Bench Racing - What's your worst "great idea" ever?

TriRacer27
Posts
5450
Joined
2/7/2009
Location
Dallas, TX US
Fantasy
42nd
7/14/2010 10:04am Edited Date/Time 1/27/2012 11:43am
It happens to all of us. We see an "issue" with our bike and decide to take it into our own hands and get creative with fixing it.

I was bench racing last night and remembered my greatest ideas:

1. Armor All to make my bike shiny and new looking. While I'm at it, give that seat a nice shine to make it last as well. Next time I rode the bike it felt like a bar of soap.

2. Ran out of WD-40 to lube the throttle tube but oh, what's that, some Bel-Ray all purpose waterproof grease? It says all purpose, so it should work....

3. If some is good then more is always better right? Well, this does NOT apply to locktight apparently.


Though my dad takes the cake when he and his buddies blew a header gasket on his '77 Mazda RX3-SP and figured they could make some out of leather. Unsure


I'm sure some of you have better ideas than these though.
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7/14/2010 10:35am
While at a practice track I roached my rear sprocket and my buddy had one for his yzf450 (mines a crf450) which was considerably larger. Larger enough that in order for my tire to go on I had to remove the chain guide, no big deal right? Well there is a very high speed double right out of this corner that sir James could drag his shoulder off if he scrubbed it hard enough. Needless to say I came around WFO and scrubbed that double pretty hard and when the bike landed it flexed and since there was no chain guide the chain ate my swingarm and swingarm bearing alive after it went looking for the chain guide. Luckily I found a new swing arm for $45.00, that last practice almost cost me $350.00!!!
KAWboy14
Posts
6505
Joined
12/31/2007
Location
Austin, TX US
7/14/2010 10:47am
cutting thru this little water puddle that everyone else was going around......
Outsider
Posts
10637
Joined
1/29/2009
Location
Huntington Beach, CA US
7/14/2010 10:50am
Going back to a two stroke... fun while it lasted. Ruptured spleen, bruised ribs....
uk125250
Posts
3948
Joined
10/4/2009
Location
Gnome AQ
7/14/2010 11:15am
I used some octane booster called Top Fuel, apparently it had a bit of something in it that roached my engine.

The Shop

Holigan
Posts
1444
Joined
6/18/2008
Location
Dallas, TX US
7/14/2010 11:46am
Owning a race team.

Wait a minute, that is the 2nd worst. The first is doing it again.
agency399
Posts
402
Joined
2/20/2009
Location
Deer River, NY US
7/14/2010 12:01pm
Deciding my 01 CR 125 needed a piston the night before a race my year at it. (I was 16)

Had some older friends help me as I did not know much about rebuilds......... was 4th on the day (yes 125 novice class), then blew it up the next day riding down my driveway and another friend, older mentor type for motocross (think a guy like bobbyM) helped me tear it back down………he just shook his head when he found out we put the piston in backwards…….
Uncle Boogie
Posts
34
Joined
7/14/2010
Location
Princeton, TX US
7/14/2010 12:28pm
Joining a bad race team.....only made that mistake once.
7/14/2010 12:38pm Edited Date/Time 7/14/2010 12:39pm
The kid that was hired as a gopher was taking classes on Motorcycle repair and was told there that you needed to use grease when rebuilding a crankshaft, He did and the lower end crank bearing seized to the rod. He brought in to me and asked what when wrong, I asked if he remembered to use pre-mix in his gas and assured me they did and then said I even did what my techer told me to do and used grease. I asked what brand he used and told me the stuff I got from here, Bel Ray. I couldn't help but laughed because he used BelRay "water proof" grease and that it was thick enough that would never brake down and thats why the crank bearing seized.
bullpen58
Posts
4400
Joined
8/15/2006
Location
Fresno, CA US
7/14/2010 12:38pm
Deciding to "just commit" to those whoops that resulted in five broken spinal processes.

Also, spraying WD-40 on my brake discs "to prevent rust". LMFAO!!

ocscottie
Posts
69108
Joined
8/16/2006
Location
Redding, CA US
7/14/2010 12:42pm
Right along the lines of your Armor All deal, i once put mink oil on the palms of my old Fox Pawtector leather gloves because the leather was drying out, first ride of the day i about killed myself because they were so slick i couldnt hold on.
DownSouth
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9630
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7/5/2008
Location
Tallapoosa, GA US
7/14/2010 12:51pm Edited Date/Time 7/14/2010 12:51pm
I think everyone has done the armor all on the seat trick at least once. I did it on my 1986 YZ80 as a kid. The next ride as soon as it came on the pipe I slid right off the seat before I even knew what was happening and the bike went for a ghost ride.
lucero10x
Posts
1626
Joined
9/25/2009
Location
Las Vegas, NV US
7/14/2010 12:51pm
Helped my buddy rebuild a 01 250 mxc. We ended up getting a 300 crank which we didnt know till it was put together and we were mating up the cylinder to the cases for final installation. At this point we had had enough beers in us to just go ahead and stack up base gaskets till the piston cycled all the way through. That thing has been a complete POS ever since. lol
Uncle Boogie
Posts
34
Joined
7/14/2010
Location
Princeton, TX US
7/14/2010 1:13pm
Joining a bad race team.....only made that mistake once.
M&M??? Evil
Phuk'n phunny Zook, no M&M is the best, it was actually another one but I digress.....
seven11
Posts
337
Joined
4/30/2008
Location
Peoria, AZ US
7/14/2010 1:17pm
Not my idea but...

one day we caught my grandpa outside, underneath his car with a can of wd-40. We asked him what he was doing and he replied, my brakes are screeching so imma put this here wd40 on em to fix em. Thank god we caught him before he drove off.
Rooster
Posts
4430
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
Edmonton CA
7/14/2010 1:31pm
Borrowing a CR500 to race a second class for the contingency money in 1986.

3 months in the hospital and 14 hours of surgery later.......
mjskier
Posts
1880
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
CO US
7/14/2010 1:32pm
Putting gas from the tractor (diesel) into my stepsister minibike (as if we didn't have enough step-sibling problems before :-)

Connecting my sister's toy phone to an outlet (because if if makes a small ring with 6V, it ought to make a much louder one with 220V)

Going commando (them zippers have teeth!)


Adam43
Posts
3179
Joined
8/16/2006
Location
WF
7/14/2010 1:48pm
Straightening out a set of 7/8ths Renthals that I twisted in practice. They broke right in half hitting the TAKEOFF of a 70 ft jump. It was probably the most spectacular crash I've ever had.
KAWboy14
Posts
6505
Joined
12/31/2007
Location
Austin, TX US
7/14/2010 1:49pm
Joining a bad race team.....only made that mistake once.
M&M??? Evil
Phuk'n phunny Zook, no M&M is the best, it was actually another one but I digress.....
holigans? and did you join it the second time too? Smile
7/14/2010 2:07pm
Hard block pass that ended with a peg going into my case. One lap later and kaboom!
Uncle Boogie
Posts
34
Joined
7/14/2010
Location
Princeton, TX US
7/14/2010 2:17pm
M&M??? Evil
Phuk'n phunny Zook, no M&M is the best, it was actually another one but I digress.....
KAWboy14 wrote:
holigans? and did you join it the second time too? Smile
No not Holigans....
lucero10x
Posts
1626
Joined
9/25/2009
Location
Las Vegas, NV US
7/14/2010 2:23pm
Tired, changing oil on a 525 mxc. Wife calls out, "when ya gonna be done?" I tell her just a few minutes. I hussle, finish up and get it loaded. Next day at the Knolls Knockout I am running top ten, heading out on the second loop I am tapped out on a high speed dry lake bed and the little bitch let go. Pinched o-ring. 3K woth of damage and I got towed back to the pits by an ATK. Talk about insult to injury.
txmxer
Posts
9770
Joined
8/21/2006
Location
Weatherford, TX US
7/14/2010 2:24pm
mentioned the other day...one last lap.

And Downsouth...I think Armor All on the seat is a right of passage...right up there with breaking a collar bone.
MX558
Posts
1750
Joined
4/1/2008
Location
US
7/14/2010 2:57pm Edited Date/Time 7/14/2010 2:59pm
Back when we raced amateur day AX in the 90's I put Greatstuff foam in my handlebars to cut down the vibes. Lucky my friend was racing it and not me as the throttle stuck in the whoops on the first lap. We laughed our ass's off.
WhKnuckle
Posts
7329
Joined
7/17/2007
Location
TX US
7/14/2010 3:15pm
Cantilevering the shocks on my '73 CR250R Elsinore. Turned a great handling bike with lousy suspension into a lousy handling bike with worse suspension.
7/14/2010 3:50pm
Wagging my finger in a rider's face after he took me out in a moto, and finding out shortly after that I was dealing with a US Marine who didn't take threats very lightly.
shaner708
Posts
631
Joined
5/27/2009
Location
Export, PA US
7/14/2010 4:33pm
A certain track I raced at had the same guy working the start gate every race and the gate always dropped after 2 Mississippi. Well I seemed to be the only one who had that figured out so me and my friends in other classes were plucking holeshots every moto... Till a Lorrettas Area when unknown to me they had another guy working the gate. My chance at making it went out the window right there that year
Moto547
Posts
737
Joined
4/16/2008
Location
Billings, MT US
7/14/2010 4:44pm Edited Date/Time 7/14/2010 4:46pm
Wagging my finger in a rider's face after he took me out in a moto, and finding out shortly after that I was dealing with a...
Wagging my finger in a rider's face after he took me out in a moto, and finding out shortly after that I was dealing with a US Marine who didn't take threats very lightly.
1st race in the A Class. Some dinky local AX. I am pumped. 250 2 stroke. Hitting a triple noone else was doing. Had a smokin girl in the pits. Everything was just going for me. Here comes lapped traffic. Some dork on a bike with headlights. Definately not A Class material haha. Im yelling at him, hitting his rear tire and finally I get him about half lap later on the start straight. Of course he gets the finger the whole way down. I heelclick the triple. Check out the crowd. I am going for this $500 purse.



Only to find out he was 50 years old and pitted next to me.
We split the purse. I apologized. To this day he flips me off and
smiles everytime I walk by.
The Rock
Posts
8763
Joined
3/21/2007
Location
HAIKU, HI US
7/14/2010 5:04pm Edited Date/Time 7/14/2010 5:10pm
WhKnuckle wrote:
Cantilevering the shocks on my '73 CR250R Elsinore. Turned a great handling bike with lousy suspension into a lousy handling bike with worse suspension.
First off one of the greatest ideas for a thread in moto history....good job.



At the end of 73 my buddy Tim and I went to Mr. Hill's (local welder who we gave a lot of business to) and without any measurements had him cut our frames just like the factory Husky's on our 250CR Husqvarnas and we laid down the shocks.......little did we know we'd be seeing Mr. Hill on a weekly basis after that.



Terrible idea but damn did our bikes look trick!
mag23
Posts
748
Joined
5/12/2010
Location
Lincoln, CA US
7/14/2010 5:14pm
DownSouth wrote:
I think everyone has done the armor all on the seat trick at least once. I did it on my 1986 YZ80 as a kid. The...
I think everyone has done the armor all on the seat trick at least once. I did it on my 1986 YZ80 as a kid. The next ride as soon as it came on the pipe I slid right off the seat before I even knew what was happening and the bike went for a ghost ride.
Ha!!!!!!!! It was an '86 RM80 for me... proceeded to do the sickest beginner loopout when I tried to seat bounce a tiny double on the first lap of practice....

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