roadside self rescue tips for newbees

**FROSTY:Me** · 22nd February 2005, 23:02

I just occured to me that a bunch of you lot haven't heard of some of the little get ya home tricks us old farts grew up with.
If ya happen to run outa gas on an older style of bike then if you lay the bike on its side the last half litre will swish over to the tap side of the tank and might get ya to a gas station.
If you loose brake or clutch fluid and you're in the sticks --a get you home solution is to pour water in there. -Yep youl hafta flush the lines but itll get ya home.
A busted chain can be fixed as a get you home with a bit of fencing wire bent into the right shape
A busted throttle cable on bikes with twin cables is easy fixed by using the return cable as a throttle cable. --The trottle might have to be rigged to work backwards--But afgain itll get ya home .
Holes in crankcases /fuel tanks even fuel lines can be patched with Knead it -its a lil tube of stuff ya can buy from any hardware shop
This point was raised by another KB member-gear lever bolt worked loose leaving him stranded.right in front of you is a source of hundreds of assoerted nuts n bolts.A missing fairing bracket bolt wont be terminal but used to replace a missing gearshift lever bolt itll get ya home.
heck theres gotta be heaps of lil tricks for the newbees

**DarkNinja** · 25th February 2005, 19:57

This is a great idea for a thread - Kiwi ingenuity and the newbie that pushes his bike 2km to the gas station to find its closed for renovations. D'OH!
I can say ive run out of gas once or twice before and its not nice.
How old is old though? i have an 88 Kwaka is taht old enough?
Or my 84 RD350 is that old enough?
:P
DN

**Hitcher** · 25th February 2005, 20:31

And then there's the cellphone...

**sels1** · 25th February 2005, 20:43

Originally Posted by Hitcher

And then there's the cellphone...

handy - but only when you are in an area with coverage!

**dhunt** · 25th February 2005, 21:36

Originally Posted by sels1

handy - but only when you are in an area with coverage!

Very true and it seems all the best roads don't have coverage or maybe that's why they are good roads.

I carry a spare chain link around with me and a couple links for the above mentioned chain problems. But no tools

Need to collect some but that's the advantage of riding with someone else

**FlyingDutchMan** · 26th February 2005, 09:05

I had to use the #8 fencing wire trick because the rear exhaust bolt fell out (might of had something to do with not doing it up). Except I had no #8 wire - I had to cut a piece of barbed wire off a fence (it was a dangly bit). Once I got the barbs out, it worked well!

**jrandom** · 26th February 2005, 09:15

Riding a bike that you can push up hills for several kilometers is never a bad starting point...

I recommend the FXR150 for that.

**Jackrat** · 26th February 2005, 09:57

Back in the dark days of Mr lucas I always had solder and cigarette lighter,spare bulbs,couple of lengths of wire,spare nuts an bolts,gasket cement,half a liter of oil ect ect,the bloody list just goes on.
Now I have a Jap bike that if it stops,it's fucked.
I just ring home an get the 4x4 an trailer on it's way.
As for cell phone coverage,it doesn't matter,you just go to the closest house an use their phone.They want you out of their naibourhood as soon as,so you never get turned down.
BTW you can't carry petrol in a condom.

**XTC** · 26th February 2005, 10:15

Most important of all.... Preventative maintenance is still your best way of avoiding alot of hassles out on the road. Remember sprockets that have teeth are a good idea

**Groins_NZ** · 27th February 2005, 09:14

A tyre repair kit saved me a lot of hassle about a month ago. I used the external plug type with two CO2 canisters (although one canister was meant to do the job according to the instructions I had to use both in order to get a decent amount of air in the tyre).

**Motu** · 27th February 2005, 11:45

Riding old and worn out bikes,British and Japanese,most of my life,I'm an old hand at being stranded on the side of the road wondering WTF to do,although the last few years I have just used a cell phone.

THE most important thing to have is a complete knowledge of how your bike works and a knowledge of every nut and bolt of the thing - knowing how to program a computer is worth sweet FA on the side of the road with a bike that doesn't go.

I've had to get my bike out of some tough spots over the years - dragging my Rickman out of knee deep black mud in Aotea Harbour with the tide comeing in,finding I can't pick up the XLV750 on an isolated back road and finding a handy 2 metre half round to lever it up....character building stuff,scary WTF and I doing here at the time,but it's neat to have done them.

**Ms Piggy** · 27th February 2005, 11:53

And then there's duct tape, handy in desperate situations as a temporary solution I'm sure.

**FROSTY:Me** · 27th February 2005, 14:25

Originally Posted by Motu

Riding old and worn out bikes,British and Japanese,most of my life,I'm an old hand at being stranded on the side of the road wondering WTF to do,although the last few years I have just used a cell phone.

THE most important thing to have is a complete knowledge of how your bike works and a knowledge of every nut and bolt of the thing - knowing how to program a computer is worth sweet FA on the side of the road with a bike that doesn't go.

I've had to get my bike out of some tough spots over the years - dragging my Rickman out of knee deep black mud in Aotea Harbour with the tide comeing in,finding I can't pick up the XLV750 on an isolated back road and finding a handy 2 metre half round to lever it up....character building stuff,scary WTF and I doing here at the time,but it's neat to have done them.

Good Onya Motu ya put it so well.
I'm like you with the XJ900 --I know the darn things so well I know exactly whats going on or going wrong as the case may be.

**Jackrat** · 27th February 2005, 17:33

This is how it happened today.
Ok,I always have three ring/open enders,10mm,12mm,14mm, a magnetic screw driver with six head sizes,a pair of pliers,roll of electrical tape,and half a dozen fuses,10,15 and 20 amp.
I go nowhere without these things because I've needed them all in the past.
So I get about 10kms from home an bike stops dead.
As I flick it into neutral I see the neutral light don't come on,Oh no this feels very familar.
Check battery,sweet heaps of power,but still nothing at the ignition switch or indercators/stop light/ect.
Check fuses,MAIN FUSE BLOWN,bugger!!!
Replace fuse,turn key an watch as fuse goes POP,bugger again!!!
Look over what I can see of wiring loom,scatch bald spot an swear some more.
Out with the head light an poke about in the maze of wires in the shell.
Everything looks ok, apart from the rubber grommet where the main bunch of wires enter the back of the shell has poped out.
Check wires an instantly spot one with burn flash marks on it.
I would say "praise the lord" but Zed might be listening so I'll take the credit myself this time.
Tape up exposed wire,put grommet back in place,replace fuse again,note neutral light back on,put head light back in,kick it over,smile heaps an head for home.
As soon as I get home I take two new 20 amp fuses an put them in the coin pocket of my jacket.
Not much of a ride but I still feel good about it.