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Broken down bike, busted chin, and a cop..

1K views 32 replies 19 participants last post by  twistedspeed 
#1 ·
Well, to start off I'm staying at my parent's house this week before I head off to school for this next year and to visit my hometown friends. I keep my bike at my parent's house since I have no garage or storage at school. Today started out rainy, but then the weather cleared up and that was a 'go' for riding. I get the bike out and I attempt to start it...the batter died over the last 3 weeks I haven't ridden it. The damn security system drained it. I put it on the battery tender long enough for some juice to be recharged and the bike starts right up. I gear up and down the road I head. To make sure the battery is charging I pull off the road about 10 miles from the parent's to see if the bike will start again after I turn it off. It starts right up...I'm good to go!
I hit up the twisties and stop in Galena, IL for some fuel and notice at every stop light my bike is chugging a bit. I was thinking the 100 degree weather and 100% humidity was paying a price. No big worries. After I got the fuel I turn the key and the bike barely primed! I had a dead battery on my hands, no tools to take the seat off for a jump, and I'm 75 miles from home. I decided to take off my gear and bump start the s.o.b. Well, that is where the busted chin comes into play....I started to push it down the back parking lot of this gas station and I hop on the bike, well...attempted to hop on the bike. When I got my leg over the bike I missed the footpeg on the opposite side and my face went crashing into the windscreen. I now have a massive bleeding gap below my lower lip! The fucker will not stop bleeding and I give up on the whole bump start idea! I go into the gas station with a gapping wound that might as well be a lost extremity for how much it is bleeding. Everyone stares at me like I'm some idiot, but I must agree with them though.
I buy some outrageously priced off brand band-aids and stick them on the gushing wound. Now the problem is...who do I call? The parents are at work, my friends are at work, and so I call my brother who I knew would be at work but could maybe get off to help me. My luck changed when he said he'd be there in about 2 hours. So I sat on a park bench in the sweltering heat for abou 1.5 hours with my hand over my wound trying to get it to stop bleeding. Soon my cut was just oozing a clear liquid and no more blood, so I was happy. Now finally my brother shows up with jumper cables and a hex key set for the seat removal. I jump the bike and I'm going straight back 75 miles and not stopping or turning off the bike for anyone and I mean it! As I head home, speeding of course, I can feel the blood start to flow again, but I cannot stop for any reason. I'll be home in about an hour to take care of this mess. After some boring ass straight road riding I get about 3 miles from my parents house and I'm booking it...my speedo says 90, but I have yet put on a speedohealer after the gearing change...so I was probably doing about 70-75ish?
The last hill I crest before I turn into my parent's drive way there is an Ogle County Deputy doing radar!!! FUCKIN' fuckin' fuck!!!! I cruise past him without touching the brakes, because I knew I was busted...but my big concern was...do I pull into my parent's house since it's about 100 meters away?...HELL NO!!! I ride about another 1/2 mile before the cop catches up and I pull over. If my mom saw this she would have had a shit fit. I pull over as far as I could, but the ditch is at like a 85 degree slant into a cornfield. I pull off my helmet, gloves, and give him my insurance, D.L. and registration. He laughed at me for how close I was to home and proceeded back to his patrol car. At this point the ticket was the last thing I was concerned about! It was my bike not starting back up and looking like a complete idiot with my bike dead and my chin full of blood and still bleeding. He comes back and hands me my license and a ticket...he said he knew where I lived and would give me my D.L. back. He get's back into his patrol car and I prayed for the first time in about 20 years for my bike to start...NOTHING! The thing was dead again. I turn around to the officer and yelled that my bike was dead. He looked at me like a lost puppy. I told him my adventures of breaking down earlier today and he gave me a ride, of course I was in the back like a convict, and pulled right up to my parent's house. I hopped out, thanked the officer, and told him to have a safe night. After he left I got into my truck with my strap downs, ramp, and got my bike tha was about 400 meters past my parent's driveway.
Luckily no one was home to witness this event. The crazy thing was that he saw my truck with Illinois Veteran license plates and a Military Police Sticker in the back window and asked if I was an MP. I said yes and he explained to me how it was weird that someone on a sportbike was so courteous...I said we are not all bad. I'm definetly not ranting about the citation by any means. I was speeding and I had other things on my mind like my chin and the bike not starting again. Today has been long and I'm drinking about 3 gallons of gatorade to rehydrate my ass after the baking I did in the sun. This was my first time being pulled over in 10 years! Lesson learned and bad things do come in three's I swear!
 
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#9 ·
I doubt it. I have 2 and nothing happened to my insurance.

To be honest, if I witnessed you busting your chin on your windscreen, I would bust out laughing. I would go help out after I stopped laughing though :jester
 
#12 ·
All of this could have been avoided had you kept the bike on a battery tender like God intended. Bad day indeed.
 
#16 ·
The heat was not helping with the bleeding, that is for sure. And working hard by push starting and riding hard did not help at all. I take it you are not very pretty, because you are not woried about scaring. Take it easy, replace the battery, or risk doing this all over again.
 
#19 ·
I figure it's worth mentioning that with my 01 gixxer 750 I can easily push/pop start the thing at a mere 5-8mph in 1st without leaving the seat. Given that, I'd presume yours isn't too much harder, give it some practice, you never know when you're going to need to do it again.
 
#22 ·
That right there is a bad day. Sorry to hear.

It does bring a question to mind for me though. Is the charging system on bikes adequate enough to bring a low battery back, after a long ride? I know on a car, its possible. The design of these bikes are to such a fine line, something has to go, and I could see this as a possible break point.
 
#23 ·
yes the charging system is plenty adequate to bring it back while riding (just not idling) providing his is working properly. if it is then I would say that battery is cashed
 
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