High Centered

[Brammofan]

Question for the Brammo techs and designers:
What, if any, damage might occur as a result of scraping the bottom of the body across a concrete surface?

Background: Today I had to get my Enertia over a concrete divider (similar to a median) in order to fit it into my usual parking space. The divider is about 7 inches tall and just wide enough that the front tire drops onto the far side of it before the rear tire can get up on top of it.  I'd estimate it is about two feet wide.  So I can get my front tire up on it with no problem - giving it a bit of juice - and then the front tire drops down onto the "street level." I had to muscle it forward about 3-5 inches before my rear tire was firmly against the divider so that I could juice it up and over.  Yes, there was a scraping sound when I had to scoot it forward. No, I haven't gotten down and looked at the bottom plate yet.  As I recall from looking at the plate previously, it is black painted metal. 

[SocalTech]

Hi Harry

It may have been just scraping the bottom of the frame which will be cosmetic damage and removed the coating which may or may not eventually cause corrosion.

The other may be that it hit the bodywork firsthand can cause the Lower panel to crack or may have bent the tab that the Allen screw at the bottom to bend.

Without looking to see any are possible

[brammojen]

My answer is just about the same as SoCaltech....    The first thing that probably scraped was the lower body panel screw, depending on the damage to the screw you could have a couple different things going on.  Overall, just scraping the bottom won't hurt anything but if somehting were to gouge the bottom then you might to let us know more details.  I would say take a look and if you want to send me a picture of it go ahead I can see how bad it is.

[Brammofan]

Thanks to you both.  I will get underneath it this afternoon or evening. 

The problem is that I may have to do this bit of acrobatics more than just once.  I have been able to avoid it up until now because the spot that I park in at work (between the front of my boss's car and a wall) is usually easily accessible because the parking space next to his car is unoccupied.  This morning a car was in it.  There was no other way into my space other than hopping that median.  Maybe I can come up with some sort of ramp. 

[Vibetrippin]

Brammofan, can you come at the median from an angle? If you can, you might be able to get the back wheel up before the front one comes down.

[Brammofan]

That is possible, Vibetrippin. 
My boss also suggested just putting a block that is close to the same height, but about 1' square next to the divider.  It would delay the descent of the front wheel until the rear wheel is up.  We shall see.

[Gavin]

Evil Kneival it...go real fast and jump that sucker

[Brammofan]

I checked underneath and it appears that all I did was scrape some of the dirt off the bottom plate.  No damage to the body panels and not even any damage to the small bolt that protrudes about 1/8" from the bottom.  I'm guessing that the "drop" occurred just behind that bolt. 

Thanks for your help, folks.  I think the block idea is my best bet for now.  I just have to remember to bring something like that with me next time.

[Brammofan]

UPDATE -
So, that car to the right of my boss's car never re-appeared.

Until today.

[smg id=374 width=400]

I tried something different.  Because there seemed to be more room between the two cars, I went between them, and then tried to turn into the space in front of my boss's car.  Of course, if you're an Enertia owner, you know that the turning radius of the bike made this move impossible.   

I sat for a second, and then tried something different. 

Reaching behind me to the frames that hold the Givi Bags, I pulled up and scooted the rear of the bike sideways about 6 ".  It was a lot easier than I thought.  I scooted it again.  No problem.

The frames that hold the bags are mounted very sturdily to the bike, so I wasn't worried about using them to lift the bike the minimal amount needed to scoot sideways.  Heck, I grab that frame every single day I pull the bike into my garage and swivel it about 90 degrees on the kickstand. 

I might not be able to do this every day, depending upon how close that car on the right pulls into its spot, but it worked today, and that's all that matters.