. . and the engine began to run backwards

[Leapin Lisa]

I just wanted to share this crazy experience with everyone.

My husband and I were out riding our GasGas trials bikes this past weekend and we needed to take a break, so we stopped for a bit. When he kicked his bike over, (He rides a 321 GG) the back wheel was going the wrong way and he started going backwards.

He yelled over to me, hey, Lisa, check this out. He cracked the throttle open and threw leaves up towards the front of the bike because the wheel was turning in the opposite direction. He actually rode it backwards for a little bit. I think I pulled a tummy muscle I laughed so hard. I was surprised he could ride it as well as he did with it going the wrong way.

He killed the engine and started it up again and it began to run the correct direction. I've never seen anything like that happen before. Dave claims he has seen it before. I guess it's a freak thing, though.

 

[biglou]

It happens!

Not sure how, but it does. I read a post on here a few months back about it happening with a KX. Kinda freaky!

 

[84XRGuy]

Ski Doo uses some kind of engine reversing technology to make their snowmobiles back up.
RER (Rotax Electronic Reverse) — RER reverses the direction of the snowmobile by electronically reversing the direction of the engine. It retards engine ignition so that the idle slows to the point that the direction of crankshaft rotation reverses.

 

[txvintage]

He needs to check how well things are tightened up in the ignition. This happens when the timing is way past TDC, like 180 out!

 

[wayneg]

Hello

This is caused because the ignition timing is retarded too much. You may want to advance it a little bit, because it will also be limiting the top end power that the bike makes. Theres heaps of technical articles at http://www.trials.com.au on how to change the timing, or you could go to the Gas Gas USA web site at http://www.gasgas.com.

Sounds like fun, although I think my Beta sort of runs sideways and upside down rather than backwards or forwards!!

 

[HGilliam]

I've got a good story for you. At a harescrambles in Franklin GA in 1976 on a dead engine start my 360 Husky started backwards and I backed thru the 250 class lined up behind me and finally got it stopped in the line for the 175 class. Killed it , restarted and it was still running backwards. Several guys took pity on me and pushed me off to get it to run correctly. I barely got to the first turn ahead of the 250's that started 1 minute after the open class start. After the race my buddy was bragging about the tremendous holeshot he had put on me at the start til I explained that I was going backwards when he was going foward! I rode like an inspired maniac working my way thru almost 30 riders and finished in the top 3 in the open class. Definitely one of my more memorable races.

Lesson learned: 2 strokes don't care what direction they run in if timing is close to TDC!

Howard

 

[Leapin Lisa]

I just love those memorable moments! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Payday2]

A friend of mine used to race out in SoCal in the mid 70's, and he told me a story like this about a race he was watching.

There was a guy out there on a brand new Husky, and I guess the husky's ran their timing very close to TDC. Anyway, the gate drops and everyone goes barreling into the first turn, and, there is the requsite first turn pile up. The guiy with the new Husky is on the ground, along with 3 other guys. They get up, start their bikes, and they are all loaded up. So all of them are sitting there, wide open throttle, waiting for their bikes to clean out. Finally, all of them except the Husky guy are on their way, and by now he's red hot. The bike finally cleans out and he revs it to the moon, clicks it in gear, dumps the clutch, and promptly goes backwards about 100 feet, chest on the crossbar and legs in the air! When he finalkly did dump it, he got up and had a look of "what the...?" on his face. He got up, and Rob said he looked at the chain like there was something wrong with that. Rob said he felt like yelling, "Hey, I think someone put your chain on backwards!" The next time the guy took off, he was a little bit gunshy.

J&K

 

[Yamamoto]

2 Strokes running backwards

Yes I have seen that and freaked, My buddy was backing his bike out the truck and he had it locked in first, I guess he must have let the clutch out while he was backing out and it started . He then throws a leg over and started to take off pulled him about 2 foot back and he fell bike stalled and he got back on restareted and was let down that it had started in the proper way.

Later on we tried to restart it backwards and it just would not happen.

 

[Reon]

The ignition timing is to far advanced, you have to retard it by few deg. to get rid of the problem.

Contrary to claims of it being to far retarded or way advanced by like 180 degrees it does not take much for this to happen, the timing only needs to be advanced by a few degrees, firing closer to TDC.

 

[huskyboy]

My Husky went backwards too

When I was riding a 1979 Husky CR 250 back in the early/mid '80's, it happened. I had pulled off the trail to wait for my buddy and had shut the bike down. When he caught up, he motioned me to go ahead. I started the bike, let out the clutch to proceed and started going backwards (with power).:scream: I pulled in the clutch, gave my head a shake and tried again. Same thing. In the meantime, my friend almost fell off his bike laughing. I shut the bike down, started it again, and off I went (forward this time). It never happened again. Bizarre.

 

[cladoo]

ignition troubles

That reminds me of the time a few of my freinds went riding in the sandhills south of Portage la Prairie, MB back in '77. Some one had invited a rider that had just got out of jail and we were a little leery. He had an old '74 Montessa 250 Cappra, we arrived and unloaded when he went to start his Monty and it sheared the woodruff key off. Well he took it apart and we went riding in the meantime. Can you believe he made himself a new key, it took him about 2 hours but he got that bike going and then joined us for the rest of the ride that day. You never seen a guy so happy ( it had been awhile since he had rode), he was so happy that he invited us to his place and bought us all supper. Now that was someone who really wanted to ride. Can you blame him, is this not the greatest thing to do!