How my jacket liner almost took me out!

[JaySoy]

Had a little scare yesterday.

I rode up to St. Joe to buy a new seat for a lawnmower (they have them cheap at Sav-On if you need one....

But anyway, I'm on my way back at 75 mph on I-29 and my KLR gives a little tug, like it was running out of gas. I thought, "that's weird, I should have an almost full tank.

So I pull over to listen to the motor to makes sure it wasn't some chain inside the engine skipping or something.

I look down and see my jacket liner wrapped around my rear sprocket. Somehow the liner for my jacket climbed out of my left panner and found it's way around my chain. I'm lucky the dang thing didn't lock up my rear tire!

I had to prop my bike on a pannier to pull the wheel off and untangle the shreaded jacket liner on the side of I-29. I wish I had my camera with me.

Anyway, moral of the story, be carefull out there, look out for jacket liners, and make sure you latch luggage lids before you ride away!!!!!

[troy]

I say we start a movement to ban jacket liners. The facts are plain--jacket liners kill people.

Thanks for sharing this story, JaySoy, and I hope we can all learn from this. If just one rider (or jacket liner) is spared, it's been worth it.

[carlrf]

Holy smokes! Man I hate it when we can't blame it on an outside source! Glad your not writing this on a laptop from a hospital bed! We really are living on the edge when you think about all the things we are relying on.

Did I tighten that axle nut?
Are the wheel bearings good to go?
Where is that deer hiding?
Is my chain in good shape?
How about those tires, how many miles of gravel have I had them on?
Man I hope that van driver beside me sees me, and cares, I have no place to go!
etc
etc

[katbeanz]

Close one, glad you're OK! At one of the fall colors tours a guy had a flat and did the responsible thing and tied the holed tube to his rear rack vs chucking it in the woods.
It worked loose on a highway section, about 70mph with a locked rear wheel didn't sound like any fun at all.