Ugh. The less time I spend thinking and writing about this, the happier I’m going to be. So this post will be short and there is nothing sweet about it.
About four weeks ago I went out to move my motorcycle to the other side of the street and saw that it seemed to have been jostled. One handlebar end was poking out through a small hole in the cover, and the front of the cover was partly underneath the front tire, meaning that the bike had rolled forward an inch or so. I started it up and started to pull out of my space and squeezed the front brake and the lever pulled all the way to the handlebar with no tension and no stopping power. I checked the bike and cables for signs of damage but didn’t see anything. I squeezed the brake lever a few times and eventually the lever developed some tension, as though it had needed to be pumped a few times. However, as soon as I rolled the bike a couple feet forward, I was back to the no-tension situation.
I rode partway down the street and could hear the brake pads alternately rubbing and then not rubbing on the wheel. I also noticed that the handlebar was turned several degrees to the right even when the bike and front tire were facing directly forward.
I parked again and saw that the front end of the bike – fork, fender, wheel – weren’t aligned with each other. I knew that I’d been parked behind a navy blue Forrester and I found two of those on my street and left them notes (“Were you parked at the top of the street earlier this week? Might you have hit my motorcycle? If so, call me!”), called Ol’ Dad with my tale of woe, and then told it to Geico.
They sent out an adjuster, my deductible is $1,000, the bike needs a new fork and a new brake rotor and maybe a new wheel, and I lost my helmet because I took it out to the street with me when I met the adjuster and I left it on the sidewalk. I hate everything about this story and I’m done telling it.
Actually, no. I'll throw a happy-ish ending in here. I got the little bike fixed too and it's running now, my mechanic thinks he'll have the Mean Streak done by the weekend, and I bought the 3/4 helmet with the nautical star on it that I liked a few months ago. And which is an XXL that is too tight on my head and I need to email the store to see if they'll take it back and give me an XXXL. Which is just fucking ridiculous. I was right the first time. I do hate this post.
