Almost didn't make it home

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ttty2t1j3
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Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:07 pm

Almost didn't make it home

#1 Unread post by ttty2t1j3 »

So me and my Dad decided to ride out and see my friend Gary who is in the hospital. We have to ride about 4 hours there and 4 hours back. The trip there was really good. The weather was perfect. Clear skies, sunny, the roads were clear, almost no traffic. Got to experience my first time on the freeway. People are really stupid drivers. A couple of close calls with people cutting me off and trying to drive through me when I'm turning or changing lanes. So it comes time to leave. Get out an hour later than we wanted to so we end up staying at a hotel half way home. Would have made the ride but I've also never been out at night and there was no moon out so pitch black, and I didn't have the gear for how cold it was. Forgot some of it.

So morning rolls around, good fresh start to the day. Some coffee in us, suit up. Make it about 20 miles out and I feel my bike jerk suddenly. First I thought it was my tire. I felt my back tire twitch to the left a bit after the jerk. I checked my mirrors and shoulders there was nothing behind me so I assumed that I was running out of gas which I was starting to sputter really bad. Lucky for me I had an auxilary tank on the back. So I reach until the tank and turn the aux on. I make it about another 10 miles just fine until I run out of gas have to pull over.

My Dad turned around and pulled up next to me and told me that something was wrong with my bike. Well duh there's something wrong with the gas line from the aux tank. So he tells me to turn around and it's not even there anymore. Turns out that sudden jerk I felt was the tank, the passenger back rest, and the luggage rack falling off. It bounced off of the road and up into my tire. Bent up my license plate, my left light, and gouged my tire. Pictures don't show it but it also tore up the left side of my tire too. We were luckily only 15 minutes from our friend's house. So he ran me out a gallon of gas and we limped it the 5 minutes to our mechanic's place.

I still don't know how it happened. The brackets just snapped. Checked everything over before I left. One would think even cold, even apparently faulty metal could hold up a 23lb tank. Needless to say I was very very lucky. I was going 75 when it happened. It could have easily put me into the road.

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So a couple things I learned from this.

If you think something is wrong, trust your gut and pull over. Better safe than sorry.

Always gas up when you have the chance. Although running out of gas is the only reason we knew about it in the first place. Someone pulled over with him when he was turning around to find me and told him about it. Next time I won't be caught without a tank of gas. Just because I know I can make it home on the backup tank strange things apparently happen.

Always travel with another person. NO ONE pulled over to see if we were ok, and I would have had no one to call if it wasn't for him. My phone died in the hotel that night.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky ;D
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Wrider
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Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2006 1:46 pm
Real Name: Ryan
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My Motorcycle: 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
Location: Colorado Springs, CO

#2 Unread post by Wrider »

Jeez! Now that's gotta be a one in a million kind of thing there... It was only 23 lbs? And it snapped the brackets like that? Crazy! :shock:
Glad you're ok!
Have owned - 2001 Suzuki Volusia
Current bike - 2005 Kawasaki Z750S
MMI Graduation date January 9th, 2009. Factory Certifications in Suzuki and Yamaha

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