The "egg On Your Face" Thread

aka

Chichi Honda watashi wa tsumi o okashita

or

What dumb stuff  you done to/with your VFR that you are not ashamed to share?

So that others may learn...  :goofy:

"the cap that goes on top of the spark plug..."

As posted prior the front left spark plug was loose. so I also checked the other ones and buttoned the bike up.

Last week joined a VFR ride, some 500km in total, bike ran great.

Someone did comment though that my exhaust smelled of fuel.

Last weekend we had the VFR "wrench day" where some had offered to bring their Carb-Tune to sync the carbs, and if that would not solve it, a member (who owns a garage) offered to hook her up to an exhaust gas analyser.

Took off part of her clothes and see the embarrassed smile on my face....

[image: phoca_thumb_l_IMG_2021.JPG]

Yes folks, the lead from the coil had the end with the cap hanging beside the bike........  :wacko:

Egg on Face...

Thing is, she ran and accelerated fine, the change in exhaust note I had put down to the Akra maybe needing a repack....

The carbs were subsequently synced; good to go now...

So cough up, who's next.....

[image: post-8974-0-58461900-1411974883.jpg]

This..

thought i could get away with rebuilding only one front brake calliper (that was jammed) and thought the other was fine. It Started sticking so i took it for a little test in the street (note - civilian attire no leather jacket) The worst thing was i said to myself a bit before this "yep its definitely grabbing hard" and had a sluggish return and im like "better turn round and go back home and get the tools out!!" ... and WHAM

oh well.. egg on my face :happy:

Chain oil flung onto center stand tang. Foot slips. Bike goes boom. Paint can on garage floor. Dented gas tank. Tank bra. Life goes on.

Take off on a 500 mile trip, right after an oil change. Stop to eat, find a puddle of oil under the bike. Guess I should tighten the filter, huh. Never lost pressure, so I roll over to a parts store, tighten the filter, top it off and move on.

When removing the evap cannister when I first got the VFR way back when I accidentally disconnected a vacuum line. I spent 2 days trouble shooting it and then jumped on the board where within 5 minutes someone here told me to check my lines again. Fixed and running 20 minutes later. Yep. Lesson learned.

Changed the oil in my Nighthawk S, in the dark, in a parking lot. Fired it up and oil was spewing from the filter connection. Seems the old filter gasket was stuck to the motor when I put the new filter on. Had to clean the oil drain pan, drain the fresh oil, remove the new filter to take the extra gasket off, and then figure out how to get the fresh oil that was in the pan back in to the bike.

Syncing starter valves for CC at TMAC at night. Couldn't get them synced right. Every time I would adjust one cylinder, a different cylinder would change and the one I was changing wouldn't. Check the manometer. Had the measuring end rotated 180 degrees. Read 4-1 instead of 1-4.

Oh Dutchy! What are we gonna do with you?

Well, when one must, one must. Where to start?!? :wacko:

Decided this summer to trailer the bike to get to a vacation spot with the wife and family. The plan was to ride the bike early in the morning while everyone is sleeping every morning--get up with the sun and then come back and have breakfast with the family and vacation the way we should, swimming, go boating, go tubing, etc. (not my condo nor my boat, just the brother and sister-in-law). Otherwise, I would not get to ride much this summer at all. In any case, I get the trailer, strap her up, and take off.

We do the usual stops for bathroom with little ones and to get coffee for the first 2-3 hours of the trip. I check the straps every chance i get, all is ok. Then, we stop for grocery shopping for the 4 day vacation, and I see the straps, because they were leaning on the fairing before reaching to some hooks in the front corners of the trailer, are pushed in and stick out by about 1/4 inch. Sunofa... :pissed: Sigh. I change the location of the straps for the rest of the trip and the way home. To this day, they have yet to be fixed--hoping it's only the brackets that are bent-, it's on the list of things to do for the winter projects.

Lessons learned:

a. Honda's fairings are not strong as steel!

b. do not trailer your bike--when you don't know what you're doing, just ride the thing to destination (or let your wife go by herself with the family, but then get ready to sleep in the doghouse for a while!!)! :cool:

Did I ever tell you guys about the one time I forgot to remove the disk lock before i took off?

Or when I put the primary drive (?) gear back in the wrong way only to crack the brand new clutch cover with a clear window on it from Seb when I tightened it up???

Never mind...

C

Bright and early at a track day....... :schla15:

Walk up to my trusty SV650, turn the key (mind you at this point I'm standing to the right of the bike), oh so nonchalantly take my right pointer finger and push the little start button.

WHAM! Oops, I forgot to make sure he was in neutral first. FACEPALM!

Note to self: Don't do anything with the bikes before coffee. :pissed:

While working on my fifth gen I needed to move it a little out of the way. Moved it off the center stand and Wham! No back wheel! I still have the palm print on my forehead.

Any one else go to leave a curb after parking, let out the clutch and Wham! I'm on the ground. Bike was left in second gear and stalled as soon as I leaned it over. In front of a group of HD pirates.

No signals ,check fuse, spend next two hours taking fairings off ,checking connections, solder said connections again, check bulbs, clean sockets, check grounds,rewire aftermarket Mirrors with led turns,pull hair out,finally realize fuse for horn/signals is THIRD fuse in from left ,not second .

When I first got the bike I used my rear stand with a galvanized pipe through the axle to raise the bike so that I could do chain maintenance (before I figured out how to use the centerstand). Apparently, while spinning the wheel, the metal from the stand scraped up against the wheel so now I have a nice circular scrape in the wheel that I cover with a black magic marker.

But an even better one involved the first oil change on the new car. 150 mile round trip by the wife and oil spots in various places on the garage floor the next day I came to the brilliant conclusion something was amiss. Some idiot (who shall remain nameless) forgot to put the oil filler cap back on. Hood insulating pad covered in oil. After spending $8 at the car wash trying to wash the pad clean I came to the conclusion the pad was a lost cause.

$45 for two 5 qt Mobil 1 jugs

$15 for two purolator oil filters

$85 for new hood insulating pad

$8 @ car wash

Most expensive oil change to date... last thing before closing the hood is make sure the oil cap and dipstick are in place and secure

Decide to ride my bike into the plant since the weather was still nice and the number of riding days were getting short... 4:30 AM roll the bike out of the garage and into the drive to fire her up, leave it on the side stand while warming up and don my gear... get a weird sense of vertigo like I'm slowly falling backwards... come to sudden realization that... oh yeah, my driveway is sloped and that is my bike rolling off the side stand to land on it's side on my brick surrounding my rose bushes... duh,

Funny thing is the touch up paint looks like egg on my fairing... so fitting for the topic :wink:

Thanks so far, keep up the good work!!! :beer:

Here's one for 4th gen and earlier models.................

When removing the clutch cover

[image: post-8974-0-78234400-1412153255.jpg]

The little axle (part 2) will probably be stuck inside the cover and will thus be pulled out.

No drama, but DO NOT forget that a washer (#11) might drop to the floor...

Otherwise you end up buttoning up your bike and -if you are lucky like me- just spot this little washer that rolled under you bike.....

So you can take the cover off once more and fit it... (phew... :blush: )

So now you know why I will not do the brakes myself...... :owned:

So THAT'S where that washer came from. :ohmy: I'm going to have to take another look behind that cover. :sad: Thanks Leon.

I dragged my 81 CB750 (DOHC with a nice stainless 4:1 system, now owned for more than 31 years) out of the shed while doing a big clean up and reorganization. She had not been started for five or six years so I had no idea if she would still run but I decided what the hell, I will give it a go.

Hooked bike up to big external battery, turned fuel on, primed carbs (the legendary process or blowing the bikes auto fuel cock - sounds even worse when put this way), and tried to start it.

Working from the left side of the bike I pulled the aircleaner cover off and the aircleaner out. With the help of aerostart I have at it.

Bike turned over, sort of fired, then seemed to fire and began to run for a few seconds but sounded strangely muted. The engine would run for a few seconds then just fade away. I spent 5-10 minutes at this frustrating task before deciding that it was probably bent valves and nothing further could be gained until I did a full rebuild.

Bitterly disappointed I walked around the back of the bike to pull the battery leads and put her back in the shed. Hanging from the back of the bike was the "remove before flight" tag attached to the orange exhaust plug still firmly embedded in the muffler.

After following the instruction on the tag, the bike fired up instantly and ran perfectly (even idling nicely) despite sitting for six years.

Just before a trip I changed the oil and overfilled it a little. Since I didn't have anything appropriate to siphon the oil out of the bike I decided to drain a little out of the bottom. I figured if I drained too much I could pour it back in as long as I was using a clean container. And I was going to be careful, so there was no need to change out of my work clothing for a quick 30 second job.

I positioned a clean Yogurt container under the drain plug and carefully removed it. It slipped out of my hands and fell in the yogurt container which was rapidly filling with oil. I plunged my hand into the container and withdrew my prize... which squirted out of my fingers bouncing just out of reach on the driveway. I stuck my thumb in the drain hole in an effort to plug the hole to keep from losing any more oil. That worked. However the street was empty and there was no one to give me a hand. It was an impasse between myself and the oil.

Keeping my thumb in place I stretched out reaching with my foot and tried to snag the drain plug, but only managed to kick it off the driveway into the grass. Part of this classic move involved knocking over the full Yogurt container and spilling fresh oil all over the driveway.

I looked at the regular oil drain container that was sitting a few feet away. I pulled my thumb out of the drain hole and sprinted for the oil drain container, and sprinted back. To add insult to injury I was able to throw it under the bike to catch the last dribble of oil as it drained out of the bike.

Back to the store to pick up more oil. I topped up the bike again... and overfilled it a second time. (At least I was consistent). I threw up my hands and decided to leave good enough alone.

Both myself and my driveway were coated in oil - but on the bright side my bike had received a complete oil flush using new oil. Lots of oil on my hands, my work clothes and my face (it went well with the egg).

Moral(s) of the Story: There is no such thing as carefully draining a few tablespoons of oil out of the bike. Always drain into a full oil catch basin.There is no such thing as a quick job where you can keep clean. Murphy will have a good laugh at your expense whenever possible.

MaxSwell

So THAT'S where that washer came from. :ohmy: I'm going to have to take another look behind that cover. :sad: Thanks Leon.

The 5th Gens do not have a washer in that area, it is only part # 2 and #3

[image: post-8974-0-07570400-1412245666.jpg]

^^^ Thanks Leon. One less thing to do. :beer:

Olive

Just before a trip I changed the oil and overfilled it a little. Since I didn't have anything appropriate to siphon the oil out of the bike I decided to drain a little out of the bottom. I figured if I drained too much I could pour it back in as long as I was using a clean container. And I was going to be careful, so there was no need to change out of my work clothing for a quick 30 second job.

I positioned a clean Yogurt container under the drain plug and carefully removed it. It slipped out of my hands and fell in the yogurt container which was rapidly filling with oil. I plunged my hand into the container and withdrew my prize... which squirted out of my fingers bouncing just out of reach on the driveway. I stuck my thumb in the drain hole in an effort to plug the hole to keep from losing any more oil. That worked. However the street was empty and there was no one to give me a hand. It was an impasse between myself and the oil.

Keeping my thumb in place I stretched out reaching with my foot and tried to snag the drain plug, but only managed to kick it off the driveway into the grass. Part of this classic move involved knocking over the full Yogurt container and spilling fresh oil all over the driveway.

I looked at the regular oil drain container that was sitting a few feet away. I pulled my thumb out of the drain hole and sprinted for the oil drain container, and sprinted back. To add insult to injury I was able to throw it under the bike to catch the last dribble of oil as it drained out of the bike.

Back to the store to pick up more oil. I topped up the bike again... and overfilled it a second time. (At least I was consistent). I threw up my hands and decided to leave good enough alone.

Both myself and my driveway were coated in oil - but on the bright side my bike had received a complete oil flush using new oil. Lots of oil on my hands, my work clothes and my face (it went well with the egg).

Moral(s) of the Story: There is no such thing as carefully draining a few tablespoons of oil out of the bike. Always drain into a full oil catch basin.There is no such thing as a quick job where you can keep clean. Murphy will have a good laugh at your expense whenever possible.

Ever think about putting a Fumoto valve on the bike? :491:

FU moto is what Olive was shouting all of the time..... :goofy:

This keep getting better. :goofy: Olive, I think yours takes the cake. And I say that only because you had time to weigh your options before you decided voluntarily to let the oil drip on the ground. I have made messes with oil and it is a bad feeling since it is so hard to clean and you feel bad about the environment.

Cheers,

C

Olive

Just before a trip I changed the oil and overfilled it a little. Since I didn't have anything appropriate to siphon the oil out of the bike I decided to drain a little out of the bottom. I figured if I drained too much I could pour it back in as long as I was using a clean container. And I was going to be careful, so there was no need to change out of my work clothing for a quick 30 second job.

I positioned a clean Yogurt container under the drain plug and carefully removed it. It slipped out of my hands and fell in the yogurt container which was rapidly filling with oil. I plunged my hand into the container and withdrew my prize... which squirted out of my fingers bouncing just out of reach on the driveway. I stuck my thumb in the drain hole in an effort to plug the hole to keep from losing any more oil. That worked. However the street was empty and there was no one to give me a hand. It was an impasse between myself and the oil.

Keeping my thumb in place I stretched out reaching with my foot and tried to snag the drain plug, but only managed to kick it off the driveway into the grass. Part of this classic move involved knocking over the full Yogurt container and spilling fresh oil all over the driveway.

I looked at the regular oil drain container that was sitting a few feet away. I pulled my thumb out of the drain hole and sprinted for the oil drain container, and sprinted back. To add insult to injury I was able to throw it under the bike to catch the last dribble of oil as it drained out of the bike.

Back to the store to pick up more oil. I topped up the bike again... and overfilled it a second time. (At least I was consistent). I threw up my hands and decided to leave good enough alone.

Both myself and my driveway were coated in oil - but on the bright side my bike had received a complete oil flush using new oil. Lots of oil on my hands, my work clothes and my face (it went well with the egg).

Moral(s) of the Story: There is no such thing as carefully draining a few tablespoons of oil out of the bike. Always drain into a full oil catch basin.There is no such thing as a quick job where you can keep clean. Murphy will have a good laugh at your expense whenever possible.

I did more or less the same thing once if that makes you feel better.

When I first got the bike, I was backing it out of the garage to ride to work. Normally I back it into the walk because my driveway is slopped too much. For some reason I couldn't roll it on the walk (I think the garden hose was piled up there) so I left it on the drive thinking it would be fine while it warmed up and I got my helmet. Bike fell over on the right side. Feel like an idiot and have the wife help me stand it back up. Flustered and not thinking I leave the bike in neutral, on the side stand pointed down hill on the drive way. Bike rolls forward off the side stand and falls over on the left side, bending the clutch lever. Put the bike back in the garage, remove all the gear and drive to work.

But the best story involves my truck and a job. I was laid off in 2009. There couldn't be a worse time to loose a job, so it took me a year to find a new job. Had to sell my house in Seattle and move in with my parents with my wife and daughter. Humiliating. Now, I'm not whining about it, life happens, but some back ground is needed. Well, I finally land a great job I really wanted in San Diego, so things seem great. They wanted me to start right away, so they put me and my family up in a hotel right next to work. For some reason, I drive to work from next door. First day is typical, filling out paper work, orientation etc. I get in my truck to go home, and back out of my space, and bam! I hit something. I start hearing a whooshing sound and think I must have hit a sprinkler. I pull forward, and see a massive fountain forming. Turns out it was a fire hydrant. Created a 40 foot tall geyser of water taller than the 2 story factory. Two latter trucks, the police and fire chief show up. I'm mortified. I think I'm getting fired for sure. Wife hears all the sirens drive by and I don't show up after work. I didn't have a cell phone at the time to call her, so she is freaking out. Takes 30 minutes to shut the water off. Finally I go to the hotel terrified I'll be fired the next day. When I get to work the next morning my cube is decorated with no parking signs and fire hydrants. Someone took video and emailed it to the entire company welcoming the new guy (me). It was my first day of work after all. Egg on face. I still work there, and it has been almost 5 years.

Polarbear

Did I ever tell you guys about the one time I forgot to remove the disk lock before i took off?

That's my EOF story.

Bought one when I had my 4th gen and about a month afterwards forgot about it.

On the bright side, the wave rotors I bought were a nice brake upgrade.

Leon...your story is similar to mine...

I had a 1990 Yamaha Radian. I decided to take my first ever long ride (500 miles in one day) from Provo, UT to Denio, NV. I was meeting a friend who was driving there from Oregon and then we were to ride back together in his truck (with the bike in the back). I had been riding my bike for quite awhile so I was familiar with the fuel range...135 miles was the max. As Nevada is not exactly over populated I determined that while I could just make it from town to town to fuel, I would strap a 1 gallon can on the bike, to be safe. I gassed up in Salt Lake and headed across the Bonneville Salt flats. About 1/2 way there I remembered that I hadn't filled up my can...no worries, I should have about 15 extra miles worth of fuel. About 30 miles out I had to go to reserve, which was very bad. 18 miles out, in the middle of nothing bigger than a piece of dirt I was out of fuel. I had to hitchhike in to Wendover, with my empty gas can, then back to my bike. The rest of the trip I experienced the same mileage issues, barely making my fuel stops. When I arrived in Denio I was glad that my friend was to meet me there because fuel was 2x the going price at home!

After waiting for 2 hours past when he was supposed to be there (pre cell phone days) a lady told me she had seen my friend on the side of the road in the mountains...with a bad fuel pump. It was 100 miles BACK to the closest place to find a universal fuel pump that would get a 1972 Toyota pickup going...or 45 miles to where my friend was stranded...I opted to head his way thinking we could figure out a MacGuyver fix if we needed to. When I got to him he had determined that his fuel pumps diaphram was weak, not completely ruined, but because he had stopped on an 8% grade due to overheating the fuel pump wasn't strong enough to get the fuel up from the tank. We discussed a few options and decided to see if my 1 gallon can, in the engine bay above the motor would gravity feel enough fuel. It did and we made it off the mountain. We drove overnight to get back to Utah and installed a new fuel pump in the autoparts store parking lot.

When I finally got my bike back I took it to work (at an autoparts store) and a friend had an infrared thermometer. We determined that I had one pipe that was nearly room temperature while the rest were all hot. It turned out the main jet had somehow come loose and fallen into the float bowl, resulting in feeding 1 cylinder as much fuel as it could drink! Oddly enough I hadn't noticed much of a loss in power.

My VFR story is much more depressing...

I was laid up with a separated shoulder as a result of a low speed washout (2 days after returning from a 3300 miles ride to Colorado). During the time I couldn't ride I decided to adjust my valves. I read all the methods, got all the tools etc and went to work. After getting about 1/2 way in I changed tactics, having found a method that didn't require removing the timing gears. It took some time to get the right buckets in and put everything back together...at which time I forget that I had started by removing the timing gears. I took it for a 30 mile ride and everything seemed ok. On my way to work the next morning I started hearing valve train noise and just as I pulled off the tollway the motor died. I tried to turn it over with no luck, it was locked up dead. One of my cam sprockets had come loose and the chain had slipped off. I had 4 bent valves in the front head, couldn't even get them out as they were stuck in the guides. I keep one on my desk at work as a reminder.

Since that day (even after fixing the motor) I haven't commuted on the bike more than a hand full of times. I gassed the bike up last week for the first time in a year, my inspection sticker expired in October of last year! Somehow my enthusiasm drained out.

Boy was my race red back in 2001 during the weekend of World Superbike
at Laguna Seca... not once but 3 times...

There we were 2 RC45s on our way to Laguna Seca cruising 90mph in the
fast lane when I feel Mr.RC45's stiff-as-marble frame quiver like a
giant tuning fork... I ease off the throttle and frantically hunt for
the reason when I glimpse in the mirror a small dark object sailing
over my buddy's head in tow... I got back on the berries thinking "all
is well" just a foreign object seemly kicked up by my rear tire... I
think again when Dave over takes me screaming and pointing to the back
of my bike... WTF!!! there on top of my exhaust canister rest my rear
brake caliper Mercy me... I forgot to tighten the bolts and the
caliper worked free striking the ground and jettisoning the brake
pads... Boy was my race red!!!

[image: post-3131-0-12535300-1412313296.jpg]

I think things are beginning to go my way when I stop at the nearest
Honda dealer and they just so happened to have a set of dusty RC30
rear brake pads which are the same as RC45 pads (thank you Honda)... I
beg tools and torque the caliper bolts until my elbow clicks about
10ft pounds... Back in the saddle I'm elated to have finally reached
the bending bits on H35 but there is something funny about the quality
of traction today... I can't figure it out exactly but I attribute the
unpredictable handling to the patches of wet among the patches of
dry... my main concern is for my buddy Dave who thinks California
roads are akin to race tracks... I load my tires in small increments
waiting for the tattle tell slip but it never comes... still I'm
dumbfounded as to the nature this strange feel...

Dave and I arrive at Alice's happy to make it through the bendy
bits... but as I look over Mr.RC45 I about sh*t me drawers... my rear
tire is soaking wet with brake fluid!!! Mercy me... I forgot to check torque
on the brake line and sure enough it worked free... Boy was my race red!!!

After the World Super bike races Dave and I gather a crowd of exotic
bike lovers in the infield parking lot... I wind it up Mr.RC45 and
drop the clutch when CLINK!!! cast aluminum hanger snaps because I
forgot to remove the rear disc lock...BOY WAS MY FACE RED!!!

[image: post-3131-0-45427000-1412313470.jpg]

:schla15:

At least Olive was of sound mind to replace the drain bolt prior to attempting to fill said motorcycle with new oil, I on the other hand was not so smart... It makes such a beautiful puddle that glistened in the sunlight...

Dutchy

FU moto is what Olive was shouting all of the time..... :goofy:

LMAO. I can't believe Olive swears! Ahhh, maybe just that once. :laugh2:

I guess one persons hot mess of garage words is another persons ROTFLMAO. :happy:

I've never done most of the common ones. :pinocchio: :beer:

Olive is in Ireland at the moment and it is wet wet wet. She will probably learn that the local pronounciation is "feck":-)

Dutchy

Olive is in Ireland at the moment and it is wet wet wet. She will probably learn that the local pronounciation is "feck":-)

Your still cool Dutchy and for your info you still have no warning points displayed .

Double egg on your face ?

Fourth gens....Bike is on the verge of overheating...why won't the fan come on? Test fan, good, test connections, good, clean grounds, good....check fuse, good...it's the NEXT fuse in line, not the one above it and yes, it was a vacant space.

Put bike together (who HASN'T done this?) start to crank, and crank, and crank......petcock is set to off...smh

Put new starter clutch in a terd gen...couldn't figure out why the dag on thing wouldn't start...starter wouldn't spin...turns out I put the stupid washer on the gear in between the starter and the crank backwards causing a binding...lucky I didn't burn something up

All my egg moments have been minor, except one. My DIY work on my VFR consists mainly of oil changes, but a year or two ago I tried doing a coolant flush. While trying to burp the system, coolant started spraying out the filler cap - running onto the fans and wiring on the right side of the bike. Turned off bike, topped off coolant again and upon testing the system the fans wouldn't turn on. Took it to a local shop, where they had to replace the fan switch. Didn't cost me an arm and a leg, but I felt pretty dumb.

Knock wood, salt over the left shoulder, four leaf clovers all day... I haven't had a major EOF yet. And now that I've jinxed THAT by saying it... The biggest "well that was stupid" type moment was when I thought I could un-seize the clutch slave cylinder by tightening the slave body down with the 3 bolts. 1 broken ear and a few weeks later, I had a new slave cylinder and have been fine since.

1st VFR, 1983 Euro model, bought it in Wurzberg, Germany in 1983. Gold Rims were really cool, anyway, I thought I would tackle the first service myself...plugs, oil, how hard could it be. Took the bike over to the Soldiers maintenance shop in Bad Kissengen.....German contractor there helped me with tools.....drained the oil, no problem, filter, oil back in, no worries....took the tank off to get to the plugs....didn't bother emptying it....as i was trying to put the tank on a chair, still connected to the fuel line fuel gage...it slipped out of my hands, full of gas and crashed on the ground....giant dent on the side of the tank.....cracked paint....it was only a couple months old....ughhhhh

Shortly after purchasing my '07 I had a serious leg workout one morning. With that "rubbery leg" feeling, I headed off to work on my shiny VFR. While backing her into my spot at work - just a foot or so shy of bumping into the curb - my left foot rolled on a short twig from the tree that graced my bike with shade all day long. We all know how heavy a VFR can get when gravity takes over and add in the fact that my legs were complete toast from squats earlier in the morning and over she went. She didn't so much crash to the ground because I was still mounted but I more or less layed her down gently. HEY! GUESS WHAT!!?? MORE SQUATS THIS MORNING! It took me two tries to get her up because she began sliding away from me on the first lift. After righting her with NO DAMAGE to the left side, I was in total dismay because in my effort to lean in and fight her fall to the left, I had run my helmeted head into the right side mirror and snapped it off with the mirror wedging nicely into my dash area. The mirror and stalk never ever hit the ground. $100 to mother Honda immediately after work - at least they had one on the shelf! Of course I walked into my office like not a damned thing happened!

I have also moved my VFR into the garage and gotten off the "wrong" side so that it could lean as close as possible to my cabinets. If I do this, I have enough room to get my SUV and my bike into my side of the garage and my wife still has room for her car on the other side. Well I forgot to put the stand back down and about the time I realized she was getting away from me and there was a problem at hand, the left bar end went into the face of my cabinets. I now have a nice ring pressed into the wood there to remind me to put the stand down.

I no longer own the bike, but I sure own the story! My 5th gen daily commuter blew its head gaskets a while back. I pulled the engine, turned it over to my mechanic, and caged my way to work for several god-awful months. I took the opportunity, though, to replace a number of old or corroded parts, carefully following the torque specs, keeping a detailed journal, etc. When I finally got the engine back, I shoehorned 'er in the frame, hooked up everything that was unhooked, added new oil, coolant, and plugs (carefully torqued, of course). I was thrilled when she fired up on the first click.

Flash forward a couple of weeks, with break-in period over. I wanted to check compression. Did so, and it looked great. I re-installed the spark plugs, dutifully (read: stupidly) applying Service Manual torque specs, in an ill-advised attempt to re-crush the already crushed crush washers.

Luckily (luck being relative!), I was able to pull the cylinder without removing the entire engine. I went egg-faced to my mechanic and had him extract the spun plug. Doh! Ran great after that though!

-Aram

I installed a Datel meter about 2 1/2 years ago. From the get go it would randomly fluctuate - not often, but at times showing 14.6v for hundreds of miles over days or weeks, then suddenly fluctuate in to the 13's and occasionally show battery voltage. Then suddenly it would snap back to a steady 14.6v. :huh: After re-routing the wire and dinking around with it nothing changed, except that it seemed to be getting worse though I had never had any problems with a low battery. Finally one day recently I pulled in to the driveway with it showing 12.8v :pissed: . I left the engine running while I got the shop VOM. Got out a 2nd key to remove the seat and put the VOM across the battery - 14.5v. W . . . . . T . . . . . F ??? :blink: So I finally got serious and took the entire thing apart including removing the front cowl, checking the wire every step of the way, taking the meter out and checking the attachment screw which must have certainly been the problem. This time however, I traced the ground wire. I *assumed* I had grounded the meter to a bolt on the frame where I had grounded the Powerlet, which looked fine. When tracing the ground, what I found was that I had grounded the meter to a second bolt a bit further back on the frame, which I had never tightened. So I'd spent the past 15,000 miles accusing my stator of being possessed by Satan and/or the R/R being a piece of OEM junk, when it was in reality installer error. :blush: The bolt must have continued working loose with vibration causing the connection (and the reading) to become increasingly erratic. After tightening it last weekend I went on a 350 mile ride and it showed a solid 14.5v almost without variation. Tightening that small bolt sure beat hell out of spending a bunch of ca$h on things I don't need. Lesson learned: When installing or troubleshooting, never assume anything.

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3 of 'em.

Paid $75 extra to have plugs changed unnecessarily, dropped biked off the side of a tilted driveway (no damage, just egg on face, and I can laugh now), wink at gal with fly open, lookin' cool beside bike.

Oh, and there's the time when I thought the PGFI (or whatever) sticker on the bike was indicative of the 4-valve VTEC operation - 5th gen NOT!

Folks here were quick (and diplomatic) about correcting me on that...

I forgot to mention the time when I was getting ready to sell the 250 I was backing the bike out of the garage to take some pictures (no need to move the wife's car as there is plenty of room to get by). Next thing I know the bike is laying against the tool cabinet...right fairing nicely scratched. What the hey I'll get some touch up paint from color rite (the bike requires a base coat, color coat, and clear coat). Needless to say the touchup looked like feces. Ended up buying a new faring which was about the same price as the paint.

4th gen. Synced carbs with external tank. Got everything done, put bike back together, gear up hop on and take off for a test drive. The neighborhood kids were hanging out cause they think the VFR is cool {not so much me]. Get about a 1/2 mile through the neighborhood to main road when it starts cutting out bucking then shuts off all together. Forgot to turn the petcock on had no tools to get cover off to reach petcock. Egg on face and walk of shame pushing bike back to house past the kids with their questions about what was wrong! Only good part was last part of trip was down hill to house, pushed off hopped on and glided into garage. Kids still think bike is cool, Not so much me!!

My worst wasn't VFR related but it did include my two other Hondas before the VFR. Alarms go off at 4:30 am. Get up, get showered, dressed, kiss wife good bye and head to basement to get geared up for morning commute. Jacket, chaps, gloves, helemt, check got it all. By now my body has realized its to early to be awake so brain needs to shut down. Throw my leg over my 800 lb VTX 1800. Standup and lift bike up off of side stand. For some strange reason I decided once i got it upright that that wasn't good enough and that I should continue leaning it to the right. Got it past the balancing point and over we both went right into the 750 Magna that was sitting next to it. Took about 5 minutes to wiggle and pull myself out from between the two bikes. By then I was wide awake. Finally got the VTX back upright. A few scratches on both of them but nothing major. Should have kept my mouth shut but told the wife. Was hoping that I would get a kind word but nope had to pick her up off the floor from laughing at me.

This is bad enough, please for god's sake don't have a teaching your mother how to suck eggs thread.