Topic: Broke Down Sunday

[britman]

I pulled the 67 Triumph T100 out early Sunday morning to ride down to my Grand-daughters horse riding stable to help with a fence painting party.  I stopped at a local Co-op that still sells alcohol free gas and topped off and the bike was running beautifully.  About 15 miles out just before a turnoff, it just plain died.  I coasted to side of the road and of course checked all of the normal suspected items, loose wire, blown fuse, so forth, but the bike would not re-fire.  Of course there was not the first tool in my back pack or on the bike.  It struck me how long it has been since I had this happen, prior to cell phones you were generally f&*%ked, unless a person of goodwill came along and offered to help.  No one did, serval waved but drove on by.  I pulled my cell out, called the Son-in-law, (he lives next door), and he was there within a half an hour with my pickup and ramps.  Two good things came out of the situation, I missed the painting party and I got a great shot of bike against a perfect old broken down fence backdrop, it was on the cell phone so I can't post it here.  It looks like I lost a left hand side 6 volt coil and a replacement is in route.  I also found several pieces that had vibrated loose, license plate, muffler clamps, so forth.  I am going to take this opportunity to do a little re-wiring and Loctite everything in site.  You know I can't ever remember a Honda leaving me on the side of the road, but I am not a virgin of this on a British steed......

[Stev-o]

You know I can't ever remember a Honda leaving me on the side of the road...

Sorry to hear, Britman.   

I suffered a breakdown a few years ago on my K4 but was not as lucky as you. 
A connecting rod nut came loose a blew a 3" hole in the case!  I was about 10 miles from my home and a good samaritan picked me up in his Mercedes and gave me a ride.  It can happen to any bike.

[Hoosier Honda]

Sounds like a peaceful spot to break down at least. If you have email on your phone you can send pics to yourself and retrieve on the pc, that's one way at least.

You know I can't ever remember a Honda leaving me on the side of the road...

Sorry to hear, Britman.   

I suffered a breakdown a few years ago on my K4 but was not as lucky as you. 
A connecting rod nut came loose a blew a 3" hole in the case!  I was about 10 miles from my home and a good samaritan picked me up in his Mercedes and gave me a ride.  It can happen to any bike.

That's a friggin breakdown, I can only imagine the oily mess. Did the motor lock up and rear wheel after it happened?

[rb550four]

  When I was an angry youngen I would ride at high speeds ,make reckless choices, and exceed my ability ...I've slid down dry pavement , wet pavement and pavement with snow and  lucky enough to be here today. but that's not the point.  The point has to do more with time and placement.
 Over the years I have noticed many times, when one of my vehicles have left me stranded on the road ,the time between when the engine had stopped to the time that I finally got it up and running....an unusual amount of highway mishaps and accidents were happening on the path before me and the only reason that I was spared from being a part of those incidents was the fact that I broke down.
  Now I'm not a big believer of divine intervention, guardian angles, or a saint on the dash but it has happened that way so often that I've had to take notice.
   Anyway, all that in mind, I no longer get too upset with a breakdown, it can be a hell of lot better than not breaking down. So I try to enjoy the breakdown.   Time and placement....when you re lucky enough to be on the side of the road instead of on it.  Haven't a clue why things work like that sometimes but I'm glad they do.

[Stev-o]

Sounds like a peaceful spot to break down at least. If you have email on your phone you can send pics to yourself and retrieve on the pc, that's one way at least.

You know I can't ever remember a Honda leaving me on the side of the road...

Sorry to hear, Britman.   

I suffered a breakdown a few years ago on my K4 but was not as lucky as you. 
A connecting rod nut came loose a blew a 3" hole in the case!  I was about 10 miles from my home and a good samaritan picked me up in his Mercedes and gave me a ride.  It can happen to any bike.

That's a friggin breakdown, I can only imagine the oily mess. Did the motor lock up and rear wheel after it happened?

Hey Jeremy...Luckily, the motor [or rear wheel] did not lock up, that would have been bad as I had just passed a car and was going approx 80mph. 
When I returned with my truck to pick up the bike, the motor started right up and was used to load the bike up the ramp into the bed!  Hondas run good even with 3 cylinders!

[754]

If it was a coil for one cyclinder , would the bike not still run on the other..
 I often limped my cb 350 home on one cylinder.l

[seanbarney41]

I hear ya Steve-O.  When my VF500F dropped a valve, totally shattering one piston, the engine did not lock.  It didn't even stall.  I knew something really bad had happened though, from the noise, the smoke, and the realization that relatively large chunks of metal had exited the rh muffler.  I just pulled over, and not sure what to do, shut the bike off.  30 seconds later, "uh oh now what do I do?  Did this just really happen?"...turned it on, hit the button and it fired right up on 3 with a horrible clankin and clatterin.

[britman]

I am really getting paranoid about leaving the house.  I rode my 750 Chopper up to the local grocery store yesterday to pick up a loaf of Italian bread, Stouffers Lasagna on the menu, nothing like home cooking.  I pulled out of the parking space, turned to hit the main road, the bike just plain died.  I knew as quick as the death was it was a loss of fire issue.  I called the Wife for ride and went back with the trailer and brought the victim home.  I have ruled it down preliminarily as a bad hot wire to the coils, and of course the wires are internal and one of the worst jobs of wiring I have ever witnessed.  I would have been happy to have found Scotchoks, which I consider a misdemeanor in the electrical world. There were nearly all felonies, wires twisted together, no solder, and if lucky covered with cheapo electrical tape.  In the small box under the oil bag the PO has stuffed the solenoid and the old style rectifier and regulator and a ball of wires the size of a cantaloupe.  As soon as I can get the lift modified again to get the block long machine back up in the air, a complete rewire in on the menu.  The bike is running a Dyna EI so hopefully that is still functioning and not contributing to the issue.  They say bad things come in threes, maybe I should start taking Ubers......