And by bikes, I mean pedal bikes.
I was at a bike shop Saturday having my bike checked out. This place is very well trusted, and I do know the mechanic is very capable and takes pride in his work. They are affiliated with dirt bikes, so I won't blow them out online, but I absolutely ate shit in their parking lot. I wanted to know how a new Turbo Levo motor felt compared to my older one so I asked if I could take one for a spin. No problem, they just had to put pedals on it. As I got it outside it's slightly downhill and I just started to pedal, and the front wheel goes all the way to the right. I basically pedaled myself straight into the ground. Between the height of sitting on the bike and the fact it was slightly downhill I pounded into the cement pretty good. I'm lying there on the ground with my pinky finger going the wrong way. I thought it was busted (it still may be fractured) but it looks like it's just the worst dislocation I've ever had. I also landed on my junk knee which I've been icing for the past few days. The cause of the crash was the headstock wasn't tightened properly, as soon as any force went into it the thing just flopped. I have no intention on suing them because I'd rather have a bike shop than a couple bucks, but this is the first time in my 55 years on this planet I could ever say a company was negligent enough to sue and win if I wanted.
The moral of the story and my reason for posting is that most of us wouldn't buy a new motorcycle and not at least nut and bolting it before we hit the track, but we should at least give a visual and shake test of anything we throw our leg over.
20 years ago or so my wife and I were MTB shopping and the salesman offered me a test ride around the parking lot. I went around the side of the building and as I bunny hopped off the curb the front tire burped off the rim and I went straight to the ground. I had to make the walk of shame back through the front doors bloodied and carrying a torn-up bike. I could see my wife, standing next to the salesman, mouth "what the f___" then hurry out the door to leave me to deal with it. Check those air pressures, people.
This forum does have a non moto area, just an FYI.
Go read it then
Forum Cop, making the world better one comment at a time.
I was actually going to put it there but if you read it the moral of the story does apply to dirt bikes, plus we all use our mountain bikes as cross training for what we really love.
The Shop
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
I genuinely didn’t know if you knew it exists. I figured anyone logical would see this is clearly non-moto.
On one of the first rides after I bought my Rockhopper about 20 years ago I was at the local riding spot and went to go down into, and out the other side the steep banks of an old ditch. The key to getting up the other side is to carry lots of momentum down into it. When i gee-d out at the bottom one of the plastic fork caps blew off and nailed me in the chin quite hard causing me to fall down. I literally for a second thought perhaps i had been shot. I was in a little bit of a daze at first, confused at what had happened. Small cut on my chin that did not require any stitches.
I didn't make too big of a stink about it at the shop i bought it from but Specialized did replace the plastic fork caps with aluminum ones, so they must have been aware of the problem.
EDIT to say my memory of the incident is coming back better now...it wasn't the plastic fork cap that hit my chin...it WAS THE FORK SPRING...making a nice round cut on my chin. It was like getting hit with a baseball bat. Damn.
That reminds me of an incident a couple years ago. My wife and i were walking the dog on the bike path in a lightly traveled area when we came upon one of these guys in his 60's or 70's who looks like Santa Claus splayed out on the bike path unconscious, face down, sunglasses smashed, face on one side all bloodied and taking a DEEP breath about every 3rd second.
To make a long story short, he's alright but the massive front tire on his e-bike had popped off, wedged against the forks, probably instantly stopping him, sending him over the bars. When he came to he had no idea what had happened.
What scared the shit out of me was, as I was kneeling down to attend to him, the over inflated inner tube exploded about 5 feet to my right. Fuck me running. NOT cool.
Yikes!!!!! That would scare the shit out of you. lol
Side note: Most of the e-bikes they sell I consider damned dangerous. We bought my wife an Sondors e-bike so she could keep up with me when I was riding Amish. That stinking thing is way faster than the brakes. It's no wonder emergency rooms are filling up with old timers on e-bikes.
i borrowed a buddy's YZ250 for a spur-of-the-moment desert trip. picked her up on the way south and threw it in the trailer so never got to give it the good look-over. 10 minutes into the first of 3 days, the motor locked up solid. having been through plenty of 2-strokes i knew it was a bottom end. a UTV was in the area and we were able to lift the bike onto the back of it to transport it back to the trailer. that's when i noticed there was no oil-drain plug on the bottom of the motor.
my buddy claimed he rode it the week before with no problems and never touched the drain bolt. long story short i ended up buying a new motor on ebay and giving it to my friend.
Visit a friend riding this old Suzuki ts250 in the field by his house. He's stopped and says wanna ride it. I said sure jumped on it. Start up take off.
Luckily not to fast I go to hit the brakes nothing. I can hear him yelling the brakes don't work. Great. Roll up to a stop and I say how you turn it off. He says pull the spark plug cap kill switch busted. Popping the clutch with no brakes didn't work to stall it.
Fun times
The fact you called the bicycle guy a “mechanic” suggests you were putting way too much trust in him than you should have.
Why the efff are people so damn quick to throw stones? The dude is in his 50's and has been a mechanic for years and has worked on plenty of people's bikes that you have heard of. I wouldn't be too quick to judge a man's career by one mistake.
The guy was multi-tasking and put the bike to the side and forgot about it. The bike was not in a place that someone would have grabbed it to ride if I wasn't back in the work area.
Seems to me…with SOOOOOOO MANY of us riding or training on bikes/e bikes/MTBs…well…this thread is very moto nowadays. Hell, my eBike is a Husqvarna!
One of the guys I ride with has a Husky. I would like to take it for a spin, I only have experience with my Levo. I rode a Trek about a week ago and it felt weird.
Ever try to true a 29" road bike wheel? Ever fix a derailleur? I say they should be called "magicians" instead of "mechanics" because some of that stuff is hard to get right the first time. Sure, I can fix my derailleur in like 30-45 minutes. My buddy who works at a shop will have it done in less than 10. I still can't true a tire lol
i paid a mobile-bike-fix guy $65 to install and tune a new derailure on my bike. i spent about an hour in the garage getting more and more pissed. i think he was in his mobile shop for 10 minutes. that's good money
Next, when someone posts about nutrition they will scream like the old hens on the view "that's non-moto"🤯
A little over a year ago, an OEM part failed after a modified/improved part was installed behind it and held in place by the failed part. Technically, it was a bad/over torque call out on a new model…
Said part failed and the motorcycle threw me on the ground on a fast off camber downhill…on the street…full of traffic. Moto-brain kicked in…I slid my my hands and feet…tumbled…serious road rash down my entire right side from my ankle to my hip bone including “burn thru” to muscle tissues…
The maker of the truly better and necessary part was beside himself. Even AFTER we’d PROVEN his part DID NOT FAIL; but, the over-torque call out of a bolt caused the bolt to fail…didn’t matter. This dude is a good dude that rides and he just felt bad. I had to tell I’m several times…
“Dude, shit happens. The OEM will deny any wrong doing and we know this. Hell, your part is ‘the thing to do’ on this bike BECAUSE they’re so chickenshit.”
Didn’t matter. He’s one of those guys that feels responsible whenever anyone he knows has any misfortune that’s associated with what he makes and what he does…for a living.
The good part: he was downright emotional when I told him…
“Shit like this is suppose to happen to guys like us.” And after a moment…he went from tore up to smiling. Because, it’s true.
There are some of us that know “Shit Happens” and we just roll with it. Peelout knows. SMF knows. RMGSXR knows. ML512 knows. Langham knows. TunedLength knows. DV12 knows. For those of you that don’t know…GuyB knows. I’m sure many of you in here know this is true. I just don’t “know” you…yet.
Interesting tidbit. Most people overtorque bolts because we don't get wet torque #s. If you have any lubricant (usually antiseize) you'll have to reduce your torque 30ish percent. However, the bolt manufacturer will tell you you're supposed to design the bolt to fail vs the part. Also, if you turn it, it's a screw, if you hold it and tighten something on the threads (typically a nut) it's a bolt.
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