Got a boo boo a few weeks ago

[Deuce]

I took my Suzuki up to San Antonio to ride with a buddy of mine that bought a Kawasaki ZRX a few months ago. We had a decent ride and it brought back memories from the 80s when we used to ride. Since it has been over 35 years since I hauled a bike in a truck, I forgot a few things. One of them is that you don't strap to the left hand grip. Another is that I used to load the bike, swing the rear around, and shut the tail gate. I was almost halfway home and going through a small town (30 mph speed limit, thank God,) when I felt what I thought was going over a pot hole. I looked in the rear view mirror to see the bike on its side and back about a foot! I freaked out and pulled over right away. Yep, it yanked the left grip completely off. I'm getting a Canyon Dancer strap for future hauling and sliding the rear over and shutting the tail gate. This shouldn't be that difficult a repair. I bought the tools to work it out.





My buddy is on the right, I'm in the middle. We were so young then!

[steve murdoch]

I hate to say it could have been so much worse but.....
Can you start a thread about pulling/repairing the dent.
I think a lot of us would be interested.

[rphillips]

Gosh man, can't believe that happened, sorry. I hate to admit it, but when things like that happen to me, I just blame it on the birthdays. At least you enjoyed the good ride & he old memories.

[Steve]

Do yourself and your bike a favor. Skip the Canyon Dancer.

I have seen handlebars pivot down in the clamps, which removes any semblance of "restraint". Similar results to yours.

The only time I will connect to the handlebars is if it is right near the clamps, and never in a manner that might make the bars pivot.

.

[Deuce]

All I can say is "I should have known better."

Yes, I can start a thread about the repair. I took the fairing off to get to the tach to fix the face plate screw that came out, so I'm going to fix all the surface cracks and repaint that as well. It didn't get damaged, just years of coming off and going back on has left some marks in it.

[Carter Turk]

I've been loading my bike for track days for the past 8 years, first in a tall stock 4 X 4 truck bed, now in a lower VW Eurovan.
I secure the bike with a strap around the steering stem & lower triple clamp, with the double looped strap coming out on both sides, behind the forks.
Cinch it down with straps to the 2 anchor points. Putting it 1st gear, before strapping is good too, though I sometimes forget to do that.

[limeex2]

I use the lower triple clamp also, and also some where in the rear. All 4 straps pulling the same direction. I learned the hard way from track days too. Sorry to hear of the mishap. Nice ZRX.