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Tell stories of motorcycle related humility

I had just got the bike and had been practicing around my neighborhood to get comfy with riding. After doing this for a couple of laps, i figured I was ready to be seen by the rest of Pleasanton.

Well there is a Tully's on Main street that is quite the hangout for all the Harley riders, so I take my Yamaha down there to try to get some respect.

I pull up to the intersection, there's about 10 Harley guys standing there looking over each others bike, they look up at me trying to look all cool, and part of the scene, when I stall it leaving the stop. They all laughed at me.

Embarrassed as all hell, I got it started and left, and didn't go back for at least 4 months. :(
 
My first day of riding the sv650 i busted a U with my buddy on his vfr. Keep in mind I've only ridden 250s before so the weight difference was huge. So i felt like the bike was tipping over and I stop mid lean and the bike just falls over. My friend is riding off and theres a party on my street so people going in and out of cars see me fall and I pick up the bike. I pull it up with too much force and it falls again on the other side. I ended up breaking the clutch lever clean off so I couldn't ride again until the next day when i replaced the clutch lever.
 
tinastar said:
I was riding around in a parking lot, practicing my braking. I had to loop around the parking lot and stop at the end of each row and then make a turn around. I was doing realllly well and I glanced over at my friend who was watching. Only he wasn't paying attention and I thought to myself, what the hell, he should be witnessing this!

And as I came to the end of the row, I stopped, looked both ways and went again. Only I didn't go, I ended up stalling at my last stupid row. I was so embarrassed but I thought, maybe he's not watching. I turn my head slowly and he's looking right at me.

I was so embarrassed, at least as a new rider. Plus the fact that I always stall and I freakin was on a roll until the very last row :'(
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nice avatar :nerd
we should like ride sometimes :love
back off i saw her first!! :leghump
:teeth
 
my personal best (warning kinda long):

1 week before my wedding, I borrowed my buddies 650XL to go for a spin. I went up to my fav trailhead and said to self "self, why not just go for a spin op mthe trail?" This would have been a great idea except for the fact that I wasn't wearing a helmet:(

I was up in the mountains about a mile on the trail when I was coming up on my favorite hairpin/burm turn. I gassed it and wheelied outta the corner. Going just a wee bit too fast for that fat bastard on the tiny trial, I went a little tooo close to the cliff edge on the right side and the rear tire slid off of the side of the cliff. I high sided and was pinned under the bike. as I was sliding I looked up and saw a 4in diameter tree that was about to stop my slide into homebase. Fortunately not going too fast at that point, the tree hit me right across the face. I picked up the bike and sat down for a spell, checking for broken parts on me and the bike.

Using up all of the luck that I have saved up over the years I was able to ride back home in one piece. The face wound was just a mere flesh wound but it was a bleeder. I stopped at the creek at the bottom and I looked in the mirror to see a bleeding monster face. (wish I had a pic of dat). I washed of (not very well) and went back home.

When I got home I tried to sneak into the garage. My dad was on the balcony BBQing, he looked at me as I drove up and nodded then took a double take and yelled out "what the hell!" :wow

I went into the house and tried to clean off the dried blood. I was of course barraged with the suspected questions. My future wife was super pissed because of the skrilla that we were throwing at the photographer. I healed up pretty quickly, however my wedding picks show what looks like a badass scar from the top right side of the face across to the left side of my chin.

I got a whooooole lotta crap from the friends n fam, but everyone was just happy that I wasn't dead. After that I never had a problem wearing a helmet :rolleyes

Oz
 
Just recently my bike fell off it's center stand in a Safeway parking lot.

…worse was that it was in front of my daughter and her Brownie Troop selling cookies.
…worse yet was that I had just honked to get all of their attention!
 
Well I think the statute of limitations ran out on this one...

I pulled up to my bank on a sunday to use the ATM. Parking lot is packed as usual, so I was in the habit of pulling up on the sidewalk next to the bank itself and parking next to the 8'x12' GIANT windows at the front of the bank.

I'm riding a new bike at the time. A 66' hot rodded Lambretta Li150, with a Stage 6 ported 225 Engine that is capable of going 100+. REAL sweet ride, equiped with a burly side stand rather than one of those usual sissy center stands that most italian scooters have. I kick that side stand out and start strolling over to the ATM.

I get about 3 steps before I hear the heart wrenching sounds of a window breaking.

I slowly turn to see.. my Lambretta, lying on it's side handlebars through the window. Gotta love those pointy stilleto levers!

There were a LOT of people staring at me at that point. Well before whenever one had cellphones too. So I picked up the bike, moved it out of the way and went to call the police on a pay phone. Everyone stopped watching me at that point.

I booked it back to the bike, started her up, calmly drove away, and never went to get money on that bike ever again!

So I guess I'm the only one on Barf that has used my bike to break into a bank!
 
Wait! Humility and humiliation are two completely different things :)

Humiliation would be:

You - "Yeah? Well who the hell are YOU? and what the hell do you know about motorcycle racing anyway"

Valentino Rossi - "Hmmm..."


Humility would be:

You - "I'm thinking about getting into motorcycle racing, are you a good racer?"

Valentino Rossi - "I'm ok I guess..."
 
thesenior said:
3 days into riding my first bike, SV650, i was at an intersection on a COLD dewey morning. I pull up to a light with a few cars behind me. I stopped a LITTLE too late and ended up with my left foot on a white stripe... and then the light changed to green...
In my newb worry of holding up the line, i put more weight on my left foot AS i started to gas it... slipped, started to go down AS i went into a wheelie!
I went through the intersection on one wheel and hanging off the left side of my bike like a drunk monkey falling out of a tree. I put the wheel down on the other side and never looked back!
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that's a good one!:laughing
 
I can think of only one moment in my short riding career where I felt somewhat humbled. And that was while leading a twisty ride, another newbie rider -- who had ridden about a third of my total mileage at that point -- showed me how to tackle some gnarly uphill twisties by taking the lead. He rode up and around that single road like he'd ridden it a thousand times. The moment of humility for me lasted maybe one second. Because all I could do while following his line up that hill was smile and marvel at his riding ability.
 
Telegraph Ave

1977
I owned a '50 Rapide, an unbelievably cool bike, for me, an unbelievably cool dude. I have the bike parked front and center at the Caffe Mediterraneum, the original cool Berkeley coffee house.
I am cooly smoking my cig and a group of extremely cool hippie girls are hanging out nearby. When it was time to go, I went through my semi-ritualistic carb tickling and compression release motions...then flipped open the kick start ratchet, pushed it through about halfway to load the cylinders and get the stroke just right...

I had unfortunately flipped the ignition to the on position. So about half way through the warmup stroke the bike fired up , the ratchet came up like an Apollo rocket engine, as my knee cap pounded in to my chin bone like a sledge hammer.

I was launched straight off the bike, and landed next to it with my chin split open, my jacket and pants were soaking up the oozing blood.

I was stunned, but got up and repeated the routine, without incident. But the hippie girls were totally unimpressed.

The next day, as I sat drinking my caffe latte at the front table of the same cafe, this little imp, Paladin walked up and said, "gee I thought you were worthy of that bike..."
This guy was a story all to himself, but picture a small troll, with leathers and a Boston accent.
Not my coolest moment.:)


:laughing
 
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I had my bike on rear stand in the back of the garage. I was lazy to take it of the stand and move it closer to the wall so I decided to skid the bike with the stand sideways. I've done it couple of times when the stand was new and smooth. This time around, the bike fell of one side of the stand and got stuck in the weird position. It would not go back on the stand and at the same time, it would not come off either. So, I had to straddle it and stand on one foot while keeping the bike from falling on its side.

To make the situation worse, my cell was not on me, my wife went shopping and I lived on not so busy street. 45 min later, finally someone walked by.... "HELLOOOO, YES YOU SIR, can you please come inside my garage and help me get my bike off the stand?"

:rofl

I've never felt more embarrasing.
 
Back when I was 17 (a long, long time ago) I lost my driver's license due to too many speeding tickets. Imagine that. Anyway, I thought I could usurp the whole "no license thing" by getting a scooter. (I was wrong about that, among a whole lot of other things at that age.)

At the time I had a very cool BMW 2002 that was fairly popular with the high school girlies and I was very proud of this car as it was mint and original. So, having to park the car and put a cover over it for 6 months was like leaving my testicles in a cup by the bathroom sink.

So I get this scooter... a Honda C70. For those of you who don't know what that is, do a quick Google image search... it's quite girly looking. Mine was light metallic blue and white to boot. The day I picked it up I brought my bicycle helmet because it was before the helmet law and I figured that was sufficient for putting around on this 70cc lil heap.

I wasn't a mile from the previous owners house when I stopped at a stoplight beside a car. There I sat: skinny kid who looked 12 wearing a bicycle helmet on a fruity light blue scooter with white wall tires. I looked over at the car, and wouldn't ya know it, it's packed with hot girls my age... all laughing their asses off and pointing at me.

What was left of my male parts recoiled deep into my body and didn't reappear for months to come. The car roared off... I slowly preceded to my mommies house realizing that I never ever wanted to lose my license again.
 
Well said man... losing the license sucks and a ct70 is not a scooter! It's actually a fun little honda that can teach you how to ride wheelies easily by standing on those rear pegs ...mine was gold and white..

nvp said:
Back when I was 17 (a long, long time ago) I lost my driver's license due to too many speeding tickets. Imagine that. Anyway, I thought I could usurp the whole "no license thing" by getting a scooter. (I was wrong about that, among a whole lot of other things at that age.)

At the time I had a very cool BMW 2002 that was fairly popular with the high school girlies and I was very proud of this car as it was mint and original. So, having to park the car and put a cover over it for 6 months was like leaving my testicles in a cup by the bathroom sink.

So I get this scooter... a Honda C70. For those of you who don't know what that is, do a quick Google image search... it's quite girly looking. Mine was light metallic blue and white to boot. The day I picked it up I brought my bicycle helmet because it was before the helmet law and I figured that was sufficient for putting around on this 70cc lil heap.

I wasn't a mile from the previous owners house when I stopped at a stoplight beside a car. There I sat: skinny kid who looked 12 wearing a bicycle helmet on a fruity light blue scooter with white wall tires. I looked over at the car, and wouldn't ya know it, it's packed with hot girls my age... all laughing their asses off and pointing at me.

What was left of my male parts recoiled deep into my body and didn't reappear for months to come. The car roared off... I slowly preceded to my mommies house realizing that I never ever wanted to lose my license again.
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second day with my ninjette and felt pretty good about my progress putting around the residential area. Park in my garage, turn the handle bars, and try to set it down forgetting all about the kick stand !! It barely hits the side mirror before i could save it.. i could feel the blood flowing in in my face and i quickly looked around to see if my neighbors noticed.. :)
 
yamahadude1 said:
Well said man... losing the license sucks and a ct70 is not a scooter! It's actually a fun little honda that can teach you how to ride wheelies easily by standing on those rear pegs ...mine was gold and white..
Click to expand...

ct70 and c70... two different bikes. Actually had a CT too! And you're right... both are technically motorcyles

c70:
C70.jpg
 
Commuting the 101 towards the bay bridge. About 3:00 on a Friday afternoon. All the cars are stopped in traffic and hear I am aboard my EX250 squeezing between traffic and splitting lanes. Car in right lane dosnt want to let me in so he crowds #3 lane. What, you think that can stop me?! I pull right in behind the car in #2 lane and look over my shoulder to make sure no one else is splitting. I'll show this ass. Look back. Holy sh#t the car in front has stopped. Full brake! Too late. Smack. Less than 5mph but I go down and so does the Ninjette... Boy did I feel like a dumbass. Lukily got the bike to start after a few min but pushing it off freeway passed everyone was quite an experience.
 
A few years ago I purchased a new Busa and a nice new helmet to go with it. On one of the first rides I stopped at a cycle shop to look at some hop up parts. I got off the bike and put my helmet on the mirror and went into the shop to look around.

When I was done shopping I walked outside, sat on my bike and put the kickstand up. I reached to grab my new helmet off the mirror and dropped it on the ground. So My brand new helmet is rolling around getting all scratched up and I reach down quickly to prevent further damage and I let the bike lean over too far and it fell on it's side. I scratched up my brand new helmet and my brand new bike.

I felt pretty stupid but at least nobody was watching :)
 
When it comes to embarrasing yourselves, you guys are amatures - take it from a pro like me. Afterall, doing something stupid when you are new at riding is once thing, but still coming up with new dumb things after riding as long as I have is a challenge.

The list is long and face-reddening, but I will share the apogee of my "make-ass" experience. ( for the unfamiliar, that's a local/Hawaii/pidgen term for make yourself look like an ass )

I'm on a motorcycle tour with Edelweiss, (the Austrian outfit, good folks) and we are in Riva, about to begin the 3rd day of riding after 2 days of fantastic riding in the Dolomites. The whole lot of us - some 20 riders, are together on our bikes in the parking area. Like always, getting underway is taking too long and I get impatient with the hurry up and wait part of getting started - I'd moved the bike and now we were held up by God knows what, and I decided to park and TRY to mellow the heck out.

SO, ( not entirely used to my rented R1150R despite having put 2 days in the mountains on it) I stab the kickstand down, but with the motor running, and as you boxer riders know, the stand swings WELL forward to it's stop, and somewhere in there I manage to catch the cuff of my riding pants on the gear shift, and drop it into first.

In a tiny little lot, with 20+ other newish, expensive bikes in very close proximity, and a great group of rider you have just begun to make friends with.

Well, I DO still have some kind of reflexes, because I quickly grabbed the front brake before I run anyone over, but with my bars over hard left ( 'cause I was trying to park it), I managed to execute a 0mph highside and punt myself off the bike heels over head onto my back & shoulders, on the right side of the bike, which tips over, in front of the whole assembled group, guides and all. No doubt they were thinking " We rented a bike to this guy ? Lord help us ! "


Days later, whilst enjoying brews with a couple of the guys we were talking about the differing riding styles in the group and I said that I'd been following one of the girls earlier and she was holding a fine, brisk pace and I learned a bit about moving around on the bike from watching her, as I just sit there mostly and don't shift about very much, to which one of the guys says, " I dunno, I saw your ass moving around plenty the other morning ! "

Beat that.

I am the loser king.
 
I am going to school for my final, I pull the bike in shut it off, make sure my books are in my bag, I take the key out and get off the bike. I forgot to put the kick stand down. My teacher and some guys help me lift my poor bike. I felt so awful. :(Still can't look at the teacher without thinking about it. waaaa:cry
 
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