tell us your mechanical fails

[flumpy7]

Was thinking about all the various fails i've made doing my own servicing and repairs over the years.....for example, the first time i took a front wheel off i didnt think to jack or block the bike up so the whole thing crashed down on to the forks and then over on its side. Meant to be a quick disc change, ended up needing a respray!

lol..... thats just how i learn, its much more entertaining than a manual.

Anyway...
whats the worst damage /mess/mistake you've made doing a supposedly quick and easy job on your bike?


No need to be embarrassed...we're all friends here
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2012 Sinnis apache

[Sload]

Does it have to be bike? Not really got any for them yet

[junglejim]

Rebuilt the top end of an FJ1200 15 yrs ago.
Got it all back together and was just about to start it when I noticed a piece of metal on the bench.
It was the cam chain tensioner.
Doh.

[flumpy7]

[Frost]

Yesterday i spent half an hour fighting to get the brake hub off the back of my car.


I'd left the hand brake on

[Nick 50]

After years of neglect by a previous owner, the swingarm on the GZ had lots of rust. So decided it had to come off, de-rust the thing, paint it and stick it back on.
Days were spent derusting every single part of it. Meticulously cleaned it down. 2 layers of primer and then 3 of black to the exact guidelines which for me was good as patience is not a virtue of mine. For a 1st attempt it looked the dogs danglies.

Then was putting the swing-arm back on Flipped open the Haynes to the diagram of the swing-arm. 4 bushes to put back in the pivot. 2 short and 2 long. Followed the diagram and stuck the bushes back in. Crawled under the bike and was there a good 2 hours trying to get the fecking thing back on. Even dremelled the edges ever so slightly to give it more of a profile. No joy, a break and lots of curses later, a thought popped into my head.

What if I tried it with the bushes the other way around??

"Actually they look like a better fit.............." lay back down and slides swing-arm straight back in 1st attempt!!

I was cursing for the rest of day. Woke up the next day with bruises up my forearms and legs which I was using to leverage the fucker back in.

Lesson well learnt on that day.
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Current Bikes: ZX7r 97 (Black Beauty), VFR400 NC24 (The banana)
Previous Bikes: Aprilia Tuono 03 (The Beast), CBR600f (97)
First bike: A GZ125 Lemon.......

[pinkyfloyd]

Put the rear brake caliper on wrong on the Storm when I changed the pads. (well I say changed, I took them apart only to realize the new ones were the wrong size and was thankful there was still a good bit of life in the old ones, which, oddly enough are still on the bike.)

Took the bike down to the local and he informed me of my error. Said brake calipers should not move and mine does.
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illuminateTHEmind wrote: I am just more evolved than most of you guys... this allows me to pick of things quickly which would have normally taken the common man years to master
Hockeystorm65:.well there are childish arguments...there are very childish arguments.....there are really stupid childish arguments and now there are......Pinkfloyd arguments!
Teflon-Mike:I think I agree with just about all Pinky has said.

[Shaft]

Many many years ago, when I was just a small boy, I offered to service the firm's Superdream, in an effort to save them some money and, as part of the process, I adjusted the valve clearances.

As the owner of many Ford cars with OHV engines, I was already well versed in the art of adjusting screw and lock nut tappets, but I think I got something wrong.

The net result was, a slightly 'ticky' motor on start up, followed by a progressively louder tick and a comprehensive seizure, not long into the journey to work, then an engine rebuild.

That was probably the most costly saving that company ever made
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Things get better with age; I'm close to being magnificent........
20 RE Interceptor, 83 Z1100A3, 83 GS650 Katana
WooHoo, I'm a Man Point Millionaire! https://www.bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=234035

[temeluchus]

Stripping the spark plug out of my first bike with my ham fisted tightening. Mercifully a brand new head for a KH100 was surprisingly cheap-only marginally more than getting a garage to helicoil it at the time.
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[junglejim]

[RePT]

I filled up the petrol tank.

Owned a CG125 =D

[MAR5H7]

as all my mates day

"Engine Rebuild!"

Dropped a 750 out of an SRAD and in goes a 600
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Ex: CBR 125 R 06', ZXR 400 96' (RIP), Bandit 650 06'
Owned: SRAD 600 97'
Current: YZF Thundercat 600 96'

[yen_powell]

I got a call to look at my mates Kawasaki AR125. He said he'd changed the brake pads but was sure he'd done something wrong.

When I got there he had both new brake pads fitted in the caliper...... but both on the same side of the disc. He'd taken the wheel out to change the pads (???) and somehow managed to refit it like that.
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Blackmail is a nasty word........but not as nasty as phlegm!
XT1200Z and a DR350 in bits

[Cheeseybeaner]

Trying to remove a very tight sump plug on an MZ Supa 5...Hmm doesn't seem to want to budge should I turn it the other way? Result : a nicely cracked set of crankcases dribbling oil.

Cackhanded attempt at repair with chemical metal was pointless, the plug threw itself out while I was riding as no longer held tight and culminated in the gearbox destroying itself rapidly.

Its nice to think you can indeed learn from these early experiences!

[Stonefly]

I once fitted a new cam chain to a GT750 Kwak and on start-up, it was a bit noisy.
I figured it would quieten down after a run.
I took on a gentle 180 mile round trip to visit family but it was still noisy.
Nothing for it but to pull the top end down again to inspect.
Problem spotted immediately - i had somehow managed to install the cam chain guide the wrong way round, so the metal surface was against the cam chain.
Never seen so many aluminium filings in an engine!!!
That cost me a total engine rebuild - an expensive lesson.
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Current......Kawasaki ZZR1200 C2H and Kawasaki ZZR600 E7
Previous....Yamaha FS1E, Honda SS50, Suzuki AP50, BSA Bantam D14, Honda CD175, Honda CB250N, Kawasaki Z250A3, Yamaha RD250E, Kawasaki Z400, Kawasaki Z500, Kawasaki GPz550, Honda NTV600, Kawasaki GT750, Kawasaki Z1000R, Kawasaki GPX250

[Werny]

Serviced the forks on an old Z1R, first one went fine, but on the second, I forgot to undo the top cap to take the pressure off the oil before undoing the oil drain bolt. A faceful of fork oil is not fun

[pepperami]

[darthbuttchin]

Over tightened the cheese bolt that forms the frame earth. Head snapped. Frame earth relocated.

Ignition wouldnt work - key wouldnt stop the bike. Finally went through the loom, to discover that i had inadvertently disconnected some wires whilst wrapping the loom in tape. Bugger.
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CG125-K1 (1978) - 35 years old and (mostly) going strong! (Restored and rebuilt by my own fair hands).
Call me Tomsk - I am the Flying Womble after all.

[Pol Anorl]

I once bought a honda bros 400.
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GOOD GAME BODYGUARD: https://i.imgur.com/8WePGgf.jpg
20:30:37 Pyro.: I don't sort of like men, I take every advantage to choke on dick.
Jewlio Iglesias: You live in Liverpool - Chances are, the front door has already been kicked off the hinges

[kneedown]

You class one of the most reliable bikes ever made as a mechanical fail

[Im-a-Ridah]

My worst was probably a bottom end rebuild on an RS. Did the rebuild fine, then put the balancing gears in without aligning them right causing vibration, so then decided I'd done it wrong and stripped it again! In my defence I'd been up all night and was extremely tired

[AlexW]

Bike ones are I think limited to just forgetting to do the oil cap up tight after a oil change, Lost it about 5 miles into my trip and was confused as fuck as to why the bike was smoking and smelling of burning oil.

Very recent car one was fitting a new intercooler, Forgot to put the clip on one of the boost hoses, went out and gave it some stick for it to pop off while overtaking a car.

[james1988]

The biggest bastard of a job I've had up to date was drilling out an exhaust stud from the 'Storm. The first one came out with much swearing the second didn't. After putting quite a fair bit of force into it I remember thinking "that was easy" but by christ was I wrong. The head had snapped off the stud leaving it in my socket.

James

[RhynoCZ]

Since I've got honda, there's no trouble for me, only thing I had to do was oil, filter and brake pads.

It wasn't so bright with my GPz550, where everything except front brake was leaking and even though I've re-sealed the engine it still leaked when it was hot out-side. Then I tried 20W50 oil, which was better but still not perfect. Rear brake boiled out twice, always changed the liquid. And bike ran on 3 cylinders mostly, at high revs it ran on 4 cylinders. Still don't know why, It had spark, fuel mixture was going into the cylinder and mixture was compressed/sprayed out by the piston when I took the spark plug of. It ate 0.4L of oil every 5000kms, surprisingly low number I did 10 000kms in two seasons on it. It was capable of 185km/h and it got there quite fast

Despite all of this, the engine never stopped and bike always got me where I wanted, it was my very first bike and the best so far, great machine

I could do everything to it and it'd be still the same, so that's my fail
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'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[Aperf]

Car related rather than bike. My drives on a slope. We were taking my race Skyline home and drove straight up the drive with complete tow vehicle and trailer unit with Skyline on the trailer. Put the ramps on the trailer, undid and removed both rear straps, one front strap, loosened the final front strap and WHOOMPH, Skyline rockets backwards down the trailer, off the ramps and down the drive straight into the road. Luckily the handbrake was lightly applied so provided enough drag to eventually stop the car.

That was an exciting experience!
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CRF450R supermoto, Husaberg 650 supermoto, Triumph Street Triple R