Here a story that only my closest friends know and remember:
When I got my first bike, a '94 Suzuki Katana, I was inexperienced and didn't know anything really about motorcycles. It was a used bike and had been sitting on the showroom for quite some time. Little did I know, the dealer didn't do a full maintenance check on it and the plugs were fouled a bit. But I didn't really know anything about this and just thought the bike was supposed to run and sound rough, with a grumbly pitch. Not only that, I had to give it quite a bit of gas to get it moving. Yeah, I know, pure ignorance on my part.
Anyway, I rode the bike to my workplace (it died on me a couple of time along the way) to show it off. One of my co-workers/friends, who is an avid bike rider, told me that the bike was running badly and that the plugs sounded fouled. He offered to to run it down the road and try to clear them out. When he got back, he said that it was much better.
I said my farewells, hopped on, and pulled up to the entrance of the parking lot and waited for the traffic to clear. When I finally gave it gas to pull out, I accelerated the same amount as when the plugs were fouled... and I shot straight across the road. Before I knew it, I was in the far lane and had nowhere to go but jump the curb or else get smashed by the oncoming traffic. Much to my horror, at that time, most of the people that I worked with had come out to see me off and they saw the whole thing. Yeah, this was one of my more embarrassing moments. For the longest, I was known as the 'curb jumper.' Some of my friends who I still know from then still give me grief about it to this day.
Regardless, luck was on my side that day since I didn't have an accident of the first day of my riding career.
