A mind is a terrible thing to waste…

[RM_guy]

I just want to share this...
I know I’m not the only one that has done things like this but I was working on my bike yesterday and while I had the suspension off for service and re-valve, I figured it was a good time to pull the reed block off to check the reeds. It had been a couple of years and while I usually get long life out of the V-force reeds, I wanted to be on the safe side.

The reeds checked out fine so I put it all back together and reinstall the carb. I made note that the screws that held the intake boot on were a bit ling and I could save a few ounces if I swapped out for some shorter ones.

Then I went on put on a new front tire and tube. I was putting air in it when I saw a direction arrow on the tire. Crap, I really don’t want to change it but a quick check proves that I am the master mechanic and it’s on the correct way. I pat my self on the back and reach for the wrench to tighten the rim lock when I see a reed block sitting on the bench. I thought, that’s odd. Why did I get the old stock reed block out of the cabinet and set it on the bench? Sooo, I look a bit closer and realize it’s the V-force block and I forgot to reinstall it. I guess that explains why the screws looked too long. So much for a weight savings opportunity. I skip the chocolate chip cookies for a week or so for the same affect.

Now, it’s not the first, nor will it be the last time I pull a stunt like this but as long as I catch it before it hurts, I’m happy :)

 

[2strokerfun]

I love these stories !! And I'll bet most of us have one or two.
I once put my cases back together only to notice the transmission sitting on the workbench. And I also love the time I put a tire back on without even opening the box with the tube in it. But my personal favorite was standing in the wheel well of a DC-8 and taking off a 3" hydraulic line right above my face while the system was still full of Skydrol. Nothing burns or tastes quite like it.

 

[dirt bike dave]

OP - good thing you noticed the reed cage. If you had not noticed it, you might have decided to cut the screws down to the 'right' size.

 

[pesky nz]

A simple way to prevent this is to remove parts and place them in a line left to right, then during inspection you inspect each part one at a time and replace into line and then refit the parts right to left. A hard thing to learn but worth the trouble now for a smooth time later

 

[High Lord Gomer]

Pesky, I don't know if that will work for him. He has similar trouble getting dressed each day.

 

[RM_guy]

Sadly Gomer's right. Take today for instance. I show up in the office with my pajama bottoms on, a shirt and tie on and I still was holding my tooth brush. I think I forgot to turn the shower off too.

 

[whenfoxforks-ruled]

If the pj bottoms have pockets, they are pants. Good luck matching with a tie though!

 

[helio lucas]

I love these stories !! And I'll bet most of us have one or two.

one or two??? hundreds for me.
the worst was to ride a bike without coolant. 30 min hard riding and while parking the bike notice i left the bottle on top of the bench, untouched.
what i learned from this? never let the friends rush me to finish assembling the bike.
thank god, no damage. yep, old unpowered bikes must have any advantage...

have you ever tried to ride a bike without the carb needle? and without the needle clip? maybe piston-ringsless??? :nod:

 

[High Lord Gomer]

have you ever tried to ride a bike without the carb needle? and without the needle clip? maybe piston-ringsless??? :nod:

I refuse to answer any of these questions! :yikes:

 

[pesky nz]

As an apprentice I had a KT250 kawasaki suddenly run badly on a test ride only to find the main jet no longer in place (my fingers are not as strong as a spanner it seems) and an XL175 with rattly valves and a mildly dry look to the top end sieze the cam in the head, after a 15 minute push back to the shop and a strip down we (I was no longer trusted to work alone on this bike) found the oil pump centre trockoid (looks like a gear with 4 teeth) split in half so no turn and no oil to the top.
To learn from our mistakes first we must make some mistakes (some being a number bigger than 1 ...... you insert the 00000 to suit)

 

[Chili]

There was the day I learned not to do bike maintenance after a 12 hour night shift. I came home and the kid was amping to go ride with a buddy and his dad so I did a quick oil change, air filter change and chain maintenance on the KX80. After about 10 minutes of ride time he phones and wakes me up and says the bike "sounds" funny but is running good. After playing twenty questions and getting the other kids Dad on the phone he said it almost sounds like gear box noise, I immediately recalled dropping the oil plug and then moving onto the air filter while it drained, recalled putting the drain plug back in but you got it never did put any oil in. Gotta love a 2 stroke, put in oil and that bottom end went for another 80-100 hours after that.

Another time I did a quick oil change before heading to the track, went to unload the bike and realized I hadn't put the filler cap back on the bike.

Then there was the time we were frantically trying to get his 125 started as his practice group left the gate. I finally got him to grab a buddies bike and ride the next practice so I could try to figure out this bizarre electric issue before his first moto. Turns out rags in the intake tract aren't electrical after all.

Then there was..... a forget it I don't have this kind of time :laugh:

 

[Vic]

Nice to know I'm not the only one who's not perfect. :>)

 

[Patman]

I've had issues with vacuum lines recently. Changed out the temperature sensor on my Audi TT and a couple days later it won't idle and runs like crap as I'm getting ready to show it to somebody that might want to buy it. DOH! vacuum line knocked loose next to the sensor. A couple days later my '90 F150 is running like crap. Can't imagine why I had just removed a vacuum line to Sea Foam it a few week earlier... wait did I connect that thing back up.... survey says NO.

 

[wake_rider]

Leaving a rag stuffed in the exhaust port that later gets jammed up in the spark arrestor caused quite the headache for me, and a 2 month headache at that. I tried everything to get that bike to run right, up to and including buying a brand new cylinder because I thought that there had to be an issue with coolant getting in through the cylinder walls somehow. Now, take into consideration that there were TWO professional bike mechanics that looked over my bike as well that couldn't figure out the problem (albeit was sitting on the trailer beside the track, and not torn down in a garage). One morning I get the itch to pull my exhaust one more time and attempt to blow compressed air through it. Air goes through without a hitch at low pressures, but at high pressure/volume it just seals off and allows nothing through. I pull apart the silencer for the 3rd time and finally look down in the cone section where the spark-arrestor is and I see that charred, blue shop rag.

It's amazing how well my bike ran after removing that! I felt like a complete idiot.

 

[pesky nz]

Speaking of blocked mufflers, one day out riding I came down a steep clay hil to find 3 friend kicking a kdx 200 to death. I rode around them and stopped out of the way and as I did so I noticed a round scare in the ground and looking back could see a plug of clay up the tail pipe, being a bit of a ******* that day I chatted to them in turn as they kicked and changed plugs etc until I could not stand it any more and took out a screw driver and poked it up said blocked tail pipe while kick number 20 million was in progress .... a deeper sound was emitted and then success as it started and smoked out a couple of square miles of bush. No moral to this story