Lessons learned the hard way

I figured this would be a good place to share those embarresing stories of lessons we have all learned from doing something stupid.

Let's see, oh yeah.


Never ride 29 stand up wheelies back and forth across the parking lot during your lunch break. 28 is OK, but the 29th one almost cost me my right foot. I was draggin the rear fender on my DRZ400S when things went wrong and the result RIPPED APART MY FOOT!!! Yes, that's right it ripped my 8" leather work boots in half and ripped my foot in half. They thought they woudl have to amputate it, but ended up saving it and besides the nerve damage that hurts every hour of every day I'm OK now.

Oh yeah, I wear a size 11.5 on my left foot and a size 12.5 on my right. I have to compromise and buy size 12 boots and it works out OK, just not real comfy, but I can't afford to spend $250 for boots to get the right size for each foot.

So, your turn

George

Mine I call the Arther Fonzerilli.
I tried to jump 16 garbage cans on my YZ125 when I was 15. We had it all figgured out. The speed, the start point and the time. All my friends were there. Got running toward the ramp and was gonna be cool, give the girlfriend a wave a took my eyes off my path. I missed the ramp and took out 16 garbage cans. I was ok but required to have my knee drained every other day for 3 weeks and was on crutches for 6.
It is all good now. Nobody remembers when you get old.

Moon

Cool, my problem is mine happened just a little while back (Nov 2006) so all my friends will forever remember it.

George

In a way I was lucky to get out most of my "hey, watch this" phase early on. Lord knows I shouldn't be here for half the stuff I've done. Nowadays I just enjoy the moment since I get to take care of the drunks and ensure they make it home ok. I take plenty of pictures to help them remember just what happened to them that night/weekend.

Mine is so simple that it is embarrassing. I forgot to put my kickstand down. Of course it happened in front of about 20 people. We had pulled up to one of those mini-marts/gas stations. I was asking Greg a question, got my answer and swung my leg over the bike. As I did it, I could see Greg forming the word 'kick' and I realized what I had done. I was laughing all the way down. Price? Two cracked bones in my left hand and a bruise on my leg. Lesson learned? Priceless.

Between the 7th and 8th grades I was hit by 7 cars and 1 city bus. 5 times with cars I was riding my bike delivering the morning paper. The bus I was riding my bike trying to get home. 2 other cars just ran red lights while I was walking across the street..... Lesson learned: None.....Still riding, bigger bike though.

Uncle Jerr

jedishon wrote:Between the 7th and 8th grades I was hit by 7 cars and 1 city bus. 5 times with cars I was riding my bike delivering the morning paper. The bus I was riding my bike trying to get home. 2 other cars just ran red lights while I was walking across the street..... Lesson learned: None.....Still riding, bigger bike though.

Uncle Jerr

Do you ride in a group? If you do, Are you lead or the Tailgunner? I said before that it would be good to ride with ya. I still want to ride with ya but am gonna give you plenty of space.

Moon

Badmoon wrote:

jedishon wrote:Between the 7th and 8th grades I was hit by 7 cars and 1 city bus. 5 times with cars I was riding my bike delivering the morning paper. The bus I was riding my bike trying to get home. 2 other cars just ran red lights while I was walking across the street..... Lesson learned: None.....Still riding, bigger bike though.

Uncle Jerr

Do you ride in a group? If you do, Are you lead or the Tailgunner? I said before that it would be good to ride with ya. I still want to ride with ya but am gonna give you plenty of space.

Moon

I'm a loner now........No friends left....but I need to find 6 more before I can be buried.....

Uncle Jerr

Day laborers will carry you. You don't need friends (good thing huh?) I am gonna go in a ball of flames there will be nothing left.

Smokey

Never sit down on a Darkside WOT burnout and release the front brake.

Muntz wrote:Never sit down on a Darkside WOT burnout and release the front brake.

Dang good advice........Muntz!


....................bobby

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you Don't do stupid stuff ,keep your wheels straight when coming to a stop with a passenger on the back ,then make the turn as you use the friction zone to start around a conner ,other than that be careful backing up ,ride your ride don't let any one push you to do things you aren't comfortable with ,we all do stupid stuff time to time be careful don't show off it all ways seams to get hurt

Have you ever heard the term black ice , i was stationed overseas was going into work and kit a patch of black ice and was going down hill sideways on my motorcycle i had both feet down not moving forward but sliding downhill sideways , no control at all . Ended up in a ditch at the bottom of the hill . nothing injured but my pride and nerves rattled but ok.

The lesson I learned is from the 80's. My room mate and I had headed up to Summit's Point raceway to watch a friend race his bike. Anyone that has been up there will tell you the road to the track is sometimes more fun than the racing. I am riding my CX500 Custom and at 50 mph I can leave the hills and land on 1 wheel at the bottom, there were some nice curves too. Well, we passed the track and were heading back and this time I am doing little wheel hops on the top of the dips. I take one a little faster than normal and think nothing of it because it is a long tree lined road. Problem came when I got to the top of the hill and the road took a 90 to the left. The damn tree line kept going straight. I ended up jumping a farmers fence and landing in the middle of his field. I held it steady and almost had it stopped when I hit the only boulder for 50 yards. I fell over doing about 5mph. Dented up my shifter and break lever. Bent my signals, but the bike still ran. We make it to the track and I borrow tools to straighten everything out. We were only a couple of hundred miles from home and was scared shirtless. So my lesson was not to follow the trees. Some farmer wants his field more than he wants a road.

DB

Don't ride street bikes on dirt trails in construction zones over blind hills where huge chunks of concrete might be randomly distributed.

Just sayin'.

Never overload the back rack of your bike for camping with a passenger, get p.o.ed at your passenger, and give "just a tiny bit" more throttle than normal when taking off from a stop. I tried it 6/28/06 and wheelied , crushed my right foot (yay Red Wing steel toe), and dumped just outside Milwaukee. What did I get? 4 days in the hospital (avoid THIS at all costs, especially there) and, no kidding, one speeding ticket with NO witnesses , and a bike rebuild with the wrong accessories, cross threaded ALL 4 exhaust nuts, and stripped a radiator bolt that I am still trying to correct .
IF YOU REBUILD A BIKE AFTER A CRASH:
Think carefully about what you would do differently from how the bike was set up originally. The shop in WI substituted 18 liter bags for the 24 liter stock Honda bags I had originally. Later I found other bags with quick release Easy Brackets included that were bigger and less expensive than Honda bags w/o hardware.
ALSO: I should have had my bike shipped home for repair because I had NO recourse on that shop because insurance had already paid off so my buddy could ride it home to me.

Clay-san wrote:Never overload the back rack of your bike for camping with a passenger, get p.o.ed at your passenger, and give "just a tiny bit" more throttle than normal when taking off from a stop. I tried it 6/28/06 and wheelied , crushed my right foot (yay Red Wing steel toe), and dumped just outside Milwaukee. What did I get? 4 days in the hospital (avoid THIS at all costs, especially there) and, no kidding, one speeding ticket with NO witnesses , and a bike rebuild with the wrong accessories, cross threaded ALL 4 exhaust nuts, and stripped a radiator bolt that I am still trying to correct .
IF YOU REBUILD A BIKE AFTER A CRASH:
Think carefully about what you would do differently from how the bike was set up originally. The shop in WI substituted 18 liter bags for the 24 liter stock Honda bags I had originally. Later I found other bags with quick release Easy Brackets included that were bigger and less expensive than Honda bags w/o hardware.
ALSO: I should have had my bike shipped home for repair because I had NO recourse on that shop because insurance had already paid off so my buddy could ride it home to me.

What can I say.....WOW! Sorry to hear that! I hope you are OK?

...............bobby

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