Catching Fire

I had the misfortune of having a bike catch fire while riding yesterday. I picked up a very pretty 88 BMW K75 that needed a fuel pump and injectors. I followed the manual replacing both and was I thought very careful. It started right up and sounded great. I checked it for leaks in the yard and then went for a short but eventful ride. About three miles in I saw flames coming up both sides of the tank about knee high. I stopped, turned it off, put it on the side stand and got well back. Luckily someone drove by, stopped and gave me an extinguisher. The police and firemen came by, made a few notes and wished me luck. I’ll give the bike away to the first taker and be much more careful in the future. Last night I was bummed but also felt very lucky and very very alive.

Wow. Both unlucky and lucky.

I had it happen once. Horrible feeling of uselessness when you realise ‘all I can do is stand back and watch it destroyed by fire’.

Similar to you, mine was saved by an extinguisher. I carried a small extinguisher with me whenever out on a bike for a long while after, but eventually stopped doing so.

I had it on a mk 2 Rocket 3 , while setting the timing it back fired and set the air cleaner alight. I was so lucky I had a hose pipe to hand, got away with burned wires and a bit of scorching. Now whenever I start a bike up after a major job I have an extinguisher close by.

Caught on fire in a TQ once, it was methanol I couldn't see the flames, pit crew and about 20 others all jumping up and down, then they put me out, no burns but very embarrassed .
Went out in the next race all good, dammed methanol can't see it burning in the daytime.

Burgs

I have been on fire too many times. BSA single ,had to ride up a bank and leap off at 20 mph, 1950's Ford pop Just as going down the steepest hill , Blown up and on fire in gas explosion camper Van (Wife patted my hair out ,I did hers!) .Gloves caught fire at the bus stop(leaky lighter), but did make an impression on the girls!. Norton cought fire after I cartwheeled it at high speed after bad bridge landing . I'm going to stop now, all too unbelievable.

Scout63 said:

I had the misfortune of having a bike catch fire while riding yesterday. I picked up a very pretty 88 BMW K75 that needed a fuel pump and injectors. I followed the manual replacing both and was I thought very careful. It started right up and sounded great. I checked it for leaks in the yard and then went for a short but eventful ride. About three miles in I saw flames coming up both sides of the tank about knee high. I stopped, turned it off, put it on the side stand and got well back. Luckily someone drove by, stopped and gave me an extinguisher. The police and firemen came by, made a few notes and wished me luck. I’ll give the bike away to the first taker and be much more careful in the future. Last night I was bummed but also felt very lucky and very very alive.

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Whoa Ben ! That sucks but glad you are ok .

Thanks Rick. Must be a lot of miles and a lot of bikes for so many of you to have done it too. I really love this group.

I also have had a fiery moment. First startup after winter, for some odd reason the ignition timing was way off, so the bugger would not start. After a lot of messing around it eventually war running. All good, put helmet and gloves on to go for a run and I saw smoke from under the tank!
Fortunately the side panel was still off, so I could pull the battery off the bike (no time to mess around with terminal screws or anything. The cable loom sheathing was well alight and spreading to the foam air filter and travelling towards the fuel lines and tank......

I never was very good at blowing out candles on my birthday cakes,, but somehow I managed this before the bike turned into one big candle.
Had to sit down afterwards though, a combination of lack of air and the thought of "what if..."

Turned out that a blade terminal on the battery side of my main (and only) contact breaker was shorting to something, so the battery had a full short causing the insulation on the cable from the battery to ignite and spread. Several of the earth wires (eg. from the headsteady) were also well cooked.
I have a powder extinguisher in the workshop but it would have taken too long to get the key, unlock the door, etc.

After an hour's fast work I had cut all the damaged cable out and replaced with new, removed the CB and put a fuse instead and done another smoke test.

Had this happened whist riding, I doubt very much that the bike would have been saved.

Moral of the story is to be very critical of the 'lectrics (and the fuel, and all the rest)

Scout63 said:

I had the misfortune of having a bike catch fire while riding yesterday. I picked up a very pretty 88 BMW K75 that needed a fuel pump and injectors. I followed the manual replacing both and was I thought very careful. I

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Did you find out what happened? I bet an old brittle hose was the cause? Glad to hear you are okay.

-Knut

Had a Volvo fitted with twin dellortos. Homemade air cleaner caught fire. Workmate quick with extinguisher. Expected a total mess. Not so, he used a CO2 extinguisher.
First start of the Manx on a roller starter. Suddenly big clouds of smoke. Luckily just my pants on fire. Too close to the exhaust pipe, had not yet got ignition timing right.

In the old days, my Triumphs never had air cleaners, and the Amal carbs had a float bowl which was attached to the main body by a diecast bit. I was out riding with one on my friends when the float bowl broke off. The first thing I knew was I got hot legs. I put my leather jacket over the fire and lost that. Then a passing motorist gave me a towel which I used to stifle the fire. The main problem with a fire like that is when the oil lines burn through and the oil starts to burn. Most petrol fires are fairly easy to extinguish. The one that wasn't was when one of my friends had a fire and removed the cap on the tank in case the tank exploded.
The last time I raced, I forgot to tighten the clip on the fuel line, which is right up under the tank. Methanol pissed al over the motor but did not catch fire. When I stopped, I was ahead of all the other competitors. It was probably my last chance to give them all a good thrashing. I don\'t like petrol fires. I was once in a laboratory fire which was fuelled by petroleum ether. It is one reason I would never race a car. That fuel load is a real worry. If you crash a bike, you don't usually get burned.

I suspect that I didn’t seat an injector fully and it was pushing fuel out in addition to in.

A few years ago I rewired a BMW 60/2 and took it for a quick shakedown ride (see the pattern?). I didn’t clamp the battery down and it toppled over, shorting to the frame. The wiring harness caught fire but luckily not near any fuel. Last time I didn’t secure a battery.

Don't get rid of the bike because of an oversight.

You learned your lesson, just go back and make things right, carefully.

Ride on, and glad it wasn't worse.

I’m not going to fix this one GP. The sheer number of oem parts necessary to fix the bike would exceed its value and its not classic enough to me to invest the time. I feel that I’ve learned a valuable lesson about checking work thoroughly before riding, especially when working on fuel systems.

I offered it on the BMOA classifieds free to a good home and have what seems to be a very good recipient lined up. He owns among other bikes a show quality Munch and a very well sorted K1 sidecar rig. He is building a K75 Café and I think my bike will provide excellent parts. I hope it helps him and that the goodwill helps all of us.

BTW - here is the damage:

I’m very pleased to hear you got off without any burns yourself. My one and only blaze was with my first ever motorbike Triumph Tiger Cub 200cc, the fuel pipe came off the tank as I was riding along and the gushing fuel ignited in the hot exhaust. I couldn’t do anything but watch my pride and joy totally burn to bits of molten alloy. Not a pleasant experience.

I had a close call on my first bike, bonnevilleT00, when fueling it the very first time. Had not learned the auto cutoff on fuel fillers was not made to handle smaller volume tank situations. She glugged a big wave of fuel out and down onto hot engine. Saw lots of smoke as I backed away in terror, awaiting for the big bang. Never happened. Guessing heat alone is not sufficient to ignite liquid fuel as its the vapours that need a spark. Now im super paranoid when fueling. Watching boy racers fuel up while sitting astride their crouch rockets gives me the shivers.

Nasty stuff if it soaks into your boxers!. Riding with my mate Keith ( he carried a small extinguisher in his top jacket pocket) , I crashed my Norton at high speed,to avoid running me over he went through a hedge into a field and crashed .the extinguisher went off (in pocket) and his wiring caught fire just as it emptied. I staggered up covered in blood with no jeans left and pulled the wires out before passing out. A shocked little old lady in a Morris Minor took me to hospital where a beautiful young nurse spent ages picking stones out of my bum etc, and was I an embarrassed 18 year old?. Spent 2 days in bed then repaired both bikes just enough to ride 250 miles home in the dark with no lights.borrowed my mates spare dirty jeans.

This thread needs some visuals....

I’ll bet that’s the last of their rallies without someone holding an extinguisher nearby. Smart move pulling the tank.

Glad it was NOT a Norton.