I've gone down twice on the street on my KLR. The first time was a
couple of years ago. I had lowered the bike and in tight curves I was
scraping the pegs. All was fine at first, because the pegs would
fold up as they touched the ground (and yes, I was hanging way off
the bike in the curves). When I got a little too aggressive, I was
over far enought to where the pegs would not fold up anymore, and I
lifted the rear tire off the ground. Fortunately, no cars were
coming as I went sliding across the road and into a ditch.
Suprisingly, the bike sustained nothing but a few scrapes. My Joe
Rocket gear was toasted, but saved by hide. I was sore the next few
days, but okay otherwise. After getting back home, I returned the
bike to it's proper height.
The second time, just here recently, was kind of created by somebody
else, but was still my fault. I was following too closely behind a
buddy. He kind of lost control while we were in a downhill
lefthander and I was coming up on him quick. Since he was in the
middle of the road, I had to choose between cutting the curve shorter
and crossing the yellow lines, or going for the all out stop. Since
I couldn't see around the curve, due to a hill, I went for the all
out stop. Needless to say, I needed about four more feet of asphalt
to stop (we were coming in about 60-70 mph). The bike sustained
damage this time, but I was able to ride it home.
After having wrecked twice on the road with the KLR, and never having
wrecked with any other street bikes, I've come to the conclusion that
I need a bigger, badder, more powerful motorcycle again. One that
will itimidate me and cost a lot, so I won't be so prone to go out
and be so agressive. For some reason, my wife doesn't understand the
logic (lol). As much as I hate to do it, I may end up selling the
KLR before long, but who knows?