Dag! Two Skies a few low speed spills and 'the higher speed spill"?
I got caught on ice when I was about 19 and fell 4 times in the same spot. That was a 350 Honda and my only transportation. I still had no business out in the middle of winter to hang out on the corner drinking and then try to ride home. But it was fun & I had no cares.
Fast forward 42 years. You are very fortunate to have no serious injury.
None of my business at all but if I was you I'd park that hog until your employment situation improves to your satisfaction. How bad would it be to get a call & can't go because you're hurt.
Not my place to say how to run your life but I'm kind of nutty about work. For me right now I look at every pay check as another month to cruise after I don't want to work anymore.
Good luck to you and stay safe hope it all works out for you.
A lot (almost all) of the right side damage was the result of the aforementioned drunk dude knocking over my bike and falling on top of it. The right side was in pretty good shape before then. Right peg, right turn signal lens, and now fixed right saddlebag bracket are all his doing, as are some of the fairing cracks... he also broke my right handlebar lever off just above the rounded end, but this hasn't been a problem as I still have plenty of lever to work with.
The left side was all me. Pretty much all of the permanent damage was a result of the ice spill. I ended up fracturing my left wrist on that one, and was knocked unconscious about immediately. I remember following the bus in front of me while turning onto a road from the freeway exit, and the next thing I remember is looking up at paramedics asking me questions; they just happened to be driving the opposite direction when they saw me go down. I was sore and woozy for a few weeks after that spill.
I replaced the left handlebar lever after that fall as well. Whomever here recommended packing needle nose vise grips I owe thanks to (I needed a temporary lever to move the bike onto a trailer at the impound yard). I have a fair amount of tools in my trunk, including jumper cables(!). Said tools have come in very handy several times when canyon chasing with buddies who needed to make field repairs. I even helped a guy repair his seat vinyl with gaff tape once (I always pack some).
FYI, the roads were dry that day, but some water had dripped down from the bridge above, forming a small ice patch that I didn't see... ambient temps were around 25 degrees farenheit.
My other low speed spills (3-4 of these) involved trying to turn around on a slope with stubby legs. I had to learn the hard way to continue on to the next level spot before attempting this. The bike survived these pretty well, with only a few scrapes and a broken sidebag bracket (said bracket has now been welded twice in two different locations).
Then there was the trip home months later, where a freak snowstorm arrived early, and I had to contend with several inches of very slick snow in a very short period of time. I got off the freeway OK, but some guy decided to come directly at me, crossing into oncoming traffic. Swerving wasn't an option, but I tried to go right anyways, and as expected, the bike went down. As soon as I went down and leapt to the right, the oncoming driver, in full control of his vehicle (he didn't slide into my lane) swerved around my bike to his right and never stopped. The center of his front grille came within 25 feet of my path of travel, and I strongly suspect he was aiming for me deliberately. Fortunately, another driver stopped and helped me right my bike. It went down one more time in the quarter mile it took me to find a suitable parking lot to leave it in.
Other than the mirrors getting bumped she came out more or less OK. Right side driver's peg survived this one without incident, although my Millerized peg bracket on that side was bent slightly.
A nice policeman gave me a ride home (I was within about 5 miles of home). All of said snow was melted by the following afternoon (warm temps), and I drove her home without further incident.
I also have a no freezing rule now. If the temps are expected to drop below 35 degrees at any point during my trip to and fro, the bike stays home. Also, I avoid snowstorms in warmer weather now too.
That being said, 40+ mpg (I've averaged 45 before, depends on the conditions) is much better than less than 15 MPG (both of my other vehicles are throwbacks to the 70's/80s), so the bike gets used often. I've put around 47K on her myself (bike had 1538 miles on it when I first bought it), and I do very well on her actually. Again, it just took some new lessons in top heaviness to teach me what NOT to do on a Connie (namely, not turning around on an incline if it can be avoided, especially with my mere 30" inseam - this comes up when canyon chasing, which I haven't done in over a year now).
All that being said, I eventually plan on getting a lighter bike for casual commuting when things finally turn around for me. Something that gets over 60 MPG would be attractive, depending on the options and ability to hang at 75+ MPH. At 140 LBS, manhandling a Connie off of the ground isn't easy for me to do.
