MotorcyclesHelmet.Info

It is funny how bikers will select just the right motorcycle helmet, motorcycle chaps or motorcycle jacket to protect their head, skin and feet before they ever think about getting on a motorbike. Nevertheless, they will just hope on their bike with out a thought of doing a pre-ride safety check.

Pre-ride motorbike safety inspections are important. They insure that you make it to your destination and back again safely and help prevent brake downs.

Over the years, I have heard horror stories about terrible motorcycle accidents because of a blown tire or a brake or suspension malfunction. Fortunately, this has never happened to anybody that I know.

On the other hand, my wife did have a break down one day because we didn’t give the bikes a good going over before we went for a cruise.

My wife Sherry rides what a lot of biker women are riding these days, a Harley Sportster 883 Low and I ride a Honda VTX1300R. Sherry didn’t like the feel of the center controls so we had forward control’s put on her Harley. She loved the way her Harley rode after we added the forward controls.

All was good, so one sunny Sunday morning we decided to go for a bike ride in the country. It was a beautiful day and the ride was wonderful. We had ridden the back roads for about 90 miles or so and then decided to head back home for lunch .

The shortest way home was to take the highway.

As we turned down the onramp towards home it was a good thing I looked in my mirror because my wife was stopped buy the side of the highway onramp flashing her high beams like there was no tomorrow.

I pulled over, parked my Honda, and walked back to her to see what the problem was.

As it turned out, the linkage that connects the foot shifter, to the transfer case had fallen off and Sherry had no way of riding her motorcycle .

This was a big problem. We were ninety miles in the middle of nowhere, we didn’t want to leave a brand new motorcycle sitting on the side of the road and I could not leave my wife there alone sitting on her bike sportster while I went to try and find linkage. Although that would have been impossible because it was Sunday and none of the bike shops are open on Sunday where we live.

Not all was lost though. I asked Sherry if she knew the last time she had changed gears . She told me she had down shifted just before we turned onto the on ramp of the highway . So , I went on a quest up the ramp to see if I could find the linkage and the two bolts that held the linkage in place.

“Awesome!” About half way up the onramp , I found the linkage. I was almost home. I still needed to find the two bolts that connected the linkage on to the motorbike so Sherry could shift and we could continue our ride home.

I went up one side of the freeway onramp and down the other looking for the ever so elusive linkage bolts. Frustration was setting in, as I looked and I looked again for those bolts.

It didn’t help matters that two half drunk hill billy’s in an old 1953 faded red colored pick-up truck had stopped by Sherry and started to bother her. I think they thought better of it when Sherry told them to go do something with themselves that I am sure neither one of them had done with a women in years and they saw me walking up the ramp scowling. They drove off gesturing, I guess they though that we were number one or something.

Back to the problem at hand, I had the linkage but no bolts to attach it. I had my motorcycle, however, it is a metric bike and Sherry’s Harley Davidson is good old American standard.

If you know anything about metric and standard bolts, they do not fit. The threads will not match up. Anyway , that didn’t stop me. I found out that the seat bolts on my Honda are just about the same size as the bolts that hold the shifter linkage for the forward controls on a sportster Low. The difference is the thread pattern is a bit larger. They did fit just enough though; I just didn’t crank them in.

After my discovery, it took no time at all and we were cruising back home .

I guess the reason for this story is not to take doing a pre ride check for granted.

You would have thought that having work done on your new Harley by a certified Harley dealer would insure that the work would be done correctly . Well as it turned out, the mechanic that changed the controls on Sherry’s motorcycle didn’t put lock tight on the linkage bolts and after a few months of riding the bolts vibrated out.

Could the problem have been eliminated if the mechanic had installed the linkage the right way? Yes, it could have. However, it could have also been eliminated if I had taken the time and done a pre ride check.

We were fortunate that it was just a linkage that failed and not something that could have caused injury or death.

For your safety and the safty of others , take the extra time and do a pre ride safety check. It will save your life some day.

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