Tell us about your Embarrasing Bike Moments...

[iDood]

Someone started a very similar thread on another board I belong to and the stories are just too damned funny...
... I thought we could all laugh at ourselves here too...

I’ve got two: one is better than the other:

I went for a little jaunt to the beach. I said, hey, wouldn’t be a nice picture to have my bike on the beach with the waves behind it. So I found a piece of wood and put it under my center stand and rocked it back and forth a bit to ensure it would stay put for the photo. I walked away a bit and immediately after I took the picture, THUD! Son of a b----. Grandma and grandpa came up in there Buick something or another as I was lifting it back up and asked me if I needed any help. Argh.

The day I got the bike, my buddy and I went for a ride. We were in Kerrville, Texas and it had been raining a lot and flooded a bit. We were in a park and the road in front of us was under water. Running river water. Cold. Well h*ll, I’ve crossed running water, no problem. I get both wheels wet and realize that this just didn’t happen--water must cross this road constantly, because the slime on the surface of the road was as slick as whale snot. Both feet down, but it was slicker than ice. THUD! Son of a b----. Well, I go to lift it up, but the water is running so fast and the whale snot is so slick, I cannot lift it because I keep slipping. To make matters worse, the current is slowly moving me and my bike off the road and down river. In comes my buddy into the one foot of running water covering the whale snot on the surface of the road and we fight and fight and fight and finally get it up right and out of the river. And, wouldn’t you know it: there were about 20 high school kids in a field close to the river--they were in tears laughing their a---- off at me. Argh.

 

[kurt]

Went to pick my daughter up at after school care on my Road Star a few years ago. All 30 something kids were in the cafeteria overlooking the parking spaces used by the parents. I pulled in, unfolded the rear pegs, unstrapped her helmet, got my wallet out of the windshield bag and stepped off..........without lowering the side stand. CRASH.........down went 800lbs of cruiser. I picked it up, checked for damage (none due to engine guard) and walked into the cafeteria.....to 30 kids and staff all laughing their butts off.

 

[wonder91178]

Here's 2 of mine from another thread...

(1) My primary tank ran out of gas on 35W on my way home. I pull over in the righthand shoulder to switch to reserve, get that worked out and got the bike started back up. I look over to see if I can get back on the highway, I let go of the clutch while in first and get bucked off the bike! I was so embarrassed, and then had to go home and explain to my husband that he would need to replace the turn signal he JUST replaced from me doing the exact same thing, doh.

(2) I was turning into my driveway after riding home, the end of the driveway being half gravel. I apparently either turned too sharply or came in too fast, but I slid on the gravel and busted the left turn signal (original boo boo from #1). I guess what made me mad was that there was a Ford F150 right behind me and did they stop to help? Noooo.

Another one is....I was at Squidward's apartment complex, just pulled into the parking lot by his truck, I go to park the ninja, duh Kim, you're parking on a decline, kick it into first.....but did I? Noooo, I left it in neutral, so as soon as I hop off the bike, it rolls forward and hits the ground. I look at it, look around the complex, of COURSE there are people out. I walk into Squidward's apartment, he's asleep so I give him a kiss on the cheek, tell him my bike is on it's side and sit down. After about 5 minutes I tell him again that my bike's on it's side and he jumps up and hurries outside and I get the "Don't park on a decline if you can help it, or at least put it in 1st" lecture

I have bucked myself off my bike countless times by letting go of the clutch for no real reason, doh.

Kim

 

[10-95]

Rush hour, Briarcrest drive (one of the busiest streets in Bryan), went to stop a woman for -------- don't remember---------, red/blue lights blazing, we start to pull into a parking lot and she slams on her brakes.
Right when I am in fulll lock turning on a patch of gravel. :angryfir: Down goes the bike but I just stepped off and let that 900lb Kawi hit the dirt. Strobes blazing away, people were coming out of a dry cleaners and a gift shop in the shopping center asking if I was OK and did I need help.
Even to this day I think she did that on purpose.


Another at The ACE Hardware store on Villa Maria. Stopped in to talk to a guy with a 60's HD. Really cool guy who knew his motorcycles. We BS'd for a while then he wanted to show me something. So I stepped off to head over where he was parked. Seemed like I forgot something........KICKSTAND!!! DANG IT!

 

[Gilk51]

Forgive me, 10-95, I can't stand it any more - what is the meaning of the 10-95 in your screen name?

I looked up the CB codes and it says this:

10-95 Transmit dead carrier for 5 sec.

I figured it would be "on side of road, getting speeding ticket"

So could you 'splain, please? (maybe it has thread relevence)

Thank you...

 

[Brotha J]

I posted this one last week in the story telling and tire kicking section:

O.K.,
I made the most embarrasing mistake on Tuesday.
I was out and about in Dallas, near White Rock Lake, running a couple of errands during rush hour. I needed to make a U-turn between intersections. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper, so I wisely decided to cut perpendicular swath through traffic. However, at the last second I changed my mind and tried to cut sharp around this midsize car...
...bad call!
Turns out I didn't have enough speed to make the cut and down I went, THUMP!
Right to the asphalt. Well actually, I kinda hit the car with my body first then I hit asphalt.
No harm, no foul to either the car or my bike, thank goodness.
But the fun wasn't over quite yet.
After picking my bike up (I was sure glad she's only 302lbs), I attempt to restart.
Traffic still hasn't moved at this point. I suppose all the cagers had a pretty darn good laugh watching the whole show.
Anyways as I was saying, I attempt to restart....
...I attempt to restart....
...I attempt to restart.... NO GOOD!
So I end up straddle walking the bike (hallelujah for the decline in the road) about 1/4 mile to the nearest Starbucks to call my wife and tell her that I wanted to stop and "enjoy a cup of coffee" before I headed home.
Twenty minutes and one large American Amaretto later, I'm back on the road with another story to keep from my beloved.

Brotha J!

 

[jimbo]

this happened to my riding buddy not me, but i saw the whole thing. my buddy and i were riding down to the starbucks to get a $5.00 cup of joe, me on my 86 interceptor, my bud on 96 gixxer and his wife following in a miata (she was on her way to work at afore metioned starbucks). a good size dog runs out from a blind alley right in front of us. i jet to the left but my buddy has no place to go so he clamps on the brakes and is just about stopped when " bam " his wife runs right up his bum. the little miata wedges its front bumper between the rear tire and the tail section and stops everything cold except my friend who goes right over the handle bars like an olympic gymnast, lands on his feet, but his momentum carries him about 10 steps before splat. he says i thought i had the landing stuck but i just could'nt resist kissing the blacktop. no major damage. busted the state tag and sticker off. he need to relocate it anyway. but i am glad i am not the one whos wife ran over him. she will never live this one down.
sorry marie i got to tell EVVVREYBODY. LOL LOL.

but i have on one of my own. back in 84 i had a kawi LTD 440. i was 16 and cruising out in the county(to avoid the law). a cute girl was riding a horse in the corral across the street and i thought wow i am gonna really show her something. so i turn the corner and rev the the bike, pop the clutch. the bike jump up, plants me right on my a-- and weeble woobles on down the rode about 30 feet. needless to say i feel like a complete dumb---. she rides to the fence and says "are you ok" with a huge smile. i just nod and slink back to my bike and split. about a year later i go on a date with a girl who tells me this story about this dumb--- biker. i found a new girlfriend shortly and never confessed it was me. hope she does'nt read this board.

 

[Tourmeister]

Howdy,

Pulled up on my Nighthawk 750 to park next to Beth's little Virago 535. We had only been riding a few months. We parked sideways on the driveway in front of the cars so we could fit everything. The driveway has just a slight downhill slant, the lower side being the kickstand side. I went to put the stand down and missed it with my heel but had already started leaning the bike. Those old Nighthawks are TOPHEAVY, much worse than my current 1150GS. With Beth and several neighbors standing around, I went right over. Fortunately, my bike barely missed knocking over Beth's bike. But now I was pinned under my bike against hers. Once I realized I was not hurt, we both started laughing so hard we were crying. She helped me up and we righted the bike. I managed to drop it several more times before finally selling it 10K miles later for a VFR 800. I never dropped either of the VFRs we had, but had a few close calls. I've never dropped the GS (not counting my offroading experiences...). I am now very mindful of the balance of the bike and if the kickstand is down or not.

Shortly after getting the first VFR and still being slightly intoxicated with its' raw power, well raw compared to the Nighthawk, I got suckered into trying to do a wheelie. Revved it up and dumped the clutch. Up comes the front end... wayyy up... I managed not to loop it, but the landing did not help my chances of becoming a father anytime soon... When I looked over at my bud, his eyes were bulging momentarily, then he burst into laughter as I stood there straddling the bike trying to breathe. Since that time, I have never tried do wheelie intentionally again. Sarah, our first child, was born over five years later

I am sure I have done a host of other stupid things, but after a while they all blur together... So I have a hard time remembering them all

Adios,

 

[Gilk51]

]

a cute girl was riding a horse in the corral across the street

in the same vein, I saw this on another forum:
http://www.bmwlt.net/photo/albums/userpics/10002/typicalman.mpeg

-------

to the nearest Starbucks to call my wife and tell her that I wanted to stop and "enjoy a cup of coffee" before I headed home

I think you have the makings of an international diplomat!

-------

uh, no stories from yours truly (yet) - but stay tuned, I am pretty much of a klutz...

 

[STrider]

OK, I already told about the wrong pegs and and my karmic tip-over
here

Lots of good stuff happens in the dirt- one of mine.

Why I am called "Tenth"--

Morning ride in CA desert, and I am really kicking booty. Almost keeping the rest of the group (these guys are good) in sight. Towards the end of the ride, actually "dicing" with the leaders on some fast wide single track. 64 miles of dirt without a get-off. (this does not often happen for me) After the ride, crew is really complimentary-"Matt, you really tore it up" etc. Feeling quite confident, I was psyched for the afternoon ride.

Leader takes off at a more than brisk pace, and with my new found confidence, I (quite wrongly) believe I can keep up. Quick left-right turn between 2 bushes at the edge of camp, and out into the desert. Rather, that is what is supposed to have happened. Actually, made the left hand portion easy, but too shallow on the following right, and found myself aimed square at the middle of the bush on the left, and going to fast to not hit it. (remember, at this point, confidence is intact). "No problem" I think, "I will wheelie through the bush, and keep going like It was intentional." It was a perfect plan. Front comes up, penetrates into the bush, everything is working. THEN-- The rear tire hits the base of the bush. (this was not part of the plan). Front slams down, rear goes up, I land hard on head and left shoulder. Since I had taken second position, I was in the not enviable spot of performing this feat in plain view of the other 8 guys on the ride. They said the bike did a full 1.5 flip, and landed about 25 feet away. When I finally caught my breath and inspected the bike, no 2 parts were pointed in the same direction. limped and pushed bike to back to camp. When the crew returned, some "friend" checked my odo, which revealed my mileage on that ride of 1/10 of a mile. Another "friend" was kind enough to point out that included the return trip, so my actual ride was only 0.05 miles. "Twentieth" was too cumbersome of a name, so I am now "Tenth"

BTW- If you are ever riding near California City, and see a bush with a Matt shaped hole in it, you now know how it got there.

Several years into my dirt riding career, I noted I was keeping up with the group more often. I mentioned this to my bud, who said "Actually Matt, we are all going slower cuz you are so freakin hilarious to watch"
(see above)

 

[Tom]

Visiting Big Bend one winter by myself on my Goldwing, I was out for an afternoon ride. I had been trying to use my cell phone but couldn’t get connected anywhere in the park. Heading up into the basin, I see out the corner of my eye a fellow in one of the pull-off talking on his phone. I grab the clutch and a handful of brake and bring the 800lb behemoth to a quick stop. Realizing I didn’t get far enough off the road, I started letting the clutch out to move. Well, you might have guessed, I didn't bother to downshift in my haste and stalled the 1800 and gravity did the rest. To save the moment, I stepped of the land-yacht lying there floundering on her side, grabbed my cell and ask, "You got coverage?" I guess the dude either thought I was crazy or Honda didn't bother to put a kickstand on that model.

 

[Jack Giesecke]

Well, it'd either be the time I looped a victory wheelie at a WERA national in Moterrey, Mexico in front of 4K Mexican spectators or the time I got off work at the Rudder Tower on the A&M campus where I was a waiter in the restaurant there, walked out to my '72 GT550 Suzuki, kick started it for the matcho appeal in front of the coeds on the sidewalk, pulled out to leave and fell flat on my face. I'd forgotten to unlock the forks.

 

[Vee Dub Nut]

I guess the only one I can think of goes like this, I was cruising down the road when I had to stop at a light. There are some good looking girls walking down the sidewalk so when the light turns green I decide to jump on it a little bit. Rev it up pretty hard in first then pop it to second, well what I thought was second. It jumped into neutral and I had allready dumped the clutch and twisted the throttle around only to rev it up to red line and hit the rev limiter, it all happend so fast. My bike sure does make a lot of noise when the exahust has a lot of buildings to resonate off of, needless to say everyone knew what had happend and I just drove sheepishly off.

 

[Dragwn]

This was ebarassing to me, and expensive..thinking back I could have avoided it maybe..if I'd decided to go north instead of south on 75.

Running east on LBJ in afternoon traffic about Hilcrest I look down and I'm riding in a wide trail of oil from a cage and think "Hey, I'm still upright, I'm ok" then decide to change lanes to go south on 75.

Move into the next lane and have lots of room ahead right? WRONG, cager ahead of me decides to panic brake..dialing a phone, doing make-up, spilling coffee..who knows.

I tag my brkaes to slow down, having forgotten that I hadn't burned off all the oil, and boom...lowside between 40 and 50 mph, maybe it was slower but thing happen in a flash right?

I get up with a mercedes grill right behind my head, walk over to the bike, laying on it's side, still running.....pick it up, move off the road and call the shop to order parts. He asks if I'm ok, and I head home, and went to work the next day

No one even rolled their window down to ask if I was ok, or to yell at me for blocking traffic. My Arai quantum had a 4 in long visible crack, vanson jacket had scuffing, firstgear cordura overpants were worn down the left side, gloves scuffed and boots scuffed.

wear your gear folks, stupid human tricks and accidents remind everyone about how good a choice they made on that new piece of gear.

 

[Dragwn]

and even worse, my spelling looks like a 10yr old today

 

[JadeRider]

Me? I never had one

Ha well maybe one or two. But here is the most embarrasing one.

I took a ride up to Round Top on a weekend. It was the weekend of the Antique Fastival and tons of people, and tons of bikers were there. Mostly cruiser folk and Ducatti guys. I ride around the park and then park the Bandit in front of that pie place where a lot of people were waiting to get seated. Well, a bit later I prepare to leave and surprise surprise the bike was parked on an incline with lotsa gravel on the ground. Could get almost zero traction on my boots to pull it out. Took me about ten minutes to get it out of the parking space but felt like an hour under the laughter of all the other bikers looking at me.

 

[schwartzkm]

The Test ride:
I had just moved to Dallas from Charleston, SC and in the move process had to sale my bike. When I got to Dallas I purchased a used (salvage titled) Suzuki Intruder which I used to commute back and forth to work. The Suzuki Intruder was a fun bike to ride but not very stable on the interstate nor was it very attractive so I decided to sale it and purchase a new 92cu Victory cruiser (my very first new bike!). While in for warranty service on my Victory, the salesman’s regional manager was in town and had rode his 92cu Victory Sport Cruiser. I had been wanting to ride one for a long time and asked if I could take a new model they had just gotten in out for a spin. The salesman said he couldn’t do that but he would let me take the regional manager’s bike out if I wanted to. The manager was hesitant but I convinced him that his bike was safer with me riding it than in the parking lot.

I left the dealership headed North, turned right on the next street and headed to the closest set of twisties in the area. While banking a sharp left into a blind turn an oncoming car entered into my lane! I straightened the bike up, launched into the field to the right of me and promptly was ejected from my seat like a bull rider at a rodeo (didn’t even last 8 seconds). After picking myself up off the ground, a motorist that witnessed the accident stopped and helped me pick the bike up and put it on its stand. Luckily, for the dealers insurance, the motorist that stopped and helped was also ran off the road by the same driver who decided not to stop. He thought I was seriously injured so rather than chase the car thought it best to stop and render aid. Luckily, there were no major injuries just some cuts and bruises—including my bruised ego.

The bike fired back up but would not shift out of first gear. I rode—maybe ‘rode’ is to strong a word—the bike back to the dealership to the waiting throng of salesman and the bike’s owner which was wondering why I was taking so long. That had to be the most embarrassing moment in my riding life!

Kevin...

 

[schwartzkm]

Quickie:
A friend of mine was always ‘squiding’ on his bike in our apartment complex parking lot. One day he decided to show off in front of a bunch of girls we were hanging out with. He fired up his bike, popped his clutch, rolled on the throttle to ride a wheelie in front of all of us. Well, his front tire kept climbing and climbing until he landed flat on his back with his bike on top of him! ROTFL!!!!! That image still makes me laugh and it was almost twenty years ago.

 

[10-95]

Forgive me, 10-95, I can't stand it any more - what is the meaning of the 10-95 in your screen name?

10 code language in LE. It means "arrest made".

 

[Hoop]

I've had too many crashes in the dirt to count them all. My favorite was a near-crash. I was riding with some friends near Lake City Colorado. We were near Carson ghost town, and decided to ride the 2-track trail up to the top of the mountain. It was **** steep. I was on an 83 XL600. We got off at the top and looked around, then had to backtrack. Things were going fine, I was in 2nd and using engine breaking to ease back down the mountain. The trail had a kink in it around a big rock and some bushes. I was going a little too fast to make the turn, so I kicked down and hit neutral! The bike immediately lunged forward as if I had yanked the throttle wide open. I kicked again and got it into first, but had gained so much speed, the rear tire broke loose and started sliding. I was doing all I could to stay upright, there was no way I could make it through the off-camber turn, so I kept the bike up straight and went off the road and straight for a big bush. I figured I would crash into the bush, and hopefully not land on any of the rocks on the way down.

Well, a miracle happened. I managed to miss all the little rocks that would have thrown me off the bike and hit the bush squarely. The bush didn't stop the bike, but it did kill a lot of momentum. I kept the bike upright, dodged a few more small rocks and got back on the trail like nothing had happened.

 

[VFRinAustin]

OK,

Well this was luckily not damaging to the viffer, only to my ego. And worst of all it was in front of a bunch of you all here.

I think it ws one of Scott's newbie rides last summer and I had decided that I really needed to get out and go for a long ride (first since my son was born in may). So, along with Bluedogok, we ride the 160+ miles out to huntsville to meet up with the 20+ other TWT riders that have decended on the Friday's humble abode. Well after riding down into the court and doing a nice uturn, I proceed to ride up behind the line and stop and drop. There I was, in front of about 25 people, only a few I had ever met before, and with whom I am about to go spend the afternoon riding, stuck practically doing the spits, desperate to keep the viffer from hitting pavement. Well within a few seconds, and one near hernia, several helpful folks help me right the bike back up. I was probably 2 or 3 shades of red more than normal, I was pretty embarassed.

 

[Squeaky]

Well after riding down into the court and doing a nice uturn, I proceed to ride up behind the line and stop and drop.

And to think, I'd forgotten about that! Just blame the pine needles. They're all over that street!

 

[Gilk51]

No one even rolled their window down to ask if I was ok, or to yell at me for blocking traffic.

You mentioned this in another thread - that is really sad - sure glad that you were able to ride away, though.

 

[kurt]

I could tell ya'll about the time I screwed up this ride I organized. I named the wrong street and everyone rode around like headless chickens looking for this Taco Cabana.

I still catch grief over that one. :nana

 

[VFRinAustin]

I could tell ya'll about the time I screwed up this ride I organized. I named the wrong street and everyone rode around like headless chickens looking for this Taco Cabana.

I still catch grief over that one. :nana

You could Kurt, but if I were you I wouldnt bring it up. You know, no one hear would ever let you live it down.