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PostPosted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 10:41 am 

Joined: Sun Sep 01, 2013 10:52 pm
Posts: 1222
Location: South Dakota
I took my Z1A for a ride yesterday out to a friends ranch about 15 miles from town. On the west end of town is Lake Oahe and the mile long bridge that spans it. As I came on the bridge from the east side I rolled the throttle on a touch and got it on 70. about a quarter of the way across it shut off, dead. I coasted to a stop at exactly the middle of the bridge. There is no shoulder on the bridge so I got up against the cement railing as close as I could to see what the heck happened. I had my back against the 4ft tall cement railing so close that when I bent over to get the side cover off my butt was sticking over it, and it's 65ft to the water. Cars were almost crashing themselves and taking me out because nobody pays attention. One guy would come to a stop and the people behind would try to pull around into the oncoming traffic. I was scared to death. It was tough to get the fuseholder apart and keep my eyes on all the zipperheads. I kept wondering if I should take my helmet off in case I had to jump to the water. I finally got the fuse in, hit the starter button and it ran for about 2 seconds and blew again. I was not happy at all. I grabbed the last fuse, put it in and hit the key and it ran. I put the sidecover under my arm and took off. When I got to the end of the bridge I put the cover on and went to my friends ranch. The bike ran perfect. When I got there I called my brother, told him where the spare keys to my pickup were and asked him to come and meet me at the west end of the bridge. I loaded it in the pickup and hauled it home. There was no way I was chancing that again. Now I have to figure out my short. Here is the bridge. You can see how narrow it is in the second shot.

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:03 am 
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Joined: Tue Jun 07, 2011 6:37 am
Posts: 10460
Location: Rio Rancho, New Mexico
I hate bridges, even in cars! Understandable the fear of getting squished. When I lived in Oakland and commuting to San Fran I was scared $hitless. slippery metal grating roadway, crazy drivers, and the guard wall so low, a crash would send you over it!

Glad you are ok.

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Twist the throttle, tilt the horizon, and have a great time. What triples are all about...........


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:05 am 

Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 7:28 pm
Posts: 194
Location: West Coast
That sucks. I just had a guy last weekend drive up two wheels on the sidewalk just after he past me. I figure he was tanked or something. Maybe cellphone. At least you were smart enough to pick the bike up rather than try and ride back.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 12:03 pm 
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Joined: Wed Jun 13, 2012 9:00 pm
Posts: 971
Location: Eagle Wisconsin
That is one of my biggest fears, no shoulder. Drove my GS though Chicago a few years ago and there was major freeway construction no shoulder and everyone was doing high 70's and low 80's mph. For a good 20 min I was scared to death the bike was going to break down or get a flat.....I took the surface roads back home took a hour and change longer but there was NO WAY I was going back on the freeway.
Downtown Chicago was another matter :crazy: but there I just broke the rules and did what I wanted to get to where was going.


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PostPosted: Fri Jun 02, 2017 9:22 pm 

Joined: Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:45 am
Posts: 796
Location: Cen Tex
Sorry to hear Jeff, glad you had no further issues.

Thinking you may have a bare wire grounding out?

Just put the trickle charger on my Z1B, plan to ride it this weekend [no bridges!]

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