Parts started falling off my bike today!

[primal]

Don't worry, it's not as bad as the title makes it sound. I was riding to class today and was coming up to a stop light. I went to downshift and lo and behold, my toe only encountered air! I pulled the clutch in, pulled into a turning lane, and then turned into a Toyota dealership (trying to take off in 4th from a complete stop is interesting -- good thing bikes have wet clutches!). When I got off the bike I saw that my shift lever was dragging on the ground by the shift linkage. Close inspection showed that a c-clip that kept the shift lever on its bar (or whatever you call that part, basically a pipe that the shift lever slips onto and actuates on) had fallen off. I went inside and talked to the service department at the Toyota dealership to see if they had any c-clips I could buy. They didn't, but they did give me a couple zip ties for me to try to rig something up.

I managed to temporarily secure the shift lever with one of the zip ties. It wasn't a great solution by any means, but it worked well enough to get me 5 miles up the road to NAPA. A few trips in and out to size up the c-clip and $1.05 later, my problem was fixed. I also lost a washer, but the c-clip seems to be working fine for now. I ordered a new washer from BikeBandit ($0.89 for the washer, $5.99 shipping). Luckily, I had just bought my tires from them so I had almost $9 in reward bucks, so it didn't cost me a dime.

Long story short, I jury rigged a repair, performed a proper side of the road repair, and got my bike operational again. All while only being 20 minutes late for class!

[primal]

BTW, I'm okay.

[Water Warrior 2]

LOL. Two days and no comments, feeling a little ignored and left out no doubt. Yup, I read your post and just carried on too. Good job getting mobile without much drama. Things like that can happen now and again. Glad nothing painful occured.

[music man]

Originally Posted by primal

BTW, I'm okay.

:rawk: :2tup: :pimpdaddy: :banana: oh f@#k it who am i kidding.................


:crash: :crutches: :biggun:


:lol:

[jonathan180iq]

Tighten 'em bolts

[jimmyjamma]

I had the bolts fall out of my chain guard on the interstate!! There was some serious noise, but I managed to exit and take off the guard, and made it home. I haven't put back on the guard, and I went through the bike and locktite-ed a bunch of bolts. Locktite is mandatory on out little vibrating machines

[Water Warrior 2]

My first bike had a case of loose boltitis. Was miles from home is the bush and luckily(read accidently) realized what the problem was. Tightened it up and homeward bound. Checked over the bike the following day and snugged up every nut and bolt I could find. As a rule ever since I go over every bike for loose stuff and have never had a failure. A little preventative wrenching goes a long way for reliability. Riders have to be more conscious of the state of repair their bike is in compared to cagers. Their life may depend on it.

[primal]

Speaking of vibrating bikes, I was sitting beside a Harley today at a stop light and couldn't help but notice the entire engine vibrating in the frame AT IDLE. Geez, that can't be good for the engine mounts!

[mrlmd1]

JJ- put the chain guard back on, it's there for a purpose. If something gets stuck in there while you're riding, like a pant leg or piece of clothing or road debris, you may go down.

[goneoutflying]

I lost my left rear turn signal, while riding back from Orlando to Daytona. It was usually loose and I was always tightening it, in fact I tightened it before I left, but when I got home it was gone, just the two wires. O_o So I had to use hand signals every time I turned left.