A lucky look

[andyoutandabout]

As Fj fanciers, it's good we often admire our bikes. The practice of giving the once over when pausing at the roadside is certainly a habit I'd encourage you all to adopt if you don't already steal glances at your ride whenever possible. During a trip down to Long Beach, a quick visual helped me spot two missing front engine/frame bolts. That could have been nasty.

[Ned]

Andy - as a result of a "Lucky Look" in my early riding years I saved my bike from sliding down a steep embankment onto a lower loop in the road. Having just pulled over at a very scenic spot to take a quick walk across the road into the trees to splash my boots, I turned and glanced back at the old AJS 500 I had at the time. I noticed it seemed to be leaning a bit on the centre stand. A split second of reaction time had me running back and grabbing the bars to pull it towards me and the road before the bit of ground it had been standing on crumbled and slid down the bank. I ended up sitting in the road with bike laying across a gap where storm water had washed out under the edge of the road but left a thin crust of the hard fill and a bit of seal. I wrestled the old girl back on to the road and with a few scrapes and scratches she was back on a her wheels. Needless to say I just about filled my boots with I thought me and the bike were going over the edge. Lesson learned - "Don't park on the scenic side of the road when there's a dirty big drop below!"

Ned