Since we’ve a new board, I thought I’d add a little fodder.
I took my R100 for a test drive (charging issues) last night; crashed in the driveway… ouch. Yea, all’s good. The first thing I did was crash. Then I rode to the gas station for some petrol and returned safely home.
Sittin’ in the garage for ~7 months, the clutch froze to the flywheel again. I was pushing the starter button with it in gear to pull me up the hill and into/down the street to get rolling (so I could break the clutch free). BTW, my garage is at the bottom of the driveway, the street is at the top. As I went to jump on, my leg bounced off the seat `cause I didn’t get high enough on the attempt. As I’m running alongside the wobbly bike and processing the thought, “what’s your plan B??”, I forgot I didn’t have a clutch. I kept squeezing it but I forgot to un-press the starter button until the bike and I were on our sides. Just stoopid.
I’d made it to the top of the hill before crashing, so I guess I should appreciate a glimmer of success from my efforts up to that point. Anyway, I got up, re-assessed my predicament, and reminded myself that I don’t (currently) have a clutch. I now had a clear plan A (run and jump-on) and a clear plan B (let off the goddamn starter button if plan A fails again). I got rolling and shifted to 2nd, 3rd, and on to 4th. Adding a little gas, I felt the clutch break free and I proceeded to the gas station with little more to report.
Not too much damage to the bike. The crash bar and my driveway both have a gouge in them now. There was even concrete dust on the valve cover that I noticed this morning, ha! Got a silver-dollar-size raspberry on my knee, but that’ll heal w/o paint.
Looking forward to your anecdotes, wisdom, and smart-alec comments. 🙂
Jeez- glad you're ok. I suppose it could've been a lot worse. Perhaps you have demonstrated the "other" side of being an Airhead!
Hey now, that's... that's... Oh, i see what you were doing there. 🙂
No doubt, it was not my finest mental moment. But it made for a good story. I had pulled the cars out of the way in preparation and I was only travelling at whatever speed the starter will move one of these things... 3mph or so. I laid there for a second or two to chastise myself for a job poorly done, but i thought, "I'd better get up before the neighbors think I'm hurt".
My funniest "crash" was leaving a parking lot that was very wet and oily. My 66 R69S conversion went out from under me and KEPT GOING! I had to chase after it and catch it. I wish there was cell phones and you tube back then.
Advertisement
