NEWBIE MISTAKES!!!! - Page 2

Here's another.....1st week with the RR...stopped for gas, went to put the sidestand down(motor still running, bike in Neutral)....hit the shifter instead of the stand with my heel....DOH..

Luckily i had the front brake squeezed so all that happened was a slight lunge and loud chirp from the rear tire on the slick concrete before it died.....It could have ended up allot worse and allot more embassasing.

Now when i pull in to stop/park, i kill the engine BEFORE i attempt to deply the kickstand

BTW, did tevbax(New Member) Hijack Nine2Nines Avatar???.....LOL....Now we have TWO spanking-hippos...

ive done the kick stand down try to shift one and i still leave the blinker on but one of the most embarrassing things ive done is i was riding down the beach and main st. at my house and there were alot of people walking around and a lot of bikes. well i stoped at a stop sign and every one is checking out the bike and i go to take off and boom to much clutch not enough gas just stalled. i could not start it up and take off fast enough.

How about hitting the horn when you try to kill the turn signals. I used to do that all the time LOL, now I do it once in a while to get everyone I ride with laughing. Then with my first bike we were going to go for a ride so I went out to the garage to warm my bike up before my buddy got there and it wouldn't start. I just rode it the day before and it wouldn't do anything. I thought the battery was dead but everything else worked, the headlight and all the dash lights. I hit the horn and it was loud like a fully charged battery, then I realized the bike was in gear, clicked into neutral and it started right up. LOL oh well its funny to think about now. Thats about all now, but I'm sure there will be more.

-Jesse-

quote:

ORIGINAL: flybub

My first time on a bike was in an open empty parking lot....except for 1 light pole. You guessed it, I hit it square at about 10 mph. Didn't have the hang of turning yet, well I didn't grasp the countersteer notion real well. That's all I can think of.

It wasn't target fixation?

+1 on the kickstand and blinkers. oh, and the horn thing too...

I have 2 for ya.
1st one: My first bike a 1984 Honda Saber 750, the front brakes were gone so I bought replacements and decided to put them on myself. This was in 1992 and I was New to motorbikes and no one told me that I had to bleed the brakes. Anyways, got them on came out for a ride and I am sure you can guess what happen. Pulled the brakes at 10 Mph and plop down I go. I was so glad no one saw me. he he he.

2nd: Same bike same year. Not that good at handling such an heavy bike(495Lbs dry), I had a argument with my Ex Girl friend and she walked away from me so I went to turn around to talk with to her but I tried to do a 180 on a hill and plop down I go again. he he he worst thing was all my friends and about 20 others were right there watching. I tried to pick that darn thing up but it was facing down hill and it was just to heavy so 3 other people had to help me. Man that sucked!
That's my Newbie mistakes. It sure feels better when no one is looking! LOL

Anyone grow up on 4-wheelers/quads? Can't tell you how many times i've gone to start the bike and HONK!!!! Whoops, wrong side....Everyone around you is like "What?"

(Note: for those of you who don't know, a 4wheeler start button is on the left, throttle on right)

-Adam

Well, this isn't a mistake, but I thought of a trick that has been pulled on me and I've done to others. Riding along on their right side, then when they're not looking at you, reach over and click off their on/off switch! Lol, all they have to do is turn it back on and it'll start right up. Funny as hell though, takes most a minute to see what you did.

For those that forget the blinker, this looks like a good product. http://www.kriss.com/tscancel.htm I've bought other stuff from the same manufacture.

I still do the horn thing about once a week. My excuse is I'm testing it out.
Here's another one...trying to turn the key all the way to the right and wondering why it doesn't start. Oh wait, there's a start button just for that. Oops.
I also did this one once...I was at a stop light and another biker was in the other lane heading towards me. He drops his hand to wave and I do too...I forgot I was in 1st and holding the clutch with that hand. Dammit!

I've done the kickstand thing on 2 different bikes... one a 700 lb beast and the other an 800 lb monster. Both times in my own driveway or garage. Fortunately, no one was around to see. The first time I had to get my son to help me pick it up. Then I decided I better learn how to do it on my own. The second time I picked her up by myself.

Ego takes a huge hit when you do something that stupid!

not to worry, even after riding for years you can still do somehtign stupid, I stalled my bike coming out of a gas station on morning it caught me so off guard that I did that I had to lay it down, it was almost on the ground before I caught it. DOH!!!!!!

I still hit the horn almost every time I ride. And I leave my turn signal on at least once every time I ride. But the worst was putting the kickstand down when I was tired and not paying attention. I thought it was all the way down but it sprung back up to the stowed position. I started to lean the bike over and there was nothing to stop it. It got about as close to the ground as it could get by the time I caught it and stood it back up. I about crapped myself.

I rode for 20 mins with my blinker on, all the to a buddy's house. I've only been riding a copule of weeks but can see that thing will be a prob! And when i do try to turn it off I always find the horn!

Has anyone else just missed the kickstand? Stop, kick the stand down, go to get off the bike..... and it just keeps going?!?!? By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late to stop it. I managed to set it down reeeaaal slow, but still sucked huge! That's probably my worst embarassing moment. Even managed to do it in the parking lot at work and had to get someone to come help me pick it back up.

Ah well, glad to see I'm not the only one with a funny story (or two)

I think I have finally stopped hitting the horn. I still forget about the turn signals though. I just had a rookie mistake about three weeks ago, I was accelerating from a stop and went to shift into second and hit neutral, twice in a row! My foot was holding the shifter from returning to its normal position and it wouldn't shift up. It was kinda embarrising since I was accelerating hard. Oh and I generally use the kickstand to kill the bike when I park it, that way I don't forget about it.

My problem was that I would forget about my blinker all the damn time and I would drive around for awhile with it on. I also left the kickstand down a few times.

+1 on the blinkers, but what about honking the horn when turning the blinkers off! also, riding w/ friends that have pipes on their bikes, and i didnt, i was stalling it alot.

#1. +1 for blinker, first to neutral while acceling fast, kickstand at busy gas station, stalling in front of a crowd looking at you and leaving on the turn signal.

#2. After 50 miles on bike and backing out of garage and not knowing how to properly back it out; i was standing to the left side walking it out and the weight got a little to much the right side and over it went into some metal shelfs breaking the mirrow and scratching cowl.

#3. Pulling into a parking space facing down hill without being able to move forward and sideways due to cars being on all sides. It was a semi-busy night at Advanced Auto parts. Took about 10 minutes to back out and got a nice workout.


Not too bad for riding for a little less than a year!! haha and im sure more to come.

Lumberman

quote:

ORIGINAL: doncollins

Here's one I've seen often and almost did myself last year. Stopped after a long day of riding in the hot August sun to at dinner with a friend. I thought it would be about an hour and the sun was already going down so I didn’t' think it would happen. After the four of us sat and talked for about 2 and a half hours..... we walked out to the bikes. My bike was at a greater than 45 degree lean. I knew better, but I thought the black top was cooled off enough. Our kickstands will cut through blacktop like butter when it's hot. I had about 2" if my kickstand buried in the parking lot. I've seen a lot of bikes fall over sue to this. Most places that have bike parking have metal or use concrete for our kickstands.

Yea i have heard of this, in the MSF course they suggest taking a crushed pop/beer can with you and throw it down under your kickstand.

+1 on hitting the horn when trying to cancel blinkers
+1 on something getting your attention after starting your bike and getting ready to take off forgetting the kickstand is down and killing it

Dunno if anyone had said this one yet or not, Forgetting your already in sixth and trying to kick up another gear?

the stupidest thing i can think of is when i let one of my friends try out my bike... and him being as new to riding as i was turn it off leaving it in 3rd gear.... i spent a total of 15 mins outside his house tryin to figure out what was wrong with my bike.. lol

+1 on the kickstand kill it.

i always forget to turn my blinker off. at the MSF class i went to they said to use a coaster for the kickstand and the asphalt. they even gave us one.

right after i bought my bike(first bike) i rode it around my apartments for about 30 minutes to get a hang of things. i kept dumping the clutch and killing it. i went out of the complex onto a small road and stopped at the stop sign, i went to turn right and dumped the clutch again and over she went. there was nothing i could do. luckily no one was around to see. hehe i now dont have a problem with the clutch.

parked it on a hill once and you can guess what happened.

I've done the turn signal and shifting up from 6th things, but the most potentially embarrassing one was having trouble getting the bike started, it finally fires up, I go about two blocks, and it sputters to a stop. I can't get it to start up again, and I'm about to call my buddies to come help, when it dawns on me that moving the fuel petcock from off to on might be a good idea. I'm actually surprised that I'm the first person to mention this - maybe I'm even more of a newbie than I thought!

BTW yes, this is my first post, and I'm really glad that I've found the site.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Munson

I've done the turn signal and shifting up from 6th things, but the most potentially embarrassing one was having trouble getting the bike started, it finally fires up, I go about two blocks, and it sputters to a stop. I can't get it to start up again, and I'm about to call my buddies to come help, when it dawns on me that moving the fuel petcock from off to on might be a good idea. I'm actually surprised that I'm the first person to mention this - maybe I'm even more of a newbie than I thought!

BTW yes, this is my first post, and I'm really glad that I've found the site.

ive rode with the petcock turned off a couple times on the cb750, all of them were hilarious to everyone but me, haha. the horn, geez, that little bastard is so easy to tap when you're using the blinker. most of the time i look for the friendliest looking person around and wave at them, so it looks like i meant to honk, lol