Ahhhhhh!!!! Sh****ttttt!!!!

[Hellgate]

Okay, so I get back from playing Army for two weeks and go to load the bike into the truck so I can take it to the dyno tuning place. I've never loaded the FZ into a truck, and I've never loaded any bike into my Sierra. I put the Baxley chock in the bed, park the truck on a slight down hill slope, put ramp on flat solid ground, fully warm the FZ up. :cheer:

Because the tailgate to too tall to step up on to, I place a large tool box as a step, its solid, no rock to it. I ease the bike up the ramp, front wheel is in the bed. Yeah! All I need to do it get the rest of the bike up and over and I'm in the stand, no worries. Well....

I give the bike a bit of gas, we are moving foreward, and zipppp! out goes the rear tire from the ramp! WTF?!?! Picture in your mind....front wheel center of mass in the bed, yours truely standing to the left on a 18" tall toolbox, hands on the handlebars, working the controls. Now picture a slow, graceful controlled crash to the right, pulling me over the bike and ramp! CRAP! :wtf:

The result is the FZ HANGING with the front wheel from the tailgate, my Ti can on the right side supporting the back half of the biek. AHHHH!!!! SHHH****TTTT!!!! Okay, now what do I do??? I dust myself off, sit on the curb and ponder my limited options. 1) place matress between FZ and street - plop bike on to matress 2) Lift bike up right with front wheel remaining on tailgate. - ugh, its 100 degrees out. :banghead:

So I go inside the house, "Oh Honey, Sweetie??? Baby, uhhh, could you help me???" Sure what's wrong? "Oh I just need a bit of help please." Peter what did you do??? (When the family uses my full name I know I'm in trouble) "Oh nothing we can fix..." :innocent:

We walk outside...."What did you DO???"...as the FZ is pathetically hanging from the the tailgate. :disapprove:

So I stand the to the right side of the bike and heave-hoo it upright. Front wheel still on tailgate. Chin fairing is carrying the load now, so I remove it with no cracks. Now I have the bike up right, but still stuck. We decide that yours truley will pick the back half of the bike up and place the rear wheel on the tool box. Okay this amounts to about an 18" dead lift of, oh, 350 lbs. I weight a whopping 175. So I position the tool box, HEAVE!!!!! It makes it. Okay now what? I've got an FZ with resting on the front half of the header on the edge of the tail gate and the rear tire on the tool box. :surrender:

Phase III....lift bike again, slide on the the folded up centerstand, the tail gate has a nice plastic lip so no worries. Okay dead lift number three...HEAVE!!! up and slide into place. The bike is now mostly in the truck, from the centerstand forward. :shakehead:

So as I am contemplating deadlift number four, and kind soul stops and says, "Hey man, do you need some help?" You bet. The guy helps my wife and I get the FZ all why in, I strap it down and off we go to the tuning shop. :cheer:

The toll: scratch in right passanger grab rail, one dented Akarpovic can, scratch on rear part of the front fender, tailgate gouged from the right front brake caliper bolt, one very sore back.

Ended up there WAS a safety warning sticker on the ramp. Once the tire hit it under power, the tire lost traction, spun and that bike slipped off the ramp. Safety kills...

 

[jsteinb95]

:jawdrop: Damn Pete...sorry to hear that. I felt sick when I read this part; "out goes the rear tire from the ramp". Too bad you didn't have the help BEFORE!!!!!


I helped Danny load the Harley into the back of the truck and we had backed the truck up to the slope in the backyard. We used a 2X6 to roll the bike acrossed. We got the bike in just fine. Danny tied it down and as he's driving the truck up the hill to the front yard, the tie down broke on the passenger side...for some unknown reason, he had left the kickstand down (thank god) and the stand caught the bike. I get in the truck, Danny gets in the back to stabilize the bike as I back up to the slope, so we can off load the bike. We get the back tire on the 2X6 and it's starts to turn sideways. ...we quickly roll it back on the truck to straighten it out and try again. We ended up getting the bike off without a scratch, but that was definitely a close call.

 

[billm]

YOUCH!
When I had to go pick mine up I spanned a ditch w/a friend's quad ramp & it was a piece of cake to just walk it across. Arriving home wasn't much different except I didn't have a ramp - just looked for another ditch & backed up to it & walked it off. Wife drove the pu home & I made my first ride.......to the hse.:Flash:

 

[lasermax]

Dang buddy, that sucks. Coulda been worse though. At least you're intelligent enough to ask for help. I once watched a guy load his bike onto a wooden pallet, just put the kickstand down and park it on there for the time being, and then GRAB A LIFT TRUCK AND ATTEMPT TO LIFT IT ALL LIKE THAT INTO A PICKUP TRUCK. He never even asked for help. Can't say I felt bad for the guy, nor was it the last time I ever saw a harley leak oil, ha ha. (actually it was, cuz I pay such little attention to em now, I'm never lookin long enough to check.)

 

[nimzotech]

How ironic that a safety sticker would cause the mishap. Sorry about your bike. But it could have been alot worse bro. I'm sure you can have someone who will take out the dents and polish off / repaint the passenger grab rails, the rest is repairable. Keep us posted.

 

[wrightme43]

Dang man that stinks. Glad you didnt get hurt though.

 

[reiobard]

How ironic that a safety sticker would cause the mishap.

My thoughts exactly.

Sorry about the damage to the bike and truck, but it could have been worse..Next time you'll know how to do it...

 

[grommit]

Well I think you did well to keep the damage down, it could have been allot worse.

Nice write up.:thumbup:

 

[sideshow_downs]

Glad to hear that you are ok. It could have been alot worse.

Ive seen ramps that have a strap that goes around the tailgate and through the ramp so it cant move when you apply power.

 

[Wavex]

sorry to hear about the bike, but that was a quite entertaining post

 

[Cloggy]

Sorry to hear this Pete, glad you wasn't hurt.

 

[DefyInertia]

dyno results????????

sorry to hear about the bike, but that was a quite entertaining post

+1

Glad you came out ok!!! It could have been much worse.

At least you can look back and laugh about it. The very first time I loaded my FZ6 into a 4x4 it was a very sketchy task.

 

[CHEMIKER]

Glad you're okay and that your bike didn't suffer too much damage.

Good job keeping your head and stopping to think about your next step; that probably saved you from more damage (to the bike and possbily yourself).

 

[Fred]

That stinks, Pete. At least you didn't get hurt in the process.

 

[OneTrack]

Well, look on the bright side, Sarge....you only embarrassed yourself in front of your wife, your neighbours and everybody on this forum. Apart from that, it's all good. :thumbup:
Glad to hear that the damage was more or less superficial to both you and the bike. If anything starts hurting, you should apply some ice to it, that's for sure.
So...never mind all that stuff....what did your bike dyno at? :cheer:

 

[madmanmaigret]

Dang, Pete! that sucks! glad you both made it out ok!








+1 on dyno results

 

[lonesoldier84]

it was worth it to have entertained us all so well.

lol jk, but if it makes you feel any better i can send you pictures of all the scuffs and scratches on my fz6, lol. urs is mint compared to mine.

 

[FZ1inNH]

Ouch! Sorry Top! At least it wasn't a drop at speed! Whew!

 

[CHEMIKER]

lol jk, but if it makes you feel any better i can send you pictures of all the scuffs and scratches on my fz6, lol. urs is mint compared to mine.

But Pete wasn't trying to scratch his bike :Flip: LOL LOL

 

[Botch]

Ouch! Glad you're okay.