Stupidest thing you've ever done to your bike?
- Thread starter swooshdave
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Will never use a disc lock again myself.
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askdoctorday said:
I'm pretty sure I know when there's a breeze on my nipples. Were hers real or "enhanced"? Cuz I've heard the enhance models can lose some feeling. :mrgreen:
ashman
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Hi All
My older brother use to steal my first dirt bike when I was 15, he use to hot wire it so one day I put a lock around the chain so it ran loose on the chain, he got out side of my home and in 2 gear before it locked up and spat him off good and proper, when I got home from work he was inside cleaning himself up he had bark off every where, funny he never stole it again.
Ashley
My older brother use to steal my first dirt bike when I was 15, he use to hot wire it so one day I put a lock around the chain so it ran loose on the chain, he got out side of my home and in 2 gear before it locked up and spat him off good and proper, when I got home from work he was inside cleaning himself up he had bark off every where, funny he never stole it again.
Ashley
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Not buying my mates Brough 6 years ago for 13k....now worth 200k plus :!:
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The stupidist thing I ever did was Fall off on a round~ about doing maybe 5Km/hr.
Just bought the bike (in 1978) was riding home going cautious, a sprinkle of rain and a banked roundabout and swoosh the bike just slid out side ways from under me. Damaged my pride and dignity. Luckily no cars around only a couple of young teenagers to cheer me on. Then I had to pick up the heavy lump of iron and get it started again which being unfamiliar with this my first road bike took a while.
Nothing broken though it had crash bars and saddlebags and an ugly white fairing. Underneath was a Norton Commando 850 interstate in 1973 with bent push rod or guide that when fixed became a reliable workhorse on & off to this day.
Just bought the bike (in 1978) was riding home going cautious, a sprinkle of rain and a banked roundabout and swoosh the bike just slid out side ways from under me. Damaged my pride and dignity. Luckily no cars around only a couple of young teenagers to cheer me on. Then I had to pick up the heavy lump of iron and get it started again which being unfamiliar with this my first road bike took a while.
Nothing broken though it had crash bars and saddlebags and an ugly white fairing. Underneath was a Norton Commando 850 interstate in 1973 with bent push rod or guide that when fixed became a reliable workhorse on & off to this day.
The year was 1970. We had a garage full of motorcycles when we were kids. Used to take a license plate/tail light of an Ace 100, attach it to this,
and go tearing around the countryside, freeway and back roads. was pulled over once because of noise. Given a little lecture, and on my way. Kept this up for about a year until Dad caught on.
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Tearing around sure fits that bike and rider picture. Love that desert racer creation. Reminds me of my P!! but its tires weren't textured. It was so loud the cops chased me - but it was so fast they never got me. Some day will have to try the feel of those flat track type traction. Glad we made this far against all fates.
rvich
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Looking at the sprocket on the bike in the above post (great looking bike btw, but surely that photo is more recent than 1970?) reminded me of a story that really has nothing to do with motorcycles but I am betting the crew here would get a kick out of.
This is probably the stupidest thing I have EVER done with a piece of machinery. A number of years back while working for NOAA doing maintenance and construction, we had a fairly large project that we needed to pour a large concrete slab for. We had an old cement mixer that was built to tow behind a truck and was powered with a Briggs & Straton. The thing was massive and built heavily. The bearings on the bucket where pretty worn but since it turned so slowly it wasn't much of an issue. However, the motor to turn it was toast, so we dug around in our warehouse of stuff and found a big beefy Techumseh we could mount on it. The only problem was that the Briggs and the Techumseh had different reductions, so we needed to change the gearing. No problem! It was chain driven so we just needed to swap out sprockets. Due to our remote location they had to be ordered in so a number of days passed from doing the math on the sprockets to installing them. It is hard to believe there is no beer involved in this story, but when I finally got the parts I put it all together, BUT I still can't believe that I put the sprockets on in the wrong order! As in the big one on the engine and the small one on the bucket!
To make matters worse the thing was sitting inside the warehouse. Amazingly it started at all with the gearing but as I said the Techumseh was a real beefy motor so not only did it start but it was spinning the bucket at about 600 RPMs (which is really fast for a cement mixer!). As I also said the bearing were kinda worn so the whole thing started bouncing around on its pneumatic tires, which also caused it to start walking around the warhouse in big galloping circles!
This left me (and my boss) with the problem of shutting it down before it started destroying stuff. The only kill switch was one of those metal tabs on the engine head that you flip over to short the plug. So we found ourselves chasing this thing around in the warehouse with rigid sticks of EMT conduit trying to short out the spark plug, while trying not get run over by it. Of course its direction of travel was toward the end with the motor so you had to place yourself in harms way to jab at it with the pole. I am pretty sure we looked like cavement trying to kill a saber tooth tiger.
Ultimately, one of us finall got the spark plug shorted out and the beast brought to rest. My boss looked at me and said..."I think you better do the math again!" It was years before he would trust my calculations again. So now let me help you out with those sprocket calculations on your Commando!
This is probably the stupidest thing I have EVER done with a piece of machinery. A number of years back while working for NOAA doing maintenance and construction, we had a fairly large project that we needed to pour a large concrete slab for. We had an old cement mixer that was built to tow behind a truck and was powered with a Briggs & Straton. The thing was massive and built heavily. The bearings on the bucket where pretty worn but since it turned so slowly it wasn't much of an issue. However, the motor to turn it was toast, so we dug around in our warehouse of stuff and found a big beefy Techumseh we could mount on it. The only problem was that the Briggs and the Techumseh had different reductions, so we needed to change the gearing. No problem! It was chain driven so we just needed to swap out sprockets. Due to our remote location they had to be ordered in so a number of days passed from doing the math on the sprockets to installing them. It is hard to believe there is no beer involved in this story, but when I finally got the parts I put it all together, BUT I still can't believe that I put the sprockets on in the wrong order! As in the big one on the engine and the small one on the bucket!
To make matters worse the thing was sitting inside the warehouse. Amazingly it started at all with the gearing but as I said the Techumseh was a real beefy motor so not only did it start but it was spinning the bucket at about 600 RPMs (which is really fast for a cement mixer!). As I also said the bearing were kinda worn so the whole thing started bouncing around on its pneumatic tires, which also caused it to start walking around the warhouse in big galloping circles!
This left me (and my boss) with the problem of shutting it down before it started destroying stuff. The only kill switch was one of those metal tabs on the engine head that you flip over to short the plug. So we found ourselves chasing this thing around in the warehouse with rigid sticks of EMT conduit trying to short out the spark plug, while trying not get run over by it. Of course its direction of travel was toward the end with the motor so you had to place yourself in harms way to jab at it with the pole. I am pretty sure we looked like cavement trying to kill a saber tooth tiger.
Ultimately, one of us finall got the spark plug shorted out and the beast brought to rest. My boss looked at me and said..."I think you better do the math again!" It was years before he would trust my calculations again. So now let me help you out with those sprocket calculations on your Commando!
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That's an hysterical image of you guys doing battle with the Hopping Beast. I'm picturing one of you running in front of it to distract its attention, shouting insults at the machine, while the other tries to sneak up on it with your shorting-out spear. Hysterical.
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waaay back in the '80's was on a weekend ride with a fast club (S.F. Northstars FWIW), had a good day Saturday and rode well (for me)....after dinner that night we were trying to find a good place for beer in Eureka, CA and the first one didn't look good so we were pulling away from the curb to the right and I was tired and for the first time forgot to unlock the fork on my R90S (down on the steering head) so of course I crashed as soon as I tried to straighten out. Picked myself and the bike up and thought I got the fork lock undone but didn't realize it was now bent so the bars were straight, got down to the next corner and tried to make a right with my friends and crashed AGAIN.....at that point I gave up on the beer idea and headed back to the hotel alone
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oh no bluto, I'd not have revealed that one LOL!
Reminded my on early days on Peel when still shiny-nice, friend pulled up next to me in a lot with shiny-new mini van so I got off bike to look inside but w/o side stand down - didn't quite get there before van had its 1st parking lot ding...
Reminded my on early days on Peel when still shiny-nice, friend pulled up next to me in a lot with shiny-new mini van so I got off bike to look inside but w/o side stand down - didn't quite get there before van had its 1st parking lot ding...
"not buying the Brough for 13K now worth 200K" Well John I don't feel quite so stupid anymore, I passed on a real completely stock 1974 Ducati 750 Super Sport for the same $13,000. I had been out on my BMW K100RS exploring far away bike shops and came across the Duck at a little place in Riverside Calif. Some hole in the wall shop & I think they needed money so I probably could have got a better price. Sure wish I had bought it but hind sight you know. Allways clearer.
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The T140 powered Rickman was fresh from the shed and had successfully completed its first shakedown ride. It was a glorious spring day and there was no significant problems to report. To celebrate this milestone I headed for a local pub (foreshadowing) located in the centre of town. The pub patio is a destination for many bikers so there was a considerable collection of Charley Hoppers and Rice Rockets on the street. The Rickman gathered quite a crowd and I was giving modest interviews when someone suggested that I do a wheelie for the crowd. After ONE wobbley pop it seemed like a good idea. The Rickman dutifully started up first kick drawing oohs and ahhs from the crowd which by now has swelled to a large gathering to watch the show.
I motored down the street turned around and came roaring back, the Rickman bellowing its approach.
Now I don’t know why Joe Lucas took that moment to come and visit…. and the bike drifted by the patio in total silence.
To this day when I go to the pub I wear a paper bag over my head. Not so much to prevent patrons from recognizing me but to prevent people getting injured from the bright red radiation.
I motored down the street turned around and came roaring back, the Rickman bellowing its approach.
Now I don’t know why Joe Lucas took that moment to come and visit…. and the bike drifted by the patio in total silence.
To this day when I go to the pub I wear a paper bag over my head. Not so much to prevent patrons from recognizing me but to prevent people getting injured from the bright red radiation.
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As a young, super keen wanta be Scrambles rider I thought for a long time that to be able to get the bike
up on the back wheel was pretty special. So I practiced and practiced until I had it about right.
Enter the girl friend with camera.
Now I was riding in a fairly rough paddock on the farm so wasn't concerned at all by a bit of a bump, I even looked
across at the girl friend so as to get a good shot,.. only to see her not taking the picture, but waving franticly.
No worries I'll just turn around and pop another one,.... down she came, forks dug into mud I went over handle bars.
Yep, while showing off my tyre changing skills on the cut down James, with 197cc of Villiers., I hadn't tightened up the axle nuts.
They had a slip in type arrangement on the forks, like a push bike, not a hole for the axle to go threw.
I still laugh, and that must have been about 1970.
Years later, same girl, very different circumstances, (we had brocken up recently) When she came around to annoy me about something
I was again changing tyres (should've woken up there and then), I managed to take front tyre off and replace it with exactly the same one.
1975 CCM 540ccm.
up on the back wheel was pretty special. So I practiced and practiced until I had it about right.
Enter the girl friend with camera.
Now I was riding in a fairly rough paddock on the farm so wasn't concerned at all by a bit of a bump, I even looked
across at the girl friend so as to get a good shot,.. only to see her not taking the picture, but waving franticly.
No worries I'll just turn around and pop another one,.... down she came, forks dug into mud I went over handle bars.
Yep, while showing off my tyre changing skills on the cut down James, with 197cc of Villiers., I hadn't tightened up the axle nuts.
They had a slip in type arrangement on the forks, like a push bike, not a hole for the axle to go threw.
I still laugh, and that must have been about 1970.
Years later, same girl, very different circumstances, (we had brocken up recently) When she came around to annoy me about something
I was again changing tyres (should've woken up there and then), I managed to take front tyre off and replace it with exactly the same one.
1975 CCM 540ccm.
Way back in high school I owned a Hodaka Ace 100 dirt bike. My friend had a Honda 100. His bike was shiny and dent free. My Hodaka was a little "Rustic."
Well, His Dad loaded up our bikes and off we went to the mountains for a weekend ride. On the way we talked bikes and I casually mentioned that I replaced my back wheel spokes. Dead silence and morbid stares followed. I guess a teens idea of truing a wheel is to just tighten' em' till it looks right. Sooooo,
we arrived at the sight, off loaded the bikes and away we went, (You know what's coming doncha?) After a hill or two the rear wheel developed a huge wobble and then bucked like a brama. Needless to say I was thrown off and the Hodaka shed it's spokes like some paint shaker gone mad.
My friend offered a ride back and we could not make it up the last hill on my friends Honda 100. so I had to walk the "Batan death march" to the crest, beaten, dirty and pissed.
I spent the rest of the day going around a flat dirt track riding tandem on my friends bike. very ashamed. His Dad just shook his head in silence.
Well, His Dad loaded up our bikes and off we went to the mountains for a weekend ride. On the way we talked bikes and I casually mentioned that I replaced my back wheel spokes. Dead silence and morbid stares followed. I guess a teens idea of truing a wheel is to just tighten' em' till it looks right. Sooooo,
we arrived at the sight, off loaded the bikes and away we went, (You know what's coming doncha?) After a hill or two the rear wheel developed a huge wobble and then bucked like a brama. Needless to say I was thrown off and the Hodaka shed it's spokes like some paint shaker gone mad.
My friend offered a ride back and we could not make it up the last hill on my friends Honda 100. so I had to walk the "Batan death march" to the crest, beaten, dirty and pissed.
I spent the rest of the day going around a flat dirt track riding tandem on my friends bike. very ashamed. His Dad just shook his head in silence.
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