For five miles in the sun.... At one point I thought of taking the leather trousers off and walk in my undies... shaft driven bmw r1100r ,revs ,clutch,gears but no forward motion.... have I broke the prop shaft ? should I be worried? anyone had the same experience?
when i was 18, i had a 600 honda hornet in red, nice red 1 piece suit to match. broke down one day in about 25 degree heat.. pushed it about 4 miles to a park and ride and waited in a sweaty leather suit for 3 hours for a friends dad to come get me with a trailer... got it home, he put petrol in it.. and up it roared. worse thing is there was a petrol station 20 yards from the park and ride. lesson learnt the hard way
Took my BSA C15 down to Cornwall when I was about 19. Piston rings went while I was there, so brought it home on the train to Paddington. Pushed it through London to St Pancras, then 2 more miles from the station in St Albans to home. Bike fully laden with camping gear. Must admit I didn't own leathers in those days, but still remember being a tad tired at the end of the journey.
I slipped and dropped my BMW 1150RT in a garage near Swindon. I blame the diesel on my boot. I was reduced to begging for help from the other drivers filling up. You'd be amazed how many couldn't help because they had bad backs. It took me, another bloke and two women to get it up onto it's stand again. Very embarrassing For 5 miles, I think I would have called out your equivalent of the AA. Especially if there were any hill up.
After 20 years of racing I've pushed more bikes, longer distances than the rest of the world put together! Once pushed from Haysheds to the Pits at Phillip Island with a broken leg!
Not done 5 miles pushing, 1 was enough for me when the fuel pump controller went on my R1200GS. Have you got a manual for the bike? You'll need to free off the swing arm and get the shaft out of the back of the box to see what has failed - should be a spline drive at the back of the box, UJs on the shaft and then a bevel drive in the hub. For any of these, I would have expected loads of horrible noises though, so maybe inside the box? Nice and easy bikes to work on anyway!
pushed a Kawasakie ZIR from Mortimer(Berkshire) to oxford road ,Reading,Berkshire >back to bike place where I"d purchased bike the day previous.Was seriously tired/unhappy.(was crap coil)
Only once have I ever had to do this, not fun. My Ducati 900SS failed to proceed (unusual for a 1975 model Duke I know ) on a back road in western NSW on the way to a girlfriends parents farm. After about 2 hours of pushing I heard the roar of approaching motors. Great I thought, help is at hand. Imagine when to my horror I was surrounded by about 50 of the biggest, most tattooed, bearded men I had ever seen, it was one of the "outlaw" motorcycle clubs (Hell's Angels type). Oh dear, or words to that effect, went through my head. They wandered over to me & asked what the problem, I had no idea but they had a quick look, then one of them took off into town to get a trailer for my bike. A bit later he returned they loaded the bike onto it, with the instructions to follow them into town. When we got there they repaired it for me, it was something as simple as a damaged plug lead & sent me on my way. The nicest bunch of guys I'd met, refusing any payment even after I offered a round of beers at the pub.
Frequently... I once owned a Royal Enfield The logo on the tank said built like a gun, I wished they had built it like a motorbike.
Pushed a Suzuki T250 super six (how long ago?! - 1979 actually) over 12 miles when it holed a piston. I had a GS750 at the time and had bought it for a girl friend, who thought it would look like a GT250, and ended up sitting in a garage for years because she didn't like it! Not in full leathers but Belstaff waxed cotton jacket, Lewis Leathers boots and sea boot socks (good look at the time!) so still got a bit of a glow on!
How long have you got!!!! Ive pushed a Lambretta through most west european countries at some point! Worst was breaking down for the umpteenth time south of Brussels on the way back from Milan. Rest of the journey involved pushing it (forever) to the nearest railway station (no idea how far but 'kin miles) getting it on the train to go to Blankenberg where I was to meet up with the rest of my chums, being dumped with half their luggage (as I was going on the train now and would obviously be waiting for them when they got there!!!!) not realising the train split in Brugge, ending up in Ostende - pushing the bugger with expansive additional luggage to the train station at Blankenberg and just as I got there spotting my mate going the other way. Got bored waiting for him to come back for me, nicked a bike and cycled back to Ostende. Then saw him coming back the other way (all going a bit chuckle bros now). Had a pint and some fries (yum), cycled back to where I nicked the bike from to replace it (flat tyre about half way). Settled down for the night on a bench outside the railway station in my GFs flowery pink sleeping bag and was awoken by dibble early doors who advised me I couldnt sleep there. I told them that they should ***** off and that I was waiting for a train and blow me down they did ***** off ! I was then woken at dawn by some Belgian squaddies forming up outside the railway station. and then at some point later my mate arrived to take me to the guest house they were staying at where everyone was moaning about their hangovers from the night before. (that went down well). At this point I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror, covered in oil and crap and not a pretty sight (smelly too by all accounts) Got towed to the ferry and some liquid consolation on the way back to Hull. Towed onto the M62 then the big yellow taxi home. Tell the kids today......... Probably missed loads out but this was some years ago and obviously I would either die doing this now or chuck the thing in a ditch!
