Loaning your bike horrors.

I learned a LOOONG time ago. the difference between a friend and an enemy, is a broken motorcycle. sorry to hear

I loaned my 74 CR250 to a friend of mine who flew in from Ca. to Texas for a big vintage race. He was out front and running away with the win when the chain guide broke off and went through the rear sprocket. Jerked the chain so tight it ripped the cases wide open. It skidded to a halt right in front of me. You could see everyone of those brand new NOS specially back cut and blueprinted tranny gears smiling back at you as it bled to death in the dirt. Looked like it could have happened at anytime to me as well. If you are willing to loan it out, you have to be willing to deal with final results. All part of it, especially with the old bikes. I was just bummed that I blew his chance for fame and glory....

I use to let my buddy borrow my bike alot a few years ago. I knew he would crash it. He knew he would crash it. He would repace anything no questions asked. I got alot of new parts because of him.

Loaned a real nice CR250 that I just finished setting up for woods riding (Eric Gorr big-bore/porting, FCR springs/valving front rear, etc., etc., even had a plate for it) to a friend. I watched from 200 feet away as he whiskey throttled it into the side of a giant oak tree in third gear. He fell off about 15 feet before the bike hit the tree, which is less than the distance the bike itself bounced off the tree. The entire right side of the bike (pipe, radiator, plastic, bars, rear brake) was destroyed. I sold it as soon as I could after I finally got the rest of the money out of him to fix it.

Early in the 70's I had a 125cr Husky. This thing was light years ahead of what the japs offered at the time, as the YZ's and Elsinores were one year away from delivery. Loaned my Husky to the guy that raced for the local Yamaha shop in flat track. He came out and destroyed the field in the local MX. Also destroyed the psych of the local Yamaha dealer. We were in that guys head the rest of the time we were in the Husky business. Couple years later the guy that raced my bike died of cancer. Still got the 125 and still have the memory of Dick Mumm racing my Husky. BTW, I was injured at the time and couldn't race myself. Good stuff, brings a tear to my eye even now.

I just loaned a bike to a couple beautiful women from Iceland...I had zero problems. I have heard some horror stories before.

I am the guy people love to lend a bike to. With all my hook ups, the bike comes back better.

On the flip side, I am borrowing a bike from a buddy now and try and keep it better than when I got it, I broke a clutch lever and replaced it with a bendable lever. The last time we rode, he took the loaner home and left me his main bike because the loaner was in better shape and I will have his main bike up to snuff asap.

Good man, some people you can trust and some you can't

Can I loan you a crf450 sometime?

A friend -who didn't ride- asked if he could try my '76 RM250 and headed down the alley behind my house. He hit 3rd gear almost tapped out when a car appeared heading the other direction. He never let off and just missed the car, but couldn't make the hard right at the end of the alley and smacked into a 6 ft. high cinderblock wall almost head on.
He compound fractured his wrist and knocked out a few teeth. He later told me the throttle stuck, but it was fine when I rode it back to my garage (he left in an ambulance).
My forks were FUBAR but fortunately my local dealer had a brand new set of '77 forks hanging on the wall that someone traded out so I picked those up for cheap.
I still talk to the guy a couple times a year and ask him if he wants to go riding ....

In between motos a friend that I dragged up to the races was bored and wanted to Try
my 78 RM 100, Sure Same thing ,
takes off going through all the gears and now has about
100 ft to stop before he goes over the Flat track berm into I dont know what.
(No Helmet of course)
So he locks up the back break and skids and skids and skids somemore until
he gets sideways and then the "Six million dollar man intro" thing happened
Dust , Debris,end over end.
The bike was a twisted tangled mess, but he didnt go over the Berm!

Last year we met a friend at the track and he brought a friend that was interested in starting riding. A few weeks later at the end of a practice day this same guy shows up with a brand new CRF off the showroom floor (dealer break in) and wanted to get in a few laps as the track was clearing out. He had never been on a track and asked if I would ride it first to make sure it was "OK" Sounded good to me, I was riding a year older CRF and the bike felt identical to mine only fresh so I was clicking off the triple and things first lap. Well I dropped it in a corner where a friend of mine just happened to be snapping pics. Did I mention the guy who owned the bike was a spittin image of The Incredible Hulk and I just dropped his brand new bike before he got to ride it. The pic is funny because I look like a deer in headlights trying to pick it up quick. Of course my friend runs over Yelling "He crashed your new bike, he crashed your new bike and I have pictures!" This is one of my very best friends mind you saying this. DOH! The guy just laughed and said "hey at least it looks like my bike has been ridden correctly." Thank god he was not POed. Cool guy. We told him to look pissed for the camera.

FLMXER...HA...

good thing he wasn't pissed. Looks like he could do some real damage if he was.

Mike Jones launched my 95 rm 250 into the cheep seats at the san fran arena cross.

Nice. Anyone we know? lol

I've always gone by the unwritten rule: if you break a borrowed bike/tool/vehicle/beer, you pay for it right now and with no questions asked.

I once borrowed a friends tricked out 450 KTM for a weekend of woods riding and when I dropped it off it had fresh tires on it, front and rear.

Let a buddy's son race our practically new 08 KTM 65 earlier this year when his bike went down during the first moto. It was muddy so my son was riding is practice bike because I didn't want him to tear up his new bike. The kid didn't hurt the bike at all. In fact he pulled over and crossed the line last since it was not the bike he used in the first moto. He just wanted to ride. Fast forward a couple months and his kid is out with a broken wrist and I hint around that I'd like to borrow his RM85 for my son to run in the local Saturday night race. Apparently, he thought I was joking. Can't lie, it pissed me off a little.

I let my younger brother borrow my Suzuki, he was suprised when he picked it up tho 1973 TM400, and I was surprised when he gave back (He had a full length cast on his leg) he bent the frame but he worked for Rich Thorwalson and they came up with a Hallman Titanium Husky frame and made the Suzuki engine fit and topped it off with one of his trick swingarms, not only was it very special Richard dialed in the suspension and it handled better than anything around in '73/'74.

I had a 1993 CR500 and a friend of mine that raced back then wanted to ride it.After about 3 laps of riding he went into a corner and he said the rear brake went out and he went over the berm and broke his leg.Sad to say he ended his racing career after that.

You aint lyeing about the guy looking like the hulk

I always like the guys that say " My buddy was riding my bike and the engine locked up. His ass is going to pay for it!" Don't you think it was your own fault ,an engine locking up is a " Maintenance " issue.

My 03' YZ250F was an hour old when a moto friend low-sided it in a corner, bent a radiator, scuffed the plastic and snapped the clutch lever. The 3 days later, a new radiator, plastic and lever showed up at my door from www.yourbuddycrashedyourbike.com or whatever it was. The nice thing was, the original radiator wasn't leaking, so I left it alone and only replaced it and the plastic just before I sold the bike last year