Pucker-factor

[SteveNZ]

I did a stupid thing today...

Got a warant-of-fitness for the valk today (6 monthly inspection to see if your vehicle meets NZ standards) That in itself is quite an ordeal as I have TBR 6 into 6 fitted. NZ law says bikes of our catagory must be below 97dba @ 4500rpm measured 500mm (20in) 45 degrees behind each pipe. My baby blew 94.9dba, she passed!! The guy testing her, was all smiles and loved the sound...as do I , (but she is only just beginning to sing @ 4500rpm, @ 5500-6000 she is at full note and is gorgeous, winding her way up in third and changing to fourth where the needle drops back to just under 5000 is an absolute symphony...but I digress)

So I leave the testing station a very happy man with all the paperwork to say I am very much legal, not long after I am sitting in traffic waiting for light to change, two lanes going my direction, I am in left lane, wanting to turn left (we drive on left over here) car-full of bros rolls up beside me, they can hear my baby burbling away, they all stare appreciatively, one of them give is wrist a flick and calls "rev it bro!" I give my wrist a little flick, prob about 2000rpm, like in a cartoon, all 5 of them go "whoa!!" "more" the first guy calls, I shake my head and point to my ears (I wear a full face helmet) and try to make them understand she is too loud for such close traffic. They seem disappointed, and go back to pointing and staring.

OK so lights change and we roll slowly forward, as I near the front of the queue, I realise I am the only one turning left, the road to the left is open and clear, I decide to give these bros a bit of a show, treat them to some music!!

It was right about this moment I went from the mature, sensible biker to complete idiot. I gun my baby up, I’m guessing she got to 3500 or so in first as I screamed her around this corner, not enough to break her out, but enough to sound like a loud, bad-ass biker. This is going well for the first half of the turn, I am imagining people turning heads to look at the musical beast and the mighty man who would tame her, then I see it...MANHOLE COVER!!!...back wheel hits the steel cover (thank God the front didn’t let go) and immediately breaks free, revs go from circa 3500 to full noise in an instant and I am going a lot more sideways than I wanted to!

After several minutes the back wheel bit again and she righted herself (actually it was probably no more than 2 seconds, but it felt like about 5 minutes) Whoa!!! OK whack her into second and get the H outta here before someone recognises me.

So whats your 'own-stupidity-pucker-factor' story?

[Black Dog]

Love it...  Love it 

Last summer, I was headed in to town (I live about 25 miles west of Milwaukee), and was at an intersection controlled by a light.  Two lanes heading east, right lane, is right turn only...  Young kid is in the right lane, but the way he's inching forward, I realize he's gonna continue ahead, and not turn right.

Here's where the 'stupid factor' comes in  ...  I figgure, no way that lil' Toyota is gonna jump in front of me...  I rev the Valk up, catch the yellow light outta the corner of my eye (indicating a red, for cross traffic will be in a second), and when my light goes green, I twist the wick, and pop the clutch, in perfect harmony...  Problem is that the rear wheel breaks loose, and I do a smokin' fish tail through the intersection, without having planned to do so...  Scared the crap outta myself, and at the next intersection, the kid, now behind me, was screaming at me 'ARE YOU CRAZY!!!!'...  Maybe the answer, at that moment, was yes... 

Never had I ever done a burn out, never even tried (Tires = $$$)...  But that was my first and last...  'Pucker Factor' = Off the charts 

Black Dog

[Iron Mike]

1997 I had a shiney new YZF 600.  Was heading to a hobby shop to pick up a motor for a radio control airplane.  The thing about 600's is they make about 100 hp.  It is all from about 7500-12,000 rpm!!!!   Well, I get by the mall and see some girls I knew.  I gun it pick up a fat wheelie (yeah I know  ).  Well captain stupid here gets throttle locked getting pulled off the back of the bike as it tries to shoot out from under me!.  Now my pants are full.   It takes all my strengh to pull myself up on the bike to get out of the throttle. Now the light is changing.  Some how I get full on the brakes doing a stoppie I manage to not hit the car in front of me.  Now I get to the hobby shop.  I park around the side hoping nobody witnessed my near death experience do to stupidity. I even lefy my $600 helmet on the bike!  I go in and the guy at the counter (who I know well) was going off about the idiot on the blue crotch rocket.  I just bought my motor and agreed with them.  I could have died of embaressment.  Through a lot of luck, a cool head and a little skill  i doged a darwin award!   

[GreenLantern57]

OK you didn't specify about having to be on a Valk!  1975, I had laughed at a guy that had been tossing his helmet and dropped it. He got embarassed and bravado set in. He wanted to fight. I said OK after school.  Well, I had a Honda 1974 250MR Elsinore. Street/trail king of the hill and street. Least to me she was! 
Well, 2 hrs later and I was full of adrenaline. We headed to an open field, and I decided to cut across a church parking lot.  All I meant to do was hit the ditch and get some air before reving across the lot. I pulled the wheel too far up and landed on my back wheel. My front in the air and me sitting down. Scared now, I kept the front in the air and rode that way for about 100 yards.  The guy was sooo impressed, and a bit scared now. All we did was talk about our bikes.   I asked him if he would have laughed at me dropping my helmet.  He said Yeah!  We laughed, shook hands and went our own way. I got lots of pats on the back for my riding prowness. Later I told my friend, I thougt I was going to eat a lot of pavement.  God I loved that bike, we had as much fun on the street as we did at the lake! Elsinores ruled!

[ThreeAces97]

I was on my VTC 700 Shadow (1984), I bought 3 days after graduating from College and was out at night riding with a couple of buddies.     We were coming up to an intersection that had a shopping plaza to the left.   We were turning left at the intersection so I decided to cut through the plaza and beat my buddies out of the intersection.    The parking lot was lit, no cars in it as I was zipping through it at a high rate of speed.   I come around the last store, shooting a line to hit the cut through road and in my way are a line of parking curbs.    I couldn't brake in time and I couldn't turn to avoid them.   By the grace of God I was able to get between the 6 inch separation (I went through them at close to 45 degree angle) cleanly and on down to the road.   It took the next ten miles to clear my mind of my stupidity and thank the Lord for watching over my dumb A$$.

[hubcapsc]

I was headed back to the pits once after a race (at Hell Hole, I bet Detn8ter has raced there) and everyone
was funneling back to the pits through a crowded pinch point at the corner of a big dirt field. It was clear to
me that not only could I head straight back to the pits by crossing the field, there was even a terrace in
the field to jump over.

Well... it wasn't a terrace, it was holding back a large pond!!!! No matter how hard you hit the brakes in the air,
you still land in the pond. My girlfriend took a picture of me fishing the bike out of the pond, I gotta find that
thing...

-Mike

[SteveNZ]

bump

[Brad]

A few years ago during the month of July I was riding my GL500 down the Mount Rose hi way from lake Tahoe to Reno.  It is a very twisty road and a lot of fun to ride.  Even though it was in July it had snowed the week before and they had sanded the road.  I took a corner a little too fast and started to slide in the sand.  I was doing all I could to keep the bike from getting away but the guard rail was coming fast.  My tires caught the large berm of sand at the edge of the road and the bike slowly came to rest against the guard rail.  I dismounted and sat on the guard rail for about 5 minutes trying to get my heart rate down.  A car passed going the other way while I was in the slide and he turned around to see what happened.  He was as surprised as I was to see me sitting on the rail.  He said that when he went by the look on my face said "I am going to die".  I still ride that road all the time but I don't go too fast unless I am going down the same road that I went up.  That way I know the condition of the surface.