Dumb rider mistakes

[Ryan T]

Well, I know we've all had them and will continue to have them. Here is my latest and greatest.

On a rainy morning heading into work I'm all geared up for the ride in the rain and cold. So I'm rolling along in my rain gear, warm waterproof bulky glooves, reflective vest, and overboots. Feeling good cause I'm dry and warm and the weather outside is miserable.

So, I come to a light, real easy like, knowing I'm almost at my office and I can get out of the weather. Well, there are many lights at this junction of my daily commute. One is on a slight incline which goes thur the light into a left hand turn. I'm siting in the left turn lane waiting for my arrow. It turns green and off I go. I get in the middle of the intersection (remember, it's an incline into a left turn) and bam, my baby cuts off. I'm like no problem, I keep my cool, pull the clutch, hit the restart, and off I got. NOT. She dies on me again. At this point I'm still cool as can be, go thur my restart routine as mentioned earlier. I figure, got to give it a little more gas, afterall, I am going uphill a bit. More gas, ease out the clutch and yes, another stall. Now I'm like oh crap, I look like a fool, traffic is no blowing at me yet but I know it's coming. So now I'm like WTF. I go thru my routine again and this time I decide to MAKE SURE I'M IN FIRST.

BRAIN FART!!! To my surprise I'm downshifting from third to first. No wonder I wasn't getting anywhere. As I roll out, the remainder of my ride all I can think of is how in the hell did that happen. I always downshift to first before I even come to a complete stop at lights.

So, check to make sure you are in the gear you think you're in. If someone had told me I wasn't in first at the light, I would have laughed and said, no not me, you got the wrong guy.

Looking back on it, it was pretty funny. I kept my cool though.

 

[RJ2112]

Isn't it amazing, how something like changing your gear, changes a habit? If I had not experienced the exact same sort of scenario, I would probably be laughing a lot harder at this.....

Little things add up; the change in seasons means the drivers aren't looking for bikes as much, cooler temps mean your tires may be slightly deflated, bulky gear doesn't hit the controls the same way.

Thanks for the reminder. Every ride is a seperate, different, adventure. It is important to pay attention to each and every one.

 

[zmeiaspas]

Been there - done that

 

[teeter]

Yep. Twice I've stalled with people behind me because I failed to downshift out of 3rd or 4th.

You end up feeling like such a dope.

Thanks for sharing!

 

[razteo]

sometimes at a crowded intersection where lots of cars pile up behind a red light, I squeeze between cars, I get in the front of all of them, then I am ready to jump when the light changes green, BUT sometimes because the friction zone on our clutches SUCK (is more like an on/off feeling than a normal friction zone on a normal bike, but that's another topic!) I stall the bike even I am in the 1st!

Then I panic, I have all this mad people behind that I squeeze in front of them and they couldn't do anything to stop me & they hate me, I am under so much "pressure" that sometimes I shift in Neutral and my bike is not moving, even I rev it like crazy - LOL, is a nice scene!

 

[Rookie08FZ6]

Dude! you were caught up in "Im The Man" feeling that you forgot bout downshifting lol j/k

It happens all the time to me atleast and thats why I've always wished for a gear indicator. A christmas gift for myself maybe

 

[kpaul]

I've had this happen once, the weird part was that I wasn't distracted by anything, just completely spaced on it and when I went to take off I realized it and shifted down to second before I took off. It was slow and a bit sputtery but I think the nearby cagers were none-the-wiser in the end.

 

[MG-242]

Well, if it makes you feel a little better, it may have not been entirely your fault. One quirk that I have noticed with the FZ6 is that it does not consistently permit multiple down shifts without letting the clutch out after each gear down. This is the only bike that I have owned that demonstrates this behaviour. Maybe it has something to do with the clunking in low gears, but it can be frustrating when coming to a stop. Not enough to get rid of it, though

 

[zmeiaspas]

^^ The one thing I hated about the FZ was that sometimes when I'm coming to a stop it would shift to neutral instead of 1st and then it wouldn't let me shift back to first even after rolling the bike a couple of feet back and forth. I then figured out that switching to second and then dropping down to first almost always fixed the issue. Haven't had that problem on the VFR.

So yeah, the FZ can be weird from time to time.

 

[Tailgate]

Stalling at lift off sucks. I did it just the other day I'm embarassed to report. I'd rather walk around with my fly down.

 

[cv_rider]

Well, if it makes you feel a little better, it may have not been entirely your fault. One quirk that I have noticed with the FZ6 is that it does not consistently permit multiple down shifts without letting the clutch out after each gear down. This is the only bike that I have owned that demonstrates this behaviour. Maybe it has something to do with the clunking in low gears, but it can be frustrating when coming to a stop. Not enough to get rid of it, though

Yep, this is a well-known "feature." I doubt this was the OP's issue, though. It manifests itself by not being able to downshift at all. It's been a while since it happened to me, but I believe you press down on the shift lever but stay in the same gear. As you were able to shift down once you realized you needed to, this probably wasn't your situation. The most reliable way to correct this is to ease the clutch out a bit with the gas on till the engine starts to engage. Then you can downshift. Something with gears not meshing, who knows. A good habit in general would be, while stopped, to tap down on the shifter and ensure that it doesn't go down, which means you are in first.

 

[Humperdinkel]

:rof: :rof: I to have been there done that , left me giggling for a while then i forgot about it , now you have just reminded me Thanks :rof:

 

[Kriswithak]

As someone else said if you try and flick it down too fast it kind of goes into limbo and only the first downshift occurs.
That being said I'm still envious!
I never get past second gear on my daily commute, so its not an issue for me

 

[rickvan67]

Did this same thing in stop and go freeway traffic during rush hour one morning on my way in. I just about crapped my pants as cars were whipping by me and I killed it like 3 times until I realized i had the bike in 3rd gear. Felt like an idiot and got lucky that no one was day dreaming as they came up behind me!