Forum

[OldBoy67]

You need to fit one of the battery monitors they fit on some cars these days (eg Merc). They send you a text if the starter battery is getting low. Simples

[Presto]

And a bunch of flowers if the driver's feeling low??

[stinkwheel]

How about the good old leaving the side stand down. Glad to say that I can count that on the fingers of one hand.... just!

I do this all the time too and you can go quite a long distance with a samrat stand in the down position before it hits something. Happily, they tend to just flick-up when they hit the road anyway.

[Grumpy Rider]

all part of life's rich tapestry
having driven a combination for a while I jumped on a solo and forgot to put my feet down at the first set of traffic lights !!
my mate borrowed a combination (thankfully not mine!) failed to turn correctly and ran straight into a brick wall,
I once left the steering lock on a kawasaki and set off in a circle.........
ran out of fuel but had forgotten to turn the petrol tap on.......
thought my BMW had a terminal problem when it failed to start miles from home - I'd left the side stand down........
bent down to see what had got stuck in the front of the fairing on the BM and stuck my forehead on the hot header pipe...
the list goes on.... you'd think we would learn, so far not done anything daft in the last couple of years, but thats probably just jinxed that

[John-M]

I used to think the sidecar story was an old wife's tale until I did it myself. Had been riding a trials sidecar then went out on the Bullet, didn't forget to put my foot down, but left it way too late and fell flat on my side. Fortunately it was on a track in the Lakedistrict without an audience. It did make me chuckle.

[stinkwheel]

I'd been riding the enfield for a while. Took the VFR out for the first time in weeks. Went to pull in to the side of the road, pushed the gear lever down firmly with my left foot, put my right foot down and entirely failed to stop. By which time the foot I'd put down was now some distance behind me and down it all went.

Remarkably, the first and only time that's happened. I sometimes like to confuse things further by taking the wifes YB100 out which has a 4-down left hand, heel-toe change.

[Wheaters]

In the early 1980s I was in the RAF and owned a right hand drive, automatic car. Until I got used to not having a clutch pedal, I sometimes forgot and got both feet on the brake pedal. You don’t half stop quick when you do that!

We moved to Germany and I bought a second car, a left hand drive, manual gearbox VW Beetle, for my wife. For various reasons we sometimes drove each other’s car.

I occasionally forgot which car I was in and tried to select “drive” using the left hand window winder handle of the Beetle. My wife was worse. She forgot her car wasn’t an automatic and to set off from a halt she sometimes pulled the gear lever hard back into second without using the clutch!

These days I own a Honda CB750 as well as my Bullet, with opposite sides for gear changes/rear brakes. Having been initially been brought up on British bikes but having not owned one for thirty years or so I’d converted my brain to left side gears. I’d not ridden anything with a right side until three years ago when I bought my 350. I found it very easy to revert back. However, I suddenly found riding the Honda tricky, I’d reverted back to “British” too easily. I don’t ride it very often so I make a point of carrying out a couple of practice emergency stops as soon as I leave my drive and before I reach the main road, to remind myself which is which.

[stinkwheel]

Happily the front brake and throttle is in the same place on both. I think I'd be totally screwed if I owned an indian.

[vince]

Hi, I owned an Indian V twin in the 70s foot clutch/ hand change. First time I rode it was in london rushhour. The throttle took two turn to open and had no return spring . On full lock the handlebars caught your knee. Strangely I never dropped it in 4 years of ownership. A case of so many weird things to do that you never lost concentration.
My 16stone friend decided to try my honda cz100 monkey bike. Dropped the clutch and the bike flipped right over on top of him. He looked like a stranded beetle with the engine revving its guts out. On another occasion I was at the lights when a hells angel on a chopper pulled up beside me ,It was the middle of winter and snowing hard. He was wearing a T shirt and denim cut offs. He was frozen stiff and couldn't move , as the bike stopped he just fell over . Vince

[windmill john]

My first bike, 1976 Yamaha DT100. I remember riding to see a guy who knew about bikes. This was abroad. I asked him what the round clear window was in the side panel. He told me that was the oil tank and shouldn’t be clear. I was very lucky to mention it to him then as it had only just emptied.... I assume.... well it hadn’t seized anyway!