Confess Your Sins

[kimber99]

Originally Posted by PatDPT

Ok, here is another one:

Thankfully, I was only a witness to this, but it represents a good lesson learned.

I went with a buddy to pick up a used bike from a private seller. After a good look at the machine and a few test drives, my buddy decided to buy it. As my buddy backs his truck into the driveway ready to load-up the bike, the owner of the bike decided to pull the bike out of garage for easier loading. Whether it was oversight, or excitement of the sell, the owner neglected to ensure the kickstand was all the way down before he began tipping the bike over to dismount. I saw the owner begin to fall...I tried to lunge for the bike to prevent any damage, but the motorcycle was too heavy for me to stop it. My buddy missed the entire incident, and as he jumped out of the truck to load-up his new toy he turned to see it laid-out on the driveway with miscelaneous parts shattered on the ground.

Lesson: When selling a bike, try not to drop it when the buyer is there.

DOH! So, was the seller banished to "no sale" purgatory?

I could add a note about the importance of checking your oil level before the buyer comes to visit (at least to make sure the engine isn't pinging and the oil light doesn't come on during the test ride)...but since that little fiasco didn't involve a bike hitting the pavement, it's probably not relevant.

[moriarty]

Last night, I got home from work and pulled into the garage. I went to put it up on the center stand and noticed i didn't have enough clearance from the wall behind the bike. I pulled it a little and because the center stand wasn't fully down the bike tipped over towards the right side. Luckily, it didn't land on the cement. The front fairing hit a car. My car. It dented the rear bumper cover. I thought it was kind of silly and I laughed it off. I was wondering if I could make a claim against myself... Actually, the good news was I know how to fix this problem. So, this morning I took off my bumper cover and got the dent to pop back out. Now all I need to do is worry about a little paint touch up which, isn't such a big deal because I work at a dealership and our touch up guy is very good. The bike has some minor paint damage as well but, it is painted flat black and will not be to hard to fix too.

I did feel dumb about it but, apparently, these things happen.

[steve3b3]

Originally Posted by humbug

I did this a lil over a month ago, I didnt have a ramp so in my infinite wisdom i was using a pair of 2x12 planks to get my FJ-1100 in the back of my Ford 4x4, I almost had in in when the ramp slid and i wound up UNDER the bike untouched because the front wheel stayed on the tailgate......................

Another motorcyclist a few towns over was killed last year when his Harley fell off the planks he was using, onto him.

My son has ramps, but it sure was strange to see his Valkrye in the back of his Ford Ranger last fall... Who's riding who?

Steve

[V scooter]

well i put some armor all on my 98 kantana 600 tires and well ah never mind i got go!!!!!!!!!!!!

[korax123]

I forget to turn on my fuel.....stalled out about 3 times. The first time doing it is when it was my first day riding to work. I made it to the first stop sign and it stalled and wouldn't start back up. I pushed it home. Then found out i didn't turn the fuel on so i put it on and tried to start but it wouldn't.

Well you have to put the choke fully on to get it to restart if you forget to put the fuel on when riding. It's embarising if you make it a couple blocks from home lol.

[DR Motard]

[fjrpierre]

Remember though that sometimes when you screw up, you may learn the "wrong" lesson like

"don't break in a curve"
"no downshifting during a turn"

You can do and indeed may need to do many of these things if you do them right ie, learn to apply even braking pressure, learn to blip the throttle to even the revs, etc

My biggest faults are:
- admiring the scenery, like a cool lake with sailboats racing (and nearly driving into it...)
- not being properly set up on the bike for upcoming unknown routes/twisties (loose, weight balance, feet on pegs properly, ready and able to shift gut, then butt, then shoulder); you can't handle the unexpected if your form is wrong!
- making unnecessary quick decisions like ramp/lane changes; stay cool and live.

[kimber99]

Originally Posted by fjrpierre

making unnecessary quick decisions like ramp/lane changes; stay cool and live.

I think that's a huge one. Rushing a lane change or turn is never a good idea. Ya gotta be 100 times (or more) likely to get in trouble vs. normal.

Miss the exit. Miss the turn. No big deal. Don't do anything in a hurry. So, what if you have to go back? You just get to ride a little further...which, last time I checked, is a good thing!

As to "admiring the scenery", I can take that one step further. I get in trouble by daydreaming. If I'm busy thinking about something else (work, fun stuff, doesn't matter what) I have to slow down. I find myself setting up turns with the wrong speed...picking the wrong lines....not noticing the traffic as well. Really I should probably get off the bike entirely if I'm deep in thought. But at very least, I need to slow down.

[noynrz]

Originally Posted by korax123

I forget to turn on my fuel.....stalled out about 3 times. The first time doing it is when it was my first day riding to work. I made it to the first stop sign and it stalled and wouldn't start back up. I pushed it home. Then found out i didn't turn the fuel on so i put it on and tried to start but it wouldn't.

Well you have to put the choke fully on to get it to restart if you forget to put the fuel on when riding. It's embarising if you make it a couple blocks from home lol.

My mom bought a new bike and her husband was following her home in the truck. She started up a hill when the bike stalled. It was a narrow road, so she coasted as far to the side as she could so as not to block any traffic. When she put her foot down to stop, she ended up being a little toooo far over. The ground slid out from beneath her, she dropped the bike and tumbled down the embankment (luckily the bike stayed behind). Of course, her husband saw every bit of this and was rather concerned. By the time he made it from the truck to look over the edge, she'd already climbed back up on pure adrenaline. Turns out the bike stalled because it ran out of gas (though the reserve was full). Many lessons learned there.

[BigD1800GW]

I had just bought my 07 Goldwing in Chattannooga Tennassee and was ridin it back home to Chesapeake Virginia. Having two "leg draggers" in my 06 VTX and my "bobbed" out Shadow 750, I was used to leaving my feet down when I turn or take off. NOW that I know better, these new Wings are so friggin stable that you can actually put your feet up on the pegs, and then go! Anyway I was 12 hours into my trip and it was about 2:00 in the am. I was gettin tired so I pulled into a hotel parking lot only to find the place was closed up, under renovation. So I put her in reverse and slowly backed up, then I put her in first and went to make a slow left hand turn out of the parking lot and LEFT MY LEFT FOOT DOWN TO LONG!!!!!!! The "crash bar" on that side grabbed the heel of my number 13 boot and smashed my foot flat down to the blacktop. I heard the "snap". I sucked it up and drove the rest of the four hours home, when I got home my wife took me to the emergency room. I had torn every ligament in the top of my foot, broken blood vessels in my calf, and the "snap" was my big toe! "They" said that was it for ridin my new bike for about 4 6 weeks (I gave it a week, hopped back on the horse that threw me) chalk it up to my stupidity and lack of knowledge.