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On Sept 22nd, 2023 I found out that somebody had shoved horseshoes up my ass when I wasn't looking.
After finishing my repair of my charging system and my shakedown to check that it was indeed working with no odd surprises, I put the tool tray back in (this will be important later) and was excited to go for a good ride.
So just after 6:00 I got ready and went riding with my brother. My first warning was that the electrical system seemed to have a low charge (spoiler, it was not low) - the neutral idiot light was pulsing in time with the idling of the bike - but I'd just fixed the charging system, so I figured it would fix itself as I was riding. My second warning was that 5 minutes into the ride my intercom died because I forgot to charge it. At the time, I my brother and I were disappointed but weren't going to let it deter us from going on our first ride together.
About 25 minutes into the ride, my brother pulled us over to check the map. He'd ridden this route before but didn't recognize the scenery, so we stopped about halfway up a hill and in a parking lot. While I was waiting for him to check the map, my bike died. Full death. No headlight, no idiot lights, nothing.
So I had to try and bump start it and hope it could still run. No problem, I'd done that before. So I turned the bike around, but it in second gear and started running beside it. Dumped the clutch and pulled it in immediately, the bike caught, sputtered, and died again. But I was happy, because not only had it caught, the dashboard had also lit up for an instant. It could still run! Except I needed to leave the clutch out a little longer so that it would catch long enough to run. So I started running down the hill again, then dumped the clutch again. Left it out for as bit and the bike caught and started running. Yay! Except now it was in gear and was starting to pull me along. Not good. I tried to pull myself onto the bike, failed, and decided to let it go rather than get dragged down and possibly off the road. So I took a tumble and the bike left and fell over onto it's left side.
The first thing you may notice is that I was running down a hill. I had bumped started a bike before, but it was a running bump start. It did not occur to me that I could simply get on the bike and do the bump start from there. The second thing you may notice was that I did not take the time between attempts to make sure the coast was clear.
Unbeknownst to me, while I had been engrossed in my first attempt a van had crested the hill behind me. My brother had noticed it, but because my intercom was dead he couldn't tell me. Or let me know I was being dumb and should just get on the bike. What this means is that I had fallen right in front of the van. Thank god for brakes and the horseshoes up my ass, because the van stopped just over 6 feet away from me as I lay on the road after my tumble. I was extra lucky though. Once I had pulled my bike up and off to the side of the road, the next vehicle to come up the oncoming lane was a truck that had a first aid hutch in the back. Even if I had been run over, I would have had immediate medical attention. Which is good, because I found out later that my brother's phone had 2% battery.
I found out after I got the bike home that when I put the tool tray back into the bike, I had squished the wiring harness and put a lot of pressure on the bullet connector in the main line from the battery positive to the fuse box. The neutral light pulsing was because the vibration of the engine was shaking the bullet connector progressively looser. The vibration of the engine had knocked it loose, and after sitting at idle for a minute the stator simply couldn't supply enough charge to keep the bike running while my brother checked the map.
Lessons Learned:
1) Communication is the best safety measure. Make sure your intercom is fully charged before a group ride (and all other devices).
2) If there's something weird with your bike, find out what it is before going for a ride. If you think you know what it is, make sure it what you think.
3) If you can get to a safe spot to do maintenance after something goes wrong with your bike, see if you can find what the problem is. You might be able to fix it right there and have a safe ride home
After finishing my repair of my charging system and my shakedown to check that it was indeed working with no odd surprises, I put the tool tray back in (this will be important later) and was excited to go for a good ride.
So just after 6:00 I got ready and went riding with my brother. My first warning was that the electrical system seemed to have a low charge (spoiler, it was not low) - the neutral idiot light was pulsing in time with the idling of the bike - but I'd just fixed the charging system, so I figured it would fix itself as I was riding. My second warning was that 5 minutes into the ride my intercom died because I forgot to charge it. At the time, I my brother and I were disappointed but weren't going to let it deter us from going on our first ride together.
About 25 minutes into the ride, my brother pulled us over to check the map. He'd ridden this route before but didn't recognize the scenery, so we stopped about halfway up a hill and in a parking lot. While I was waiting for him to check the map, my bike died. Full death. No headlight, no idiot lights, nothing.
So I had to try and bump start it and hope it could still run. No problem, I'd done that before. So I turned the bike around, but it in second gear and started running beside it. Dumped the clutch and pulled it in immediately, the bike caught, sputtered, and died again. But I was happy, because not only had it caught, the dashboard had also lit up for an instant. It could still run! Except I needed to leave the clutch out a little longer so that it would catch long enough to run. So I started running down the hill again, then dumped the clutch again. Left it out for as bit and the bike caught and started running. Yay! Except now it was in gear and was starting to pull me along. Not good. I tried to pull myself onto the bike, failed, and decided to let it go rather than get dragged down and possibly off the road. So I took a tumble and the bike left and fell over onto it's left side.
The first thing you may notice is that I was running down a hill. I had bumped started a bike before, but it was a running bump start. It did not occur to me that I could simply get on the bike and do the bump start from there. The second thing you may notice was that I did not take the time between attempts to make sure the coast was clear.
Unbeknownst to me, while I had been engrossed in my first attempt a van had crested the hill behind me. My brother had noticed it, but because my intercom was dead he couldn't tell me. Or let me know I was being dumb and should just get on the bike. What this means is that I had fallen right in front of the van. Thank god for brakes and the horseshoes up my ass, because the van stopped just over 6 feet away from me as I lay on the road after my tumble. I was extra lucky though. Once I had pulled my bike up and off to the side of the road, the next vehicle to come up the oncoming lane was a truck that had a first aid hutch in the back. Even if I had been run over, I would have had immediate medical attention. Which is good, because I found out later that my brother's phone had 2% battery.
I found out after I got the bike home that when I put the tool tray back into the bike, I had squished the wiring harness and put a lot of pressure on the bullet connector in the main line from the battery positive to the fuse box. The neutral light pulsing was because the vibration of the engine was shaking the bullet connector progressively looser. The vibration of the engine had knocked it loose, and after sitting at idle for a minute the stator simply couldn't supply enough charge to keep the bike running while my brother checked the map.
Lessons Learned:
1) Communication is the best safety measure. Make sure your intercom is fully charged before a group ride (and all other devices).
2) If there's something weird with your bike, find out what it is before going for a ride. If you think you know what it is, make sure it what you think.
3) If you can get to a safe spot to do maintenance after something goes wrong with your bike, see if you can find what the problem is. You might be able to fix it right there and have a safe ride home
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