thursday I decided to go to Austin (80 miles away or so) to hit a few clubs, as I haven't been in one since before I got married
my car has been exhibiting some worrying behaviour, so I took the S40, since the Ninja isn't inspected yet

well I went into one club, and saw right away it was lame, no customers and the bartender didn't even react to me stepping up to the bar, so I left, to try a different place, and discovered I had a puncture in the rear tire of the bike

I decided to go ahead and head for home, since a flat on a bike is a much bigger deal than it is on a car, hitting gas stations as I went to add air to the tire
well, every darn station I stopped at had a broken compressor, and I wound up on an unrideable bike well southeast of Austin
Not one towing service would send a wrecker for an out of town trip at 1:30 in the morning, so I was stuck
eventualy I managed to flag down a Deputy Sheriff, and that young lady went above and beyond, taking me to the airport where I could rent a car even at 2am
I managed to rent a truck, and went to get the bike
in spite of having a ditch to back into, the end of the tailgate was still 5-6 inches above the ground, so I had to lift first the front end, then the rear of the bike up and forward to get it on the truck, while also keeping the bike balanced so it wouldn't fall over, then scooting the rear end sideways so I could close the tailgate, as it was a 4 door and had maybe a 6 foot bed (I think it was more like 5)
the bike was wedged in so well i didn't bother to stop at WalMart for straps, which wound up being as dumb as it sounds
for 80 miles I drove without a problem, the bike riding just fine, then I'm coming up a 2 lane highway into Columbus, there's a fool kitten in the road, eating road kill
I momentarily forgot I had a bike in the bed not tied down and swerved, which made the bike fall over in the bed (lucky it didn't fall out)
the truck was undamaged,(thank you drop in bedliner) but my taillight lens was smashed on the bike

Next came unloading the bike
the dip I found near my place was not close to ideal, leaving the end of the tailgate maybe 10-12 inches off the ground, but I went to work, lifting the rear of the bike and letting it roll back under control
when I set it down to change my grip, the frame of the bike got hung on the tailgate (again no damage to the truck, thanks bedliner) so I wound up rotating the bike on that pivot point until the front wheel was pointing straight up at the sky, got my arm through the rear wheel around the fender, hugged the bike to me with the left arm, and lifted straight up, took 1/2 a step back, then set the back tire down, shifted my grip, and lowered the front end down under a little bit of control, then rode it to it's parking spot very slowly. unfortunately during this operation the left rear turn signal got caught on my jacket and snapped off (during the unloading, not the riding)

got up this morning and took the rental back and paid a taxi far too much money to get home, and was late to work by 15 minutes

also, when I turned in the truck, they pointed out a scuff across the front end that was there when I picked it up and made me fill out and accident form, on which I stated that there had been no accident (this is true) the scuff was there when I got it (also true)
I relaxed a bit when I realized the 'manager's special' on the truck had included a damage waiver, but I'm still calling Monday


so I missed dinner, did some motorcycle lifting, got only 4 hours of sleep, missed breakfast, ate junk food during the fist few hours  of my shift, and everything hurts right now, chest, biceps, IT bands. hip flexors, lats, knees, feet, shoulders, calves, in fact my left calf feels as though it's got a bit of a sprain
I'm gonna call the cycle lifting an impromtu strongman session, and rest tonight

counting the cab ride, the rental of the truck, and gas for the truck, I'm out $418 already, and haven't even got the tire fixed, that's over a weeks pay, nice party there Art

the Ironic thing is, had I taken the car, and the engine taken a nuts, I'd have just left it beside the road and worried about getting myself home, and of course if the car had gotten a flat, I'd have just popped on the spare and driven home
wish I'd taken the car

motorcycles aren't my favorite thing right now, if someone offered me 1200-1500 for the S40  right now I think it's be sold, regardless of the fact I paid 2800 for it

good think for me it only weighs 385lb dry (probably closer to 395 with gas and oil0

sorry for your troubles... maybe time to invest in a can of fixaflat or ride-on
especially if you're gonna ride when and where there are no services.

That's a bad night!  You'll look back and laugh someday.  

(You need to find a friend with a pickup, too!)

You can find some aftermarket rear sigs pretty cheap if ypu don't mind a little modifying to make them fit.  You probably won't find too much in used savage sigs - those things are the first thing to break - snap off every time you bump them (or bear hug your bike out of a truck bed)  

Good job on being strong enough to lift that thing!  It's not only heavy, it's awkward.  

I used about 4 cans of fix-a-flat running about 50 miles. At highway speeds the rear tire works pretty well, even flat,providing its a pretty fresh hunk O rubber & not worn out too bad.A puncture in a sorry tube tears. A Good tube just gets a hole. Dont go cheap on the tube. A hole will goop over with Green Slime or Fix-a-flat, a tear just wont. I got home, but as soon as I stopped at the garage, the accumulated gunk just gushed out, OHH what a mess..

Art that really stinks    But don't give up on the bike, just get yourself a membership to AMA. For $47/year they cover your bike, car and immediate family with roadside assistance, well worth the piece of mind not having to endure an ordeal such as you had to.

They've never worked in my tubes...
My tubes have always torn...
They definitely work better in tubeless tires...

I've had 3 failures and no success with fix-a-flat in my tube tires...
Fool me 1,...2,.. 3,. times... you not gonna' fool me again...
...not many more times anyway... ...