Modern Vespa

You ever made while riding... can you admit it?

The other day, I was following my BF in the car and we pulled over for gas.

I popped the tank cover and my BF unscrewed the cap and set it on my seat and filled up my scooter and then filled up the car.

I went to the rest room. I guess wasn't paying attention because when I came back, I jumped back on the scooter, snapped the tank cover shut and we rode off.

A few seconds later, I feel something under my butt as I am riding down the road.

What the heck is that? We stop at a light and I reach under my fat arse and pull out the freaking cap!

Then I smell gas! I signaled to my BF and we pulled over and sure enough, dumb arse me, sat on the cap and rode off.

Thank Cheezbus that I did not lose the cap and then spend the rest of the day on the road trying to find it!

So how about you? Can you top that bit of asshattery?

Oh yeah. Not once, but twice...locking my keys in the top box. Of course, no spare.

I did that once. Had spares...at home. That was a long annoying wait for a tow.

I have also left the keys in the ignition-twice.

The most stupid stuff I've done that comes to mind all involves excessive speed on public roads. Not your regular-every-day-average excessive speed. I'm talking seriously nutty excessive speed (160MPH+ type stuff).

Those days are far behind me. With age comes a bit more wisdom (usually). I'm just lucky to have not stopped my age clock when I was doing dumb stuff.

-Craig

This relates to your previous post about getting angry while riding. A few years back a driver pissed me off by doing I can't remember what at an intersection. I was so busy giving him the finger that I ran a red light a short block later. Definitely the stupidest thing I've done.

Tried to drive off with the disc lock still in place. More than once.

Oooo... yeah... I did that once too. Not good.

Wondering what that bright flash of light was as I zoom through an intersection - all while fixated on a sign that says 'Photo Enforced.'

None of these sounds too bad to me.

The 160+ mph is quite appealing.

Luckily for me, none of my machines can go that fast, so the temptation is not there.

After thousands of miles on my MP3 for some reason a couple of weeks ago I forgot to release the parking brake and didn't realize it until I arrived home about 5 miles later. Yeah they don't last very long like that.

The stupidity in the 160MPH on public streets lies in the possible outcome if something goes bad. Best case, you kill yourself. Worst case, you kill someone else. Thus... it's really stupid to do on public streets.

Now what's nice is that today many places have a "track day" where you can go do this sort of thing on a closed circuit which is much safer for everyone involved. I highly recommend the experience to anyone who finds it appealing. The sensation of riding is much more like flying at those speeds.

I sold my machines that would go that fast. The last one left the garage in 2004. The temptation is irresistible.

-Craig

Trying to jump start my Buddy 150 off a running car.....
Now it's dead.

My SYM wouldn't start one day after work. I thought about it for twenty minutes, then called my wife to come pick me up. Once home I attached the MotoTote scoot carrier to the truck and drove back to work and picked the scoot up.

I realized my mistake as I was rolling the scoot up the MotoTote ramp. Why do they make kill switches, anyway?

I read Belkwinith's question as a more of a Duh or DOH! moment. Something that has you shaking your head part embarrassed part laughing at yourself.

Aside from simply going fast, throw us a bone.

When I took the ET3 for its first ride this year, I deliberately left the ignition off, to pump some gas into the carb. I kept kicking and completely forgot to actually turn the ignition on at some point.

After ten minutes I stopped, took a step back and thought - fuel tap, choke, ign... I'll better get my keys.

If it makes you feel better this is most likely a common affliction for those of us that don't use the kill switch when shutting down.

Didn't do proper tire maintenance. Bald tire, stop sign, stop short, boom...on my side, broken leg.


That was an expensive and painful lesson.

I've dropped coffee in my topcase once because the top wasn't secured (I have a cup that is water tight). The topcase still kinda smells like Starbucks Medium Blend.

checked oil... didn't screw dipstick in. noticed when back tire skidded coming to a stop on a perfectly dry road.

Old bike when I was in high school -- took off and it was all right turns except for the last one being a left pulling into the parking lot. --I had left my kickstand down, ripped it off on the asphalt and high sided in front of a bunch of my fellow students.

I still love how I tried to get out of a traffic jam by going up a very steep driveway and then promptly falling down. I must have looked like the biggest ass.

Doing it in front of people is the best.

In a rural area near here, I was taking a back road that crossed railroad tracks but doesn't have the guard rails. I rode up to the tracks and stopped at the stop sign, didn't even look and began to move forward to ride. Suddenly, a train about 50 feet from me honked its horn. Had I continued, I would have made a nice hood ornament for the Union Pacific Railroad's engine. And yes...I needed new undies after that bit of stupidity.

How about this one. Two years ago our club chose to ride the Natchez Trace Parkway for our spring ride. We don't trailer bikes so it was a 2000+ mile ride for all seven of us.

I led as usual and on the second day, in north Alabama, due to poor map study and GPS preparation on my part, we took a couple of wrong turns. One led us up a road that became steeper and narrower as we ascended to the top. At the top, we met the owner of the property who told us that Garmin sends people up there all the time. While there, on the very steep grades, one rider dropped his Scarabeo. Then we headed down. I crossed a small wooden bridge and headed up the next hill. The immediate follower freaked at the little bridge and stopped, along with the others. When I noticed that no one was following, I turned around in haste on a very steep grade. The grade caused my scooter to slow too much, this caused me to put my foot down to catch it, but the grade left the ground at least a foot lower than expected. The result was me going down, scraping the left side cowling and breaking the rear brake lever. Then it took us over an hour to get it restarted.

The stupid mistakes were the poor Garmin prep that led to a stupid decision to turn around in haste on a very steep grade. It was a bad afternoon.

You can always blame the BF!

Me? Recently? I rode about 25 miles with the coolass cover on and even did not notice. When I parked the whole thing was a huge silver ball under my ass. It was sort of embarassing. Sounds and feels like my bums are not what they used to be.

getting on a wet rode hungover trying to go around turns like speed racer...back end went out and somehow i managed to not go down...I instantly was no longer hungover and was alert as could be.

How about riding up the road on a very cold morning, everybody wavintg at me and i think yeah its a good scooter is'nt it then relising i have forgot me helmet . LONG PUSH HOME and very red faced

Yes, I have done many stupid things and want to keep them secret.
Self induced embarrasment is the worst!

Started my bike after a valve check.

Without the exhaust attached.

Once on the Vespa which wasn't so bad. Another time on the Harley with both pipes off.

It was really loud.

Harv

Welcome to the club. I have done the same thing. Not fun at all.

I have a routine in the morning. Start the bike. Back out of garage. Get off and close garage. Ride to work.

One day I started the bike and backed out of the garage. Then a neighbor came out and was talking to me for only 1 minute. Of course this disrupted my routine and I didn't put the side stand down. Hopped off and plop... dropped the bike (my 1949 Harley-Davidson) right on it's left side. Snatched it up off the ground quick as a flash. No damage. Whew!

-Craig

Similar experience to Craig there.

I leave for work at 4:45 AM. Same routine everyday - go in the garage, pick the scooter I'm riding for the day, roll it on to the driveway, start it up and let it idle while I close the garage and walk through the house to the driveway to leave.

Now that particular morning everything was like usual, except I stayed out late and only managed 4 hours of sleep. That and my friend who stayed the night came out to the garage because she heard the noise... This interrupted my routine.

Instead of starting the scooter outside on the driveway, I started it in the garage. In my sleep deprived state I didnt think about it and when I pushed it forward off the center stand I had my hand on the throttle and happened to roll it backward... And off went the scooter into the darkness of the morning and wound up in a heap on the street down the driveway.

Needless to say nothing disturbs my routine anymore, and it has been adjusted appropriately. Especially since that mistake cost me considerable $$$ on a paint job.

I had a similar experience. I was rejetting a carb and took it out on the road to test the new jetting. I turned out of the neighborhood onto a 5pm traffic street. About the time I hit 3rd gear I felt my hat starting to blow off. I grabbed my hat right before it blew off and as I was holding it firmly to my head I thought "that was close. Almost lost my hat". Followed rapidly by my second thought "holy crap. I'm on a busy road with no helmet".

....that's a $500 fine in Alabama. Not to mention how vulnerable I felt as I tried to make it 1 more block so I could pull into a relatives house and walk to get my helmet.

Decided it would be a good idea to ride my scooter through a riot, rather than just go around the block.

Brendan

That's a winner!

You seem sad

Beginning of this month, I needed to load the scooter into the back of my truck. I didn't have a "real" ramp, so I was using a 6' 2x12 and the slope of my driveway uphill to the road. Lumber is slick, and crippled me couldn't follow the scooter into the truck in time.
...I dropped it and gave my poor scooter its first dent. Left side of leg shield (next to the turn signal) hit on the trim against the lip of the truck bed side rail.

The scooter stayed in the truck for a couple days until I bought 2 8' metal ramps from the local japanese bike dealership: one for me, one for the scooter.

I still kick myself a little every time I notice the dent. It's not that bad...to anyone but me.

Edit to say: I knew it was sketchy as anything at the time, but I needed to get the scooter to its destination for an appointment and didn't have the money for a ramp. Two days later was when I got paid.

ANT hills

In high school -- more than a week or so ago -- I dropped my brother's -- get ready! -- BRIDGESTONE 350 in an ice storm, snapping the shift lever. Fortunately, I was wearing his army surplus flight boots, so I could grab what l-i-t-t-l-e shaft was there with my toe, scarring the boot, but able to get home. Needles to say, the Bridgestone "dealer" in Jackson, MS didn't happen to carry spare shift levers and had to 1) figure out how to "weld" (solder) the old one back together (yup, I found the piece in the ice) and 2) order one from Japan. Gotta love my brother -- I kept riding the bike, wearing the boots to school every day while he took my car. Hey, that '66 Dodge Dart 4-door was happening!

Victor/Palm Springs

I have done this exactly once. Now, I roll the bike fwd enough that there's no play between the lock and the caliper.

My worst mistake was pushing the bars in the wrong direction riding a bike with a sidecar.

Ok. . . .

Heres mine.

My BMW club rides generally have a stop in the northeast part of the County near Julian/Santa Ysabel. There is a gas stop at what best can be described as a convenience store. We have placed a bunch of plastic patio chairs there with our club stickers on them. We call the place "The Chairs".

I was with a group of the cool kids on a 200 mile ride that had a Chair stop. So, after making a low speed turn in the parking lot to face outward, I took my foot to the side stand (or so I thought), kicked it forward (or so I thought) and then slowly leaned the bike onto it to allow me to get off of the bike (or so I thought). The bike leaned to the left, and leaned, and leaned and then. . wait for it. . my bike a saddle bagged R1200R continued until it, and I were lying prone. No damage done, except to my pride as about 20 of my club mates, the afore referenced cool kids, watched in utter amazement.

And then each one of them told a story of how each one of them had done something similar.

Not sad. I learn from my mistakes, so now I am the most highly trained person in the world.