 Trailers... and other awkward moments
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Joined: Jan 2005
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Loquacious
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OP
Loquacious
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An interesting, unusual.. and exciting thing happened to me today. I had finished on a customers bike and was proceeding to load it back on his trailer.. nice trailer, even has a wheel on the tongue jack. Anyway, the trailer was beside the polebarn pointing down hill so I figured to leave it there and load the bike so he could just pull up in the yard, back up to it, make the hook up and be on his way. Well it seemed like a good idea anyway... I let down the gate and maneuvered the bike into position, I couldn't get enough oomph to push it up the gate so I got on the bike and fired it up. Being familiar with the trailer, I know that the tongue jack comes off the ground when you first pull on as it pivots on the wheels but sits back down when you get further forward so I thought nothing of it. I run up on the trailer, the front lifts as usual, then sits back down as usual... and started rolling down the hill on my driveway. Now here I am.. bike running.. me astride the thing, on the trailer that is proceeding to roll down my driveway and picking up speed. I found myself subconciously trying to will the trailer to bear left a bit to miss the culvert that I was about to run into. Accessing my situation and figuring this is probably going to end badly, I decided on my best option and went for it.. I let off the brakes and pushed the bike backward with my feet hoping to get the back wheel off the gate and and on the the ground, allowing the trailer to continue and roll out from under me and the bike. Even better... the bikes weight got past the wheel, the nose stood up, the rear of the trailer dug in the gravel stopping everything cold. So I pried the seat cover from between my tightly clenched butt cheeks, put the bike on the side stand and took a minute to have a good laugh.. this could only happen to me. 
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jul 2009
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Adjunct
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Adjunct
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Posts: 140 |
LOL..... good story!!!!
Could picture the whole thing happening by your description...
Troy
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 20,096 Likes: 2
Fe Butt
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Fe Butt
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 20,096 Likes: 2 |
  Quote:
...So I pried the seat cover from between my tightly clenched butt cheeks...
Yeah Chy...and I certainly hope you ALSO wiped off that brown streak you probably left on that there seat before you returned the bike to its owner TOO!!! 
Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,457
Learned Hand
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Learned Hand
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,457 |
Good one.
So you guys work on Harleys there?
Happy birthday.
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,210
Loquacious
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Loquacious
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,210 |
sounds like you pulled off the ol' knight rider manuver 
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,074 Likes: 83
Loquacious
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OP
Loquacious
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,074 Likes: 83 |
Quote:
sounds like you pulled off the ol' knight rider manuver
Actually, that was my inspiration...
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 670
Adjunct
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Adjunct
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Thanks for sharing B-day Boy! LMAO on that one, sure wish there was video of it!
I am glad it turned out so well.
HFB!
later, Tom.
But, what do I know?
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 410
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Adjunct
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Many Happy Returns--of your birthday--not the unintended trailer ride!
John
============================
"The difference between an ordeal and an adventure is planning" - Charles Hutchins
2008 TBA / Black / NCHD Windscreen / Saddlebags / De-Baffled Pipes / Flat Black Console
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,210
Loquacious
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Loquacious
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,210 |
thats not the first time tv has saved a life
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,639 Likes: 3
Old Hand
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Old Hand
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,639 Likes: 3 |
You should move to Clovis. It's so flat here you can sit on the porch and watch your dog run away for 3 days.
Let's hope there's intelligent life somewhere in space 'cause it's buggar all down here. -- Monte Python
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,580
Loquacious
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Loquacious
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 2,580 |
Too old to die young, too ugly to leave a good looking corpse
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,210
Loquacious
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Loquacious
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 3,210 |
Quote:
You should move to Clovis. It's so flat here you can sit on the porch and watch your dog run away for 3 days.
haha...that was a good one
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Vermont Red Neck Engineering
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I lived in Vermont for a few years in the late 80's. We had a long and steep twisty driveway up to our log home that was about 700 feet long. It suffered bad erosion during heavy rains and required frequent attention.
I had had a load of gravel dumped onto the top the drive and my intention was to rake it out along the drive to fill in some of the ruts caused by rain etc. It was a bigger job than I thought and I grabbed a garden cart to move some of it around. You know the kind....a nice wooden box of about 2 feet by 3 feet and about 18 inches deep with big bicycle type wheels and a long handle.
I loaded it up with gravel and was on the way down the drive and it started to get away from me. Somehow I stopped it and figure I had better back it down and I could control it better. My wife was standing on the porch looking down dubiously at the proceedings and offerred little advice.
Soon enough I placed myself below the cart and carefully started down the drive. All went well for a few feet and then the downgrade caught the cart and I had to dig in my feet to hold it back. I had no idea of the weight carried on the cart and it soon won the fight over me.
It ran me down and I ended up under the cart as it passed over me and gouged out chunks of my scalp on the underside and careened down the slope to the first curve where it promptly self destructed.
Later upon healing up some I used the pick up truck to distribute the gravel and raked it out with a homemade rake and some large timbers from behind while the wife piloted the truck up hill. It finally dawned on me to measue how much gravel could that tiny cart carry. It would carry 20 5 gallon buckets of gravel. Each barrel weighed over 60 pounds. Doing the math I figured that the cart and load weighed over 1,000 lbs and I was lucky to be alive after that misadventure. Once that load got moving down a hill nothing was going to stop it.
My wife loves telling this story to anybody who will listen and it always brings down the house. I have the scars to prove it.
07 Speedmstr, Long Tors, bags, sissy bar and rack, windshield, engine bars, 2 ww lights, 2 fast eddy stickers and a .45 ACP.
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,681 Likes: 1
Bar Shake
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Bar Shake
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 6,681 Likes: 1 |
You think pretty quick for a senior citizen
"Catching a yellow jacket in your shirt at seventy miles per hour can double your vocabulary" Author unknown
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,183 Likes: 2
Learned Hand
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Learned Hand
Joined: Jan 2005
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LMAO I almost fell off my chair. 
Pete
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 23,243 Likes: 64
Fe Butt
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Fe Butt
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 23,243 Likes: 64 |
When ya gonna release the video?
I learned all I need to know about life by killing smart people and eating their brains.
Eat right ,Exercise ,Stay fit, Die Anyway!
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Feb 2010
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Adjunct
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Adjunct
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Re: Trailers...
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Adjunct
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Excellent description, I could definitely picture it my mind as you described it. Made for a nice end of the day chuckle, especially since no damage was done.
ArGee
14 Thunderbird LT
Wasn't sure if Red or Black was faster, so I got a Red & Black one...
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,271 Likes: 17
Saddle Sore
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Saddle Sore
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,271 Likes: 17 |
Reminds me of :HEY MAN WATCH THIS"
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 12,964
Stickman Yogi
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Stickman Yogi
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 12,964 |
Made me laugh!!! Glad it all worked out!
Live to love, love to live.
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 404
Adjunct
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Adjunct
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Happy Birthday chy.
Great stories.
While were sharing stories. My mate had a big 4stroke trail bike 600cc or so. A Yammi or something. He couldn’t get it to start. We all went around and ended pushing it down the road trying to get it going. I had hold of the bars and we were off with 3 guys pushing it down the road, bike in 2nd gear. We got up some speed and I jumped on side-saddle and dropped the clutch. It spluttered a bit but eventually began to run. Success? Then it really fired up and I instantly knew why it wouldn’t start. The throttle was jammed wide open. Picture this. Side-saddle on the thing. T-shirt, shorts and jandles ( thongs for you Ausies) I noticed that I was accelerating flat out heading towards a T intersection the front wheel heading skyward. Not good. There was a big drop into a large river at the end. Bout 50 m away. What to do? Drop it and hope to end up on the verge? Not really a good option as I was going quite fast, damage to me and the bike. Maintain the Death Grip (hands starting to go numb now) and be there for the ride, hoping I wasn’t cleaned up by a vehicle going along the river? Gotta be something else. Getting faster. Running out of road and GOING REALLY FAST now. Try to make the corner and pray there is nothing coming? I had a brilliant idea. Hit the kill Switch (see I got there in the end). I did but I was still going very fast. Well I tried the corner turning to the left. I ended up swinging wide and narrowly missed a car heading in the opposite direction. I can still picture the guys face. Quite easy really as it was only about 2 feet from mine. I got some sort of control and headed for the side of the road and made an ungraceful pile of boy and bike on the verge. Just a few bumps and scuffing on the sharp bits. The bike was o.k. Once I had a new pair of undies I was right as rain. Although it was 30 or so years ago I still remember it like it was yesterday.
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,971
Loquacious
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Loquacious
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 3,971 |
D-mn man, you got some mad trailer skillz. Glad it all worked out for you, dent and bruise free.
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,546
Learned Hand
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Learned Hand
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,546 |
I bet the first thing you did was squeeze the front brake lever.
if life gives you lemons keep them because hey,free lemons.
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,546
Learned Hand
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Learned Hand
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 1,546 |
I bet the first thing you did was squeeze the front brake lever.
if life gives you lemons keep them because hey,free lemons.
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,590
Check Pants
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Check Pants
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 5,590 |
......There's a lesson in there somewhere, something about trailer tongue wheels & impending juju; can't - - quite - - put - - my - - finger - - on- - it  jh
"It's not what I say that's important, it's what you hear" Red Auerbach
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 269
Adjunct
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Adjunct
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Wow! The hairs on my neck stood up as I was reading it.
I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts. - Will Rogers
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 18,825
"Lighten up, Francis."
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"Lighten up, Francis."
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 18,825 |
When I saw the title I wondered if this was going to be about Ironman 2 or Clash of the Titans. Apparently it's about both. 
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 8,639 Likes: 3
Old Hand
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Old Hand
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Posts: 8,639 Likes: 3 |
All these misadventures got me remembering the "good" old days. Back when I was a youngster, hand clutches were limited to newer imports and a very few late model US made bikes. The US bikes came from the factory with a rocker type clutch pedal that had an adjustable friction brake that was supposed to hold the pedal in position. That friction brake was disliked by many riders of hotrod bikes because they felt it made fast starts too slow. So, it was very common to replace the whole assembly with a car type clutch pedal which came to be known as a suicide clutch. This is why they were called that...
Older clutch lining materials tended to expand a lot when hot, and the clutches were all of the dry type. This meant that they tended to drag a lot and you had to have the gearbox in low gear before you stopped. The front brake lever was mounted on the left bar because it took all the power one hand could muster, leaving no fingers to work the throttle. The shifter was on the left side of the tank, and the rear brake pedal was on the right. There was no kill switch on the handlebar because the key switch was right there on top of the tank where you could reach it.
So, there you are, coming up to a redlight or stopsign. You have downshifted to first, and just before you come to a stop, the bike starts to lean over to the left. Here are your choices:
1. Put your hands over your eyes and scream.
2. Grab the front brake as hard as you can, put your feet down and hope the engine stalls before you run out in front of cross traffic.
3. Let go of the brake lever and hope you can force the shifter into neutral and still stop before you get run over. Remember the clutch is dragging enough to make that very unlikely.
4. Run the stop, lay the bike over into a hard right turn and hope you can outrun that '48 Buick that's about to run over you.
5. If you don't have a sissy bar or sadlebags, most of those old hardtail bikes were low enough you could stand up and let it go. Maybe you won't fall on your face and get caught by the bike.
Let's hope there's intelligent life somewhere in space 'cause it's buggar all down here. -- Monte Python
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 20,096 Likes: 2
Fe Butt
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Fe Butt
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 20,096 Likes: 2 |
Quote:
When I saw the title I wondered if this was going to be about Ironman 2 or Clash of the Titans.
Apparently it's about both.
Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 20,096 Likes: 2
Fe Butt
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Fe Butt
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 20,096 Likes: 2 |
Yep GB, I took a friend's beautiful old 1927 Indian for a ride once(allow me to emphasize the word "once" here  ) which had a rocker clutch on it. Yep, I gotta say one of the greatest innovations motorcycling probably ever had was the arrival of the hand clutch, alright!
Yep! Just like a good Single Malt Scotch, you might call me "an acquired taste" TOO.(among the many OTHER things you may care to call me, of course)
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 3,012
Loquacious
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Loquacious
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ohohohohohohohhhh...woof.
allhailthefrenchpress
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 4,074 Likes: 83
Loquacious
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OP
Loquacious
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Posts: 4,074 Likes: 83 |
Aww man, I just figured it out.. it's a Legend thing! It was Tori's Legend that I had my other abrupt moment with.
I was working at the Triumph shop at the time.. the lifts are air powered with a rocker type foot valve to raise or lower them. The valve laid out to the left side of the rack on the floor.. If the doors were open I'd usually ride the bike up on the rack instead of pushing it.. a lot less energy expended with the same results.
Anyway, as I rode the bike on the lift,I was duckwalking to keep it steady till I could get forward enough to clamp the wheel. Well I had managed to hit the foot valve and about the time I got the bike onto the lift platform,it started going up till it reached it's max at 36 inches and stopped.
Now the bike and I were on top of the lift, without the wheel clamp on the wheel and just enough room for my feet beside the bike to keep it upright. It's too high to try and step off of.. without dropping the bike.. and me so after careful consideration I decided that there was pretty much no way out of this situation without assistance. So I swallowed my pride and started with a "help".. a little softly so I cleared my throat let a bit louder "help!" ring through the shop. Having been there for about 5 or 10 minutes already I was become more wary of my situation. After another "help" or two someone from the front finally came to check on me and let me down.
The very next thing I did was attach the foot valve to the front of the rack..
My point? Legends! jeez man...
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Re: Trailers...
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Joined: May 2006
Posts: 2,647
Loquacious
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Loquacious
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 2,647 |
Hahaha, great story(s)
06 America 904
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Re: Trailers... and other awkward moments
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Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,152
Oil Expert
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Oil Expert
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 2,152 |
Quote:
An interesting, unusual.. and exciting thing happened to me today.
I had finished on a customers bike and was proceeding to load it back on his trailer.. nice trailer, even has a wheel on the tongue jack. Anyway, the trailer was beside the polebarn pointing down hill so I figured to leave it there and load the bike so he could just pull up in the yard, back up to it, make the hook up and be on his way. Well it seemed like a good idea anyway...
I let down the gate and maneuvered the bike into position, I couldn't get enough oomph to push it up the gate so I got on the bike and fired it up. Being familiar with the trailer, I know that the tongue jack comes off the ground when you first pull on as it pivots on the wheels but sits back down when you get further forward so I thought nothing of it.
I run up on the trailer, the front lifts as usual, then sits back down as usual... and started rolling down the hill on my driveway. Now here I am.. bike running.. me astride the thing, on the trailer that is proceeding to roll down my driveway and picking up speed. I found myself subconciously trying to will the trailer to bear left a bit to miss the culvert that I was about to run into.
Accessing my situation and figuring this is probably going to end badly, I decided on my best option and went for it.. I let off the brakes and pushed the bike backward with my feet hoping to get the back wheel off the gate and and on the the ground, allowing the trailer to continue and roll out from under me and the bike.
Even better... the bikes weight got past the wheel, the nose stood up, the rear of the trailer dug in the gravel stopping everything cold. So I pried the seat cover from between my tightly clenched butt cheeks, put the bike on the side stand and took a minute to have a good laugh.. this could only happen to me.
oh wow, way too late reading this but LOL chy, LOL!
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