Me and my BF decided to ride 150 miles to Galena, Illinois. Well, I decided we should ride to Galena. My BF decided to trailer his bike, fearing our crappy weather.
Luckily his brother whipped up this great home-made trailer! Yep, he can do things like that!
Anyway, here a photo of my BF's bike on the trailer. Me... not being a WUSS! I decided to ride my scooter!
Things went okay, until about 90 miles later, when we decided to put my scooter up on the trailer because the weather was turning.
This would have been great if my scooters fat a$$ hadn't broken the TRAILER! Yep, we all thought it could handle 1500 lbs. PSYCH!
After I loaded my scooter that trailer was as flat as my BF's ex-wifes's chest before her implants. We actually squashed the leaf springs causing the trailer to drop and hit the top of the wheels! You can imagine what it sounded like as we dragged it across the pavement. It could be described as high pitched scream like ball$ being slammed in a drawer!
Sooo... We removed my scooter and my BF's bike, left the trailer in a restaurant parking lot, (Grubbsteakers) and rode on... into the RAIN!
Sixty miles later, cold and wet and aggravated, we finally arrived at our destination. But the rain was already on it way again. We were stuck inside for about 2 days. The sun finally came out when we had to ride back, so that we had that going for us, which was nice.
What did I learn, besides the fact that me and my scooter's fat a$$ can break a trailer?????
1. Trailers should be test loaded at least ONCE ahead of time and you NEVER have enough straps, especially when loading a scooter. If you have a modern scooter, take care with squeezing or cracking the plastic fairing with the straps. Also, Motorcycle people never understand how to strap down a scooter so check it on online or figure it out ahead of time.
2. People driving your truck ahead of you will ALWAYS leave you in the dust, especially if they are in their 20's. They NEVER listen and go at least 20 miles over the speed limit and floor it through yellow lights, leaving you floundering behind them, cursing and yelling inside your helmet.
3. Pack your scooter AHEAD OF TIME again, just to check the set up. Again, bungees/straps and some scooters don't mix that well. I had to re-bungee my scooter on the way back, at least 5 times. Vibration and wind kept pushing the bags. I am currently looking for better alternatives. Plus the bungees killed my paint job, but I can always repaint... RIGHT!
4. If you think you won't hit bad weather, you will. So pack accordingly. That means a good heavier jacket with gloves and neck tube and your light stuff as well. I know it sucks but you will be kicking yourself if it starts raining or the temperature drops 20 degrees.
5. If it is a holiday weekend chances are you are going meet up with plenty of other riders and cars. Remember to be kind and move over to the RIGHT and SLOW DOWN so other's can pass you up.
All in all it was a very nice trip and dispite all the craziness, my BF wants to take another trip..abet a bit closer...say 90 miles or so. So we are planning more trips in our near future. Lucky ME!
Sounds like a great adventure though! Sucks about your paint job, is it badly damaged? When got my scooter my hub loaded it up in our Westfalia van and there were bungy straps and cords all over the place, Vixen almost didn't fit, it was an interesting drive home.
ReplyDeleteYou crack me up with your writing, BF's Ex's flat chest before implants ROFLMAO! Your windshield looks awesome on the Dragon!