Delaware, very quiet place, she thought I was trying to wake the fossils as the full exhaust barked a rev-bomb like no other!!! She turned around shocked, then immediately asked if I was ok, realizing I was not being a hoodlum but rather something went very wrong.
I was fearful there would be significant plastic or saddle bag damage. Just two minor underbelly scratches that unless one knew where to look would not see.
Looking back now I/We got very lucky First and foremost my wife had not saddled up yet, secondly I did not get injured (other than ego-which I don't take very seriously anyway...) and only damage to the machine is equivalent to road debris scratches.
Lesson Learned: Length in the saddle can lead to complacencies and nowhere is your guard down as sitting in a deserted parking lot... Always doublecheck the kickstand is down before removing your hands from the handlebars and 'resting' a machine.