It's official

[Flanker]

Went for a 1 hour ride today in beautiful weather, and planned to make it home in time for the World Cup match between Brasil and Chile. Oh no... Pulled over at a gas station 20 min. from my house to take a short break and chat with a couple of other riders sitting at a bench there. With just enough time to spare to make it home for the match I hopped on the bike, turned on the ignition and hit the starter. Dead! Not a sound, not even a click.

The fuel pump didn't kick in at all and the FI light didn't come off like it should. "Phuck no - Not again!", I thought. I have just had my share of R/R problems, and installed a VFRness and Rick's R/R from Tightwad about a month ago. So I got off again. Pulled the seat off and started checking all the fuses. Every single one was fine. Ok, checked the battery connections - Also fine. Now what... Out come the tools and the rear fairing is loosened up. Checked all connectors on the R/R and stator, along with every other gizmo I could get my hands on. Still no joy.

At this point the match is about to start, and I'm getting pissed off. Two other bikers stopped by to have a look, but had no idea what could be wrong. "Must be the fuel pump or something...", one of them suggested. But I was hellbent it had to be some kind of electrical problem. Check sidestand and switch - Okeydokey here too. "Goddamn piece of crap VFR with the electrical problems! Once I get this shit sorted out I'm selling the bike before something else fails" was my next thought.

Now all hope for an easy fix was gone. I had been fooling around with the bike for nearly 30 min. and decided to surrender to the electrical VFR gods and call for help. Pulled out my cellphone... 7% battery left. Ok, only time for one quick call here. So I decided to call my wife and have her call my dad for help getting the bike home again. She was probably starting to worry, as I promised I'd be home for the game. I let it ring for a good, long time - But no answer. As I hung up the phone I noticed something... FIXED! A minute later the wife calls back. "Hi... Just wanted to say I'm running a bit late. I'll be home soon!". So I got back on, fired her up and rode home :beer:

:idea3:

What was the problem? The killswitch goddamnit, the stupid killswitch! I must have accidentally pressed it when dismounting the bike, and like an idiot it never occurred to me when the bike wouldn't start. I automatically assumed it had to some kind of intricate electrical problem in stead of checking the easy solution first. :biggrin:

The morale of this story: If your bike suddenly won't start, check your stupid killswitch before doing anything else! :biggrin:

My another idiot learn from my stupidity...

(PS: Brazil is now in the lead, 2-0. Looks like they'll win this one.)

[Bent]

You have company in the "idiot club". That's the first thing I check now. :biggrin:

This thread should help identify the honest riders on the forum...... :biggrin:

[Polarbear]

:biggrin: Funny story--but I bet you won't forget to check the kill switch ever again, right? I'll be honest with you, better this than another harness/switch fried!!! Since we're talking about the kill switch here, let me tell you that I had some cold sweats last summer when the bike lost all power, as if it wasn't even firing anymore while I was riding at 120km/h on the highway. I guess I had "hit" the kill switch by accident when bringing my right hand from my thigh to the throttle while going over a bump and I hadn't noticed it. In any case, I thought I was going to be stuck in the middle of nowhere with the wife with no power. But it didnt take long to find out although I did feel pretty stupid too.

Anyway, glad to hear it is nothing serious!

C

[Rice]

Couldn't help but smile more and more as I read.

Yep.

It's the stupid kill switch.

Been there. Especially since I almost never use mine, it's hard to remember that it's even there sometimes.

So, did the other riders on the bench there witness your revelation? :biggrin:

P.S.

I haven't missed a single "I'm an idiot" thread lately.

I may need an intervention.

Or something.

[Flanker]

Couldn't help but smile more and more as I read.

Yep.

It's the stupid kill switch.

Been there. Especially since I almost never use mine, it's hard to remember that it's even there sometimes.

So, did the other riders on the bench there witness your revelation? :biggrin:

Thank God no! They decided to ride on when they couldn't help me figure out what was wrong. There was nobody nearby when I figured it out, and if anyone was looking they probably thought it was my intense tinkering with the connectors and fuses that sorted out the problem. I was very discreet and quick getting the killswitch into the correct position :biggrin:

[Bent]

Couldn't help but smile more and more as I read.

Yep.

It's the stupid kill switch.

Been there. Especially since I almost never use mine, it's hard to remember that it's even there sometimes.

So, did the other riders on the bench there witness your revelation? :biggrin:

P.S.

I haven't missed a single "I'm an idiot" thread lately.

I may need an intervention.

Or something.

Dmitry, it's TMAC that jinxed you. Forgot to tell you that attending a TMAC will change your life. The only way to deal with it is to go to another TMAC, and another, and another..... :biggrin: :beer:

[KevCarver]

A little while ago I was on a small group ride. We stopped for lunch, and when were were leaving some were going a different direction. I was on the bike ready to go, and one of the others was on my right talking to wera803 on my left. I noticed his hand was on my right switch pod for a minute or two. When he removed his hand, I saw he had flipped my kill switch to off. First thing I did was flip it back to run, and I saw he gave me a little sly grin as I did so. Not going to fool me, old man! :biggrin:

My other two bikes will fire off the starter even with the kill switch off. I've been caught out by them a time or two... :biggrin:

[vanion2]

I figured out where this was going pretty quickly as it happened to my wife a couple of times when she first started riding. I always turn off the kill switch to turn off my bike as it was part of my MSF training when I learned to ride. Of course I have had plenty "I'm an idiot" moments with my VFR which included not adjusting the chain tension so every time I decelerated I thought I had a CCT going bad, left the key in the ignition a couple of times, put the wrong bolts over the drive socket cover making me think I had stripped the threads, and so on....so you not noticing the kill switch is pretty minor even if you did tear your entire bike apart. :biggrin:

[superfunkomatic]

I think you're in good company with this blunder. I've done this myself a few times when I'm really tired - "damn things won't start… doh!"

[auggius]

Ducati has actually engineered a clever solution to this problem on the new Hypermotard. The kill switch actually rolls over the starter button so it's impossible to try to start it when it's not in the run position.

[vfr_steve]

very funny story, I will admit to doing something similar in the past

[Flanker]

Ducati has actually engineered a clever solution to this problem on the new Hypermotard. The kill switch actually rolls over the starter button so it's impossible to try to start it when it's not in the run position.

Clever solution by Ducati... Italy must have a higher population of idiots than Japan :biggrin:

I never use the killswitch anyway, but I'll never let it fool me again!

[coopduc]

Don't feel bad. When I frst got my bike, I was showing it to my neighbor and telling him what a great deal I got on ebay. when it was time to go, II was totally embarassed when the engine would die everytime I put it in gear. :biggrin: After about 6 attempts I realized the sidestand had to be up before putting the trans into first.

[Dutchy]

:biggrin:

Brasil won allright.............

Now it is up to us to stop them....... :biggrin:

[Flanker]

:offtopic:

Brasil won allright.............

Now it is up to us to stop them....... :cheerleader:

You have my support! Holland and Germany are the only European teams left... Well tomorrow there'll be one more, once Spain and Portugal battle it out. I'm hoping for a Spanish win in this match. BTW: Possession of a vuvuzela should become a criminal offence, and those who display one should be shot on sight! Thankfully the TV production has toned the stadium sound down quite a bit, so they're not as annoying now as they were in the opening days of the championship. The English supporters are the only ones that have been able to overpower the vuvuzela sound so far :mad:

[teksdailyride]

lol i took it a bit further with my old triumph sprint st. i had all the fairings off the front end. i had the wiring diagrams and even a multimeter. after about 3 hours my budy chris came out of the house looked at it for 2 seconds. then fliped the killswitch and said "ok now try it". and sure enough. and to this day he still gives me crap about it.

[Polarbear]

lol i took it a bit further with my old triumph sprint st. i had all the fairings off the front end. i had the wiring diagrams and even a multimeter. after about 3 hours my budy chris came out of the house looked at it for 2 seconds. then fliped the killswitch and said "ok now try it". and sure enough. and to this day he still gives me crap about it.

Yup, that's one notch higher on the whatever-you-want-to-call-it scale. Funny as hell though. :cheerleader:

c

[cluemerchant]

Yeah, I've done that too. Everybody has. Luckily I didn't get as far into it as you did.

However, I no longer feel like an idiot over that kind of stuff:

About ten years ago, I sold my old Seca 650 to an idiot here at work. It was a great bike, in great shape, and ran like a top. Never had a bit of trouble with it.

Two days after I sell it, this guy comes in to work all sweaty and huffing and puffing and swearing like a sailor. "Damn piece of crap died half a mile down the road and I had to push it into the parking lot!"

Turns out it would crank over fine but just wouldn't catch. I asked him if it had gas and if he'd checked the petcock, and yeah, yeah, "that piece of crap's got gas, dammit. I can see it in the tank! Grrr."

Guy called a tow truck and had them haul it to a mechanic, then paid them for a full diagnostic. Cost him about $200 all told. Comes in the next day, cussing and swearing even more.

(You can see this coming, can't you?)

"What the hell is this Reserve setting? How the hell should I know about that?"

Idiot. :cheerleader:

[Flightar]

I did it just the other day. I was riding on the interstate and a rain storm was coming up so I secured the throttlemeister while I closed the vents on my Darien...then when I switched hands I bumped the kill switch. Bike died in the fast lane at 80 mph....pull over and after about a minute of paniced thinking that the RR had fried, I figured it out...

[The mailman]

I pushed a neighbor on his Honda up and down our cul-de-sac maybe 6 - 8 times one evening trying to bump start it since it wouldn't fire on it's own. You should have seen his face when I asked about his kill switch. I would have beat him down if I weren't worn out from pushing him for so long. :cheerleader:

[Conedodger]

I always turn off the kill switch to turn off my bike as it was part of my MSF training when I learned to ride.

Same here. I notice we are in a very small minority. I think I am the only rider out of 20+ at work that shuts off the bike with the kill switch. Makes for some fun. Every few months I switch my buddy's kill switch off when I leave at the end of the day. He has never figured out who is doing it, but he spends less time trouble shooting now! :cheerleader:

I had a riding buddy who would pull up next to you at a red light, and just as it went green, he would hit your kill switch and leave you sitting there. I learned to always be on his right. :offtopic:

[TimC]

Nothing like the moment of panic when you thumb the starter and your bike won't fire up. The first thing I always think is, "Oh no, what now?" Happened again just a couple days ago. After a friend and I chased down an electrical gremlin a couple years ago, you just want to scream.

But thankfully it was just the kill switch. Again. :cheerleader:

[choco]

I've done that myself, on my bike and on my snowmobiles. I had to make a quick stop once on the bike and used the kill switch and ran back to see if my son was ok. (A whole nother story) When all was said and done, I got back to my bike and the battery was dead. Using the kill switch does not cut power to your lights. I'm suprised somebody didn't notice your headlights were on. Anybody doubt this, try it.

[carlitos92]

I did it just the other day. I was riding on the interstate and a rain storm was coming up so I secured the throttlemeister while I closed the vents on my Darien...then when I switched hands I bumped the kill switch. Bike died in the fast lane at 80 mph....pull over and after about a minute of paniced thinking that the RR had fried, I figured it out...

:laughing6-hehe:

Did that same exact thing 500 miles into a 900-mile trip a few months ago. Had to slide over in the middle of rush-hour traffic. I was really scared about being broken down in the middle of nowhere (okay, so east Memphis :blink:) until I saw that kill switch. :comp13:

[hottrodd7]

I'm an idiot--but in a different venue. I always use the engine cut off switch when I shut down the cycle. I'm a MSF instructor, so I'm so use to teaching that technique that I just do it myself. HOWEVER--I was getting my boat ready for this springs launch--cleaning in the interior, etc. Tried to start it--NOTHING!! After about 2 hours I called the local repair shop--told them either to fix it or sink it!! He said--"did you check the cord connected to the kill switch?" DDAAAHHHHHH---sure enough, I had bumped it when cleaning. Flipped it to "run", engine started in 3 seconds. So, the moral of the story--I can be an idiot with more than just cycles! LOL