Oh the joys of breaking down

**McWild** · 26th October 2009, 17:17

For those of you who do not know me (which I imagine is a lot of you), it may (or most likely may not) interest you to know that when out riding my various motorcycles, it is not all too uncommon for me, or rather the bike, to break down.

In the past these have been reasonably simple affairs, often involving waiting for the chap in a tow truck to come along, or simply dealing with it and riding on.

The affairs bringing about these circumstances have ranged from kickstarts breaking off mid kick or falling off mid ride, to a clutch cable seizing, an engine seizing, a carb being drowned in water and various others.

Many good times are had and we all learn to laugh at it later on.

The reason I am posting this is because on Friday I had another such little break down, this time involving an ominous rattle and a weird bit of feeling.
Pulling over, I inspect the bike and see nothing loose, which worries me more than anything because that increases the likelihood that the rattle is coming from WITHIN the engine.

Other various things happen, of note including a car tooting and swearing at me for being stuck in the middle of the road desperately trying not to drop the bike after a push start gone wrong; a nice chap on a bike stopping to help; my friends eventually discovering I am [B]not[/B[ behind them; and of course the subject of this thread, the inevitable bout of pushing.

So figuring that being in the middle of a dip between roads we are not in a prime place for push starting, we realise that to better push start and listen to the engine, and to get a friend with a trailer along, we need to get to some flat. The next bit of flat, it turns out, is over what I would consider a formidable hill.

How do you get a bike over a hill without starting the engine?
I'm sure you can guess.

I leave you with the pictures taken by my hilarious friends of me pushing the bike up a hill followed closely by Dave- and his hazard lights. I also advise you that if you are going to pull over because of dodgy noises, do so at the top of a slope, not the bottom.

Lesson learned.

**Sidewinder** · 26th October 2009, 17:24

haha cant beat good mates

**p.dath** · 26th October 2009, 17:27

Couldn't you have just pushed it half way up the hill, and then turned around to push start it?

**Gremlin** · 26th October 2009, 17:28

Originally Posted by McWild

I also advise you that if you are going to pull over because of dodgy noises, do so at the top of a slope, not the top.

Well... I can see why your bike gets confused by your instructions

Shoulda got a KTM aye?

**sil3nt** · 26th October 2009, 17:31

Maybe i am missing something here but why are you push starting it? And if you were on a hill why not just push it up the hill a little then turn around and use the slope to push start?

Anyway nice bike! And i have had to push a bike up a hill and it wears you out so fucking quickly its crazy!

*edit*
Beaten by the Weenie!

**TuonoTom** · 26th October 2009, 17:34

You must have some bloody good mates McWild.

**McWild** · 26th October 2009, 17:40

Gremlin: Bastard, I hate typos!

And my kick start fell off the other day while riding and I couldn't find it. And my spare makes a really annoying noise.

The reasons I didn't just push up and roll down:
We needed to get to a more open space where we could be a bit further off the road. This was for better inspection of the noise and also better placement in the eventual need of mate-with-trailer. This happened to be over the hill, I coasted down the other side. 50kms round corners with the engine off is a very interesting feeling.
Also, a pushing u turn on that road would be very difficult due to the ditches on both sides, general narrowness and random spurts of heavy traffic. Where I was pushing was the very limit of walkable ground, with the bike still making silly drivers do stupid shit to get around it. Was past the left hand white line but had about 2cm either side of the wheel.

Yeah push starting uphill is a bastard all right...

Originally Posted by CBR250Tom

You must have some bloody good mates McWild.

^ Prick with the camera. Silly Honda riders.

**Gremlin** · 26th October 2009, 17:43

So what you're saying is that, knowing your bike, you know exactly where the best spots are, for pick up, where to troubleshoot issues, and that this section isn't so great, but just over the hill is a better spot?

You ever considered your choice in bikes?

**hayd3n** · 26th October 2009, 17:57

a bit of rope or a strop and one of ur m8s could of towed you up the hill

**EJK** · 26th October 2009, 18:12

Awwwww I'll give you a hug!

**Pedrostt500** · 26th October 2009, 18:17

Always used to carry an old strop on the trail bikes, tie one end off to the towing bike, wrap the other end around the stearing head and hold the loose end in the right hand, held onto the handel bar, if it all went wrong just let go of the strop.

**crazyhorse** · 26th October 2009, 18:33

Sounds like you need to give your bike alot of TLC

**imdying** · 27th October 2009, 10:35

Crap, the changes of gettings the Repsol, the Pepsi, the Rothmans, and the Lucky Strike, all in the same place at once for photos just keeps getting more and more remote