Almost taken out by convertible "SOFT TOP"

Maybe not killed, but I almost got taken out while riding to school this evening.

Normally I avoid driving to school, it's a 35 mile ride, nothing significant, but at 6pm, driving from the suburbs to the upper east side of manhattan can be a real trip.

Normally, I ride my pedal bike to the train station (a mile), and hop the train in (public trans ftw!).

Today, I missed my train, and waiting for the next one would have put me an hour late to class, so I decided to take the FZ6 for a nice 70 mile roundtrip, through some decent sideroads, a small highway stint, and then city driving. It was definitely a great day for a ride.

I'm cruising on the highway, behind an older mercedes soft top convertible. The idiot driving it (at over 65 mph in a 45, i was doing 55 and he was pulling away fast) decides to CLOSE it while the car is moving. Top begins making the vertical climb, and the next thing I see, is it break loose, and fly toward me! Thankfully I was far enough behind, with no one directly beside me, and swerved out of the way, but it was a close one.

Moral: Be careful behind convertibles!

After that, the ride was smooth as could be!

What a jacka$$!!! It only cost him a convertible top but it could have cost you a lot more. Glad it turned out OK and thanks for the tip!

Maybe he was trying to use it as a airbrake?

wow...glad you avoided that. That could've been ugly!

wrightme43 said:

Maybe he was trying to use it as a airbrake?

Click to expand...

Rock on, this was exactly what I was thinking as the guy passed the trooper. What an awesome speed brake.

Chemiker, do you have any idea what a soft top for a Mercedes runs these days?

One thing is for certain, had I seen the top even remotely coming up I would have backed way off and way quick because I would know what the outcome of this endeavor would have been.

Rare that someone who endangers a bike actually gets to pay for it. :cyprus:

A replacement top for a Saab runs about $3,000, OEM. I'm sure the Mercedes would be more.

he was putting his "flaps" down--or up

Did he stop did you stop and talk about him almost killing you? Or did you just keep goin?

Sounds like he deserved to lose it. Did you do a rain dance afterwards?

Thanks Mattcosta for sharing! These kinda lessons are learnt the hard way.

I wanted to share what I experienced last week.
Was driving up a small hill in North Georgia. All of a sudden the road comes to a dead end and there is a steel gate at the end. I slow down to make a U-turn near the gate. It so happens the gate is on an up-slope. Almost lost control of the vehicle at such low speed and I was bound to go down. I came to complete stop and got off the bike and slowly turned around.

Word of advice: Never make turns at low speeds on an up-slope.

Cheers,
AJ