Don't Be a Moron Like Me: Two Damaged Motorcycles

[tigerhund]

I went out to my motorcycle shed today to get my and my wife's Tigers ready for a ride and found my 2004 lying on top of my wife's 1999.  



The damage tally:



       1999:  broken front fender, severly gouged gas tank, gouged fork

       2004:  severly gouged top box, broken right mirror, bent handle bars



The bikes have been stored in this exact configuration for over a year with no problems.  The culprit was my stupidity.  My 2004 has a short side stand that leaves the bike heeled far over to the left, which does not work well in the tight quarters of my shed.  I have kept the bike more upright with a 2" block of wood under the side stand.  Also, I store the bikes with cable locks through the rear wheels to make theft more difficult, with the cables run through steel eyebolts set in the concrete floor.  For the past week, I had the bike stored with a good bit of tension on the cable lock simply because I parked the bike a bit further from the eyebolt than usual and was too lazy to move it.



The only thing I can figure is that I stored the bike a week ago with a full tank of gas, raising the CG.  Yesterday at 6PM, I was in the shed and all was well.  In the past 24 hours, the cable must have tightened up due to heating/cooling enought to tip the bike past center and over onto my wife's bike.  The bike flipped to the right and onto its neighbor.



I had planned to keep the 1999 as a long term collector because it is virtually pristine at 18,000 miles because the original owner loved it.  Today, I think it became a beater.



Lessons learned:



1.  Motorcycles stored only on center stands in the future.



2.  No motorcycle within falling distance of anything, and vice versa.



3.  No tight cables through wheels both for the health of the wheel and because they must expand and contract with heating and cooling of the air, although I cannot imagine it is much.



I hope someone learns from my stupidity.

[iansoady]

I went out to my motorcycle shed today to get my and my wife's Tigers ready for a ride and found my 2004 lying on top of my wife's 1999.  

Commiserations. You weren't even riding it!

2.  No motorcycle within falling distance of anything, and vice versa.

All right for you blokes in the wide open spaces.......

[Brother Number One]

Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad luck :!:

[Hudsonia9]

Sounds like one or the other was simlpy after his leg over,Give it a couple of months and you may find another bulge in the tank, then listen out for the gentle mewing of a tiger cub.



Much truth in what you say keep them stored well apart. After all we all know there a good ride and i cant keep my hands off mine.



Good luck with the repairs!

[ChrisN]

I went out to my motorcycle shed today to get my and my wife's Tigers ready for a ride and found my 2004 lying on top of my wife's

Hmmm...a sad tale with maybe a happy ending..... perhaps a litter of Tiger Cubs  :lol: