Real odd one that ended up causing and costing a lot more than expected. Pulled into local gem shop here in Tucson that's been around for close to 70 yrs. I used to visit it as a child back in the 50's. Pulled in, put bike on side stand, slightly canted surface(downward to the R by about 2-3 degrees, eyeballed) but leaning more than enough not be in danger of a tip over. Go in side and about 1 minute later a gentleman comes in(son of the owner, really good guy) to let me know that the bike has indeed taken a tumble to the R. Examination showed no real damage that I could detect, no dents in the tank or scratches but the knee pad had come detached. As I pulled into that dirt parking lot I must have gotten a nail in the tire and it only took about 3 minutes for the air out of the rear tire to escape allowing the bike to sink and go over center with the kickstand levering the bike slowly to the right as it sank. Ok fine. Called the tow truck-4-1/2 hr wait, luckily the people in the Gem Shop were very kind and gave us water and allowed us to hang out in the AC'd shop until the bike was picked up. When we were putting it up on the flat bed, the tow driver wanted me on the back brake and that's when I noticed that the right peg and the rear brake lever were pushed in until they were under the counter shaft cover, completely unusable and obviously broken from their mounting points. The cornering feeler which is little more than a large bolt extending about 1/2 inch outward at an approximately 45 degree angle dug into the dirt so the peg did not fold up. So the whole weight of the bike was felt on that peg and pushed in. It's seem like a one of a kind occurrence and confluence of circumstances and design that led to the damage, but it's worth letting people know that that cornering feeler can prevent the peg from folding up and it could easily happen on softer hot tarmac at any parking lot and do the same thing. I haven't gotten the bill yet for the work but it will be In excess of $500-600 according to a guesstimate from the repair folks at the shop. Just a heads up on an unexpected design failure that no one could likely have imagined it.
Watch Out!
- Thread starter Iflybikes
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Can you share the name of that shop, please? They're the kind of people I like to deal with.
Tucson Mineral and Gem World, 2801 S Kinney Rd, Tucson, AZ 85735 In the general area of Old Tucson and The Desert Museum. And they are great people.
Ah, the historic side of Tucson. I'm "disappointed" you didn't mention Kitt Peak in the nearby attractions.
Mine is a 2022 t120 Bonneville. Red/Silver.
Kitt Peak, Picacho, Baboquivari, I see it all. I'm a flight instructor and my favorite time of the day is early in the morning just before the sun rises(least amount of turbulence and convection) and and watch the sun come up over the Catalinas and slowly spread across the valley as the light just seems to spill into it like spilled syrup. My practice area is defined by Picacho and Newman peak on the north west, the Tortolitas on the S with Florence Highway my north east limit and I'10 my western boundary. I fly it at least weekly and at one time when I was teaching full time it was every morning. Arrive at 5:30 ready to go by 6:00 and arriving at altitude just as the 1st rays start peeking across putting all in a kind of bass relief. It's funny how simultaneously small and large the world looks like from up there.Ah, the historic side of Tucson. I'm "disappointed" you didn't mention Kitt Peak in the nearby attractions.
I think I didn't mention Kitt because every time in the past 3 years I've wanted to go up on the Bike the gate is closed and no access.
I hope that changes soon, for you.
Wow what a bit of bad luck and really strange circumstances all mounting up to cause this freak accident 
Bad series of unfortunate events for you. Hope the repairs get done quick.
What a pain !... a freak accident or not its just a load of hassle we can all do without , but lets hope you get sorted quicly and not to costly .
That was the only upside to the situation. Cost estimate so far is $500.(all the parts aren’t here yet)land after a week they still haven’t done a full inspection of the damage or taken it apart to look things over. All in all my visit to the maintenance shop was a little odd. I trust them and the reviews of the shop are stellar, it was just odd.
New update from local shop: $$619.00. What was fixed I don’t yet know I’m on vacation in Honduras(Roatan) and got a call from the shop. More interesting tho is in searching for crash bars that would adequately protect the bike many people reported the same Achilles heel for the Bonnie and that a solution in the form of protection was not easy to come by. Best so far were the Rentec bars with an additional rubber bumper attached to cover the engine and the pegs. Looking at about $250.00. I haven’t yet priced out the cost of fixing the dent in my tank. But the shop knows a local place that they recommend which can remove small dents. (You have to look close to see it, but hey!, it’s my baby!)
Found a local guy, “Dentex”, and one hour later of what looked like a laparoscopic surgical procedure with instruments inserted through the open gas tank and some precisely applied light taps on the outside with a nylon tool so as not to damage the paint and now you can’t see the dent even if you knew where it was.
¡Excellente!
