I thought riding in AZ heat was a biatch!!

[Boriqua]

I would much prefer riding than pushing!! Carbs were dirty again and idle was crappy so I pulled them out and gave them a quick clean and reinstalled. Yay ... time for a test ride or two .

Bike is acting weird so I go to return home and make a turn about 5 miles away and hear a pop and See nice black smoke come out from under my gas tank.

It was good and black so I thought .. crap .. its bad but that is probably electrical so I can fix it but ..

Now its 109F when it stops, there is absolutely no shade and the sun is beating on my head to the point its making me dizzy and .. I got to get the bike home.

Im 56 yr old and not nearly the studly dude I as even 20 years ago. Pushing that bike in that heat under the Harsh AZ sun in slip on shoes with no socks ... I thought I was going to die!!

Turns out when I put everything together I didnt move the wire that skirts along under the air box from the ignition. IT rubbed on the negative battery terminal until it ate through the casing. It fired that wire and a long length of wire leading up to the headlamp. Damn I wish a fuse had blown before frying all the wires!

Determined what the problems are but its 110 out there now and I think I fired my brain in that long walk home pushing. Someone in a truck stopped to offer help but I was to proud to take it but I did take some water they offered. If not .. I may have been a bad AZ stupid story.

 

[earlfor]

Five miles in 109F temps is a Long way to push a 750. Been there with a 1150. heh Should have taken the ride.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

Really, WOW!
Last Sunday morning my GS1100G stopped running. I'd only push it home if it was like 2-3 blocks down hill.
I get a ride home, hitch up my trailer with bike hauling chuck bolted down, go back and bring the bike home the sensible way.
Only work on broken down vehicles at home, never by the roadside.

 

[Rob S.]

...109F temps is a Long way to push a 750.

Ah, but was there any humidity?

 

[Boriqua]

Ah, but was there any humidity?

Lol.. It was a dry heat. I know because at some point I was sure my hair was going to burst into flames!

 

[ddaniels]

Please...next time don't be so dang proud and accept some help. We don't want to hear of your death on this board. I've been in Phoenix when it was that hot and I sure as heck would not want to be pushing a motorcycle.

 

[TxGSrider]

It'll certainly help to deter you from making THAT mistake again.

 

[Guest]

I'm less than half your age, and aint no way in hell I'm walking my GS for a mile, let alone 5, and definitely not in 109 degree heat.

As to your wire self-immolating, I've made that mistake before, and now I'm very careful about how I put everything back together around the battery.

 

[Steve]

I can sorta remember back when I was your age. Vaguely remember being Rust's age, too. Have never liked pushing a bike any farther than just enough to get it out of the way. Never more than just a few feet, even if someone was helping me.

As Buffalo Bill said, get it off the road, out of the way, go home, get a trailer, come back to get it. Even if you had to walk home, that is far more survivable than pushing a bike.

.

 

[Carter Turk]

Got your 10,000 steps in then. Woop!

 

[Boriqua]

LOL .. its funny now but .. whew .. I should know better. Every year we lose a bunch of people to the heat. Avid hikers or out of town people dont realize that blazing sun is a killer because there is no humidity. You dont feel all sweaty so you dont think its that hot. Unless of course you try and touch anything that has been outside for 2 minutes!

I dont have a trailer or a hitch on my car but I there is a local uhaul and I think I could have pushed it up into one of their 19.99 small box trucks. It was brutal out there and you couldnt touch the seat since it was blazing hot. The water came just in time because I felt my heart racing.

I think next time I will leave it where it is. Hate to have it stolen but I do have some theft insurance on it and it wouldnt take that long to rent a uhaul. Unfortunatly I think like so many other things ... my pushing days have come and gone.

 

[Buffalo Bill]

LOL .. its funny now but .. whew .. I should know better. Every year we lose a bunch of people to the heat. Avid hikers or out of town people dont realize that blazing sun is a killer because there is no humidity. You dont feel all sweaty so you dont think its that hot. Unless of course you try and touch anything that has been outside for 2 minutes!

I dont have a trailer or a hitch on my car but I there is a local uhaul and I think I could have pushed it up into one of their 19.99 small box trucks. It was brutal out there and you couldnt touch the seat since it was blazing hot. The water came just in time because I felt my heart racing.

I think next time I will leave it where it is. Hate to have it stolen but I do have some theft insurance on it and it wouldnt take that long to rent a uhaul. Unfortunatly I think like so many other things ... my pushing days have come and gone.

UHaul seems to have bike trailers now, but Just 10 years ago a UHaul desk curmudgeon would not rent me a trailer of any kind to haul a bike!!!
I have a utility trailer that's very useful for hauling all kinds of things, use it allot for lumber. Indispensable for my renovation business.

 

[Boriqua]

UHaul seems to have bike trailers now, but Just 10 years ago a UHaul desk curmudgeon would not rent me a trailer of any kind to haul a bike!!!
I have a utility trailer that's very useful for hauling all kinds of things, use it allot for lumber. Indispensable for my renovation business.

I drive a 2003 Crown vic .. LOVE THAT CAR .. but no hitch. I got the idea of uhaul because a guy in the retirement community I live in was moving two bikes and he got the smallest box truck with a ramp and him and a buddy ran the bikes into the truck and ratchet strapped it to the side rails inside.

I have the number of a good motorcycle tow guy but its not exactly cheap and it could be up to 8 hours before he can pick up your bike. For a couple of bucks I might try the box truck idea or .. throw a hitch on my car.

 

[bccap]

Consider joining AAA then you're covered everywhere. The package adding bikes is a few bucks more but not a lot......

 

[TxGSrider]

I drive a 2003 Crown vic .. LOVE THAT CAR .. but no hitch. I got the idea of uhaul because a guy in the retirement community I live in was moving two bikes and he got the smallest box truck with a ramp and him and a buddy ran the bikes into the truck and ratchet strapped it to the side rails inside.

I have the number of a good motorcycle tow guy but its not exactly cheap and it could be up to 8 hours before he can pick up your bike. For a couple of bucks I might try the box truck idea or .. throw a hitch on my car.

All three of my cars have hitches (even though the manual says not to tow with my two Scions). They are really handy to have when you need one for the occasional tow.

 

[1978GS750E]

Yeah, Uhaul has bike trailers. Around here they rent for $14.99 a day plus tax! All my friends ask me why I don't buy a bike trailer? Why should I for the 5-6 times a year that I use one? I don't have storage, taxes, registration or maintenance on one, and they fix the roadside flats!

 

[earlfor]

All three of my cars have hitches (even though the manual says not to tow with my two Scions). They are really handy to have when you need one for the occasional tow.

I have two utility trailers that are about 5 ft wide and 8 ft long that I use to haul a bike. The tow weight is so small, I could tow a bike on one with a bike. LOL I doubt any car would notice they were back there, tow rated or not. Pushing a bike on a trailer around the yard is not as hard a pushing a loaded wheel barrow. heh

 

[Buffalo Bill]

All three of my cars have hitches (even though the manual says not to tow with my two Scions). They are really handy to have when you need one for the occasional tow.

I've had a hitch on: 1970 Corvette (to haul my race tires & wheels), 1983 Chevrolet Cavalier Z24, 2000 Ford Focus, 2010 Chevrolet HHR, 2014 Ford Focus. Hauled bikes with the Focus's and HHR, NO PROBLEMO…

 

[GS1150Pilot]

Doesn't your insurance cover towing? State Farm sure does.

 

[bwringer]

Last time a bike pooped out on me mid-ride (sudden battery death), I just happened to pull over next to a BlueIndy station. BlueIndy is a network of nifty little electric cars scattered all over Indianapolis, and I'm a member.

So I scanned my BlueIndy card, hopped in, drove to my house, extracted a battery from one of my other bikes, drove back, installed the battery and rode home. I think it was $15 or so for the rental.

Life isn't always so convenient, that's for sure.

And yeah, trailer hitches make cars a lot more useful. For a long time I had trailer hitches simply for bike carriers; I didn't bother to install light wiring until I had to rent a U-Haul trailer to pick up a bike I was buying.