Engine/Motorcycle failures

[spottedtango]

Coming up with ideas to cure my isolation, just a thread about any interesting motorcycle failures you’ve had. I’ll go first


I had a Cb250rs pack up on me on the motorway when the gauze Oil filter got blocked and took out the generator. Also severe amounts of smoke when I did get it started again

Had a cb400n that developed a serious bottom end rattle with vibration to accompany it

Also had a gsx250 sprocket carrier bearing fail throwing the chain off aswell as melting through its main fuse taking out its electrics for a while. Also broke the clutch lever and had to ride home about 90 miles Rev matching

Had a ntv600 that decided to drop most it’s oil on a run to Oban from a dodgy gasket. Managed to limp home just thankfully those engines are bulletproof

[MarJay]

I've had a TT600 that threw a valve on my first ride after I repaired it - I bought it as a damaged repairable.

I've had an RGV250 shatter a piston on the cooling down lap of a trackday.

And I've had a KR1S spit it's ring pegs out of the exhaust.
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[WD Forte]

Only ever had to get a van home twice luckily.

First time was the day after getting best engine prize at a rally in Kent
I was homeward bound full of pride and joy and hammering a CX around the M25 when the crankpin snapped.
I managed to nurse it down the M3 to Bagshot but despite it still running
it was obviously suffering and I decided it would be wiser to stop and ring the man with the van.

Other time Going north on the M5 bike started to lose electrical power
and ignition.
I assumed the stator had burnt out and phone man with van
SOS recovery were a useless bunch of cnuts, 6+ hours later another company eventually
turned up with a car type loader and dropped the thing on the ramp!
Past caring by then just wanted to get home

The next day, testing showed the stator etc was AOK
and the battery had suffered an internal failure.
Battery swapped and all was tickety boo again.

Thassit, the only 2 times in the last 20 years a bike never got me home.

One breakdown I did witness whilst on my beemer was seeing a mates bike lose power
and start to belch black smoke as we rode to the ferry at Holyhead.
Initial thoughts of missing the ferry and calling recovery were soon dispelled
as we found a carelessly stowed rag had been sucked into the air intake and was choking the filter.
Oh how we laughed !
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bikers smell of wee

[stinkwheel]

My 350 bullet developed a fatigue fracture on the friction weld between the head and stem of the valve.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/jNVqzPsy7VriTgWFGZHyJs6SqsKaGyDD8CS4wQOJhuDJsAyI6g7gKfHTh-jMyLCRgrO-i1oDt8vVLO8LL7UJ-m04mgjs43rhhtjndT0IGC8R1vLGtsPDxwOcaSVGmGpLPwQnOynVqQ=w1155-h866-no

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/Wow_z6YXPHbRYSOb284qTv7ndMORIMB_rLC6dCD7dTOwzA_qLNmc7JrrDVCPrjIyh9T45-1KEcRl8zO-tKYr4fi3uRbQ0BJU72FbAS3G1ZdLWYqnSygZknMeXcbNlfCegTGZ6-zyBA=w1155-h866-no

Mrs stinkwheel pinned the throttle on her GPz305 at three figure speeds for a sustained period downhill on a motorway until it heat seized, ripped the gudgeon-pin out through the bottom of the piston and punched the conrod out through the front of the crankcase.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Nobby the Bastard]

The second exup valdes engine spun one of it's shell bearings whilst I was rev bombing some cunt that was blocking the filtering lane outside UWE (where the nightingale hospital in Bristol is being set up.)
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trevor saxe-coburg-gotha:"Remember this simple rule - scooters are for men who like to feel the breeze on their huge, flapping cunt lips."
Triumph Sprint ST 1050

[chickenstrip]

[pepperami]

The worst in recent years has got to be when my Hyosung shat it’s chain.

I’d been on one of my mini tours and decided to come home.
I was in Breamar (Scotland) and I live near Ipswich.
So I thought to myself, “keep up a good steady pace and I’ll be home in time for tea”.
I was going at a good old speed, it might have accidentally gone to 71mph on occasions
Passing vehicles meant that a lot of the time I was in that open space between clusters of other road users.
When all of a sudden there was a BANG! The bike skipped and a judder and the revs went off the scale .
I coasted to the side of the road and fortunately into a lay-by.

Where did this happen? ....... 19 miles from my house, all the way from Breamar only to be stuffed 19 miles from my house.
I managed to recover the chain, but I hadn’t packed a spare link so I was going nowhere.
Called RAC recovery.
They don’t listen, I told then I was on a motorcycle with a broken chain.
And they send out thier ordinary recovery van .
He arrived looked the bike and said he can’t help.
I had to wait another hour and 45 minutes for another van to recover the bike the last 19 miles.

Thankfully the rain had not followed me down from Scotland

Thankfully no damage to the crankcases and the chain guard did it’s job well, although the chain guard was an ex chain guard after that.
The f*cking chain ate it
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[chickenstrip]

[Ste]

The clutch basket exploded / shattered on my ZX6R J2 which made a right mess.

I can blame it on the previous owner though as he happened to be riding it when it went bang.

[Old Git Racing]

GSXR 1000 engine threw a rod in the sidecar outfit we raced, nothing was usable except the gear cluster.

Road RG500 piston broke up at full chat, wrecked that engine as well.

TZ250 v twin seized solid flat out in top at Snetterton, full engine rebuild required.

Various nasties on a variety of YPVS's, cranks, pistons, clutches.

Transit race van even threw a rod!

OGR
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2022 Tiger Sport 660 2019 Street Twin 2003 K3 gixxer 1000 1998 Srad 600 track hack

[redeem ouzzer]

YR5 exploded doing 90 mph on the A63 this time last year. Right side piston melted and filled crank and exhaust with aluminium shrapnel, crank rebuild and new piston and it did the other side 30 miles after rebuild (but at only 60mph), luckily got away with hosing the crank bearings out. Turns out it was preignition due to squish profile, having never heard it before I just assumed it was another rattling noise amongst the usual mechanical cacophony. Rebuilt again with standard heads and it’s been fine ever since.
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Be a REAL MAN!

[RhynoCZ]

Every single time I bought a Honda, it required a new stator sooner or later.
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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

[pepperami]

Long long ago not long after I had passed my test I bought a Suzuki GT 250.
Compared to my little 125 it was faaasttt man!

Riding down the Great Chertsy road at full chat the right hand exhaust decided to try and break free .
Luckily the rear mount held on.
It was a sparky display of the highest order and a nearly a brown trouser moment for me.
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I am the sum total of my own existence, what went before makes me who I am now!

[spottedtango]

[chickenstrip]

[ThatDippyTwat]

The VFR shat an oil line in the outside lane doing *70 on the way to work. One james bond style smokescreen from oil pissing on to the headers.

*Honest officer.
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'98 VFR800 (touring) - '12 VFR800 Crosrunner (Commuting) - '01 KDX220 (Big Green Antisocial Machine)

[spottedtango]

[spottedtango]

[chickenstrip]

[Kentol750]

Came down m4 on Aprilia Mille, between Llanelli junction and Pont Abraham (clear run) came in toward roundabout and slowed down, dropped into 5th and chain snapped..... clutch in..... chain spat out behind me and I coasted to the little paved bit before roundabout (As a metal snake slid past me).
Fitted a new chain and examined old one, there were 6 or 7 links seized!
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Some bikes.

[Blah blah]

KH250 middle piston turned into a shower of sparks down the exhaust but as I was completely broke at the time I ran it for another couple of weeks without any noticeable loss in performance...

Ducati M750, out with a new group of people"yeah, really reliable this" says I, then after 50-60 miles riding slower than I normally do, it just stopped. Nothing obvious caused it to stop so I call the AA and the group disappear, AA turn up, check the battery, try the starter and it starts - I reckon it had got bored with the slow speeds so gave up - the ride home was slightly above my more normal speed and it never missed a beat again. I also never went out for as ride with them again.

Classic 50cc Minarellii race bike - the guy who owned it was a bit of a racer even further back in the day and in his opinion 50cc was perfect for a race bike. He had ported the barrel and machined the cylinder head and piston to his own spec, ran it on a mixture of super unleaded, AVgas and Castrol R and did various other bits that meant it was as quick as the 200cc Hondas it raced against. Anyway, on the second race of the day, it felt like it was running out of fuel so that evening he stripped and cleaned the fuel system but found nothing. The next day was the long race and with a stick the choke on if it feels like it's running out of fuel as I don't want you to seize it ringing in my ears I set off... On the 3rd or 4th lap it stopped very abruptly at the end of the straight, panic-y clutch in and coast to a halt. It turns out that the small end bearing had let go which resulted in the piston welding itself to the cylinder head.

The only way he could get it apart was with a chisel, destroying his barrel, piston and head in the process (sadly I never raced for him again)

[Hong Kong Phooey]

CG125 woodruff key snapped, managed to ride it home with mega hot exhaust (immediately after buying it!).

Fazer 600, had a slow puncture and just kept foot pump under the seat for months. Crashed it in the end, did still ride home on it though!

CBR600 various punctures fixed at roadside, left disclock on - damaged disc but still rode home. Clutch cable once snapped as I was pulling into my garage.

They've always some how got me home but the once, CBR clutch actuation arm broke internally - that was a 4 hour wait for recovery. Not too expensive for the fix luckily.
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'81 CG125, '97 FZS600 : '99 CBR600F4, '09 KTM RC8

[Polarbear]

I have been incredibly lucky with my bikes with no really spectacular failures.

I've holed a few pistons on 125 and 250 smokers which was nothing unusual with some of the mods tried in the good old days.

Crashes now, thats a completely different kettle of fish.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Vracktal]

Had the front brake on my KLE500 bind up while offroading, luckily it didn't lock the front wheel so I just ground to a halt in place.

My high mileage R1200 has had all sorts of weird things break, like the seat plastic supports collapsing (i don't even weigh that much, honest!!), the final drive dumping its fluid midway through a euro tour, one of the panniers falling off (different tour) and one of the bolts holding the frame to the engine shearing.
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2007 BMW R1200R: On road
2009 BMW G650X Challenge: On road
1975 Norton Commando 850: Off road, awaiting recommissioning

[kgm]

I've run out of fuel a couple of times with a CG125, and had a couple of minor carb related issues with the same bike, nothing that wasn't easily sorted roadside.

The only recovery I've required was with my CX500 when one of the tappet locknuts came lose and went bouncing around the head. No damage luckily, and a quick 10 min fix to replace the tappet.

I've broken brake and gear levers in a couple of spills as well. Oh and I had a sprocket carrier bearing fail on an er6 but I noticed that before it became nasty.