Midnight run (sort of)

Yamakazi

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(Not asking for advice here...just relating what happened to me last night. Plenty of advice available in the Garage, and will search there for answers before asking for help. Moderator: if this needs to be in the Garage section, please move it...wasn't sure.)

So, it's 10pm, wife is out of town, I'm the only one home, the weather is great, and I've got this relatively new purchase in the garage ('79 Special). What the heck...let's go for a spin.

Prior to this, I'd been noticing some "popping" out of the right muffler when I cranked the bike, but the popping would go away after warming up. Did the same thing last night but took off anyway. Figured all was fine. And it was for about 45 minutes or so. Then, occasionally, the bike started backfiring a few times but return to acting normal. I figured, why push my luck, so I headed for the house. Bike cut off on me at a stop sign, lights were weak, elec starter was non-existent, wouldn't start with kick. Sat for a few minutes, then it kicked right off.

On the road again, closer to home, approaching a stop light, let off the gas, bike died. Coasted into a parking light. Tried for 10 minutes to kick start. Lights were now almost non-existent. So... I'm a mile from the house. I walk home, get the jumper cables, some tools, hop in the car and head back to the parking lot. Bike is still there (whew!) Still not quite midnight yet.

I figured I had two options. Get the bike started, keep it revved up, and hopefully drive it home, ride my (pedal-power) bike back to the car, toss the bike in the trunk and come on home. Other option, call AAA! Well, the first thing I tried when I got back to the parking lot, naturally, was to kick-start the bike without doing anything...vrrrooom. Couldn't believe my luck, started right up, so I zoomed off. I'd already locked the car up and put on my helmet just in case this happened, so I was ready to depart the scene immediately. Got to the next stop light...died again. No power, lights, no kick-start, so I rolled it up onto the sidewalk, tried a few more times to start it, gave up and rolled it into another parking lot. At least I was one parking lot closer to the house. At this rate, it would only be 6am before I got there.

Next thing know I hear a female voice behind me asking if I needed some help. She was leaning out of the passenger window of a big Lincoln SUV with dark tinted windows. She and the driver had just pulled into the parking lot...never even saw them until they were right behind me. She said "He has a bike...he can help" referring to the driver that I couldn't see because of the tinted windows. I made a half-hearted comment about being alright...I had it worked out, but the guy hopped out...big guy...but not unfriendly looking. I relaxed some.

Well, we wound up rolling the bike up an incline in the lot and him pushing with me popping the clutch. Tried that a couple of times. Nothing. I told him I had cables in my car in the next parking lot, and I would just pull my car down and use my battery. He said no problem, pulled his SUV up next to the bike, got out a set of cables, hooked'em up, and I tried the elec starter....vrrooom. Started right up. The whole time, his girlfriend was offering to call AAA, or loan me a phone to call someone. (I had my phone/AAA card-never leave home without them!).

He asked what I was gonna do about my car in the next parking lot, and I said I'd just ride my bicycle back to get it. He said no way...we'll follow you to your house and give you a ride back. So, I finally made it home, hardly any lights, no turn signals, high-revving and sputtering all the way. Parked the bike, hopped in their car, and they dropped me off at my car. We finally introduced ourselves, I found out they had just left a bar, he called it "a semi-biker's bar", they saw me having trouble, and couldn't leave me stranded. I thanked them profusely and offered to buy them a beer at their bar. Their last words to me was "Ride safe".

It was about 20 minutes after midnight when I got home.

Guess the point I'm trying to make is...I bought this bike to have some good experiences. I knew I'd probably have troubles out of the bike, but they could be fixed. What I hadn't planned on was meeting folks like this that take their time and energy that late at night to help a stranded bike rider. Now I realize it's my turn to repay the favor to someone else caught in the same bind.
 
Nice people are still out there. I had the same problem except I was miles from home and had to throw it in the back of my dads tahoe.

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"Nice people are still out there."

"The world is full of kind people and many of them are bikers."


I see a lot of that at this website. There's a tremendous amount of knowledge here, and members/holders of that knowledge seem very willing to share it.
 
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