How have bikers helped you?

[M1ke]

We all know about the biker nod, and most probably know that when you see a biker broken down it is polite to stop and try and help.

Well the question is, have you ever broken down and been helped by a stranger on a bike? Or maybe you have helped someone else out?

I once ran out of fuel on my way to oulton park and a biker pulled over to help, he rode up the road to find the nearest petrol station for me. He then came back and told me which direction to push the bike! Thanks to him I found the petrol station.

Also on another occasion bike wouldn't start in town and a load of people came to help me bump start it (turned out the petrol tap was off...)

[Ste]

A good few times. A few on the NSR, when I was having problems trying to do something, or when I was stopped by the side of a road. Couple of times as well on the ZX6R, someone stopped to help me push the bike as I needed to get to a lay by to poke something on the bike, and a fair number of times when I was just stopped by the sice of the road for whatever reason. On the R6 I was pushing the bike down the road due to the chain snapping, and a biker stopped, and he was riding a shinney red Ducati, and Ducati riders are one of the other groups of bikers who people sometimes say they never nod to, as the Ducati riders never nod. And this he stopped a few minutes after someone on a ZX6R just rode straight past me, despite I was pushing a broken bike round a motorway roundabout whilst trying not to get run over. Never had anyone stop for me on the TL, as I'd not used it enough to have stopped by a roadside.

Have stopped for other bikes who have been stopped by a roadside before, and would do again when I'm back on bikes. Would also stop for one if I was in a car and was able to stop. Would stop to help any bikes not bothered if it's a cruiser or a ped or whatever, I'd still like it if they stopped to help me so I should help them. Only bikes if I saw by the roadside would be a police bike.

[WildGoose]

never really broken down in a big way, nothing other than running out of petrol

/me strokes honda

two bikers gave me the "OK?" hand signal, when i chucked my R6 into a barrier off a motorway sliproad, but i notioned that i was cool, and carried on
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So in other words, he stopped you for being flagrantly in posession of a motorcycle in direct contravention of the Hippies, Darkies and People Whose Face I Don't Like The Look of (Police Powers) Act. 1976

[hellkat]

I once attempted as a very newbie to travel from Eastleigh to London in quite substantial snow.

When I had gone down there on the Friday evening, there was a mild deluge of sleet as I made it into Eastleigh. By Sunday morning, there was 5 inches of snow on my bike and the roads.

I had to go to work on Monday, so I had to brave the weather. Five miles out of Eastleigh, I skidded on some ice and dumped the bike (a 125 trailie I had only owned for three weeks or so).

I managed to limp it (with either forks or yokes knocked out of line, dunno which) to the nearest small town (Sunday afternoon), phoned a mate of mine (now dead, unfortunately) from a phone box. He was a member of an Owners Club that had a membership list which stated whether the individual members were (a) happy to socialize with other members of the club whether they knew them or not, should they be in town and (b) go out to other people who might need technical assistance.

He called a guy on the list in Winchester (the town nearest where I was), despite having never met the guy before in his life. The guy agreed (at 3.30pm on a Sunday afternoon) to come out and fix my bike (which took him all of five minutes).

I was amazed anyone would actually do that, let alone come out in that weather for someone who wasn't EVEN a member of the club, let alone own one of the bikes the club was based around.

Whilst I waited for the guy to come from Winchester, my mate called me back on the pay-phone, and chatted to me to keep my spirits up (although he never needed an excuse to talk for hours on the phone, anyway).

Halfway up the ?A31, I saw a couple of people standing by a bike, so I stopped, to check they were alright, because I was now full of the cameraderie of biker-righteousness, having been "looked after" myself. It turned out they were just stopped to warm their hands on their exhausts for a bit. They pointed out to me that I appeared to have NO LIGHTS WHATSOEVER, which I had not noticed. So they rode with me between them through some pretty bad conditions until they turned off somewhere further up the A31/A3.

I was so cold (being in my traditional garb of jeans, trainers and a t-shirt with (as compensation to the winter months) a light cardigan under my jacket, so I gave up and decided to get the train into Clapham Junction and go back for the bike the next day. Misparking the bike on the forecourt, I decided to move it to a safer place, and kickstarted it up, only for all my lights to decide to start working again. So I decided to risk it and keep riding back home (was almost back to civilization as far as I was concerned by that point).

It took me eight hours to get from Eastleigh to Fulham. Two of those were accident and waiting time ... the experience was "interesting".

I bought the guy from Winchester some very grateful presents the following week, and my mate who had arranged the whole Winchester rescue operation turned into my BEST mate. Still miss the mad bugger.
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[hellkat]

Not to mention a certain minxlike young lady and her amusing but extremely cute boyfriend who went REALLY out of their way by travelling home and backc 30 miles or so each way (IN the rain, ON a Sunday afternoon AFTER a partying-large rally) to allow us to use their RAC membership to get our XJ sorted after it got temperamental on the Sunday morning after the CW rally this year.

What a pair of sweeties
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[hellkat]

And the two sturdy young gentlemen who pushed the recalcitrant XJ up and down an East London street till it bump started in the drifting rain at 3am Sunday morning a while back

Cos I'm just a girlie and too feeble to do stuff like that
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Not nearly as interesting in real life.

[ProXimaCore]

The best example for me was one friday night around midnight riding home on my NSR a few months after I just got it. Been out with a mate on the bikes all night blasting around. Then on the way home the bike seemed to stop responding while I was going about 85mph and I quickly grabbed the clutch and coasted to the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. I was already completely lost at this time.

A biker stopped to help me on a CBR600. He stayed with me for at least an hour helping me out. A couple of other bikers stopped but then went on their way again. A couple of cars then stopped and they stayed for a long time as well. We were all shoving it down the road trying to bump start it but nothing. Used jump leads from the guys car. Nothing..... It was buggered. Turned out in the end that the barrel had a big massive hole in it and needed to get it rebuilt.

The best bit was one of the guys in the car said his mate was away on holiday at the moment and said he stayed in the next town, so we all shoved the bike for 2 miles to his house and dumped it in the back garden overnight. I came back to get it next day only to have the couple return to find me in their garden trying to sort my bike. I had to explain and they didn't seem very pleased but I got it out of there as soon as I could. Felt really bad about it but still beats leaving my bike out in the middle of nowhere that I'd never even be able to find again.

The guy on the CBR even gave me a lift home. This was about 1am at this point on a friday night. It was fairly out of his way too. What a nice guy!
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Honda NSR125R -> Suzuki GSXR400R GK76a -> Kawasaki ZX636 B1H -> Honda CBR400RR NC29 -> Nothing

[Visitor Q]

Only once, i didnt know about the whole reserve tap thing , and of course he was too polite to suggest it was that. So he just offered a lift.

Is despairing how some bikers dont help though. When my sparkplug ripped out of the top block i saw at least 40 odd bikers go by (its the country lane to a main bike dealer and the buntingford road - if carvell is read, it was in graveley highstreet) and it was in the pissing down rain, the whole area was flooded and im standing there like a loon in it. No one felt like turning round.

Luckily the AA were on route....

That was a fun day
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China traffic/travel bike vid - When I make a sweeping statement, please add the word 'statistically' in to the sentence before you bitch...
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[aqualung1]

i have been helped a couple of times, especially when i ran brit bikes, we all seemed to look out for each other and would share spares whatever.
i will usually pull over if see some one in distress, unless given thumbs up by them