[ridinggold]

imported post

Thought I would share a bonehead thing I did. I bought a 92 SE. One thing I noticed on the bike was that theleft side saddle bag was not closing snug. The bottom was out about 1/2 inch. I looked at the hinges and determined that the previous owner must have leaned on the bag and bent the hing bar. So I took the side lights off so I could unbolt the hinge from the lid. That way I could bend it with out taking the whole thing apart. It also meant I could quickly put it back together to test how it closed. So I did that and then bent the bar a little, put it back together, and it got worse. So I tried bending it another direction, better but still not good. This went on for about an hour. Totally frustrated I decided I had better stop before I break something. I dropped the nut in the saddle bag and when I went to fish it out, I saw something that had escaped me before. The previous owner had put the factory tool kit in sideways rather than long ways. And yes that meant that every time I was closing the lid the hinge bar was hitting the tool kit and not allowing it to close correctly. So I spent a few more minutes undoing everything I had done. Now it closes perfect.



I was guilty of starting with the complex rather than the simple. A lot of time wasted.

 

[muaymendez1]

imported post

Its not a bone head move. Or maybe I am guilty of being a bone head too. Its toughg when you really cant see whats going on.

Besides, just blame it on the PO that way you share boneheadedness.

I have a 1200 where the throtttle body to the air cleaner connection is plastic. Well the screws were being stubborn and I used a impact screw driver. Guess what happened to the plastic when I whacked it with a mallet.

yup one of those , STUPID STUPID STUPID moments.
Stand back laugh and be glad you learned something for the next time you or someone else has the same problem.

 

[Silverfox]

imported post

Thank you for reminding us that it is sometimes the simple answers that we miss and try to make mountains out of mole hills. Some times the obvious, isn't so obvious!!!:shock:

For example, it should have been obvious to me, that the cap on an external outlet socket didn't really need a drop of superglue behind it and it should have been even more obvious that if I were going to start using superglue over the top of the saddlebag, that a cloth would have ben good to cover the saddle bag with!!!!!:X:doh:



For obvious, see oblivious sometimes!!!!



Glad to hear you didn't do any lasting damage.

:waving::waving:

 

[midwing]

imported post

Yeah i spent 20 mins trying to figure out why the bike wouldn't start .I checked the kill switch then checked it was in nuetral then made sure I had fuel . I even did a battery test then I noticed that the sidestand wasn't all the way up.Now I go with the simplest solution first and work my way up.

Good reminder that we all have a "monday" moment .

E

 

[deathtrap]

imported post

When I first picked up my wing, which also happened to be the first time I'd ridden anything but the little 250cc learner bike, I got about 4 blocks from the PO's house, and it died on me, could not get it started. It had a weak battery, and had been sitting for about a year with half a tank of gas, so I thought it might be bad gas. Got cables on it, kept cranking it, and couldn't get it going. Had a gas can, and was about to hop in the car to go get some new gas when.......

yes, I completely forgot to set the petcock to on. Set it to on, cranked it again, and after it reloaded with gas started right up. Got it to the station, got fresh gas, and away I went. Brain farts that big do hurt sometimes.

 

[RayandTracy]

imported post

deathtrap wrote:

When I first picked up my wing, which also happened to be the first time I'd ridden anything but the little 250cc learner bike, I got about 4 blocks from the PO's house, and it died on me, could not get it started. It had a weak battery, and had been sitting for about a year with half a tank of gas, so I thought it might be bad gas. Got cables on it, kept cranking it, and couldn't get it going. Had a gas can, and was about to hop in the car to go get some new gas when.......

yes, I completely forgot to set the petcock to on. Set it to on, cranked it again, and after it reloaded with gas started right up. Got it to the station, got fresh gas, and away I went. Brain farts that big do hurt sometimes.

Welcome to this Great Site!

Pull up a chair and join on in!

Ride Safe, Ray

:waving:

 

[buddy0253]

imported post

not enought time or space on here to talk about all the bonehead moments i've had. thats why we're on this site. we all have something in common :doh:

 

[FitzAl]

imported post

You learned a good lesson there.

 

[93Wing]

imported post

We all do boneheaded things....... Some are just goofy enough to say they did it!!! :dude::cheeky1:.



That's how we learn.......

 

[tricky]

imported post

So long as the bonehead moves are not done while driving, then we can laugh about them.

I was doing the fork bushings and seals and for some reason, I cant remember what now but I had bolted up the inner piston, and had to remove it again, well without spring tension on the inner piston that thing is going to spin around and sometimes even with the spring in.
I was drilling out the lower bolt and guess what, it started spinning. Hmmmmm.. I sat and thought about it for a while thinking, this has to have happened in the factory more than once, what would they have done.
I removed the anti dive mechanism and turn the bolt so that a hole in the lower piston came into view, I placed a bar through the hole which locked the inner piston into place, then the bolt came out easily.

And now for the rest of the story...

Just make sure you do it right first time...

 

[morram]

imported post

I've done the petcock thing enough to lose count. Luckily I live far enough away from the highways to figure it out before I'm on one. I've also learned not to mention it in mixed company.

 

[Richardrwg]

imported post

LOL, I sure if everyone on this site were enter the stories of the times they made a simple job harder, it would close down the site. I couldn't even list the times I've done it, not just with a motorcycle, but on cages adn around the house as well. And will probably end up doing again. Like tricky said, as long as we do them off the road, we can laugh about them. But you also showed another good point as well, if you can't get something to work right and you're getting frustrated, walk away and come back later with fresh eyes, it's amazing what you realize then.

 

[wsmith21]

imported post

I TRYto always remember what my dad told me many years ago. When something isn't going right, walk away, calm down, have a beer or coke and 9 times out of 10 when you come back, the obvious will be obvious. Which to me sounds exactly what you did. This has helped me more times than I can remember. You know my dad wasn't as dumb as I thought he was when I was a teen,:shock::shock: which was many years ago by the way.
Good Luck!!!!

 

[96aspencade]

imported post

Yep, got a couple of those "T" shirts. The only Dumb/Stupid mistakes we make are the ones we don't learn from. If we learn - it was a learning experience.:action::action:

 

[terry_208]

imported post

I think I get the booby prize! I purchased a CB750 which had sat for several years. In doing the brakes I found a leaking rear master cylinder. As I disassembled it I noted that the bore was made of aluminum. I couldn't figure it, but in my wisdom I knew how to remove it! Of course, after I threaded the hole and inserted a bolt to pull the aluminum liner, the light went off. Luckily a salvage yard was local. The cost of the used cyclinder was about the same as the rebuild kit.

 

[SpiderBob]

imported post

OK, confession time, I locked my key in the trunk - well we all know what it takes to get in the locked trunk without a key so I won't go into that. Except for the 4" hole I made behind the passenger backrest to reach in. Could not find it, as I looked up for some unknown reasoon to me,the key was hangingon the wall next to the bike. Of course my arm was in the hole when I spotted it, (I did say bad things) I yanked my arm out of the hole, guess what, 6 stiches. That was not my day.

This was just one of the bonehead things I've done. At least we can laugh aboutthem now:cheeky1:

 

[wpgfire]

imported post

92SE? You know, sometimes a bike just gets to a stage where you should cut your loses and run. Sounds like you may be there. If you forward me your info I'll come right over and take it off your hands. Then you'd have a real bonehead story to tell:cooldevil:. Oh wait, I did that with an '81 Chevy I had years back. Was leaking water into the front passenger side so bad it was starting to rust out the floorboards. Couldn't for the life of me find the source. Finally cut my loses and sold it to a guy for a couple of hundred bucks who promptly discovered that the first thing I had removed to investigate was the source of the problem. It was the rain pan located just under the hood that collects and redirects water from the windshield. It had come loose and allowed water to flow thru to the interior. He turned around and sold it for $2500.:shock: Your bonehead move doesn't sound too bad. You'll have to do better to become a member. No, I'm not joking:
http://groups.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=groups.groupProfile&groupID=106161887&MyToken=e2f26257-e9bb-41fd-a731-00a7be8fbfed

 

[hockeydad33]

imported post

I have had a couple of bone-headed moments with my GW. First I was doing the timing belts and waterpump. Got it all buttoned up and started her up and she ran like a champ but then shortly died. Could not get her to restart and was heading in to beg for help on this great forum when it hit me. I had turned the petcock to off and forgot to open it back up. DUHthe 2nd was when I was teaching my son to ride. Took him out, me on the GW and him on the Marauder. Bike seemed to idle a little funny and when we got home I was watching the tach while I put down the kickstand. Heard the kickstand go down so I started to let the bike lay over to rest on the kickstand and realized that the kickstand only went partway down and then snapped back up. I tried to hold her up but she went over and tossed me off. Hurt my pride, tore the hamstring on my left leg and showed my son what not to do, all in one boneheaad move. Randy