Younger kids make me laugh and then worry me.

[AF_Bill]

Ok. So this really isn't a GS story but I thought I'd share it w/ ya'll. I'm fixing up a 93 EX500 to flip. So I found a forum like this to get more info. Site isn't all that great but as I was looking through some posts, I came across on called "How to remove seat?". When I saw that, I FIRST thought, "there is NO way this guy is that dumb", and then thought, "maybe he's asking how to remove the foam from the pan". My first thought was correct. HOW IN THE LIVING HELL can he be that dumb? There is a key hole RIGHT below the seat on the LEFT side cover just above the helmet lock. Here is the post exactly.

"I just bought this bike (06) and he had custom blinkers on it. The blinkers blink fast, so I was looking to get a new relay. I need to take the seat off, but can't figure out how. I pulled it back and I see a bolt that I could probably get off with a wrench, but I would have a hell of a time putting that bolt back on and tightening it.

...please tell me that's NOT what I have to do... or if that is what I have to do, tell me how I can easily do that."

The next few posts all said the same thing. Put key in key hole. Turn key. Seat pops up. Remove seat. The key hole is in the side of your tail plastics. It made be laugh at how dumb this kid is and then made me start to worry. Some day I might be out riding and he'll pull up next to me and ask "How do I stop?" or some other very easy question. Kids like that don't need to be out on a bike.

[seuadr]

ya.. and then these kids go out and buy brand new crotch rockets.

i'm sure we aren't the only ones that see a connection?

[AF_Bill]

I can say NO we're not. I asked 3 people I work with, one is a chick too, and they all said the same thing.

Waste of youth and money if ya ask me.

[Calvin Blackmore]

damned gen Y bastards......
kids to day I tell you are largely useless and lacking in problem solving skills and any kind of willingness to do any form of work.

[Kerry]

'Cause I'm in a confessional mood this aft...

Well, it's not just kids TODAY.

On my first bike (see sig), I once ran out of gas. After walking a number of miles (on a pretty hot day) to a gas station, the friendly attendant conversationally remarked, "You should have hit the first gas station after you had to switch to reserve".

You can guess my reply: "Reserve?"

[heathen]

Stupid people on motorcycles could be a good thing. No better way to off yourself if you ride like a dummy.

[xDownSetx]

First time I popped the seat off my GS I just turned the key *POP* seat jumps up and I grab it assuming it will slide right out. Not so fast! That thing was still holding on. So I look under and see 2 more latches, boy they really didn't want this thing coming off by accident.

How many latches will I need to stay on this bike I wondered.
Answer: they don't make one big enough.

[simon kuether]

I was young once.That's why I'n so smart now. Cheers,Simon.

[Nessism]

I'm a member of that EX500 site although I don't visit very often anymore. Yup, lots of kids on there. Regarding that kid asking how to take off the seat, that sounds similar to a lot of the newbies around here asking stupid questions that can be answered using the search function in less time than it took them to post a new thread. Some people need to be lead and others are leaders and search out information on their own.

[Wallowgreen]

It's a general trend IMO I'm afraid.

Before I left the motherland I ran my own business for 8 years and about half way through decided I could use some help so hired an apprentice, a kid just out of school. A number of applications came in and I selected 6 for interview. Most of them spoke such that if brains were dynamite, they wouldn't have enough to raise their eyebrows. For some reason, I hired the one that appeared the least gormless.

To my amusement, the kid set really low goals and consistently failed to reach them, all the while thinking he was doing a great job. At first it was amazing someone could be so dense but eventually it wore thin of course. In the end I had to let the idiot go before I wrung his bloody neck.

[argonsagas]

In fairness, if he just got a new bike what reason would he have to ask anything so mundane as seat removal when his main, and probably sole, wish was to get aboard and ride it?

What I have seen is that, except for the most basic things, most riders are clueless about repairs of all types.

The thread title reminded me of an incident from many years ago.



He was parked on the side of I-94 about 25 miles west of Detroit with a dead Honda when I rolled the Moto Guzzi to a stop and asked what his problem was.

I asked that after choking back laughter because he was obviously young and the bling (although that word did not exist in early 1970s) made it clear he was not just new to motorcycling, but he was trying REALLY hard to look like a biker.

He was about 6 ft 3 and weighed perhaps 160 pounds. Tall, skinny, black, with barely a hint of hair on his face, and a do-rag covering the hair on his head, he was dressed in full, black, leathers and he wore what looked like ten pounds of chain.

He had chains on his neck, more across his chest, on his arms and around his waist, plus smaller chains on the zippers to his jacket and pants, which had full-fringe floppies, and he wore chrome / silver buckles on his boots, which matched the huge silver buckle on his pants.

His "friends", who he said all rode Harleys, had left him there when his bike quit. They told him they did not know what to with a Honda and said he would have to figure it out.

He bought the bike just two days before and this was his first ride on it. He knew nothing about the bike except how to start it and where to put gas. (the cap did not lock, it just twisted off)

I was heading to the west coast and carried enough tools in my saddlebags to strip down the entire bike if necessary. I don't recall what was wrong, but it was a simple repair and his Honda was fixed in a few minutes. He was not just overjoyed, his toothy grin outshone the bling.

I did not see another smile to equal that for more than twenty years.

I refused to take any money from him, but he wanted my address and wrote a beautifully-worded letter of thanks that I kept for a long time.

[Marine36]

I was at the local Hyosung dealer getting some tires mounted. While I was there a young man picked up his bike that he had in the shop because it quit running and he co uldn't get it to start. Turns out he was out of gas. After he left the service tech got a call from the guy saying he was just down the road and the bike quit again. When the tech went to his rescue he found the young man had not turned on the petcock.. Darwin is rolling in his grave that modern medicine is letting the not so fit live.

[AF_Bill]

Here's another lil story. This one is actually about ME. I was out a a bike show w/ some friends. It was gettin a lil late so I decided to head home. When I tried to start my bike, the battery was dead. Oh well. I was able to pop the clutch and get her started. BUT, the RPMs kept climbing and FAST! I cut her off, checked the carbs, tried again. Same thing. I'm scratchin my head "What's wrong???" By this time, 3 guys came over and helped me out. One noticed that my clutch cable was hitting the carbs and stickin it wide open. I didn't have my tools to fix it so the 4 of us tied the cable away so I could get home. I tried to pay but they refused. I told them that I'd buy them a round when I come back down there and they accepted.

Come to think of it, that show is comin around soon.

[pntrdave]

Ok I'll fess up to a stupid mistake. After ruining the head on my '79 GS1000, I got the '82 GS 750 out of the garage. Added fresh gas, installed new battery, cleaned air filter, all the stuff you do when starting a bike that has been sitting for a few years. So I get on, turn key on, pop it into neutral, and hit starter button. Nothing, no click, or anything. Checked kill switch, key, had lights, horn worked, What the heck. Oh wait, on the '82 you have to pull the clutch handle in before it will start.

[coolksprt]

wait...

On the behalf of young people (im 17) I would like to say were not all complete DA's. Sure, my generation is a little...slower, and may like have mommy and daddy do all the work for us, but that isn't always true. Alot of the kids in my senior class are pretty much useless, I'll give ya that. But the ones who do try to succeed and challenge themselves are more then you would think.

I totally agree with a couple of these examples though. If you don't know what an engine needs to run, or what the stages of a 4 stroke are, then you probably don't deserve to be able to ride.

Kev