I can feel it. I had a Suzuki A50 with the ignition key in the same spot….

Anyhow - I wouldnt call it a breakdown but. When I was about to set off on my RTW trip I had a local mechanic halping me setting up the bike and mounting some extra stuff on the bike. The bike came with original sidepanniers but they were to small and I bought some bigger ones and had those mounted. Not only were the new panniers bigger and wider - they also sat further out from the bike. And the result was that the rear end of the bike became quite much wider than with original panniers.

Then there is this shortcut to where I lived. Coming from the south and the east towards where I lived there is a perfectly good vehicle road but it was blocked off for through traffic because the neighbours were pissed off by the noise and traffic. And it was blocked off by huge solid stone blocks. However it was enough space between those stone blocks for a bike with panniers, at least the old narrower original panniers.

I wouldnt ride through this shorcut in broad daylight as it would probably piss off the neighbours. But late at night it didnt matter that much so at such occations I used to take this shortcut.

Now this day I was at the mechanic and we worked on the bike until almost midnight and we also mounted these new bigger and wider panniers. I was very tired after 13-14 hours in the garage and rode home past midnight - and of course I took the shortcut and came through the hole in the stone barriers as I had done many times before. But this time I couldnt get through, the wider panniers scraped against the right side stone barrier and throwed the bike towards the left and ripped the left pannier off and sent me and the bike tumbling over. Luckily I only got a few bruises but the left pannier was rioped off the frame and the the attachment point was also ripped off.

I had to carry the pannier by hand the last hundred meters home and in the morning I had to call the mechanic and ask if he could help me weld the pannier attachment back and help me straitening out the bent pannier and frame as I was to start my long trip the next day. Luckily he said yes albeit laughing his ass off from my misfortune.

But when lying halfway under my bike with a painful knee and wounds here and there and a ripped off brand new pannier at 00.30 at night 1,5 days before I was to start my big trip because the distance between the stone blocks on the shortcut road was just ok with the smaller and narrower original panniers but definetively not with bigger and wider panniers - wasnt a very pleasant feeling….

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In the end everything will be fine. If its not fine its not the end....