Tales from the driveway

[headcase]

Well, technically I don't have a driveway...it's a mix of gravel and grass. So wherever I land is where I park. I knew some bad weather was coming for a few days, so I picked a normally sturdy spot to drop the kickstand and park the bike until the sun came back (no garage). After a day or so of dumping rain, I came home from work to see the bike listing hard to port. That's when I knew the ground was getting too soft, and decided to use the square of plywood for the stand I saved just for this purpose. I get out of the car, carry my stuff into the house, and set it all on the counter. Then head out the back door to grab the wood, and walk around to the front where the bike is. Mind you, this took all of 90 seconds.
After over 2 days of not moving, this thing decides to flop on it's side in the time it took me to walk through the house. Mirror embedded in a nice combo of road mix and mud, left saddlebag totally crushed and blown open at the seams.
Have you ever seen a neighbor outside by themselves, cussing and giving the hairy eyeball to a mechanical object? Kinda think they may be somewhat unstable, right? I just couldn't help myself...it's hard not to take it personally. The thing waited until I was 10 seconds from coming to the rescue to basically do a 'nyaah nyaah' and flip me the bird by going wheels up. Does this crap happen to anyone else??

[richard]

I had a brand new Honda that suddenly decided to fall off the side stand as I carried a bag full of groceries in. I dropped the groceries to catch the bike, but once it started down there was no stopping it. Same thing gravel drive with mud. I had been parking it there many times with no problem before. One time had a close call when I set mine on the center stand on asphalt in the summer heat. I carry around a plywood square just for that purpose.

Richard