Jesse case fell off on Golden Gate Bridge

Ebet · Post by **Ebet** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 10:28 pm

Was touring around northern California and Oregon for a few weeks this month, and when we were coming off the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco, one of the Jesse cases on my 1150R spontaneously fell off! I didn't see it but other drivers said that a Mercedes hit it and dragged it along for a few yards. I got it back, but boy, was it mashed beyond all recognition. Luckily the bag inside was sturdy and I recovered almost all my belongings. It's also very lucky that my laptop was in the other side case that did not fall off.

Had to ride home to LA County with one side case, and all my other stuff bungeed onto the back of the bike. It definitely makes you learn an interesting riding technique in a hurry. You don't feel the difference that much unless it's windy, and then the bike steers like a pig. When we got into some serious cross winds, I found that countersteering toward the absent side case was not enough - I had to hang way off the bike in order to steer it into the wind, especially in turns. Glad I took a track course a few years ago so I knew how to hang off. I have now gotten used to it and it's acually kind of fun once you get the hang of it. Okay, possibly I am getting to be a hooligan in my old age....

Trying to reconstruct the events, I think what must have happened was that when I was riding down Rt. 1 in the twisties, I must have scraped the side case one too many times, and it popped it off its rack, so that later on the bridge it finally fell off, maybe from the wind. The case had been locked on properly so that wasn't the problem. The Jesse cases sit very low on this bike so it's easy to scrape them when cornering.

I loved the Jesse cases; they are so great and they hold so much stuff, but I am now going to get BMW System Cases. On the 1150R, the Jesse cases just don't have enough ground clearance, and I don't want to lose another one. But I am really going to miss them!

Post by **r1150rider** » Sun Jul 30, 2006 11:12 pm

Hey, Ebet- did you ride that last stretch of Hwy 1 just north of San Francisco? I rode that a week ago, and I could easily bekieve you'd drag a case on those switchbacks, especially with the pavement being so bad. I rode up that section at night and it was no fun at all, just when I thought it couldn't get any worse I climbed up into the cloud layer! Aarghh! The next morning I rode over the Golden Gate bridge and never saw it- thick fog! And, to answer your question about city lids- they're definitely narrower than the standard lids, would be mucho better for splittin' but you do sacrifice some capacity...

Ebet · Post by **Ebet** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:01 pm

Hi, Ed -

Yes, I think that's exactly what happened... Hwy. 1 north of SF is beautiful but covered with crummy pavement and potholes everywhere...probably pushed up on the bottom of the pannier one too many times, then when riding over the windy Golden Gate Bridge, it was the last straw, and off went the case! Well, at least the police there seem used to dealing with things falling off people's vehicles. The officer who recovered my case rides as well so he was very nice about it.

I think I will go with the city lids and a top case. I have a Wunderlich seat back so that may help with extra capacity for longer trips.

Thanks again and happy riding!

Airman · Post by **Airman** » Mon Jul 31, 2006 11:56 pm

Ebet wrote:Hi, Ed -

Yes, I think that's exactly what happened... Hwy. 1 north of SF is beautiful but covered with crummy pavement and potholes everywhere...probably pushed up on the bottom of the pannier one too many times, then when riding over the windy Golden Gate Bridge, it was the last straw, and off went the case! Well, at least the police there seem used to dealing with things falling off people's vehicles. The officer who recovered my case rides as well so he was very nice about it.

I think I will go with the city lids and a top case. I have a Wunderlich seat back so that may help with extra capacity for longer trips.

Thanks again and happy riding!

Ebet,
Do the exhaust lowering, (or removal) and use the larger left RT case. Much more room then the stock RR case.

riceburner · Post by **riceburner** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 8:56 am

You can get "official" "Touring" lids for the BMW system cases - they're wider at the top of the case than the standard ones.

Airman · Post by **Airman** » Tue Aug 01, 2006 5:44 pm

riceburner wrote:You can get "official" "Touring" lids for the BMW system cases - they're wider at the top of the case than the standard ones.

Are you talking about those super mundo huge wide lids they make for those with "extended" storage needs?