Pig Trail, April 16, 2006

After we finished the trailer hitch for Kevin's VFR, it was time to go for a long sporting ride to see how it behaved. Kevin loaded about 50 pounds into the box - six gallons of windshield washer fluid (it's a long story...) and some other stuff. We took off about 8 AM to head up Arkansas 16, otherwise known as the "Pig Trail." The weather was in the 40F range when we left, otherwise known as "brisk."

Kevin set a brisk pace up 16, which is a long, winding mountain road. The trailer tagged right along behind with no problems, though I did see the inboard tire get some air for a few feet on bumpy sections of road.

Kevin said he mostly noticed the trailer when braking, and he had to use the gears more to compensate for the 200-odd extra pounds. But otherwise, he barely noticed it, same as riding locally. Which is way counterintuitive, but you actually can forget the thing is back there.

You never forget the trailer when you're following it, though. Every time Kevin banked into a corner the squirrels in my brain alerted, "SOMETHING IS WRONG HERE!" Well, yeah, I know that, we've been watching it all morning...

We turned back before getting to Rogers since we wanted to get back home before dark. We stopped at a large gas station for a bathroom break, and someone backed into Kevin's bike with a pickup truck. The truck hit the trailer, knocked the bike forward and off the sidestand.

Fortunately the guy who hit the bike came in to the store to find us, and there was a deputy on hand, so the formalities didn't take long. Just knocking a VFR800 over costs about $1200 parts and labor, by the way. The insurance didn't cover the trailer, which just got a couple of scrapes.

Lisa, Kevin's wife, now refers to the VFR as "the boo-boo bike."

Pre-ride prep, checking tires, chains, and Kevin is checking the payload in the $15 Wal-Mart plastic box.

Rest stop mid-way, to check the hitch, trailer, and give our bums a break.

The ride was fun and uneventful until the guy backed into Kevin's bike. You can see it didn't do much damage, but bike parts and labor are expensive. These shots were mostly to show the damaged areas in case the guy's insurance company wanted to be dicks, but they took care of everything without a hassle.