I got up early today and met up at the rally point, a Motorcycle dealer in El Cajon... I didn't really know what to expect... but 150+ GoldWings in one parking lot was not what I had in mind
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A better approach would have been to stop, facing uphill, and put it in neutral, and then slowly back down the hill using your brakes to slow you and your feet to steady the bike until you reached a better place to attempt the turn. Like backing down a ramp.
Only time I ever dropped my bike was in a parking lot. That low speed stuff will get you every time. It's because you don't have the gyroscopic forces of the spinning wheels to help you.
A Good motorcyclist is one who has fallen ONCE - and, having had his sense of Mortality awakened, gets back on, rides with foresight and a strategy for possible outcomes, and is hyper-conscious of his situation...and will rarely fall again. If he does, it is under conditions which he has some control over - and can affect the outcome.
A motorcyclist who has NOT fallen is not necessarily a Good motorcyclist - but merely an untested one.
If you do much driving in the more deserty areas, watch out for fine silt or sand at the corners where paved sideroads meet or cross the main road or highway - take extra caution if you are having to stop at a stop sign, and double for turns when leaving one road for the other; motorcycles LOVE to slide out from under one at these spots.
I did pop the side panel to check the coolant leak while I was looking for any other damage, and it was clearly coming out of the coolant fill-tube / dipstick stem. No damage there, just gravity doing it's thing.
She probably lost less than a couple ounces of coolant in the few seconds Baby Dragon was rubber-side-up, but it was recognizably flourescent-green, so there was no doubt it was coolant and not something else.
Once I had her on level ground, I pulled out my TCLOCS checklist and went over it before riding on.
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A Gold Wing is NOT an off-road machine.
A better approach would have been to stop, facing uphill, and put it in neutral, and then slowly back down the hill using your brakes to slow you and your feet to steady the bike until you reached a better place to attempt the turn. Like backing down a ramp.
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I'm glad you and Baby Dragon are both mostly fine, and fixable.
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A motorcyclist who has NOT fallen is not necessarily a Good motorcyclist - but merely an untested one.
If you do much driving in the more deserty areas, watch out for fine silt or sand at the corners where paved sideroads meet or cross the main road or highway - take extra caution if you are having to stop at a stop sign, and double for turns when leaving one road for the other; motorcycles LOVE to slide out from under one at these spots.
...And just where was the coolant leaking from??
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She probably lost less than a couple ounces of coolant in the few seconds Baby Dragon was rubber-side-up, but it was recognizably flourescent-green, so there was no doubt it was coolant and not something else.
Once I had her on level ground, I pulled out my TCLOCS checklist and went over it before riding on.
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