Ever crashed bump starting a bike?

The Rock
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The Rock
Edited Date/Time 1/15/2015 11:52am
Knock on wood I haven't but I have come close once where my foot has hit the seat swinging my leg over and I almost fell off the bike.
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KC124
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KC124 1/14/2015 12:19am
1/14/2015 12:19am
Bump started an old street and trail Yamaha once. Carb slide was stuck at the top. Fired and went wide open. Needless to say it was a kick ass wheelie. And yes I crashed.
The Rock
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The Rock 1/14/2015 2:11am
1/14/2015 2:11am
LOL

I was on the starting line in 73 back in the days of rubber band starts. Guy fired up his 250 CZ and it was stuck wide open. He was standing to the left of hit due to the left side kick and he made the mistake of kicking it into gear. BIG mistake. Bike took off and went by itself for at least 40 if not 50 yards negotiating tires lining the start and finally ran out of track and jumped the creek by itself. Upon impact the front wheel turned and the bike endo'd knocking the gas tank off in the process.

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would have never believed a bike could travel that far without a rider.

downard254
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downard254 1/14/2015 4:28am
1/14/2015 4:28am
No, but when I was thirteen and riding my RM100 one day with tennis shoes, I pulled to a stop. Well, I am a lefty and always put my left foot down first, but this time my shoelace loop had hooked the shift level and my foot couldn't reach the ground. Slowest crash I ever experienced.
Laughing
Uncle Tony
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Uncle Tony 1/14/2015 4:36am
1/14/2015 4:36am
Man I did once, replaced the throttle cable on my 75 bultaco back in the day, wrong cable, bump started my 250 pursang dragged me across the street wfo, crashed into the side of my neighbors house, as I was on ground dazed, my pursang was spinning around on its side shredding their lawn up

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Anthony Siracuse 1/14/2015 5:19am
1/14/2015 5:19am
The Rock wrote:
Knock on wood I haven't but I have come close once where my foot has hit the seat swinging my leg over and I almost fell...
Knock on wood I haven't but I have come close once where my foot has hit the seat swinging my leg over and I almost fell off the bike.
Funny you say that because that just happened to me. I'm 6 feet tall too! Laughing
Gravel
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Gravel 1/14/2015 5:29am
1/14/2015 5:29am
Buddy had a YZ490 that was a tough start if it sat for any length of time. So we hit our desert camp on Friday night and decided to get a jump on the Saturday morning struggle and get that pos fired up Friday night. Two pushing, one guy on the bike (the first case of beer was empty...) the bike hit a small rock in the dark that no one saw coming. Three guys a a bike ended up in a heap of bloody elbows and laughter...
Highsider
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Highsider 1/14/2015 5:34am
1/14/2015 5:34am Edited Date/Time 1/14/2015 5:35am
Back in 2002 I had a Yam 426 and really hadn’t figured out the start procedure.
At a race, I asked an old guy with a quad if he would pull-start me.

I had the bike in too low a gear and my tire skidded and I flopped over, face first.

About that moment, I heard him shift the quad into second gear…
cmx152
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cmx152 1/14/2015 6:34am
1/14/2015 6:34am
I saw a guy going to side sadle it coming towards me in a run off, he toppled straight over the other way into some weeds. when I got closer he was led out in a ditch with weeds all around him, I was young at the time and for some reason I pushed straight past laughing, I still don't know if he ever made it out of that ditch..
TX24
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TX24 1/14/2015 9:22am
1/14/2015 9:22am
A long, long time ago on a cold winter day, I couldn't get my 77 rm125 to start. Found out if you put the carb slide in backwards, they won't start and when they do they run wide open. So my 17 year old sister is in the pickup pulling me down our snow covered lane with a rope, trying to get it started.
The bike starts and runs over the rope, before I could do anything. The rope wraps around the front wheel, dragging me to the ground. I'm left chasing my sister that is dragging my bike down the lane, unknown to her.
Skerby
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Skerby 1/14/2015 9:28am
1/14/2015 9:28am
91 cr500. It never even turned over and it was a big hill!

The guy that owned it didn't use grip glue, he kicked it over one time, it kicked back threw him over the bars. When he came out of the bush that he landed in he was holding the left grip!
The Rock
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The Rock 1/14/2015 9:29am
1/14/2015 9:29am
Some of these stories are OMG funny!
Homey55
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Homey55 1/14/2015 9:46am
1/14/2015 9:46am
Good topic and brought up some funny memories for me!

I was probably 7-8 years old riding out in the desert with my brother, dad, brother's friend and his dad. My dad had a 1982 IT 250 that would not start for some reason so my brother's friend's dad decided to pull my dad and his bike with a tie down to get it going.

Let me paint the picture of the guy pulling my dad...5'6" 350+ punds on an old (I think) 1972 TS 250, open face helmet, white t-shirt, jeans and work boots.

So they start going through the desert, my dad dumps the clutch, bike skids causing the guy pulling to give his bike more power, my dad jumps off his bike (with tie down still attached) and proceeds to watch his friend and his bike careen through the desert for about 50 yards before his friend notices he's dragging a bike with no one on it!

We all had a great laugh for a while about that one! The bike was unharmed other than scratched plastic and ripped grips and it did eventually start!
Dragoo168
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Dragoo168 1/14/2015 10:07am
1/14/2015 10:07am
The one and only time,...I was 12 yrs old, summertime, and i had broken the swingarm on my YZ 80, and couldn't ride it until the new one on order showed up, was going crazy at home, and decided I would try to take a spin on the YZ100 that was sitting in the garage,...after several attempts at kicking it over, as well as push-starting it,..sweat stinging my eyes, out of breath,..I made one last, rubber-legged effort at pushing it down the street,..as I was running with all that i had, I overzealously jumped on to bump start it, barely cleared the seat with my right foot, slamming my nuts on the top edge of the hard-ass yamaha seat, slammed into gear, the bike fires, wheelies (Looping out) to the left, throwing me face-first to the ground, as i didn't let go of the throttle, and street pizza'd my face (open-faced helmet), chest (t-shirt), elbows and knees (wasn't wearing my leathers, just cords (corduroy pants for you youngsters) and my boots,...When my dad came home from work, with the new (Thor, I think) swingarm, he asked what i did that day, as he looked at me all tore up,.."Nothing much", I replied....He had walked into the house through the garage, so i know he already saw the carnage laying in there, as i didn't exactly put things away very well,..He never mentioned it, but had that swingarm on the bike that afternoon, and made sure I was on the bike practicing that evening,..Lesson learned, LOL!
Branham96
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Branham96 1/14/2015 3:07pm
1/14/2015 3:07pm
Id say I was about 10 years old living in baltimore and wanted to ride my z50 in my very small back yard while my parents werent home. The bike wouldnt start with me kicking it so I had another kid (who had no riding experience) jam it in gear while I pushed. Well, we got it running but he went right into our chain link fence! It was wedged in there good standing straight up,we couldnt get it out and I had to wait for my dad to get there and pull it out, he thought it was so funny he wasnt even mad. Man I miss that bike!
overthebars39 1/14/2015 3:41pm
1/14/2015 3:41pm Edited Date/Time 1/14/2015 3:42pm
Not to long ago i fell over bump-starting my 950 adventure. Thank god no one was around and i just took another go at it.
Side sadeling to bumpstart a big v-twin ain't easy tho...
GuyB
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GuyB 1/14/2015 5:22pm
1/14/2015 5:22pm
Ever crashed bump starting a bike...and admit it in a forum? No. Smile
GuyB
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GuyB 1/14/2015 5:24pm
1/14/2015 5:24pm
Dragoo168 wrote:
The one and only time,...I was 12 yrs old, summertime, and i had broken the swingarm on my YZ 80, and couldn't ride it until the...
The one and only time,...I was 12 yrs old, summertime, and i had broken the swingarm on my YZ 80, and couldn't ride it until the new one on order showed up, was going crazy at home, and decided I would try to take a spin on the YZ100 that was sitting in the garage,...after several attempts at kicking it over, as well as push-starting it,..sweat stinging my eyes, out of breath,..I made one last, rubber-legged effort at pushing it down the street,..as I was running with all that i had, I overzealously jumped on to bump start it, barely cleared the seat with my right foot, slamming my nuts on the top edge of the hard-ass yamaha seat, slammed into gear, the bike fires, wheelies (Looping out) to the left, throwing me face-first to the ground, as i didn't let go of the throttle, and street pizza'd my face (open-faced helmet), chest (t-shirt), elbows and knees (wasn't wearing my leathers, just cords (corduroy pants for you youngsters) and my boots,...When my dad came home from work, with the new (Thor, I think) swingarm, he asked what i did that day, as he looked at me all tore up,.."Nothing much", I replied....He had walked into the house through the garage, so i know he already saw the carnage laying in there, as i didn't exactly put things away very well,..He never mentioned it, but had that swingarm on the bike that afternoon, and made sure I was on the bike practicing that evening,..Lesson learned, LOL!
Your dad sounds like a wise man. Wink

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MR. X
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MR. X 1/14/2015 6:42pm
1/14/2015 6:42pm Edited Date/Time 1/14/2015 6:42pm
I may or may not have had an accident while pull starting a bike behind a truck because my legs may or may not have been too wore out to push anymore.Blush
plynn41
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plynn41 1/14/2015 7:21pm
1/14/2015 7:21pm Edited Date/Time 1/14/2015 7:23pm
Not quite bump starting and not quite a crash, but I embarrassed myself starting my old '97 CR250R in front of the person I was selling it to. I had it setting in my front yard on a triangle stand. The yard sloped a little, so I had put the bike in first gear to keep it from rolling down while it was parked. The buyer wanted to hear it run, so I left the bike on the stand and climbed aboard and kicked it one good hard one, forgetting that it was in gear. The bike fired with me holding the throttle half open and took off. I kept it off the ground barely and probably had a red face when I came back to the buyer. He went ahead and bought the bike btw.
#991
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#991 1/14/2015 7:26pm
1/14/2015 7:26pm Edited Date/Time 4/4/2015 4:51am
...
Tonycar107
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Tonycar107 1/14/2015 7:46pm
1/14/2015 7:46pm
In my front yard... Kicked the damn thing forever an finally decided to push it down the hill in my yard, which is pretty vertical and about 15 feet tall. Started running with it and as I was jumping on the bike but before I got my right leg over my left foot hit the shifter and stopped the bike right at the lip of the hill. The bike stopped, I continued the go head over heals, over the bars and down the hill. It was when i was laying at the bottom of the hill that I realized I left the exhaust plug in....
toomey706
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toomey706 1/14/2015 7:48pm
1/14/2015 7:48pm
KC124 wrote:
Bump started an old street and trail Yamaha once. Carb slide was stuck at the top. Fired and went wide open. Needless to say it was...
Bump started an old street and trail Yamaha once. Carb slide was stuck at the top. Fired and went wide open. Needless to say it was a kick ass wheelie. And yes I crashed.
That's awesome!
Dragoo168
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Dragoo168 1/14/2015 7:50pm
1/14/2015 7:50pm
GuyB wrote:
Your dad sounds like a wise man. Wink
Thanks Guy, He definitely taught me how to take my licks with accountability back in those days, LOL! Smile
enketchum
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enketchum 1/14/2015 9:57pm
1/14/2015 9:57pm
pushing a ct70 down the street. The point was opening too early. I tried to make a turn and it stopped and I fell, broke a mirror, and scraped up my wrist... in my neighbors driveway
Matt Fisher
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Matt Fisher 1/14/2015 10:12pm
1/14/2015 10:12pm
Had a 81 ATC250R that was geared down a tooth on the front sprocket and had some tiny flat track type tires on the rear. I have no idea why the prior owner did that, but it made it very torquey- although top speed might have touched 40mph; maybe. My friend and I had been goofing off in the mud on ATV's, and we tilted them up on the back bar and tires to wash the undersides off. When I was done with the ATC, I just pushed it so the front tire would bounce back on the ground. It was in first gear so with the low gearing the trike just bump started on it's own and took off! My friend and I looked at each other and started cracking up. I chased it down, no harm done.
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sumdood 1/14/2015 10:18pm
1/14/2015 10:18pm
No but I watched my sister try to push start an XL70 (no kickstarter) she got it rolling, went to jump on it, missed the seat and back fender and landed straight on her tailbone right behind the bike. We thought it was hilarious, she didn't. She only limped for a week or so.... Laughing
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Ramrod 1/14/2015 11:45pm
1/14/2015 11:45pm
My two brothers and I got a used 1986 Honda CR500 and I was the youngest. We were scared of starting it after the previous owner put fear into us and after struggling to kick it over we decided to bump start it on the road in front of our house. Two of us push and when it lit my brother whiskey throttled it big time and that bike cartwheeled down the road. It was hilarious! Bloody elbows, and a broken clutch lever was lucky. I learned to kick that beast like a man and never had a problem again.
The Rock
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The Rock 1/15/2015 12:48am
1/15/2015 12:48am
It was the beginning of 1973 and my 72 250 AJS Stormer was getting a little long in the tooth. We went to Lewisburg, Ohio for a race and it was cold and muddy in March.. Bike wouldn't start and a friend wound up towing my bike with his truck with tiedowns between me and the truck.

We got out on the road and I popped the clutch only to instantly start tank slappers. The tie down was sliding from left to right and yanking the bars. The truck was going fast enough that the front tire was actually washing out in a straight line! Details are hazy after 42 years but I got it back to the pits somehow but wasn't able to bump it.

Think we brought it home and after it got warmer fired the bike up but it sounded weird. I got on it pulled in the clutch pulled the lever up into first gear (right side shift one up three down) then let the clutch out but THE BIKE WAS GOING IN REVERSE!

Main bearings had worn to the point it allowed the timing to jump.
reded
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reded 1/15/2015 4:07am
1/15/2015 4:07am
The Rock wrote:
It was the beginning of 1973 and my 72 250 AJS Stormer was getting a little long in the tooth. We went to Lewisburg, Ohio for...
It was the beginning of 1973 and my 72 250 AJS Stormer was getting a little long in the tooth. We went to Lewisburg, Ohio for a race and it was cold and muddy in March.. Bike wouldn't start and a friend wound up towing my bike with his truck with tiedowns between me and the truck.

We got out on the road and I popped the clutch only to instantly start tank slappers. The tie down was sliding from left to right and yanking the bars. The truck was going fast enough that the front tire was actually washing out in a straight line! Details are hazy after 42 years but I got it back to the pits somehow but wasn't able to bump it.

Think we brought it home and after it got warmer fired the bike up but it sounded weird. I got on it pulled in the clutch pulled the lever up into first gear (right side shift one up three down) then let the clutch out but THE BIKE WAS GOING IN REVERSE!

Main bearings had worn to the point it allowed the timing to jump.
Had the same thing happen when I was 9yrs old. I wasn't trying to bump start but simply get a tow from a friend after running my XR75 out of gas. Hooked the tie down to the crossbar not realizing that I was about to get a lesson in physics. On the opposite end the tie down was hooked to Fourtrax 125. When I said go the dude took off like he wanted to win a race, the tie down started whipping from one side to the other and the front wheel was washing out from side to side but I was still going in a straight line. I still vividly remember seeing the dirt shooting out from the front tire during this "Oh Fuck" moment which seemed to last for 1/4 mile. In all actuality I probably only made it 50ft before the bars were ripped from my hands causing me to eat shit in a huge cloud of dust.

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