Dropped it twice now, which is more than the last five bikes combined!
On the left happened after a nearly five hour leg into a LD ride. Came to a stop at a gas pump and I can't tell if I forgot to put the sidestand down or it wasn't all the way and collapsed. Any crash bars are sacrificial and the SW-Motech bars did a good job, as the scratches you see here were the only damage (Aside from what is said below about the shifter and side stand, which they were never intended to protect.) With a little gloss black Rustoleum nobody will ever know, so I am pleased with the SW-Motech bars. btw - my son's dropped his WeeStrom twice on his set of SW-Motech bars and they've protected Suzi both times.
(The white on the black plastic is reflection, not damage.)
HOWEVER - - - -
Riding away, I could only go between neutral and first gear. The pavement was broken where it fell and a piece of concrete had bent the shift lever slightly inward, so it just caught under the alternator cover, as visible in the next photo. Don't think the bend would have happened if the concrete hadn't been so ragged. It bent back out easily enough with my Leatherman tool, but the shift lever is something to check if your bike falls to the left. At least it was malleable not to break off.
I was seriously thinking about cutting the stupid little tang on the kickstand and won't have to now, as it did break. Looks like it was designed to break at that spot.
Act 2 happened a couple of days later. I came to a stop on this sand as the bike was about to go down. It was leaning waaaaayyy over and I just couldn't muscle the thing from 45 degrees back up, so finally just let it fall. Zero damage and yes it's a heavy pig, but I was able to right it without unstrapping the bags to lower the cg.
Ummm, I mean, this is how I check the bottom of the skid plate. Yeaaah, that's what I meant!
