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Cargo Nightmare
I want to share a not so good situation I experienced while taking a ride to one of our local lakes last weekend. I'm not writing this to gain any sympathy, I just want to share my experience and try to help prevent this from happening to someone else.
While preparing to depart, I attached a 12”x 8”x 6” cordura case to my back seat. I wasn’t carrying much just a few steaks, tooth brush/ paste, comb etc. I secured this case to the stock rear fender brackets and proceeded to run the tie down around the case.
After placing three knots and tugging on the load I was very confident the load was not going anywhere.
I took off and was heading for the freeway, which was only 1.5 miles away. Just prior to getting on the freeway, I double-checked my bag and was satisfied that it was still secure. I entered the freeway and casually merged into the traffic. Our posted speeds are 65 mph but I typically do 10 or more over. At this point you can guess what happened.
The @#(*&# %!* tie down came loose, got caught in my chain/ sprocket and rear brake.
I’ve never in my life ever seen a tire wear a flat spot so bad. The rubber that came off actually fused to other areas of the tire.
Let me tell you, going from 75+ to zero without any rear wheel spin is really messed up. I almost went high side a few times and to this moment don’t know how I stayed on other than not wanting to let go of my baby.
Any way the point I would like to get across is that using tie downs can be very dangerous, even when you’re being careful. I’m going to invest in a good tank bag and avoid using anything that can cause this to happen again.
If this post helps save one life or bike, I’m a happy man.
Ride safe my friends.
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