Bonehead Moment - Any to Share

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by deja vu, Jul 14, 2019.

  1. deja vu

    deja vu New Member

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    After working diligently to bring an '87 VFR700 (the blue color one) back to life, including replacing/reinstalling carburetors, fixing clutch issues, new tires, chain, fluid changes, filters, regulator/rectifier, etc., had a truly classic moment:

    Twice the battery was fully drained. The first time I attributed it to all the "stand testing" of the bike - especially while dealing with a pesky clutch issue. The second time, I was going down the road and the bike died. Initially, turn signals got weak then the bike wouldn't really respond to acceleration, then it died altogether - I wound up on the side of the road (see photo).

    The cause? After my daughter came to pick me up and I swapped batteries and got it home, I went through everything in detail and noted that the two connectors (into and out of) the regulator/rectifier hadn't been snapped together. In other words, the entire time I was just running on the charged battery.

    A true bonehead moment, especially after all the work. Has anyone had or is perhaps willing to share a similar experience?
     

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  2. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    Well, in all honesty, I've had few more than just one, and they were way worse than that, lol

    First one, 1981 RM125, primary race bike. Big race coming up at Sand Hill in CA, first race of 6 race series. Worked and saved for almost 6 months. Complete engine modification. blueprinted crank and welded crank shaft, all new bearing and seals, Wiseco forged piston and rings, new cylinder, ported and polished, decked, new carb, bead blasted top end and cases, factory pipe, rebuilt suspension, everything, the works...not easy living on my own, working two jobs, trying to get into college and fund that. Got it all back together, or so I thought, at about 6 pm the day before, started it up, sounded beautiful, perfect, just needed to break it in during the first practice. Took a trial rip down the street, wheelied in every gear...for about a 1/16 of a mile, it was amazing......until it started bogging like it was seizing...@#$%^&**(&^%^$#$#@#@. Walk it home, took the head off...uggh, forgot to tighten the stator on the magneto, timing advanced all the way, and melted through the top of the piston and was firing on the rod, ROFL. Needless to say, that bike didn't get raced in that series.......
     
  3. scottbott

    scottbott Member

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    last year I went down south to Guildford to a bike clothing shop called Motolegends to try some very expensive ( to me) motorcycle jeans and was dressed in the wrong layers, Merino wool and it was a baking hot day, by the time I nearly got there I had to stop for a bottle of water as I was feeling really crappy and thought I would fill up at the same time. I always fill up in the BP in Grantham and use their Ultimate unleaded so did the same at this servo and went on my way until 5 minutes the bike started to run really bad, coughing and spluttering so I pulled to the side of the road and a guy on an old Guzzi stopped to help but it was not having it so called the break down service for a return home, to cut a long story short I found out that BP also did an Ultimate DIESEL that my local garage does not sell,I was feeling so crap that all I saw when filling up was Ultimate and filled up, I eventuallyy drained the bike and filed up with new fuel but could not stop one of the carbs leaking so eventually took it to Chris Walker motorcycles for all the 'O' rings in the fuel system to be replaced and a Dynojet kit fitted and put on their Dyno to set up so that fuckup with diesel cost me about £400, will not make that mistake again, what a cock head
     
  4. deja vu

    deja vu New Member

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    Wow - these are great stories (in hindsight, I guess). Any others?
     
  5. Diving Pete

    Diving Pete Member

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    no - lol or none that I'll admit to... :)
     
  6. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    Oh, I have a laundry list of them from when I was younger, quite the wall of shame, I really laugh at all the stuff a kid can destroy with a good set of tools, a low budget, and a woefully undeveloped sense of cause and effect, rofl.
     
  7. scottbott

    scottbott Member

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    yes it does make you feel bit of a dickhead at some of the things you do sometimes but heyho you hopefully learn from it
     
  8. NorcalBoy

    NorcalBoy Member

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    You can only win so many Darwin Awards before you have it beat into you. I'm sure the casual observer would have thought it looked like trying to drive a nail into an anvil.
     
  9. OOTV

    OOTV Insider

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    When I was installing the 98-99 headers on my 6 Gen, I was tired of the mounting flanges sliding down the pipes while I was trying to position the headers and get the nuts installed, so I put a zip tie around the pipe to keep them from sliding. Worked great, I was able to get everything aligned and tightened down. After it was all buttoned up, I went for a test ride. Not even a few minutes into the ride I smelled burning plastic. I immediately pulled over turned off the engine and took a quick look and realized I forgot to remove the zip ties! Luckily I was able to remove the melted bits off the pipes but it was a smelly task.
     
  10. VFR4Lee

    VFR4Lee Member

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    Messed up the math converting a torque spec from Nm to Ft Lbs on my old aprilia and snapped off a small bolt holding the oil filter cover. Doh!
    Pushed it half a mile to the shop and paid them to extract it before I F'd things up worse.
    It was a longer push than I realized going in. Doh.
     
  11. Captain 80s

    Captain 80s Member

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    Every single customer that came in and said, "I just got gas and then it died about a quarter down the road", I would say, "Let me guess, it was a BP."

    " How did you know?!!!!"

    Come on in here, I'll write up the work order.
     
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