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New to the forum, not new to dropping my Connie...

guyhoovler

guyhoovler

Moped
OK, so I'll jump right in... I have had my 2009 C14 for three years now, and I've dropped it four times.

The first time - I'd had it for about a month, came to a stop on a road that cut across a neighborhood hill, at the stop sign the road I was on slanted a few degrees to my right.  I foolishly went to get my right foot down and had farther to reach than I thought, which gave the Connie some momentum.  I fought for a second then jumped off and let it go over.

My second year with the bike, I took a cross country camping trip with 3 friends (two VFRs and one BMW R1200). The first night, we found a questionable campground somewhere in Illinois and had to off road up a hill to get to the tent campground.  My friends decided to move on and look for a different campground, proceeding to do u-turns on the hill to head back.  You can guess what happened next.

My third drop was on the same cross-country trip, on the road up through Tioga pass, the lead rider (the R1200 at the time) pulled off at a scenic overlook - which was paved with deep gravel.  Yep, you know how that story ends.

My fourth drop - last summer, parked the bike in my driveway and left it in neutral.  Rolled off the kickstand.  Big sigh.

Since then, I've been paranoid, careful, double-checked to be sure I left it in gear, purchased one of those kickstand things with the telescoping pole so I can park on gravel/grass without digging a hole.  No doubt this bike is much more fun to ride than to park!  At least I can say that I haven't dropped it putting it up on the center stand - yet!

Thanks for giving me a safe place to share my shame.

Guy
 
Great story (stories), thanks for sharing.  No one here will lump too much torment on any replies.  Most of us have at least a very close call if not a full drop.  I'm still waiting for mine, I'm sure it's coming.  Welcome to the crowd.
 
Thanks for the encouraging words...

I actually forgot there was one more drop, and it was the worst one!  Probably blocked it out of my memory.  I had only had the bike a few months, stopped it in my driveway and apparently didn't get the kickstand all the way down.  It started to fall, and I grabbed the left handlebar (still straddling the bike) and yanked - and here was the result:



So - that makes 5 drops in 3 seasons, and a lot of lessons learned along the way.

Guy

 
Welcome to the forum, Guy!  Sorry to hear all of those tales of woe, but you're hardly alone.  You're not even alone in having the handlebar shear like that - someone else had the exact same issue.  The pic is posted somewhere in this thread since he dropped his at a gas station because of it.

And so it has now become my sad duty to confirm you as the 502nd recipient of the uncoveted Connie Droppers Anonymous Award.  You have another tale to share around a Rally campfire.  My sincerest condolences!

The five most recent unfortunates:

0498 C14 Brent Marshall
0499 C14 Terry DeFreese
0500 C14 Kevin Buckley
0501 C10 Gerald Cates
0502 C14 Guy Hoovler
 
Thank you!  It's enough for me to know that I'm (by far) not alone.  Just sad that I didn't make it a few days earlier for the coveted CDA #500 - congrats and condolences to Kevin for grabbing the honor.
 
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