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Although I'm a long time rider, I have only been riding my Goldwing for a cople of months. I confess that it's size and weight are occasionally intimidating to me still.
So today at the beginning of a ride I got five minutes from the house, getting ready to go from a residential street to a major thoroughfare. Not sure what happened, but I may have bumped into a pickup truck stopped at a light. I say "not sure" because a) I don't remember and b) the guy in the pickup truck didn't stop.
Anyways, I felt the awful feeling... The bike is going over for sure and it did. Cars were behind me and I learned that it is true... The first thing you do is look around to see if anyone is watching.
I've seen the terrific YouTube video in which an instructor demonstrates tipping over a Goldwing and how to pick it up. In fact, since the reaction of the spectators in the video is a little comical, I've seen it a bunch of times. Today, I was SO glad I did.
As promised, it tipped over only about 20 degrees. Also as promised, the engine stopped running about five seconds later. I hopped off of it (as if I had a choice) and ignored the guy in the car behind me who I'm certain was preparing to call 911.
I took a deep breath and remembered what I saw in the video. No ordinary human is going to be ale to just lift a Wing back up by simply lifting it from the handlebars. I faced backwards and then remembered that I would not be able to prevent it from going over the other way unless I put the side stand down. I did and then returned my back in position.
The bike went back up easily, all the way onto the side stand. I hopped back onto it and pushed the starter. The bike wouldn't start. Then I remembered the ignition has to be cycled off And on. I did it and the bike fired back up. I was on my way.
I love YouTube and I love that video.
So today at the beginning of a ride I got five minutes from the house, getting ready to go from a residential street to a major thoroughfare. Not sure what happened, but I may have bumped into a pickup truck stopped at a light. I say "not sure" because a) I don't remember and b) the guy in the pickup truck didn't stop.
Anyways, I felt the awful feeling... The bike is going over for sure and it did. Cars were behind me and I learned that it is true... The first thing you do is look around to see if anyone is watching.
I've seen the terrific YouTube video in which an instructor demonstrates tipping over a Goldwing and how to pick it up. In fact, since the reaction of the spectators in the video is a little comical, I've seen it a bunch of times. Today, I was SO glad I did.
As promised, it tipped over only about 20 degrees. Also as promised, the engine stopped running about five seconds later. I hopped off of it (as if I had a choice) and ignored the guy in the car behind me who I'm certain was preparing to call 911.
I took a deep breath and remembered what I saw in the video. No ordinary human is going to be ale to just lift a Wing back up by simply lifting it from the handlebars. I faced backwards and then remembered that I would not be able to prevent it from going over the other way unless I put the side stand down. I did and then returned my back in position.
The bike went back up easily, all the way onto the side stand. I hopped back onto it and pushed the starter. The bike wouldn't start. Then I remembered the ignition has to be cycled off And on. I did it and the bike fired back up. I was on my way.
I love YouTube and I love that video.