It all happened so fast. I was riding to work this morning and saw a gas biker a block or two behind me. I slowed down slightly to give him a chance to catch up, then stayed in close proximity to give him a chance to check out my new SR. Of course, the SR doesn't look like a particularly fast bike, so riding with traffic doesn't really do it justice.
Turns out we were both heading in a similar direction, so we rode near by each other for the next 30 blocks or so. Obviously with morning traffic, it's a little hard to rip it around without taking some unnecessary risks, so I decided to keep my throttle hand steady with the flow of traffic until we hit the bridge, where it widens from 2 lanes to 4 for a good half-mile or so.
"This is my chance," I thought to myself, "to show this guy what my bike is really capable of." So, cruising along at 60km/h, I pulled onto the bridge, ducked forward a bit and gave the throttle a firm twist. The car in front was probably 200 meters ahead, so I knew I had more than enough room to get it up to a quick enough speed to make my point. 80, 90, 100, then all of a sudden a black object appears out of nowhere, hits my right arm, and rolls onto the road behind me. I look in my mirror as I let off the throttle and tried to figure out what just happened. Then it hit me. I looked down and saw an empty hole in front of me.
I'd stripped the SR bare the night before, pulling off the fairing and the seat to take a peek at what lies beneath. I guess in putting the storage bag back in I didn't give it enough of a push to secure the velcro. Oh, and I didn't even think about securing it with the helmet lock.
I slow down to about 60 and start cruising again, obviously feeling a bit stupid but also wondering whether it's worth going back for. The case is pretty poor build quality and has a cheap feel to it, so I've been fond of getting rid of it and doing something else with the space anyway. However, I figure I should at least go back and pick it up off the road so it's not in the way of other cars. So off I go, taking a detour back over the bridge, then making another couple of turns to get back on. Thankfully as I enter the bridge, I see cars stopped at the intersection before waiting for the light to turn green. I bump up my speed to leave enough room behind me, then brake firmly next to the bag, reach over and pick it up, then pop it back in before I gun it again. As I take off, I look in my mirror and notice a bus behind me has turned on his hazards, so I wave my hand to say thanks and continue on to the office.
I guess someone thought it would be a good idea to run over a black box (personally I'd have avoided it, since it's a pretty big object), and it didn't fair too well as evidenced in the attached photos.
So what's next? Well, after taking my SR to the grocery store and realizing how little actually fits in the storage bag, I'm not really seeing much value in having it in there. I don't bring my cable with me, since I've just been charging at home for now, and I normally have a messenger bag anyway to carry my laptop, iPad, etc. so if I need the cable I figure I can just toss it in there.
What I may do is just pull the storage bag out and leave it empty. I kind of like the idea of having it open, that way people who walk or drive by will be even more confused by the big empty space where the gas tank is supposed to be. Alternatively, I may just see if I can order the fairing used for bikes that have the power tank, that way I'll have plenty of space below it to play around with, and plenty more options to consider as I move forward (like a helmet storage area underneath the fairing, a folding latch so I can lift it up and put my bag or some groceries underneath, etc.). The possibilities are endless.
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Topic: Storage bag popped out and got run over... (Read 1418 times)