Lessons learned the hard way

[Muzz67]

>> Dont assume that because the manual says the'Reserve' is 2 litres,, that there is 2 litres left when main is empty......Pushed home

>> Dont assume that just because you can stretch an 18inch tube onto a 21inch rim, thats it'll also go on a 23inch rim. Another long walk.

>>Dont try to figure out parts of your bike when miles from anywhere. (Like seeing if the steering lock on the headset works.
It may lock the steering just fine,, but will it unlock?) Hour and a half frantic key wriggling.

>>Weetbix travel well,, untill the going gets bumpy. Sludge for breakfast.

>> Dont forget to put a new master-link in your spares when you change chain/sproks. Luckily Mrs close enough to perform a rescue.No walk!

Please add your 'DOH!' moments so I dont feel quite so stupid....

[Big Dog]

Just because the tap is turned to the markings that say reserve doesn't mean it is on reserve.
Nearly an hours kicking later out of desperation I tried off and sure enough away it went. Kind of fits with your don't try parts on your bike a long way from home, that was the first time using reserve.


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[puddytat]

Sounds like the long weekend didn't go to plan then ?:laugh:

[neels]

Adjusted my chain, again, before a 1500k ride, should replace that when I get home.....

It's a bloody long walk across the waitaki bridge when it gets off. :facepalm:

[kiwi cowboy]

Just because the tap is turned to the markings that say reserve doesn't mean it is on reserve.
Nearly an hours kicking later out of desperation I tried off and sure enough away it went. Kind of fits with your don't try parts on your bike a long way from home, that was the first time using reserve.


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had the same sort of thing on my fzr750 trying to start it and had gas in the tank but low so put on reserve only to almost wind the battery flat before trying the main mark on tap ( should have realised earlier as the pump was clicking loudly). started straight away. some muppet had put the hoses on the tap the wrong way around:shit:.

[Big Dog]

For me the Ring with the marks on it was installed upside down.

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[SuperMac]

Put your gloves back on before attempting to pull the bike back out of a Hawthorn hedge . . .

[local]

Don't trust an HD fuel guage


If you have to fix one perished fuel hose, best replace them all

[Motu]

A 40 year old chain is a 40 year old chain, even if it's been sitting in your shed for 25 years.

http://i1009.photobucket.com/albums/af212/bmwr65/2015-02-25%2014.47.55_zps61fisnmy.jpg

[george formby]

If your having a vigorous trail ride with gorse and bushes hemming the trail and your bike starts to run rough, won't idle etc. Check your handle bar mounted choke lever before you get the spanners out.:Oops:

[Muzz67]

Classic! Wish this forum had 'like' button.

[Moi]

A 40 year old chain is a 40 year old chain, even if it's been sitting in your shed for 25 years.

Bikes in them days were built of proper steel, not this modern lightweight stuff...

[eldog]

When adding oil, make sure you know how to set the bike up (side/centre stand option)before filling it.
Then make sure you can see the OIL in the sight glass, not some mystery line, which is actually sticking to the outside.

Mystery lines wipe off, even if they look like an oil level in certain light conditions.:whistle:

Luckily I had already drained the oil and was adding fresh stuff, nothing like doing something twice to get the hang of it. :brick:

[Ocean1]

You know that convention where you put your left food down when stopping, supposedly 'cause you might need the brake but probably not the gear lever?

Actually dates back to the age of Aquarius, stubbies, Fred Dagg, fondue parties, Blerta, and 32" flared Levis...

[Blackbird]

Don't assume that new liners will be properly installed in a Tiger 100 by so-called professionals :crazy: .

I was a student in the UK at the time and the Tiger 100 was my only form of transport. Had the engine rebuilt and the new liners rotated. The cut-outs for the con-rods did a good job of shaving alloy off the con rods and filling the oilways. You can guess what happened next. :eek5:

Got no redress from the dealer but was able to buy a second hand motor for a tenner which was a great option as it was totally reliable (apart from the inevitable oil leaks)! The other photo shows the bike in its entirety (when I was slim and had hair)

[Night Falcon]

Decide how good riding boots are by how "comfy" and "easy" they are to wear and walk around in, at your peril. Soft adventure boots will not protect you when you need them to - go and buy some Alpine Star Tech 10's or Sidi Crossfires......nothing else will do.







Don't argue....or you will be sorry. Lesson over :yes:

[R650R]

Don't consume alcohol while rebuilding your RGV250 gearbox.... as you'll put an extra washer/spacer in the wrong place and oh that nuts a little tight suddenly goes boom, goodbye casing. Only $80 for another cassette casting from wreckers but frustrating at the time....

A quick glance at the map and Napier to Gisborne looks about the same as Napier to Palmy, I wont fill up my FZR250 at Wairoa... nek minnit we're on reserve going up the Whareratas.... lucky afriendly local gave me lift to Manutuke for gas :)

[awayatc]

Always make sure side stand is really kicked out properly before you lean full weight of bike into it....

Never wear shoes with shoelaces.....Got caught up on gearlever, and when had to stop in traffic leaned left....and kept leaning u ntill I hit tarseal....

Make sure disclock is off before riding off.....

Don't go with open motor cross style helmet through a swarm of bees....
(seriously,on rainbow road hit a swarm of bees.....)

[OddDuck]

+1 on disc lock... broke three speedo cables and went splat once before I just threw the thing away!

Chain clips have a right way to go on. Wrong way and they'll pop off, then a few k's later the connecting link bends, then the chain comes off and proud young men have to call their Dad to come and bring the trailer :facepalm:

Turning to reserve means go and get gas, before walking reminds you not to forget next time. While walking, there's a chance that aging winos on pushbikes will rock up and offer sympathy and some cask red from their ghetto Camelbak.

When the manual says to use Loctite, and it's 3am and you're broke and there's no other vehicle to go shopping anyway and you're getting really fucked off with the job... they usually mean it, it's not like Loctite makes the inside of the engine prettier or anything. Go get Loctite. Really.

If your tyres are a bit skiddy in the dry and skid like hell in the wet, but they got through this WOF (just), and they got through last WOF (just), and come to think of it they're the tyres that came on the cheap bike when you bought it and they just don't seem to ever wear down... they're fucked, go get new tyres.

[young1]

Even if it the VERY last day of a three month motorcycle trip around Europe, you still need to remove the cable lock from the front wheel before riding off...

Luckily a builder in a house opposite had a grinder and managed to cut the cable (I couldn't unlock it as the lock part was wrapped around the front hub).

Only damage was to my pride luckily!

[Woodman]

If you ride down a steep hill, make sure that either

A) It comes out somewhere.

or

B) You are able to ride back up.

[young1]

If you ride down a steep hill, make sure that either

A) It comes out somewhere.

or

B) You are able to ride back up.

There is (was?) a hill in the fire trails above Nae Nae that had a hill like that.....

[pete-blen]

Make sure you have the spare Yamaha levers on the Yamaha
& the spare Honda levers on the Honda...:facepalm:






..

[george formby]

If you ride down a steep hill, make sure that either

A) It comes out somewhere.

or

B) You are able to ride back up.

:laugh:Indeed. Your post reminds me of an exceedingly hot and unpleasant few hours stuck in the bottom of a steep basin valley in the North of England. Looked nothing spectacular going in but it was very steep and marshy at the bottom with lots of deep, grass covered gullies (sykes). We had to haul the bikes out a foot at a time. Dumplings.

[Motu]

The tides out riding around a harbour - just because you went out in one bay and did 3rd gear donuts in the sand, doesn't mean that the next bay around is sand...it could be thick black stinking mud that sucks your bike down to the axles. So don't come off the bank wide open in 3rd gear....

[Woodman]

:laugh:Indeed. Your post reminds me of an exceedingly hot and unpleasant few hours stuck in the bottom of a steep basin valley in the North of England. Looked nothing spectacular going in but it was very steep and marshy at the bottom with lots of deep, grass covered gullies (sykes). We had to haul the bikes out a foot at a time. Dumplings.

Problem is it is not a lesson learned yet I don't think. can think of four times when this has happened to me now over the last few years. :rolleyes:

[Box'a'bits]

So not a lesson learned. More of a lesson brought to your attention....:laugh:

[slofox]

If you live at the top of a hill and own a slightly unreliable Italian 250cc motorcycle, do not, just after a "service", test ride the thing to the bottom of said (steep) hill. Because it will die instantly and force you to push it home up the fucking hill. (In front of all the kids you are teaching in the local school...who laughed their fucking arses off...little bastards.:mad:)

[Akzle]

Actually dates back to the age of Aquarius, stubbies, Fred Dagg, fondue parties, Blerta, and 32" flared Levis...

pics or it didnt happen

[young1]

If you live at the top of a hill and own a slightly unreliable Italian 250cc motorcycle, do not, just after a "service", test ride the thing to the bottom of said (steep) hill. Because it will die instantly and force you to push it home up the fucking hill. (In front of all the kids you are teaching in the local school...who laughed their fucking arses off...little bastards.:mad:)

Or when you live 2 kms up a hill and decide to crash start a VT 250 with a dead flat battery by rolling down. Walking back home in my full motorbike gear wasn't the worst part, it was my wife trying to tow me home in the car with me holding onto a rope! (Pre cell phone days so couldn't contact her)

[R650R]

The tides out riding around a harbour - just because you went out in one bay and did 3rd gear donuts in the sand, doesn't mean that the next bay around is sand...it could be thick black stinking mud that sucks your bike down to the axles. So don't come off the bank wide open in 3rd gear....

And that 30cm difference between an average low tide and the lowest tide can suddenly matter a hell of a lot....

[Gremlin]

If you ride down a steep hill, make sure that either

A) It comes out somewhere.

or

B) You are able to ride back up.

+1 on that. Going down the clay was no problem... going up an entirely different story which included picking it up, and a lot of sweat/swearing trying to get going on the slippery clay mid hill.

Take a friend(s) for the gnarly explorations... more hands make the job of getting bikes up/out easier when things go pear shaped :innocent:

If you have to push start a motorcycle, try really hard to get it done before you run out of hill... or you're pushing it up one to try again...

If you're parking down hill, make sure the bike is locked into first gear, otherwise that little bit of movement will be enough to help the side stand fold up :oi-grr:

[Woodman]

Don't use your centrestand on a soft, steep uphill, skinny trail.

Its almost impossible to get the bike back off the centre stand, and you can't tip it over one way as the bike will tumble down the bank, and the other way there is no room to tip it over. Digging is the only option.

[varminter]

If you use a disc lock get one of those pretty coloured curly string things, hook it from the lock to the seat, that way you'll not forget it's there and try to reverse, get stuck half out of the garage and 'almost' have to call the wife to help. Doh.

[Moise]

Don't assume that the bike ran out of petrol when you're on reserve just because the engine stops...

[Black Knight]

If when removing a wheel (rear) you have to spread your calipers to clear the discs,make sure you remember to pump them up again,especially on the rear and especially if the first part of the ride is downhill gravel with a hairpin bend and escape route is a 30 foot drop.

[Muzz67]

Dont assume that if you see apples laying on the road under an old apple tree, that kicking them at 100kph would be a good idea.
Now limping with blackening toe-nail......
I really need to grow up.

[Underground]

Dont assume that if you see apples laying on the road under an old apple tree, that kicking them at 100kph would be a good idea.
Now limping with blackening toe-nail......
I really need to grow up.

Gumboots??

[Woodman]

Don't assume that all road markers are the thin flexible sort and that it will be okay to hit them with your handgaurds. Some are solid and embedded in concrete:facepalm:

BTW my record is 7 handgaurd strikes on the Maruia saddle, if anyone is up for a challenge.:bleh:

[Muzz67]

Gumboots??
Well, yes,, but they were steelcapped!

[george formby]

Double check that you have located the clip under the front of the seat into the bracket on the tank correctly. It's surprising standing up for a wee jump and the seat comes with you. It's surprising when the seat moves into a corner with you, too. I'm onto it now..

Secure the rear of your bike to the trailer if you intend doing an emergency stop on the way home. Alternatively, strap a mattress to the back window of your car.

[Gremlin]

Secure the rear of your bike to the trailer if you intend doing an emergency stop on the way home. Alternatively, strap a mattress to the back window of your car.
Oh yeah... never tie down / transport a bike on a trailer on a paddock stand...

Or do it once, it will fall over in a corner and you'll never do it again... sheesh, thinking back to the first transport of a bike vs now... thankfully come a wee way :sweatdrop

[pete376403]

Leaving the IT400 on the sidestand, idling because it was hard to start, next to an electric fence while checking out the best way up a hill. Lot of assumptions were made, eg, it would stay on the stand, the fence wasn't connected, etc. It didn't and it was - watching me getting the bike untangled from the fence was very entertaining for the onlookers.

In all the years I owned that bike that was probably the only time it idled more than a minute or two.

[vegeman]

I don't know how I didn't see it, or feel it, , but once on the motorway, I felt the rear wheel grab for a sec and starting making bad vibe. Pulled over yo check and shocked to see my favourite macpac hoodie shredded through sprocket, chain, muffler etc. Lucky it didn't lock wheel up...so annoyed

[george formby]

Mufflers. Mitten melters. Don't try and pull your bike out of a snow drift by the muffler. I rode home after just such a scenario with my right glove plastic welded to the silencer. What a cock, nearly lost me hand to frost bite.

[Blat450]

When leaving the pits after refuelling don't assume all the people pointing and waving are doing it to acknowledge the riding god ripping down the whoops next to the pits and not the fact my fuel cap was not on and spraying fuel all over thighs and man vegetables! :facepalm:

[skippa1]

Dont leave your v twin (Buell) idling on the side stand on a slight grade, you may find it isnt where you left it when you come back

[Ocean1]

Dont leave your v twin (Buell) idling on the side stand on a slight grade, you may find it isnt where you left it when you come back

My XBR would do about 2M/min on the side stand, on dead flat concrete.

[Woodman]

My XBR would do about 2M/min on the side stand, on dead flat concrete.

My Benelli does that on the centrestand when idling. Takes about 2 minutes to do a width of the shed backwards.

[Ocean1]

My Benelli does that on the centrestand when idling. Takes about 2 minutes to do a width of the shed backwards.

Do I sense, I wonder an element of competition here?

Is this the beginning of a new class formula?

[eldog]

Next time the bike tour operator says it's only light gravel all the way, think again. Was fun though after.

Mate of mine parked his Harley on side stand on a slope, idling, came back a few minutes later, it has rotated around on the side stand and then 'driven' down the slope, lucky no damage.

[AllanB]

Dont leave your v twin (Buell) idling on the side stand on a slight grade, you may find it isnt where you left it when you come back

Yeah. My old 750 twin Kawa. I had stopped to get the mail, slight downward drive. Mail in hand and watched it ever so slowly go down.

Sweet F-A damage other than pride due to old school crash bars.

Bloody mail was only bills too!

[Luckylegs]

Petrol... Must get petrol!!!!!

Fuck 90kmh looks fast when your sat on a concrete barrier on the side of the motorway just before the akl harbour bridge

Ho hum

[george formby]

If you tuck the front and bin half a dozen times check that the front wheel is not jammed solid by the clay built up under the mud guard. A first for me and fresh of the press. I also found out they don't make twigs like they used to. Took me 20 minutes to poke the clay out. And many twigs.

[Muzz67]

the tree may not hurt ya,, but the thousands of fucking ballbearing-like acorns are nerve wracking to navigate a line through!

[Woodman]

the tree may not hurt ya,, but the thousands of fucking ballbearing-like acorns are nerve wracking to navigate a line through!

As are wet pine needles............Those bastards are slippery.

[sidecar bob]

A fully loaded R1200gs two up has a very washy front end on pretty much anything loose. :(

[Bass]

A fully loaded R1200gs two up has a very washy front end on pretty much anything loose. :(

Especially sand - video confirmation from pillion's helmet cam available

[george formby]

A fully loaded R1200gs two up has a very washy front end on pretty much anything loose. :(

Ahhh, the dreaded hint of front wheel contact. Eons ago I moved to the North of Scotland on an XT 350. All my worldly goods piled high on the back. Every time I pulled away from a junction or accelerated past slow vehicles it hoisted the front wheel. Half way through the trip my luggage began to flop around so I suffered wheelie wobbles until I could tighten it up. At the time I thought it was hilarious. I must have been mad.

[Uncle Mo]

that moment you think you got the hang of riding a bigger bike but really still a noob that knows jack! Over confidence is a b*tch!

Was filtering to the front of traffic,

lights turned green on you suddenly (because I should have taken note on the timing but didn't),

caught in the wrong gear,

stalled bike,

panic to start it back up,

Whiskey throttled like a mofo,

Wheelie'd unintentionally,

front wheel came down like a ton of bricks.

I have no idea how I didn't crash... but I'll go buy lotto later.

Extermely lucky to come away from that with only a bruised ego... and left testicle. lol

I have sooo much to learn... I'm such an idiot.

[Taxythingy]

'E' does not stand for Enough.

[Erelyes]

If you're gonna stick your dick in crazy, at least make sure they're your kind of crazy.

[awayatc]

If you're gonna stick your dick in crazy, at least make sure they're your kind of crazy.

Not sure what you'r on about.....

For which I am eternally gratefull......

[F5 Dave]

There is (was?) a hill in the fire trails above Nae Nae that had a hill like that.....
Yes we found a similar situation going from top of Wainui hill had to just keep going and exited Naenae.
We might have been I'll prepared, included an XLV750 on road tyres, GS650, XJ750 copbike and my trusty X7.

It was an . . , adventure.

OK to add;
Go visiting to show off your new to you TT500. Stay for the Sunday night horrors, just down the road, brruuuhhh.
Oh well switch on reserve. Kick kick. Hmm, check tap.

THERE IS NO RESERVE?!?!!! Just on and off!

[Ocean1]

Yes we found a similar situation going from top of Wainui hill had to just keep going and exited Naenae.
We might have been I'll prepared, included an XLV750 on road tyres, GS650, XJ750 copbike and my trusty X7.

It was an . . , adventure.

The one exiting down by Te Whiti park?

You could have done worse, the one ending above Mission st does just that, a couple of hundred meters short. You could do it on the GG. Probably.

Edit: Ah, no must have been well north of there...

[Woodman]

Todays lesson.

Tighten your wheel studs up. By the time they come loose and your rear wheel is flopping around like crazy you might be miles away from home like French Pass for instance:facepalm:

On the bright side it was an easier fix than a flat tyre or munted diff bearings which were my first two diagnosis.

[Underground]

Todays lesson.

Tighten your wheel studs up. By the time they come loose and your rear wheel is flopping around like crazy you might be miles away from home like French Pass for instance:facepalm:

On the bright side it was an easier fix than a flat tyre or munted diff bearings which were my first two diagnosis.

Yup, keep em tight Woodman, cos tight nuts is how we roll.

[F5 Dave]

The one exiting down by Te Whiti park?

You could have done worse, the one ending above Mission st does just that, a couple of hundred meters short. You could do it on the GG. Probably.

Edit: Ah, no must have been well north of there...
28 yes ago, all I know is we were lost.

[F5 Dave]

Did a similar thing 10 Years later but more extreme on a doc track before Ngawi. Was better equipped as my GP100 had knobblies.

[Moi]

28 yes ago, all I know is we were lost.

No, you weren't lost...


just exploring another route home. :bleh:

[F5 Dave]

There's more but I keep losing everything I type.

[Underground]

That lock nut on the bottom of the pivot bolt of the front brake lever....don't forget to put that on, or you will end up doing something exciting. On the Port Ligar road after doing some of my best accelerating I grabbed for that lever that slows you down and just got a hand full of air, tried again (in case it had miraculously reappeared)...same result! so you can imagine the all over the place cornering that happened next. then half an hour of looking for all the little bits that fell off, didn't find them all either but thankfully within rear brake only range of home.

[Moise]

When you're cleaning the front brake calliper pistons, leave the wooden block in the first calliper when you start on the second.

[Motu]

When you remove the choke valve from an Amal, you need to block off the cable hole because it makes an air leak. So don't use a nut and bolt...but if you do, put the bolt in from the top, nut on the bottom, because the small nut has a chance of passing through the engine....because the bolt didn't. And it will happen on some gravel road in the middle of nowhere. It wasn't me, but it was my file that refaced the valve, and we used a puddle to wet the valve grinding paste when lapping the valve. Yes, we went prepared on Adventures in the '70's.

[NiggleC]

Don't stretch your legs by hanging your feet a few mm's off the ground, don't drift to the centre line going round an easy RH bend, don't smack your big toe directly into a catseye at over 100km/h because your leg will go to a position its never been before and never will go again, your knee will ache for a month and your toe will return to a pink colour in six weeks. Especially don't do this 700km from home.

[ruaphu]

One ignition key is not enough when touring.

Another.

A seized ignition barrel is the same as losing the key.

In both situations ya buggered.


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[Citroenjunkie]

The lesson was simple: when making a slow u turn because you've got lost in Napier again, choose a flat driveway. If you choose a steeply cambered driveway and have to stop suddenly because of oncoming traffic chances are your downhill leg will still be too short and you will drop your one day old bike!:brick:

Ps: crash bars and panniers with corner protectors rock!

[R650R]

The lesson was simple: when making a slow u turn because you've got lost in Napier again, choose a flat driveway. If you choose a steeply cambered driveway and have to stop suddenly because of oncoming traffic chances are your downhill leg will still be too short and you will drop your one day old bike!:brick:

Ps: crash bars and panniers with corner protectors rock!

Its the same with normal or tall legs too (Im about 1m80), soon as you give away those vital extra inches of reach. I did it on my GSXR 1100 on steep side road on taupo rd and once on the 750 when there was slight dip pothole right where i wanted my foot to be while facing uphill....

Here's a training vid of turning a big fat bike on very steep loose terrain...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TysKyRwm1rA

[Ocean1]

Here's a training vid of turning a big fat bike with linked brakes on very steep loose terrain...



Similar trick with separate brakes, just requires a leg over and some hopping around...

[pete376403]

If you haven't got linked brakes, leave the bike in gear and kill the motor. Use the clutch to lock/release the back wheel

[Muzz67]

You can ride a dirt bike with knobblies along a beach, don't assume a fully laden advice bike with uni's will do the same.....:crazy:

[R650R]

Similar trick with ...........................

Similar trick with ........................... insert one of the thousand other ways to turn around a bike here.....

It was just a tip........ but the internet strikes again......

[Ocean1]

Similar trick with ........................... insert one of the thousand other ways to turn around a bike here.....

It was just a tip........ but the internet strikes again......

Chill, dude. I was simply pointing out that attempting to do that with any bike not so equipped would result in videos more suitable for entertainment purposes than training.

I know this 'cause I've attempted exactly that many, many times. :laugh:

[release_the_bees]

If you're running late for a soccer match, a shortcut across a muddy field on a sports tourer might not be the time saver that you think it is. (The groundsman must have gone mental when they saw the 400 metre long skid mark through the middle of the field. )

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[Saarg]

Lessons learned the hard way...... watch out for that tree

https://youtu.be/79Qf1_nfUhI


https://youtu.be/79Qf1_nfUhI

[release_the_bees]

Just when you think you've seen everything, somebody defies your expectations with a new level of stupidity.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11821779

(Kudos to the rider. I'm fairly sure That I would have totally misread that situation and gone straight into the driver's path.)

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