Yep, my brand new 2011 FE570S hit the pavement as I was pulling off I-5 yesterday, on the way home. I'd driven over 200 miles at an average speed of 74 mph over all sorts of horrible bumps and dips and it was fine but as I exited and slow-rolled through the stop at the top of the overpass (no one around for miles), I heard a strange sound and looked in my rear view mirrors to see my bike, still attached to the back rack but now horizontal, not vertical.
I saw blue plastic which I knew was some of my bike laying back about twenty yards. I waved to an on-coming car to please miss it...and they did (barely). It was the suspension brace I'd purchased at the dealership. If you've never used one...maybe you shouldn't...but there's more to that later. One of the mechanics at the dealership helped me put the bike on the rear Tilt-a-rack (cool racks, you don't need a ramp as they tilt) and he put the brace which sits in place between the fender and the front tire. It allows you to tie-down the bike without squishing the suspension which has got to be better for your forks.
Though there were no instructions with the brace, it seemed self-explanatory, crank down the tie-downs and head down the road. I had noticed that Huasaberg had put two horizontal tabs that contacted each fork. These tabs had slots in them, like for a strap of tie-wrap which would hold the brace in place...you think!?
I'd noticed, over the 200+ miles, that the bike had just a tiny movement back and forth on the rack, normal really since the tie-down locations aren't really pulling the bike forward into the wheel chock as much as I'd prefer, I'm going to change their location asap. Anyway, this small motion, maybe a quarter inch of forward and back motion of the front tire under the brace, eventually started kicking it out of position so when I hit the small bump at the top of the ramp, the brace fell out, the straps (4 of them) were loose and the bike fell backwards.
OK, here's the miraculous part, and it really is a miracle. The rear tire strap didn't let go and the double tie-downs on the truck side of the carrier didn't either so the bike was suspended sideways with both tires on the rack with ony the left handlebar end contacting the asphalt. The only damage was a ruined handgrip and a shorter handlebar by about 3/8" which I'm hoping Barfield, a regular contributor on this forum can weld back to length.
If my bike would've fallen off on the freeway, it would've been crushed by either a car or one of the thousands of semi-trucks I passed yesterday. A local farmer who, as he stepped out of his truck, said; "I'm an old dirt-biker from way back!", stopped and helped me sort out things and get the bike back on the rack. We cinched it down without the brace-like in the old days and it rode home with no further incidents.
I wrote this to warn those of you who use the brace and for those of you considering it. Please strap it to the forks! This may seem elementary but since there were no instructions and a veteran dirt-biker and mechanic helped me tie-down the new bike without them, I thought they were unnecessary...they are definitely necessary!
Now I'm going for my first ride, before it gets hot, gonna be over 100 today...again! Will
I saw blue plastic which I knew was some of my bike laying back about twenty yards. I waved to an on-coming car to please miss it...and they did (barely). It was the suspension brace I'd purchased at the dealership. If you've never used one...maybe you shouldn't...but there's more to that later. One of the mechanics at the dealership helped me put the bike on the rear Tilt-a-rack (cool racks, you don't need a ramp as they tilt) and he put the brace which sits in place between the fender and the front tire. It allows you to tie-down the bike without squishing the suspension which has got to be better for your forks.
Though there were no instructions with the brace, it seemed self-explanatory, crank down the tie-downs and head down the road. I had noticed that Huasaberg had put two horizontal tabs that contacted each fork. These tabs had slots in them, like for a strap of tie-wrap which would hold the brace in place...you think!?
I'd noticed, over the 200+ miles, that the bike had just a tiny movement back and forth on the rack, normal really since the tie-down locations aren't really pulling the bike forward into the wheel chock as much as I'd prefer, I'm going to change their location asap. Anyway, this small motion, maybe a quarter inch of forward and back motion of the front tire under the brace, eventually started kicking it out of position so when I hit the small bump at the top of the ramp, the brace fell out, the straps (4 of them) were loose and the bike fell backwards.
OK, here's the miraculous part, and it really is a miracle. The rear tire strap didn't let go and the double tie-downs on the truck side of the carrier didn't either so the bike was suspended sideways with both tires on the rack with ony the left handlebar end contacting the asphalt. The only damage was a ruined handgrip and a shorter handlebar by about 3/8" which I'm hoping Barfield, a regular contributor on this forum can weld back to length.
If my bike would've fallen off on the freeway, it would've been crushed by either a car or one of the thousands of semi-trucks I passed yesterday. A local farmer who, as he stepped out of his truck, said; "I'm an old dirt-biker from way back!", stopped and helped me sort out things and get the bike back on the rack. We cinched it down without the brace-like in the old days and it rode home with no further incidents.
I wrote this to warn those of you who use the brace and for those of you considering it. Please strap it to the forks! This may seem elementary but since there were no instructions and a veteran dirt-biker and mechanic helped me tie-down the new bike without them, I thought they were unnecessary...they are definitely necessary!
Now I'm going for my first ride, before it gets hot, gonna be over 100 today...again! Will
