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[guest7]

Recently I had a career low, a personal biking worst. I was riding to a job on the outfit when, as I accelerated out of a corner, I lost all drive to the rear wheel.

As some of you may remember, I have been using a Triple S chain (cheapest chain you can buy) and yes, it had jumped the rear sprocket. Luckily it jumped to the wheel side and was rotating harmlessy around the hub. This was almost inevitable given that I had used this chain to almost the absolute limit of the adjusters 

Of course I've been too busy since to actually fit my new C&S, so I've done about 300 miles since then, with the adjuster wound right out and the chain oiled to hell. 

So I thought, what's your guilty maintenance secret? What's the worst you 've done and how bad have you let a problem get before fixing it? I'm guessing that some of you may be tut-tutting here, but we've all had moments of misplaced optimism and lapses of care.

Cheers
GC

[Andy M]

6 months riding with a BA nut and bolt instead of the brake pin on the BMW 

Andy Metcalfe
Senior Sales Engineer with the joint largest truck brake supplier in the world!!

I bought the required new calliper when I went to do a pre-MOT check and remembered the "get you to work" bodge. I guess it can't have been that bad a bolt really 

[guest7]

LOL

I once had a front brake lever pivot bolt fall out on a ride to work (on a borrowed Katana 550).

So there I was with a brake lever hanging out of the clamp. I looked around in the gutter and found a 2" woodscrew. This was ideal in that it was only half threaded (smooth shank at the top end) and the diameter was slightly greater than the original bolt so it was a tight fit. It was also long enough to never fall out despite how many bumps I hit.

So this woodscrew fitted, it wasn't going anywhere and it wasn't going to damage the clamp or lever. However, this was no excuse for it still being there two months later when I gave the bike back to my brother, especially as the replacement brand new Suzuki pivot bolt was in the tool tray under the seat 

GC

[SRXer]

oh your gonna crucify me.

I had a front brake that would lock itself on. and when it wasnt locked it barely worked.
I road about on it for a couple of months. and i didnt trust it so i ditched it once or twice as i went into corners too quickly. and now and again I'd get the smell of burning whilst riding at 60mph and when i stopped it'd almost be on fire. but released the pressure and off i went again.

I also blew the rocker gasket  and let it pour oil for a month, when i changed it, It'd been completely sucked under the cover.

and my speedo broke and stayed like it for 6 months. was only a problem when infront of traffic coming towards a speed camera.

think thats all.

[squirrelciv]

I've done the 'riding with a seized front caliper' which involved slowing down by gear change and rear brake only for about 3 weeks. I just couldn't afford the parts but really that is a crap excuse as I really couldn't afford to die either. S'pose my logic was, that in an emergency panic grabbing the lever would have stopped me.
Also had head bearings so badly rusted that the steering would lock into position as surely as a door would shut on a ball catch. Fine in a staight line or fast flowing through gentle bends, but a bugger when filtering.

[bullet350]

i've got quite the opposite problem;

on my cbr600 the oil seals in the front forks started leaking quite badly.

being quite keen with the spanners i bought some fork seals and fitted them the same day (endless fun on a bike with no centre standand a full fairing).

5 miles later they started leaking. this was about 500 miles ago.

i've commuted in London on a 90bhp bike which spews masses of fork oil all over the front brakes. i've also chased other sports bikes across the essex country-side.

in this state its also quite prone to shaking its head when accelerating on bumpy roads.

i was getting bored of this bike, but now its interesting again.

i also rode my bullet around london for three years with what was to all intents and purposes a non-existant front brake. how i didn't crash i'm not sure- maybe the sound alerted people to the approaching contraption.

bullet350

[guest18]

I used to be a self employed courier... no comment   

[guest7]

I used to be a self employed courier... no comment   

LOL, I'd forgotten about the courier mentality. I'm sure most couriers could name the things that don't need fixing with much more ease than listing the problems.

Has anyone else had that horrible moment when you hand over your bike to another rider and you suddenly remember the five or so little items that you hadn't managed to fix yet, but had been 'putting up with'?

GC

[Andy M]

You mean like the clutch cable devouring Enfield I handed over to Steve? 

I think I even left mucky fingerprints on his coffee cup having put the spare on somewhere south of Chester 

Andy

[SRXer]

Has anyone else had that horrible moment when you hand over your bike to another rider and you suddenly remember the five or so little items that you hadn't managed to fix yet, but had been 'putting up with'?
GC

When I had a go on Andy230's Suzuki DR he told me not to use the rear brake. I think to start he had to bend it back into shape or something.
I then watched him throw my SRX around, which I couldn't help think looked v.cool, whilst crapping myself about how high up I was and about not putting it into a tankslapper.

I was v.impressed with the performance though. When I finally get back on the road I'm aiming to get something like that.

Nathan