Re: [ST] Another low speed fall...

["Rob Brown" <rcode94@xxxxxxx>]

All,

I guess I'll share mine too.  I don't post very often but how can I pass up
this chance to humiliate myself on the internet?

We were moving form a tiny apartment to a house.  It was the typical Seattle
day - overcast and showers.  The day before I had taken two of the spots in
front of our apartment building with my dad's truck and the Sprint.  I pull
the moving truck up to the front of the building in the street.  I need to
move the bike and the pickup to get the moving truck closer to the door.

I wipe some water off the seat and hop on.  I start it up an take off.  This
should be easy, I just need to do a 3/4 circle around the moving truck.  I
made it 1/2 way.  As I am about the center of the back of the truck I tap
the front brake a little to hard and loose my momentum.  The bike starts to
lean in the direction of my turn, which is down hill.  I fight a loosing
battle.  It's wet, down hill, and I'm wearing tennis shoes. It's over.  The
bike is going down.  I fight it to the ground but it's happened.  I hit the
kill switch just as it touches down.  With not much effort and lots of
adrenaline I pick it back up and roll it into the parking spot I was riding
to.  I look it over and see some scratches on the fairing.   Nothing is
broken but it has some scratches on the right fairing and the can.  It needs
some paint work and a new decal.  I'm glad the panniers were not on at the
time.

It gets even better that night when I try to start the Sprint to ride it to
the new place.  I get all my gear on, put it in neutral, pull in the clutch
and push the starter button.  It spins but no love.  It just will not start.
There are no funny noises.  I decided, for what ever reason, that I must
have left the parking light on all day and the battery must be dead.  So I
take the seat off and get the tools out and disconnect the battery.  Just as
I start pulling it out I look at the right bar and notice the kill switch is
still off.  I put hooked the battery back up and rode away.

I learned a few things from the event.  First, when your mind is on
something else your going to pay for it.  Second, I really don't like the
way Triumph decided to use a kill switch instead of an off button.  Finally,
don't use the front brake for low speed turns.  Duh!

RoB Brown
Kent, WA
2004 Sprint ST
2001 Suzuki GS500
1983 Honda Ascot VT500

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