You Show Me Yours...I'll Show You Mine
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at 10:21AM Has this ever happened to you?
Since this site is primarily focused on us older riders I’m sure what I’m about to tell you will strike a familiar cord with more than a few of you. I’m talking about the dumb stuff we do while working on our bikes.
The other day I spent 6 hrs working on my KTM 500EXC. The tail light quit working so I had to separate the brake light, turn signals, license bracket from the fender to get to the wiring to check the connections etc. When I’d get it working I’d put it all back together only to find out it quit working again. I think I know, but I’m still not quite sure what did to finally fix it, but it works now.
My work area for my bikes is not that all that big, but I lose parts and tools in that small space all the time. I’ve used an 8mm socket laid it down right where I know I can find it and when I turned to pick it up again it wasn’t there. What’s really frustrating is spending who knows how much time finding it again. Or how many times I’ve dropped a bolt, nut, whatever on the floor and never find it again. I’ve gotten parts almost off or on and had them fall off into the bike, they never hit the floor and I never, ever find them, again. How many of you have left a bolt, nut, screw loose or just plain forgot to put one back on? We all know people who have lost their seat or muffler, forgot to mix the oil in the gas, or just plain forgot to put the oil back in. Shit like this has happened to all of us, or at the very least we know someone it’s happened to. Maybe we even tell stories about what happened to some else because we don’t want to admit it really happened to us.
What prompted this little story was I was talking with a friend of mine who just bought a new KTM 300XC and he was putting the old bark busters on the new bike and was struggling to fit the right hand one on. After many attempts (No he wasn’t trying to put the left hand side on the right side, that’s what I was thinking while he’s telling me this story) and after bending it a few times trying to get it to fit he noticed the set up on the new bike was throttle, start button, front brake with way to much space between them. He moved the front brake next to the throttle and the start button on the outside of the brake (Like he had it on his old KTM 350 and it worked) of course he had to re bend the bracket back to where it was originally in order for it to fit. He also lost a small part on the floor and finally and after spending time on his hands and knees found it in a crack in the cement. He started babbling about maybe we should paint the floors white so parts will stand out instead of blending in.
Anyway I could go on and on telling stories about my adventures, but I’d like to hear about yours; I know you all have stories to tell. So after you read this click on the post a comment and send us a story or two.
Doug 21J
Reader Comments (1)
21j you need to go back and read Feb 2014 post of garage incident on #33 blog.