Gorgeous SoCal January day here today so off I head on LD to check out the level of all the reservoirs around the county. As I was riding up I-15 just before I got to Lake Hodges, the front end starts doin a really good imitation of Elvis. Now this ain't high speed bagger wobble cause I'm only doin mid 70's. This is that same sick feeling I got outside of Toronoto a few years ago. Flat rear tire. The last time I lost a lot of skin, totaled a sweet 03 SERK and in general made a mess of the better part of two months of my life. I was determined not to go down today. With my heart beatin 2000 beats a minute, I let off the throttle completely and started feathering the front brake while trying to keep the rear end swings to a minimum. Looking in my mirrors I was shocked to see traffic behind was slowing down (I must have been really swayin for that to happen in SoCal) after about a mile, I got ole LD to a dead stop in the #2 lane. The guy behind me jumped out of his car and helped me push the bike to the breakdown lane and within 60 seconds, traffic was flyin by at 80mph again. Called AAA, they showed up after five return calls to explain to the dispatchers where I was, the guy loaded LD on a ramp truck,brought me home and all is well. I will put the bike up on the lift, pull the rear wheel and have Cycle Gear install a new OEM Dunlop.
Couple things. I don't know what they teach you in the MRF Safety courses to do if you have a flat, but my experience tells me you want to use the opposite brake from the flat very gingerly, let off the throttle completely and avoid fighting the bike as much as possible. Let it swing a little rather than trying to hold it dead straight. Fighting what the bike naturally wants to do will only make the situation worse and that swinging /swaying motion definitely alerts traffic behind you that you're in trouble. Thank you GOD for looking over me as well.
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Topic: San Diego Reservoir Ride - - Could have been tragic (Read 7693 times)