[Heartbroken]

Anxious to get every minute of ride time before the weather breaks, I admit I didn't do any "pre-flight" checks, just jumped on Bike and left. Had my feet up on the crash bar pegs and imagine my surprise when I moved back to the foot boards, only to realize the one on the right wasn't there. Finally hit something with my foot that felt very strange, looked down and realized the footboard was hanging by a thread and my foot had caught the front edge which was pointed up at the time. Found a spot to pull off the road and discovered that the bolt going through the footboard and securing it to the adapter had backed almost all the way out. And of course I didn't have any tools with me. So I took it the rest of the way off, stowed it in the saddle bag, and headed back home. I was only seven miles out so it didn't take long to get back, find the allen wrenches and a tube of locktite and put it back in.
Lesson learned - always do the pre-flights and for crying out loud carry a few basic tools.
Also managed to stall out trying to pull out into traffic, caught me by surprise enough that I lost my balance and Bike and I almost caught a curb and tumbled out into the street in front of the oncoming car. Somehow I managed to save it with a big head bob and some crazy leg moves like a cartoon character running in place. Full face helmets are great, the people in the car can't see you blush. That was the third and the worst time I'd stalled Bike; all in the two days since he got back from the mechanic.
Lesson learned - be a little more patient and study on how differently Bike runs after all the carburetor work. Never stalled once all summer even though it had been 30 years since I rode, now it seems to be a problem. Have to relearn my throttle/clutch maneuver.
And that was all in one day....
How about you guys? Any good "lesson learned" stories?

 

[Offcenter]

The footboard....
Shortly after I got my Goldwing, I was pulling out of my driveway and lifted my butt off the seat to readjust my position. As I put my weight on the footpegs, the right one snapped off and dropped in the road!
That was a very short ride. Luckily it happened in front of my house instead of miles from home. A quick check showed that it was likely a poor weld from the factory only 21 years before. Imagine that! A footpeg weld on a HONDA that only lasted 21 years!!!
A new footpeg was quickly located on Ebay and a few days later I was back on the road.

 

[Jmacd62]

Don’t have a bike story. Probably just plain old dumb luck and a fairly new bike.
Flying many years ago. I had gone through the pre flight check list ect including pre take off which include harness and doors. I did a quick cursory doors and harness check
Took off got to about 500 as I banked to turn I leaned on door. it opened. Found myself staring down at the ground out an open door.
Fortunately I didn’t fall out.
Lesson learned do your checks properly. Not just going through the motions

 

[-Nate]

Thirty years ago I was dating a red head 9yes to all the thoughts), I got off work, showered, dressed and hopped on my then daily rider short wheel base 1972 BMW R74/5 "Toaster" and blasted off through the busy Friday after work traffic, threading the needle etc. all the way to her place .

I pulled up, stopped and put my right foot down, the right side handlebar snapped off in my hand at the riser .

Had it broken 10 minutes earlier I may well not have been here to write this .

Yes, I chcked the break and it had been cracked for a while judging by the rusty edges .

 

[gunsmoker]

I rode my bike 25 miles to an advanced riding skills course, did all that riding for five hours in a big parking lot & a little bit on the street, no problems. I thought my license plate was securely attached and nobody told me otherwise. But I admit that I never looked at it, never checked the bolts holding it on, or the bracket.

On the way home from that training class, I started hearing a banging and scraping sound.
I rode another 3 miles until I found a perfect spot to pull over and inspect the bike.
Guess what? I found my license plate bracket had cracked the plate had fallen off and was getting banged against my rear wheel, hanging only from the electrical wires. It could have gotten in the spokes!
And it wasn't just the license plate that was hanging down it was still attached half of the heavy steel bracket so that would've ripped my spokes up had it gotten into my rear wheel.

So now I do a much more thorough pre-trip inspection, both on the beginning of a trip and on the turnaround point where I begin to ride back home from that day's destination.

 

[-Nate]

Sounds like me when I bought my very first Harley ~ (1965 FL PanHead) I was nearly home crossing the boulevard when I heard a clattering sound, the license tag had fallen off in the middle of the intersection and before I could run back and reach it a '65 Chevy ran it over denting it .

 

[Randall-in-Mpls]

One morning a couple years ago, as I shifted into second gear, my clutch cable broke -- within 100' of my driveway! Had I been halfway to work, I'd have had a very different day.

 

[RogerC60]

I have a couple, both related to maintenance.

1. I had put on a new front tire and put the bike back together, but forgot to pump up the front brakes. Took off for work and was coming up to the first stop sign, and NO FRONT BRAKES! I was only going about 25 mph, so the back brake did just fine to bring me to a stop. And then I remembered what I had done. I sat there and pumped up the front brakes, and then went on my way. Since that morning, I never put the bike in gear to take off until I have first checked both front and rear brakes.

2. I had taken both side panels off to do something or other, got finished with that, put everything back together. The next morning I took off for work, checked in my mirrors to make sure the garage door was closed... and no mirrors. Well, they were there, but not fastened on (just dangling by the wires).

 

[-Nate]

The no brakes thing is worse with disc brakes, guess how I know this ? .

 

[hogcowboy]

The no brakes thing is worse with disc brakes, guess how I know this ? .

I don’t see how that’s possible. When you suddenly have no brakes whether drum or disc, it’s gut wrenching.

 

[Heartbroken]

I've successfully driven my truck with no brakes, Bike would be a whole 'nother story. Yikes!
Some good cautionary tales here, I need to be much more conscious of my preflight inspections.

 

[pdcomm]

One morning a couple years ago, as I shifted into second gear, my clutch cable broke -- within 100' of my driveway! Had I been halfway to work, I'd have had a very different day.

Learning to shift without using the clutch helps a lot when the cable decides to break .

 

[-Nate]

It's hard to explain, I guess you need to experience it before it's crystal clear .

 

[Randall-in-Mpls]

Learning to shift without using the clutch helps a lot when the cable decides to break .

I've practiced that.

 

[-Nate]

It's much easier on older wide ratio transmissions .

 

[pdcomm]

It's a simple matter of syncing the engine RPMs with those of the transmission / output shaft .

 

[-Nate]

Agreed but, it's easier on those old trannies I learned on .

 

[pdcomm]

Agreed but, it's easier on those old trannies I learned on .

Yup , I wonder how many have actually double clutched a Model A ?

I had the pleasure of getting that^ one running after an unknown number of years .
Simple as could be .

 

[SemiFast]

Learning to shift without using the clutch helps a lot when the cable decides to break .

One of my racing buddies only used the clutch lever when coming off the starting line.
After the green flag dropped he never touched the lever again till he pulled in after race. I up-shift without using the clutch most of the time but after about ~two tries of downshifting without using the clutch I gave up on that idea.

@Heartbroken Twins... V-Twins in particular vibrate in such a way that nuts and bolts get loose a lot more often than in-line fours and even single cylinder machines.
One often neglected but important part of a full service (V-Twins more than others) are checking chassis fasteners. Side stand mounting brackets like to try and fall off V-Twin's too. It would be good to check every chassis bolt / nut you can find.

S F

 

[Heartbroken]

Thanks for the tip, SF. I'll certainly check all the bolts I can find. I've just been looking around the internet for ideas about portable garage heaters so I can putz around out in the shop without freezing my fingers off. And Bike does vibrate a lot, to the point that I feel like it's wound up too high when I'm cruising at highway speeds and I'm constantly hunting for that phantom 6th gear.
The very idea of shifting without using the clutch immediately brings back all the lectures from my dad 50 years ago when he plopped me in the driver's seat of the F250 and told me to go get the gravity boxes out of the field. I still wouldn't have the nerve to try it now!