Author Topic: How have you been left stranded and what did it take to get it on the road?  (Read 11559 times)

Online Kev m

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Mine have been relatively minor.

Two flats in hundreds of thousands of miles (probably jinxed myself there).

1. In 1993, on way to dealer with 500 miles on my 93 Sporty. Got a nail and the tire limped me to the dealer.
2. In 04ish, on my way back from a Karate tournament at Penn State, 2-up with Jenn. Got a nail in a tire, limped me to a gas station outside Harrisburg where Jas67 picked me up in his truck, had me drop him home, and take the truck and bike back to my house.

Only other one was Jackal - Blue Ridge Parkway - Ignition Switch.

Pat (AmboGal) drove something like 25 miles down the parkway to pick and the bike up, take us back to her place, take Jenn out to a hardware store to buy some toggle switches and crimp connectors. We made an ignition switch bypass using them and were back on the road that evening. I still owe her for that! Will always be happy and willing to pay it forward if anyone needs local help.

(Stuck on the BRPKWY and then back at Pat's place):







Other People.


mid 90s, Rider Magazine Rally - 100k+ mile BMW R65LS - Ignition Coil (cracked housing, wouldn't run in rain).

Limped it to hotel where buddy tried to fix it and broke a terminal off the coil. 5 o'clock, local Knoxville TN BMW shop closed, local Motorcycle Junk Yard had never heard of a BMW motorcycle. Overnighted in a new coil from a California BMW dealer and it was waiting at the hotel the next morning. Punch line, stopped at Harley dealer when leaving next morning, all the techs and salesman at the Knoxville HD dealer back then rode airheads, THEY HAD THE COIL IN STOCK.

(My buddy is holding the can of WD40 we just happened to have with us that he used to spray off the coil and get us to the hotel. My buddy Rob, who died a little more than a week ago of ALS is in the rainsuit at the back, and kneeling with the manual in the lower posed shot - we all worked for Chilton at the time and took it for the office wall).





Avvacatto's Cali 1400 - 2 DAYS OLD - less than 200 miles - Demand Sensor -

Trailered it back to his place, Eraldo Ferracci himself showed up to retrieve it from there.

(Charlie looks pissed doesn't he?):



Burger-N-Brewery Tour - TWO, no THREE Harleys broke down in 3 days.

mid 00's Road King with 55k miles, started making funny noise in timing chest. Owner had "never heard" of the TC88 Timing Chain problems. Limped to dealer in Binghamton NY around 2:00 pm on a Friday afternoon. Tech stopped working on a bike, put the RK on his lift, stole parts from another bike they were going to do the same fix to, and by 5:00 pmish we rolled out of there $1600 lighter, but with new Oil pump, Camshafts, Timing Chains, and upgraded Hydraulic Timing Chain adjusted shoes (the original was spring tension and springs were too strong for long term wear).

97ish Police Road King also with around 50k miles on it, died the afternoon after I left the group. Saturday Afternoon, Harley dealer near them about to close. Told them to buy a Crankshaft Position Sensor as it was likely at fault. Dealer closed before they made up their mind. Jas67 drove an hour or so from Harrisburg to the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville to drop off his trailer. I drove an hour or so back up to meet them and take the trailer (and them) back to my place. Next day they rented a Uhaul to get themselves back home to MA.

mid 90's EVO FXR with over 200k miles on it, ignition problem. Started cutting out in the rain that Sunday following the Uhaul back to MA. They pulled over, and 4 guys lifted it into the back of the Uhaul and tied it down next to the RK. A week later the owner road it back to AZ where he'd departed from weeks earlier.

(late that Sunday night, halfway to MA):



« Last Edit: March 19, 2015, 07:36:03 AM by Kev m »
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Offline SmithSwede

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Not counting tire issues or running out of gas.  Or wrecking the bike!

I've been left on side of road many times riding an RD400 two stroke back in the early 1970s.  I was a stubborn teenager who insisted on riding it long distances like it was a Gold Wing.   One or both of the plugs would invariably foul after about 150 to 200 highway miles.  Carried a little alligator bag full of spare plugs.  Sometimes had to call buddy to bring more plugs.   

Honda CB550F kept blowing fuses, and stranded me once.  Can't remember what the root cause was.  Took Greyhound home until dealer could fix.

Broken chain on a dirt bike off in the woods.  Walked back to home base.

Several issues with a 2007 BMW F800S.  Bad anti-theft antenna ring when new. Stranded me twice because it wouldn't recognize the key, but neither time was far from home.  Got rides home from wife. 

Same bike later had Battery Sudden Death syndrome--battery seemed fine upon starting, I rode 50 miles, then dead as a rock while cruising on freeway.  Took cab to office; called dealer to handle.   

Same BMW--alternator failure resulting in dead battery and roadside stop.  I erroneously assumed with all its other gauges, the BMW would tell me if the alternator wasn't charging.  Nope!   That was an odd one--I got ride from wife, got new battery, installed it, and bike would click but still wouldn't start.  Finally figured out that it wanted to see actuation of all the controls with the new battery installed for the computer to permit it to start.  I think when the computer died from lack of juice it somehow decided that the kickstand was down or something.   

Same bike--suddenly started shedding teeth on the drive belt after about 25,000 miles of service --just **barely* made it home on that one.  When replaced belt, half the teeth were gone.   Stupid fabric belt was nearly $500.   :(

Not really stranded, but had a recent problem gave me fits and almost got me sidelined.  2012 Ninja 250.  Bike ran great one day--the next it would start, idle, and do ok at part throttle, but would bog down at moderate to max throttle.  I checked and changed fuel filter, and related fuel stuff.   Got fresh gas.  Drained float bowls.  Replaced plugs,  Cleaned air filter.  Replaced ECI.  Replaced coils and wires.  Traced and cleaned every electrical connector I could find.  Adjusted valves. 

Finally poked a piece of wire through the long snorkel that leads to the air box, only to discover that a dirt dauber and built a giant nest that blocked most of the passage.  Bike ran great otherwise. 

That lead me to research dirt daubers.  The little buggers built nests very quickly.  They have caused no end of mechanical troubles, including several plane crashes (blocked pitot tubes). 


 

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Eliminate the negative;
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canuguzzi

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Minutes before some kind soul volunteered to bring some gas (dreaded Norge fuel gauge). I just wasn't minding the tripometer.

A nice new White Norge might have reduced the reluctance for the woman to stop and lend assistance or; it was the look of desperation on my face being on a road not well traveled except for big rigs blasting by at speeds only pickup trucks in Texas could match.

Offline bib

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2002 Honda ST1100 ABS failed - not stranded.
2002 Honda ST1100 ABS front tyre imploded to flat in about 3 seconds in peak hour traffic - wooden steering to side of road (try manhandling a fully fuelled ST11 with a flat front tyre at 95kmph around a sweeper .. adrenaline works!) A dump of tyre goo (always carry one can) and continued on journey. Cause? New Bridgestone front tyre fitted at Honda dealership 2 days before had 5cm of rubber covering the bead stripped down to cable, wondered why the pressure was at 40psi when I picked it up, the next day lowered pressure to 37psi and was in the shits .. the flexing at lower pressure dumped all the air. On hindsight I should have sued the dealership, wish I had.
1997 Kawasaki GPZ1100 - oil filler drain bolt fell out of housing in peak hour traffic,  was in the fast lane when the oil lamp glowered .. in came the clutch and a friendly driver slowed so I could coast past his lane to emergency strip left of road, rear wheel actually rear of bike covered in slippery stuff, not at all sure why the tyre did not slide when i was working my way thru traffic -bike standing above a growing pool of liquid gold.
Daughter drove car to me, hired a trailer and ended back home... am well looked after.
2010 Suzuki DL1000 stator failed in peak hour traffic one 40C day (3 months out of warranty) (was in the fast lane standing still ...is someone out to get me???)- left stranded (at the time thought the battery had failed so tried bump starting the beast in 3rd gear down a slight incline - there's me on a sweltering day racing down this side road in all black riding gear, hanging onto the tall beast, tensed myself to LEAP on the beast once I let the clutch go, out went the clutch, up into the air went I timing my leap to perfection .. didn't not take into account the ??:1 compression in those big f*&%!@# pots did I?... the rear locked solid moving at my flat out sprint- the bike slid and I the unwitting adrenaline junkie, with it - fortunately all stopped right side up. An hour later while I sat and munched on my packed work lunch -was not going to need it later, jump started by a friend and rode home with idle at 3000revs.
2012 Norge - at 27,000 kms left pot lost spark minutes from work. Motow dropped me and bike off at home, was bad ignition cap/lead - in process on replacement to be fitted.
The pleasure of riding is far greater than the frustrations caused by riding.  :BEER:

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Offline bib

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....  Along the way I was picked up by two men who helped themselves to my backpack, thumped me thoroughly, and tossed me over an embankment, breaking my neck (just got that fixed, thanks for asking).  I looked so bad after that I couldn't even flag down a Mountie to report the robbery.

In Skagway things weren't much better.  I looked like 500 miles of bad road.  It had been low 40s and raining all day and I was rummy with cold.  I took another beating at the ferry dock from a guy who thought I was a thief.  He called the skagway cops, who never even asked what my story was.  They just accepted the other guy's report that I was going through his goods.  The cops told me to turn out my pockets so the complaintant could poinnt out his property.  I said "No, he'll tell you what he's missing and then you can see if it's in my pockets."  Naturally, the guy couldn't name anything he was missing, so I got to keep whatever I had left from the robbery.
...

Man ... I am sorry you met those sh*th#ad# ... a few more of those types and the earth will cease being fit for humans.

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