what STUPID thing did you do with your yamaha today?

i left the key in the ignition with the lights on while i am at work. i just realized what happened and ran out to the parking lot 10 minutes ago...dead battery. i guess i gotta get a ride to buy me a battery charger.

silver lining: gives me a reason to buy a battery charger i really should have bought by now already, anyway.

 

Can't you push start her?

Well, I actually had a hill to help last time.
Can you push a bike fast enough to start it?
Never tried.

 

by the way, i would like to get the battery charged enough to get home in 3-4 hours of charging. is there a particular (type of) battery charger i need to charge it within that time frame.


G-,man- never push started, but i'm not near any hills and i work with female coworkers, and don't want to ask them to push the bike for me.

 

1.5 amp charger MAX
get an auto<float charger>

push the bike with the clutch pulled, (i do it in 1st)
dump the clutch, with ignition on, and be careful as the bikes going now.

if it doesnt start do it again

 

be CAREFUL with your throttle hand on that push-start attempt. You don't want to grab a big handful and then when it lights, end up doing a backflip-wheelie to impress your female coworkers...

 

ask if any of your co workers have a set of cables.. While not ideal will acheive the same effect as to push starting. and less hassle

Oh and I have MISplaced my keys 3 days ago and the bike has had to sit out in the rain uugghhh. Its gonna give me alot chit for this. about impossible to push it where it needs to go for shelter it might as well sit out in the sun now to dry anyways.

 

To bump start - click into neutral, run like hell, jump on with leg either side and then pop into second while holding clutch, let out clutch then it should fire and not wheelie out of your hands. If you dont sit on, then the chance is high that you will skip the tire across the road once you put in gear This has worked a few time for me, but you look like a complete loser outside Dunkin Donuts doing this!!!!

 

Keep in mind that push starting with a DEAD battery is a VERY difficult proposition. Heck, it's hard to keep them running on a weak battery. They just don't like it. Gotta have enough "juice" to operate the ignition system or you are just pushing for the fun of it. Get a jump if you can.
I use a 2 amp charger on my batteries without trouble. Just be sure to buy a floating charger as mentioned. They will detect how much current the battery needs and adjust the flow to keep you from boiling out your cells.

 

not confident enough to try the push start today. plus my ego is still fragile from leaving the keys in the ingition this morning.

i did buy a charger though and am charging it right now. i keep hearing "float charger." i bought a husky fully automatic electronic smart charger 10/6/2 amp charge rates. i'm charging it at 2amps right now. is this what i needed? thanks.

 

Perfect!

 

Being new to motorcycles in general in the first week I had my 82 XJ 650 I did two stupid things. First somehow I managed to leave it on Prime all night long. Now I was close to running out of gas while riding I though I put the fuel valve on reserve, guess I turned it the wrong way. Anyway ended up with a crank case full of gas and a bike that did not want to start. This happened on 4/25/11. I had to change the oil and oil filter to get it to start. I had to buy a battery tender to charge my battery since I drained it trying to start it with my crank case full of gas. On 4/30/11 I left the ignition on and killed the battery. So I pushed it in the back of my place and charged the battery. Now I turn the bike off with the ignition and then turn the kill switch to off.

 

Even 2 Amps is a bit "hot" for a motorcycle battery; keep an eye on it or you'll overcook it.

The best rate is something under 1A; the 0.75A Deltran Battery Tender, Jr. is ideal; and it's a "float" charger.

 

If you do end up having to resort to the coworkers take a video. BTW thats the same charger I used at my buddies house cooked the battery over night.

 

"end up doing a backflip-wheelie to impress your female coworkers" Nice!

 

I ride mine with the smallest leaky head gasket every day. it just leaves oil moisture around the seam, every day. I'll get to it one day. wonder if I could re-use the valve cover gasket since there's RTV on both sides of it

 

lol, you guys realize this topic is three years old, yes? Anyway, I ignored my Seca today. She's all alone in a garage, unfinished. I'll be seeing her tomorrow..

 

It may be 3 years old, but who knows, people do stupid stuff all the time and of course there are noobs like me that can do stupid things just because.... This is good as any thread to have resurrected.

 

Happened a few days ago, but (I know fitz, need to buy one) I over torqued the rear brake pedal bolt and snapped it, had an extra pedal/bolt and thought I'd be smart and screw it down until the other piece came out, well, it ain't meant to come out the bottom, lol, so now I have 1 and 1/2 bolts holding the pedal on and have to find a way to clean up my mess. Lesson learned, get a friggin torque wrench knucklehead! he he!

Mac

 

Stupid thing I did to my yamaha? converted to an R6 master cylinder and let my muscle memory grab a fist full in the wet. On the ground before I could even think "oh $#!"
Show's what I know about modern bikes. I had taken a bit of time to get used to it on the middle of 5 settings and thought I would dial it down a bit since it had gotten rainy while I was out and about. Turns out 1 is more braking than 5...

New blinkers, side oil plug and footpegs all in place and working fine.

 

Oh, the other day Thursday evening I ran to the store to get a few small items. I missed the turn signal and some how turned the choke on full. Then not realizing what I did I was perplexed on why my bike was suddenly running at 3,500 - 4,000 RPMs when I pulled the clutch in... LOL>..

 

Head gasket, or valve cover gasket? A head gasket that's leaking and has RTV on it sounds like a pretty bad idea. A valve cover gasket that leaks will usually require new crush washers on the hold down bolts, as well as a new gasket.

 

Reassembled rear drum brake after safety inspection (XJ 750 Maxim) and new tires . . . didn't own a torque wrench with the correct settings so I just used a regular wrench to tighten the brake adjustment pinch bolt . . . sheared the bolt off in the hole. Took me quite awhile to fix that one.

 

indeed. "small" head gasket leaks don't stay small for long. Either you can't get enough compression for that cylinder to light or combustion blasts through the leak until it is big enough to do the above.

Valve cover if it's slight prolly just new donuts will fix it right up.

 

I put some carbs vseals and orings in the carb cleaner.

 

I know I'm resurrecting a three year old post, but I kindasorta did this today. See, here's what happened.

Rode down for my annual tour through the Midway Museum on the 700X. Parked a few blocks away (they don't enforce the meters on Sundays or Holidays). As an added precaution, I locked the forks. Thing is, there's another setting labeled "P" next to "Lock" -- this leaves the taillight on. (I didn't know I'd set it to "P".) Six hours later... dead battery. No lights. Couldn't bump start. Had to call a supervisor at work to come give me a jump. Classic ID-ten-T error.

 

I was out for a ride to the grocery store on Sunday and my speedo cable was not connected to the Atari (Atari actually removed) and it slipped down and dragged around for a mile or so. After I pull up, I notice that the part that sticks out of the cable that goes into the speedo gauge is gone.

Fortunately, its a $20 mistake.

 

@doc
boy am I glad that Im not the only one who was foolish enough to leave their bike set to prime. I was lucky enough to not gotten a crank full of gas.

 

Yeah, it was quite the 'Doh!' moment when I put it all together... Felt pretty stupid but with the amount of miles I am riding the oil would have needed changed by now! As it stands now I have about 700 more to go...

 

Well.... umm.... i was hoping nobody would ask, but since you did....

Yesterday i finished reassembling the bike after a tear down to do a bit of customizing. Upon a RUSH reassembly, i left the shocks at their softest setting, without checking the clearance between by new fender and new LED tail light, i went for a ride. About 10 blocks later i hit a bump big enough to complress the uber soft suspension, and the new tires gripped my new light very very well, ripped it right off, tore my new fender and ended my ride......

 

Ha well I'm glad I now know what the "P" stood for and meant. It seemed like the only way my bike would stay running was on "P". When I had it on "On" it would sputter while riding and eventually stall out almost as if it ran out of go-go juice, but on "P" it ran like a champ. So naturally I just reversed my thinking and when it was back in the shed I kept it on "On". Still fires up, but as of late the 1/4 coil seems to have gone now. Should I still check/replace the oil it's still pretty new. And is there a way to check it by draining a little out and simply smelling for gas mixed in?

 

I put my starter solenoid together.... backwards. (The case with the magnet). Took me an hour to figure it out. I enjoy reading this thread more than the other one....

 

well, i posted in the normal "what did you do" thread, but it belongs here.

Dropped it in the driveway

started it up so it could warm up while i put my riding gear on. drive way is ever so slightly down hill.....maybe 4-5 degrees. bike vibrated off the stand and down she went. i watched in slow motion from just-too-far-away as it broke the clutch lever, the mirror, and put some big scratches/gouges in the left side cover. ahh well....

 

looking over air filter and box and placed the snorkel near the halogen light to warm it up for easier reinstallation, forgot about because of a phonecall and found it smoking and nearly on fire....DOH!!!

 

Dropped the Phillips Screw used to secure the #2 Airbox Boot while reinstalling the Boots after a Carb Cleaning.

It's gone.
Diss-awe-peered.
Pee-pee's me off cause I went and got stainless.

I fought with the Boots for 20 Minutes.
Then, I yanked the Carbs out again.
Cut me 5-Inches if PVC Pipe.
Wrapped the PVC Pipe with a sheet of 320 Sanding Paper.
Made the 4 Airbox Holes a widdoe-bit biggah!!!
Smoothed those mothers-out with 800.
Wrapped a Paint Stir Stick with 320
Made the Locating Groove in 4 Air Box Boots, ... a widdoe-bit wide-uh.
Now they rotate without cursing.

 

here is a look at the carnage.... and it looked pretty good before too!

 

changed rear brake shoes - reassembled everything and got wheel back on only to realize my cleavis pin inside the drum was UPSIDE DOWN - therefore the brake arm and the wear indicator wouldn't go on (I guess they would have went on upside down - result - take it all apart again!

 

Been there done that!!!!!!!!!

 

Broke off one of the holders for the float in the carb. Attempting to clean and rebuild a carb that every moving part in it was frozen solid. Wrench slipped trying to remove the float valve.

 

ouch.....that had to be hard to watch......bike going down in slow motion breaking stuff......I feel for ya

 

Been there done that to. This thread is like dejavu vu vu vu

 

NOT riding it

 

Here's just one: I took the left side cover off the XJ to do some wiring work and laid it on my other bike's front fender between the forks. They are almost the same color. Took the other bike for a ride and later wondered where I put that silly side cover.

Never did find it.

 

applied rear brake. it went "clunk" then proceeded to work normally.
I had a panic thought regarding shoe delam but settled in to "no way, I checked every time I've gotten fresh rubber"
stopped normally a few times. Pondered the source of the clunk. Stopped aiming up hill a bit. Next rear brake application after that another CLUNK followed by normal operation.
After the third time I'd figured out it only did it on the first rear braking after using it pointed uphill and decided there was some kind of backlash in effect. Decided to finish my day and check it out when I got home. THAT was the mistake. One more time was all my brake stay bolt had in it. Broke, wheel spun the brake hub and wrapped the "cable" half around the axle before breaking it. Got home (including a ferry ride) on front brakes only.
Aw well, coulda been worse.

 

Lost the the side cover, then ran out of gas. The rubber that holds the side cover on has been broken since I bought the bike.

I rode all the way to my daughter's soccer game. Ran out of gas just as I parked. I was really hoping that was was the issue as the bike parked itself just as I arrived. As I panicked, I gave the bike a little shake to listen to the gas tank and it was obviously the reason. Conveniently I was parked at a gas station!

After my daughter's game, I came to my bike and was suprised to be able to see the battery. No side cover. Then the guy who had parked his sportster 1200 next to me began raving about my bike. He immediately asked if it was a maxim and began to tell me how he didn't want to get a Harely, but got such a great deal trading it for a four wheeler. His bike was in mint condition. (I would be happy with a Harley, though I would make it look just like my bike anyway).

Anyway, I had to drive all the way home at 30 MPH looking for the cover. When I got home, it was right outside of the barn. I just emailed chacal about the rubber parts so this won't happen again.

 

YOU got lucky !!

A while back, I needed to clean some bugs off the 900 and the "other" bike, and I sprayed them with Windex (Ammonia) of unknown age. Well, this stuff sorta BURNED some streaks into the 900's aged and delicate windscreen, and took MONTHS to fade back to the usual smoke color. I also applied some tire dressing, which seemed to help.

Lesson - don't put any harsh chemicals on your old plastics !!!

 

Got my new speedometer cable and so excited to finally get it done, I didn't spray the bolt to the drive gear with WD40 and snapped the head off. I am spraying it periodically now and I will get an extractor or easy out tomorrow. :roll: So much for an easy fix.

 

Snapped off bolt reinstalling left side clutch cover after installing new gasket. For some reason thought the broken bolt would be in the clutch compartment (not thinking due to anger) so I pulled the cover back off only to tear my new gasket to pieces. Now I have to wait another week for a new gasket and bolts to come in.

 

Tried to remove a stripped out mixture screw by dremel-ing out the slot and ended up snapping the head off.... gonna try a screw extractor or easy out tomorrow.... if i try again today i might just hit the darned thing with a hammer....

 

I think I got you all beat. The damm thing caught fire today

 

I tenderized my hip and leg yesterday. I stopped at a pull off set my stand made a phone call kicked the stand up and started out. Nothing out of the ordinary right, no pants leg caught up in the kick stand going down the road I realized my leg wound'nt slide forward on the peg so I i yanked my foot forward wich set the kick stand out. Took out a mail box went air born and crushed a large wooden planter, bent my rear turn signal post tweaked front shocks.
Wanted a few days off work but not like this.
There has to be beter to get women to cut you clothes off than this. :lol: