When a kid paws your bike

[klingon]

Genuinely curious - would that same person also take stuff ofrom your desk (i.e. stapler, pens etc) without returning it? I wonder if it's a lack of consideration for property in general, or a lack of understanding about bikes...

The funny thing is, I would not have expected this particular guy to behave like that - I thought he had more common sense.

There's another guy on staff who repeatedly borrows stuff without asking. One day I arrived at work to find he had unlocked my office, let himself in and was searching my desk drawer for some bit of stationery! He also repeatedly parks his car in the designated bike parking and has to be asked to move it. He has asked questions about my bike but never touched it.

I wonder what it is that makes otherwise apparently normal people treat bikes like public property.

[ManDownUnder]

I wonder what it is that makes otherwise apparently normal people treat bikes like public property.

Huh - interesting! Lay out a rug and have a picnic on the bonnet of his car - see what happens... I'll bring the chicken

[35tickets]

I had the ZZR on the ferry one day up in Opua...this kids and his dad came over and started chatting ...his dad was cool... had a bike... had to sell it... because of family etc etc usual "good to see your bike" chat and so forth....so heres us chatting about bikes and the kid starts poking the bike!! Pokes the indicators and the mirrors and the screen, headlight etc etc....then pokes the hot exhaust can....tell you what he stopped poking the bike after that LOL that'll F%^&king learn ya....LOL

Years ago had an old KR 1-S at a party...was minding my own business when this guy arrives with his kid, and as soon as the kid/dad sees the bike he picks the kid up and plonks him in the seat....well F*&^ i went over and asked him if he could politely remove his kid off the bike....he (complete twat)said why....after a few choice words I which basically ended with "I don't give a F*** about your kid its the bike I care about" I decided to leave the party....rather be riding anyhow than arguing with a dickhead

[slofox]

10 years old you say! - from the way you describe his speach sounds like he may have been austistic. Good on you for extending your patience to the kid, he probebly would have apreciated that.

He wasn't autistic - too interactive for that...just foreign.....

Could have got interesting if it was a (automatic) scooter - a twist of the throttle and the thing would be crashing into the nearest wall.
:

It WAS turned off before he did that....fortunately

[stify]

had bit of a laugh at a kid who wanted to show off to his younger bro, just got off my bike and was heading for a "pit stop" said to older of the two boys don't touch cause is hot an you'll get burnt, a coupla minutes into said "pit stop" I here screaming...wander outside and find the silly little bugger had tried to put stones into my exhaust and the skin on his hand had stuck to the inside of my muffler due to it being rather warm...boy did he squeal when I pulled his arm so I could carry on with my day..

[sunhuntin]

id say a good lesson learned not to touch. bet he wont do that again.

ive never had kids touch the bike that i know of. i do often get excited waves when moving though, lol. either from kids on the sidewalk or in other vehicles. i did come out of the mall one day to find my hazards switched on. if one came up with a parent, id offer em a sit, but not without a parent. god knows these days id get accused of abuse.
i do worry sometimes about the exhaust being touched by some kidlet, but figure if the parents aint watching, said kidlet deserves to get burned.

[Maha]

Now you ride a Honda I expect they are spitting something else instead.

When I had the Triumph, I stopped at the Puhoi one day and....
This Big drunk Mama came over to me and said...

BDM...''is dat your bike over there''?
Maha...'' which one''?
BDM ...''da blue one''!
Maha...''yip''
BDM....''can I sit on it''?
Maha....''no''!!!!!
BDM...''why not? I want my photo taken on it''
Maha...''cos I have just put a new shock on it and I dont want it stressed''!!

[Blackshear]

When I had the Triumph, I stopped at the Puhoi one day and....
This Big drunk Mama came over to me and said...

BDM...''is dat your bike over there''?
Maha...'' which one''?
BDM ...''da blue one''!
Maha...''yip''
BDM....''can I sit on it''?
Maha....''no''!!!!!
BDM...''why not? I want my photo taken on it''
Maha...''cos I have just put a new shock on it and I dont want it stressed''!!

Bah ha ha ha, BACK OFF, 'FOR AH MACE YEH!

[Str8 Jacket]

I'd make the little bastard ride it. Right then and there.

[jaymzw]

HAHA! Little fuckers only got 6 years on me!!! I'd just knock him the fuck out!

Nah but seriously, i always have trouble rolling up to parties on my bike, case in point would be last weekend saturday.

A guy i know well from school is outside the party drunk off his nuts. Hes with some girl and she's also drunk. I was getting ready to leave and as i came round the corner i see this girl sitting on my bike. I ask her get off in a less polite manner(i was pissed off because i couldnt drink haha) and the guy there took offence.
Anyway he started getting abit rowdy and in the end it was Kevlar gloves one-drunk bitch boy zero.
I love my bike too much to let anyone fuck with it!

[BM-GS]

Kids just dig bikes. Then they grow up, become accountants and forget...

Always had neighbours' kids flock round when I came home from work, & always encouraged then to form an orderly queue and to watch out for the hot bits. Firmly discouraged climbing about once on and threw a fit at one for climbing on while I wasn't looking and without asking.

Got 2 sprogs of my own now and they still like climbing, etc, but after #2 burnt his knuckles (reduced arm-waving space in garage as new bike had zorst on other side) there's a bit more control about it. They also toddle off to check out any bikes wherever we go, and are supervised closely at all times - for their own safety & the bikes'!

Got them onto dirt-riding, so they do (or will soon) understand the Don't Mess With My Ride thing. Hopefully they can spread the news to their mates.

[klingon]

We also had neighbours' kids fascinated by our bikes at the last place we lived. I think it's a great opportunity to learn about bikes and (just as importantly) bike protocol - such as asking before touching.

Our neighbours' kids were great. The big ones (7 or 8 years old) always made sure the little ones (in nappies) had a turn sitting on the bike and they always said "thank you" after we had let them have a turn. They were the kind of kids that are a delight to have around.

It was only later I realised that my partner had talked to the kids, but always left me to lift them on and off the bikes and do the up-close-and-personal stuff (showing them what all the knobs and switches do). He felt that he had to be so cautious when the kids' parents weren't around that he couldn't get really involved in their 'discovery' of motorbikes. A bit sad really because I know how delighted he was that they were interested. And of course they all thought his big silver bike was the best. Wrong!

[tigertim20]

Yeah I get the worrying about idiots playing with your bike. I live in Dunedin in the student area (I came to uni as an adult student when i was 21, and thus live near the uni with friends)
I am constantly terrified some wanker will come up kick the mirrors off or sit on it drunk and itll fall over, or some fuckhead will tip it on purpose (these things happen regularly in the student area, I know two guys who have had this happen, one aprilia and one Yamaha)
I have found a way around this though, My room faces the street and has a ranch slider, So My beloved new purchase (CBR 600) is pushed into my room EVERY night after I use it, fits (just) between the king size bed and the wall. The MRS jokes about how my new girlfriend ( Bike has been named scarlet) sleeps in our room with us, Now I need to taslk her into taking advantage of that, if you know what I mean!!!

As for kids, I have picked one kid up and put her in the saddle at the supermarket, she went vrrom vroom, and her daddy nearly cried, was damn cute. I dont mind kids looking and asking questions, but the day one damages my bike, is the day their unwatchfull parent gets their head busted in with a helmet.

[jtzzr]

In general I am very tolerant of kids. I was a teacher for over a decade and learned that there is almost always some good in a kid somewhere if you can just dig it out...(note the "almost always"). But every so often I meet one who sows the seeds of doubt. Please continue dear reader...

Last night I stopped at the supermarket on the way home. As I was removing helmet etc etc some kid came up and said something along the lines of "VROOM VROOM!"...he was a little hard to understand - I guessed English was not his first language...
Normally I am more than happy to talk to kids about the bike but this little bugger grabbed the throttle and twisted it back and forth as he repeated his vroom vroom bit.....I was torn between maintaining my polite front and busting his fucking head in.......conversation went something like this...
Me: "Don't touch the bike kid. You NEVER touch someone's bike!"
Him: "Why not?"
Me: (suppressing the urge to say "coz I'll bust ya fuckin' head in if ya do see!!!!") "Because it is just not done. People are very touchy about their bikes"
Him: "Why?"
Me: "It just IS that way. Bikes are very precious and expensive. You bust it and you would be paying for it for the rest of your (probably short) life."
Him: (as I remove the helmet) "How old are you?"
Me: 60. Sixty years old!"
Him: "You OLD!!!"
Me: "Yep. I was young one day and when I turned around I was OLD! Probably because I didn't meddle with people's BIKES!!!"
Him: (again) "vroom vroom!!!"
Me: "I'm going in to the shop. DON'T TOUCH THE BIKE, YES?"
Him: "vroom vroom" (but he left the throttle alone this time)

To be honest I was scared to leave him out there with the bike. I think he would have gotten on to it if he thought he could get away with it. I told him I had turned the alarm on (haha) and if he touched it it would scream its head off and the cops would sic their dogs on him and then lock him up forever......in a pit filled with cockroaches, spiders and wasps....he seemed a little disbelieving of this bit funnily enough. But he did follow me into the mall so I felt a little better.
This is the first time I have ever felt anxious about leaving the bike outside the shops, never having had the pleasure of meeting such a weird kid...I am still not convinced that he was not a little cracked...

Renegade Master should know better than to touch someone elses ride. p/t

I get real touchy when it comes to people touching my bike ,it`s like you said , It`s just not done, I would never touch someone elses bike without their permission.

Still not too sure if I would get that nervous about a kid touching it though, as long as they do`nt have fingers covered in chocolate or something.(but who knows)

[klingon]

Renegade Master should know better than to touch someone elses ride. p/t

I get real touchy when it comes to people touching my bike ,it`s like you said , It`s just not done, I would never touch someone elses bike without their permission.

Still not too sure if I would get that nervous about a kid touching it though, as long as they do`nt have fingers covered in chocolate or something.(but who knows)

Nah, chocolate washes off. It's climbing all over it, scratching the paint, knocking it over, fiddling with all the switches (fuel knob 'off' anyone? Trip meter reset?), stuff shoved in exhaust pipe... that's what I would be worried about.