Topic: What was your most embarrassing moment?

[Wingmonk]

What was your most embarrassing moment?

Well, we all have done it. It is now the time to come clean and make us laugh at your expense.

When I was a kid there was this low budget biker movie that actually got me involved in a lifetime of riding. The movie was called "Then came Bronson" with the main biker actor named Michael Parks.

I was so fascinated at this "biking to nowhere" lifestyle that I took my second bike, a 71 Honda SL350 and foolishly painted it up just like "Bronsons" bike. (A Montessa or Laverda I believe)
Bronson always had a sleeping bag mounted up front under his headlighton the forks, and wore this black stocking cap. I was there! I even had the same goofy ass smirk. (took quite a long time to get it just right)

Over thirty years has now past and recently found out the movie was filmed in a small town of Olathe, Colorado…a town that is about 40 miles from me. I am from Omaha Nebraska. I guess I was drawn here by fate..lol

I rode my first road trip on that SL with stock gears with a cursing speed of 47 mph, from Omaha to Park Rapids Minnesota. (about 750 miles all on back roads as I became tired of friendly honking and fingers)

Even though, I am almost grown up now I would still love to give Mr. Parks a hearty handshake and thank him for giving me something so special.

Though, that was embarrassing enough, the second "moment" was when I had a brand new Yamaha XS650C in 76' and I was looking good parking and all the babes were checkin' me out. Until…

I heard a crash behind me and looked to see my new twins sidestand had sunk into the asphalt.

Bob in Colorado

[cb350twin]

i got one! hehe  This was a little over a year when i first started riding.  Went to the movies.. (late showing)  After the movie I came out to my 73 cb350 and it was dark. Everyone one was gone except for the cop closeing up the movies.  Well my battery was too dead for the electic start.  So cop came over and shined his lights on me so i could see.. I was sorta upset about the battery being dead went for the kick start (forgeting the bike was still in gear ) and yep it jumps forward. I come about a foot from just about droping it!  Right in front of  the cop! haha

[Harry]

Am the treasurer of our local club www.mctangen.dk 43 members and counting.  Tough lads: fishermen, mechanics, weatherbitten and silent. Lotsa big, tough bikes.

Bunch of us went to visit another club a couple of years ago, sat at their bar & looked tought and this blond dream of a girl in her 20s comes up to me and says "Hey, I´m the treasurer here, welcome!" flicks her long blond hair over her shoulder, slides on the barstool next to me and says, "so, I ride the big, mean 1300cc Kawa out front, what do you ride".

Well, at that time I rode (still do) a battered 150cc two stroke MZ of dubious eastern european origin , so I said "A battered 150cc two stroke MZ of dubious eastern european origin " and she gave this delicious peal of laughter like silver bells, and says "Gee, you´re funny!" and under normal situations I would have revealed my macho monsterbike parked outside and looked around for a condom automat but see, I had to say "yeah, I AM funny, but I aint kidding" Well, d'you ever watch the air leave a popped balloon?....she gave me a pitying look, stood up & left, leaving the scent of her perfume lingering in the (substantially cooler) air and me deciding "Thats it! No more Mr. Dweeb! I'm gonna impress girls! I'm goin' macho, I'm gonna get me a....a.....a CB500F!!"

So I did, and I'm cool. Yes, thanks to Mr. Hondas system, which I use every day, girls dont laugh at me any more, and now its ME who kicks sand in the faces of 98lb weaklings.

[eldar]

Well I dont know about the rest of you but when your exhaust is so bad and full of so many holes that when you ride, even harley riders look at you funny! At least i could have the satisfaction of thinking that at least I did not spend hundreds of dollars on a new exhaust to sound that bad!

Otherwise my other time was when I learned my 78 750 could shoot the reat tire out on a corner with almost no urging! Right in front of traffic!

[Uncle Ernie]

So many to pick from...  my first was on my first bike- an early '60s BMW R27 (250). It probably weighed 5 or 600 lbs and had awesome donkeypower  (not even enough to make up a whole horse I don't believe).  This baby had the potential of getting up to 50mph, depending on how high the cliff you went over was.   So, there's this girl (isn't that the way it always starts?) I had a crush on and thought I'd impress her. I opened up the throttle and waited as the revs built up. After 5 or 10 minutes I popped the clutch and the beast stood straight up and immediately fell down on it's side. Fortunately I managed to save the tank by throwing my knee under it. After I extricated myself (noticing how the license plate was bent in half), I looked around and I was in a scene from The Day The Earth Stood Still- no girl. No anyone...   

[eldar]

I would call that good since no one laughed at you!

[Quail "Owner of the comfortable k8"]

I wish I could say this was years ago but my big toe tells me it was a little more recent than that.  I rode into town, parked like a I rode a bike from birth, put the kick stand down and dismounted the 750 monster with every eye in town on me.   When the kickstand came down on my toe and drove it into the asphalt I almost jerked my boot off before I got my hands back on the bike and pryed my toe out from under it.  Every eye in town watched a 50 year old grey haired guy limp to the curb.  I did not cry but my nose was a little runny.  I heard someone laughing say, "Hey did you see that "!  I did not turn to look, my toe hurt.    

[Bob Wessner]

Ouch!!

[eldar]

DAMN!!! I dont know how you pulled that one off but if I was your toe, I would kick you in the can!

[SteveD CB500F]

I've driven off with the sidestand down too many times to mention. The only reason I mention it now is that the last time was yesterday!

Luckily a passing yob gentleman shouted "your stands down mate!" Maybe he was OK after all.

[Steelo]

I pulled up at home and looked in the house and could see wife chatting to some female friends.
So looking cool I removed my gloves and helmet while sitting astride the bike.
Then I leaned bike over onto the stand that I hadn't put down, and in what seemed slow motion lay the bike down and me with it. Imagine the great mirth as 3 women came and lifted my bike off me.
I then crept away bravely hiding the shame and pain of dropping my bike at 0 km/h.

[Jonesy]

(I'm going to rat on someone I know...)

A friend of mine told me how he was at a coin car wash cleaning off his bike. He was finishing up when this cute girl walks by (Isn't this how most of these start...?). He figures he'll fire up his 750 and speed off to make an impression on her. Well, he made an impression, all right. He kept cranking and cranking the motor but it wouldn't start! He ended up walking the bike about 5 blocks towards home, stopping in a park to rest a few minutes. As he sat looking at the bike in disgust, he noticed that somehow he bumped the emergency cutoff switch on the handlebars! He put it back in the "run" position and it fired right up!

[Gordon]

See what pain and misery we go through for you ladies?!   (the few of you who are out there)

I guess is all works out in the end, though.  I can think of a few couples who got together because the guy was attempting to impress the girl but only succeeded in making a fool of himself in front of her.

Here's mine:  I was living in Lubbock, TX at the time, going to school at Texas Tech.  I was riding my '89 Honda 650GT to class one cold morning and had the choke partially closed until it warmed up completely.  I stop at a red light and this car full of college girls pulls up next to me (of course), so I decide to be really cool and take off like a bat out of hell when the light changes.  Well, apparently the bike did all the warming up it needed while sitting at the light, because when the light turned green and I hit the throttle hard, I performed my first and only wheelie right across the intersection, and it wasn't a pretty one.  Luckily I managed to not fall over and immediately pulled into a parking lot to let my heart rate slow down and nurse my ego.     

[loonymoon]

Well I guess I wouldn't have an "impressing the ladies" moment (seeing as I am one- but I guess that doesn't always follow!!). But on more than one occasion I've ridden off very happily on my bike - gone about a mile then the bike's died,  and I've panicked only to discover I'd forgotten to turn the fuel tap on! Amazing how far you can get on four carburretors worth of petrol (gas!).

I think the bike times it so that it runs out just as I get to a junction so it can have a quiet laugh as I panic and keep trying to start it again before I realise whats happened -while big trucks head my direction and the people behind honk!!

[seaweb11]

Years ago.........After getting new tires on my YAMAHA 900 Seca, and after the shop owner warning me about slippery new tires, I dropped the bike doing a U turn in front of the shop on departure!  "haven't done it since.

[neckyzips]

there are so many, picking one isnt going to happen! but i will however rat on a co-worker, a sterotypical itilian stud... with a brand new gsxr1000 with anything you can think of to bolt on, and enough stickers to cover a barn. of course, he's a self proclaimed knee drager, with about 2 inches of chicken strip front and rear... anyway, one morning he comes whiping into the basement of the shop, you know trying to be cool, cuts a hard right, with a fist full of brake on a nicely polished concreet floor... although i only heard the crack of plastic, and looking up in time to see a spinning bike and a tumbling ego, it was still pretty funny... though i suppose i cant laugh too hard, i think i remember doing the exact same thing in a nice wet yard...

[dpen]

17 years old, been riding chook chasers for years and the first pay check from the Air Force. Deposit on a brand new Kwaka Mach 3.
10 minutes from the shop a honey on a stepthrough pulled up next to me at the lights.
Time for a big posing wheelstand.
Backflip, hurt bike, hurt self, laughing girl riding away.

[Barrett99]

I was 18 at the time and riding my Ossa Pioneer out in the woods with my brother and some friends.  My group
was at the top of a small rise and I decided to show off.  I go bounding up the little hill pulling a nice wheelie at
the top.  Immediately below me is a pond.  I laid that sucker on it's side and slid down the slope straight into
the water about up to the gas tank.  My brother and our friends were just laughing hysterically.  I pulled it out of the pond and it started right back up, lucky for me.  Never will forget that stunt.

[Bob Wessner]

Too bad it wasn't caught on tape, you could have made $$ on AFV.

[migopod]

on my 72 cb450t... too po' to buy the two $45.00 paper air filter elements, I took my motorcycle road test.
It would usually run all day before I had to wire-brush the carbon off the plugs (actually I kept spares in the tool kit and
alternated them).  I was pretty surprised when about halfway through my ride as the examiner told me over the
one-way radio was telling me to do something involving a left turn across traffic and I suddenly started hitting on
only one cylinder.  After pulling to the right shoulder, whipping out my plug wrench and swapping to the clean plugs
almost before the examiner could get out of his car to ask what was wrong with my interpretation of turning left I had it
kicked up and ready to go.   I think that he recommended that I cough up the cash for the new filters, but still passed me.

Most bizarre incident was with an 80'something 400t coming over a hill after a massive rainstorm and sinking almost up
to the seat in a flooded intersection.

[jime]

mine was one of those god i hope no one was looking moments....i had just bought a 82 650 nighthawk for parts that ran better then my 80 custom..getting it on my ranger pickup with 7 inchs of lift and big tires was enough for the prev owner and myself but when i got it home no one was here to help..so i got this bright idea of backing up to the small hill out front and ramping it down myself....as soon as it got to the bottom of the ramp i couldn't reach ground and thump!..down she went with me on it..jumped up my shoe still under it wrestled her up and prayed no one had seen..luckly it was in the grass and no damage except my ego...ha ha!

[Mark M]

This one goes back to the early eighties,

My dad was away for a few days so me and my brother had invited a few (about 50) friends over for a day or two. After a few hours drinking we decide to play with some of the collected bikes,cars etc. I have a go on a TS100 trail bike, so far my riding experience is a James200 arround a back garden and my own Honda MB50 so I realy haven't a clue. Anyway I head off and get to the end of the road where it joins the main road. My first attempt at pulling away it stalls, so I try a bigger handfull, as it turns out I probably had it in a higher gear for my first attempt and the second time I realy am in first. The bike leaps forward into a vertical wheely, accross the road and into and then over a Citroen 2VC, the trail pegs opening up body pannels like a can opener. This still dosn't slow it down much and it continues across the pavement and imbeds itself into the wall of a listed building. The building belonging to the owner of the car. The TS100 wasn't too badly damaged as it was thouroly battered to start with, I was fine as I bailed out fairly early in the procedings. The car and house were never going to be the same again. I put my insurance details through the letter box and kept my head down. About 18 months later, a guy came up to me in the pub and told me the insurance company (mine) had just settled. It wasn't until he had gone I even remembered what the hell he was talking about.


 

[toycollector10]

Having held a pilots licence in a previous life (pre wife and kids) I have a checklist.

1. sidestand (stowed)
2. choke if cold (selected)
3. neutral ((selected)
4. cut-out (on)
5. ignition key (on)
6. headlight/lights/indicators (off)
7. fuel supply (on)

Ignition!!

In no particular order boys....

Despite the planning for take-off I still seem to make a prick of myself pretty regularly...Cheers

[byidesign]

Years ago while in the service, two of us had stopped at a covenience store, [very busy]
  and backing out from the parking space while seated, my friend while watching these
    three very nice young ladies in halter tops , backed the bike right into a light pole,
     smashing the tailight and bending the fender. everyone roared.
       the girls as well, then they waved and drove away..................

[Lumbee]

...riding a sporty 883 (previous life) me and my friend pull into an apartment complex where a party is in progress (small town, so everybody is there).  The party is on the 2nd floor where there is a balcony.  A number of revelers are gathered looking down on us.  I figure this is the most opportune moment for me to show the touque of the Vtwin by doing a burn out to get the crowd excited, and hopfully win some points with the ladies before I decend upon the gathering for a night carousing and lasciviousness.  I grab a handful of front break...simultanely twisting the throttle.  The roar of the Vtwin and drap pipes in deafening.  More people gather on the balcony to witness thie awesome display of power and tomfoolery.  As I release the clutch I twist the throttle farther to ensure the max amount of torque will be applied to the rear wheel. 

I see myself clad in black leather sitting in a cloud of smoke as the crowd cheers, and strange women jump up and down in V neck T-tops with no bras.

In reality what happens is my front wheel was on a sandy area of the payment.  As I release the clutch the front wheel slides.  I start to take baby steps the catch up with the bike as it lunges forward.  Before I can let off the throttle and pull the clutch, the bike lunges so fast that I can't baby step fast enough to keep up with it.  So my feet drag back beind the bike as the rest of my body falls forward over the gas tank and the front of my chin bangs the handle bars.  I did manage to get the bike under control before it bounced over a curve and into a ditch.

With no hope of scoring with any of the girls in the V neck tops and a bloody chin.  I think it best to cut my losses and call it a night.