I've been riding my softail for about 6 yrs now and have logged pretty near 50,000 miles on it, so I don't consider myself a greenhorn. But I pulled a good one the other day that I just gotta share -if only so you all can have a good laugh at the new guy's expense.
Found a screaming deal on a panhead chopper that was everything I remember a scooter was supposed to be from when I was a little kid in the '70s. Long springer, no front brake, rigid frame, kick only, tall king and queen for haulin' hippy chicks, and nothing that isn't required to make it go or stop. Rode it home, and in that 8 miles or so I thought I was gonna die about 3 different times. Front end has about a foot of trail and the original brake pedal is about 8" up and back from the foot peg.
Went to work on the slope for 2 weeks and probably rode 800 miles in my imagination. Must've worked, cause I got home, hopped on, and took off. Got used to the low speed cornering, brake pedal, and lack of suspension real quick. I thought... I'm gettin long-winded so here's the story.
Was leaving the Brown Bear Saloon down in Indian after a burger and 1 (honest!) beer. The gravel parking lot has always been pretty pot-holed, but I just roll through nice and slow and it's no big deal right? So that's what I did with the pan. Just took off nice and slow right across lot. First pothole launched me clear outta the seat. Not just a little bounce either. I mean 10" of air under my ass. The only thing touchin the bike were my hands and that wasn't much help cause the right one went left and the left one went right and now it's all fixing to come down on the left side only I got my leg out in time to catch it just as I hit the next pothole and went back up for another lap. Was really wishing I could get it stopped, but my right foot was busy catching it as we tried to go down on that side! In desperation, I just threw it left, caught it, picked my right foot up until my knee touched my ear and sent it down towards that brake like it owed me money. That stopped all the drama about the time I was clear of it all anyway. Got 2 miles down the road and stopped to call Morgan (bartender), mercifully the only person in the place at the time to let her know I was fine and not at all as f@%!ed up as I looked. When she answered the phone, she was still laughing...
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8 second ride...
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