Art Webb
Serious Thumper
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SuzukiSavage.com Rocks!
Posts: 3007
columbus, Texas
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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
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