Ever had that "Oh Sheet" moment?

[marvinsc]

I had it today! Just at I turned on to Tennessee 232 I went to shift and..................nothing! As in no shifter! I pulled to the side to discover that it wasn't missing, just hanging from the shift rod. The threaded shaft it it attached to had come loose. After searching the area for missing parts I realized everything was still there but needed to be re attached. As I was preparing to remove the seat to get to the tool kit the man who lived there came out and asked what happened. He found an open end wrench in his truck that would work and I tightened the shaft and decided to carefully head home so I could loc Tite the pesky thing. Moral of the story? Give those fasteners a look from time to time and keep a small set of vice grips on your bike.

[81gs1100]

I have that same thing happen, but with my clutch. I was coming to a stop sign, pulled the clutch and nothing, bike kept going. Found the pinch bolt to have came loose. Yikes, Im glad I wasn't in traffic.

[clancey g]

once at a garage i was admiring an old Honda that had just rode in for fuel and i noticed the main bolt holding his swing arm had lost its nut and was over halve way out, he was pretty happy i saw it, and i had spare nut that fitted and shifter, he was one lucky guy that night.

[FiremanBob]

This thread would make a good ad for Loctite.

[Dogma]

A couple times, before I got proper riding boots, I caught a lace on the shifter coming to a stop. Not too bad. I still had enough speed left to get the bike leaned over to put my right foot down.

Those were nothing compared to that moment I had on Chicken Hollow Road. "Hey! Where'd the road go? I guess I'll use this unusually long gravel driveway..." I don't trust blind corners anymore. Especially the ones I thought were just straight pavement laid over a little ridge.

Then there was the time I was tooling through Cleveland on I-90 at dusk, tried to signal a lane change and got nothing. Neither blinker lit, much less blinked. Which meant I was heading into darkness with no tail light either. Fortunately the Droid found me an AutoZone pretty quickly. I don't remember what the actual problem was, but I finally learned to carry spare fuses that time.

I'm not quite so foolish as I used to be.

Then there was the time I followed Al and Adam off to some remote corner of WV before the worst storms in 50 years got between us and the hotel. Two weeks before that, a compression tester broke coming out of the plug hole. An event following which I learned that I should not set cam timing at 3:00 AM.

And there was that time in Kentucky when the bike didn't start on the first day of the rally. An awful lot of people probably remember how that turned out for me.

I must really enjoy riding.

[Planecrazy]

A couple times, before I got proper riding boots, I caught a lace on the shifter coming to a stop. Not too bad. I still had enough speed left to get the bike leaned over to put my right foot down.

Those were nothing compared to that moment I had on Chicken Hollow Road. "Hey! Where'd the road go? I guess I'll use this unusually long gravel driveway..." I don't trust blind corners anymore. Especially the ones I thought were just straight pavement laid over a little ridge.

Then there was the time I was tooling through Cleveland on I-90 at dusk, tried to signal a lane change and got nothing. Neither blinker lit, much less blinked. Which meant I was heading into darkness with no tail light either. Fortunately the Droid found me an AutoZone pretty quickly. I don't remember what the actual problem was, but I finally learned to carry spare fuses that time.

I'm not quite so foolish as I used to be.

Then there was the time I followed Al and Adam off to some remote corner of WV before the worst storms in 50 years got between us and the hotel. Two weeks before that, a compression tester broke coming out of the plug hole. An event following which I learned that I should not set cam timing at 3:00 AM.

And there was that time in Kentucky when the bike didn't start on the first day of the rally. An awful lot of people probably remember how that turned out for me.

I must really enjoy riding.

"...and one time at band camp..."

Regards,

[Tim Tom]

Riding home one night. Did a pre-lane-change shoulder check, look back forwards and in that split second what looked like a pile of sawhorses appeared

At least I knew there wasn't anyone in my blind spots. Fastest lane change ever.

[DanTheMan]

"...and one time at band camp..."

Regards,

Hey Steve, fancy seeing you here. How ya been? Did you get my emails? Got another bike yet? The 1100G is back on the road again, valves adjusted (all exh were tight), new cam cover gasket, some more wiring probs sorted out, new r/r (wire came loose on stator connections, ate the last one), on my second new rear tire, loving riding that bike, still need to get the GK up and rideable.
And for the thread topic, yes I have had those moments, and I carry several sizes of vise grips, they work well as emergency shift levers and side stand extensions........

[bwringer]

Once, in the wilds of Wisconsin at a GS rally lunch stop, I somehow noticed that one of the front brake caliper bolts was missing from some guy's GS (I'm like Rain Man with bolts, but abysmally bad with names, so I can't remember who it was).

As the "oh shoot" look entered his face, and he started feverishly trying to figure out how to get home, I rummaged around in my tool roll and came up with the correct 8mm bolt. In stainless, of course.

We had everything snugged up in about 60 seconds, and the bike owner's MIND = BLOWN.



This kind of stuff happens all the time -- I hear at last year's Wisconsin hooraw the GS collective pulled an 1100G stator out if its ass and changed it in the parking lot before the owner could even begin to make a plan.

[recycled64]

I was about 3 blocks away from the dealership with my first bike (non-scooter) Suzi X6, and the shift lever fell off, set-up guy hadn't tightened it. I suppose I could have been irate, but I was so happy and excited to have this little red rocket smoker, I didn't really care!!

[sedelen]

Anyone that's been around bikes long enough probably knows to keep those shifter pinch bolts tight. Even if they loosen some and still grab, they'll evenually wear out the splines on the shaft.
An old 450 I had I wore out the splines, and I tightened the shifter as tight as it would go, still wouldn't clamp, so I cut out a section of the shifter so it could tighten down even further, but it still slipped.
So, I drilled a small hole though the shifter and shift shaft and put a pin in it. Hated to do it, but I now keep a watchful eye on the shifter for looseness, really don't want to do that again.

[hjfisk]

I had a shifter come off the splines at a track day at Loudon, come out of turn 12 , 2nd gear,3rd,4th, 5th, down front stretch about 130mph went to down shift for turn 1 Ho sheet no shifter It's PUCKER TIME off through the barriers I go get stopped at the wall , thank god for safety wire all parts present and accounted for now just wait for session to end and go back to pits and repair the bike.

[Skateguy50]

I need to ask my surgeon if she used the red or blue loctite on my bolts... don't want them coming out during a ride.

[gustovh]

Comeing out of Hood River Or. on my 79 850 with son on the back, doin around 70, black as the ace of spades out, just toped a rise and.......out go the lights....it is amazeing how fast one can stop and pull over in the dark. It took about a half hour to identify the fuse and change it. But that's another story.
V

[1_v8_merc]

Came flyin around a corner one night, went to click off my turn signal, and unknowningly flipped Off my Lights. I freaked out, thinking my bike shut down...but I was still accelerating fast! Then I figured that I blew a fuse, and there's NOWHERE to pull over...so I just kept going in the dark since I was barely a mile from home.
Then halfway down the road, I realized the lights got bumped off...Woowww what a relief, just in time as a car in the opposing lane was coming around the bend.