My most common motorcycle injury..

[Jess from VA]

isn't from riding it, it's from working on it.

I cannot tell you how many times I have come up under one of the handlebars and bonked my old head hard, scraped off the skin and bled from the head wound.  I even tell myself to not do it again before starting, and sometimes I remember.  But you get to working and kneeling and moving around, and BANG it happens again.  I am not going to wear a helmet to work on my bike.

Since I can't stop doing it, I'm thinking about cobbling together some kind of heavy padded things to slip over the hand grips before I start to protect me.   

[cookiedough]

buy a cheap bicycle helmet nice and lightweight not even know it is on the old noggin...

[Valker]

I use oven mitts over the grips.

[da prez]

  Jess , you can buy those fake foam boobs to slip on. Old2soon told me.

                                                      da prez

[Jess from VA]

I use oven mitts over the grips.

Not a bad idea Eric, but I think a little skimpy on padding.  Thanks.

When I get up under those bars, I'm using leg power and it's a hard hit.

So I was out in the bike shed thinking about it earlier, looking for a way to pad them up, and it came to me.

I have two pair of big long padded gauntlet leather gloves I never wear anymore (Gerbing and HD) (I don't go when it's that cold anymore, and I don't like the loss of feel on the controls).  I went inside and found them, took them out and put them on the grips and they work like a charm.  And I would not have thought of them without the oven mitt suggestion.  

And no thanks (anyway) on the fake boobs.    (And just how does Dennis know about them anyway?  Wait, don't tell me.)


And man I just cannot get a break in the bad weather.  Thunderstorms and high winds were forecast for this afternoon, so I was in Walmart at opening, then on the treadmill for an hour, then a quick breakfast for a shorter high 60s mid-day ride, but then the weatherman said it all blows in RIGHT NOW.  Crap.      

[NewValker]

I hear ya on the weather Jess, I did get out for a scoot Wednesday. Felt good…now the ground has thawed and I have mud and muck to get thru till it dries out. And with your storm coming here Monday, Oprah will stay in the trailer for a bit longer.
And hell  yeah on going to Wally World at opening time! Gotta beat the EBT carders clogging up the works…

Craig

[Jess from VA]

I hear ya on the weather Jess, I did get out for a scoot Wednesday. Felt good…now the ground has thawed and I have mud and muck to get thru till it dries out. And with your storm coming here Monday, Oprah will stay in the trailer for a bit longer.
And hell  yeah on going to Wally World at opening time! Gotta beat the EBT carders clogging up the works…

Craig

Funny you mention that Craig.  I know nothing about that stuff, but I do know that at nearly all my local stores, as I patiently wait in the checkout line, there are people (sometimes a bit scruffy) ahead of me having trouble with getting their credit cards being accepted, putting them in over and over and talking with the check out lady about it, and then eventually they go through (EBTs?).  Mine always goes through instantly.  I've suspected that involved 'govt welfare' of some sort, but no idea really.

Going early is just less hassle all the way around.  

Also, I have like 5 watches with dead batteries (my one good chronograph works, but I will not beat it up).  I almost never wear one anymore anyway, because who cares what time it is?   I used to have a little jewelry shop that did them for me, but they moved.  So rather than find some new place (and maybe have to make an appointment, or two trips) I just bought a cheap Timex for hard use at the Walmart today.  But I had to buy it right at the watch counter as people apparently can't be trusted not to steal them.  This was just as good because I wanted to actually see it work before I bought it.  Of course, this reasoning is why I have 5 with dead batteries in them.  

EDIT:  Well with the big winds and front moving through, the weather guessers were wrong, and thunder storms were postponed to this evening, so I just got back from a 2.5 hour wonderful ride in 70 degrees.  The winds were fierce at times so I got to ride and sail together.  I cannot tell you how much that raised my spirits.  I try very hard to avoid performance awards (and haven't had a moving violation in over 20 years), but I hit 85 for a while.  I couldn't help it.  

There's just not that many things in my life that make me feel like a kid (or a young man) again.     

[Rams]

This type of thing is one reason I bought a lift for my bikes but won't lie about it, the main reason was my bad knees.   Now I can raise the bike or trike up to the level I want and sit in a chair while I break something.

Don't ask how I came to that conclusion.

Rams 

[Jess from VA]

Ron I really prefer to use my bike jack to work on or even wash/wax the bikes.

I don't lift it way up, just 6-8 inches, but it's stable and solid, and the bars swing free.  Everything is easier.  And working on it lifted with my new roller stool is perfect.  I just duck walk around the bike sitting on the stool.

But I can still whack my head coming up under a bar even lifted.

But I have to drag the thing out and the adapter, line it all up (getting up and down a few times), and so I don't do it most of the time.  Esp for after-ride wipe downs before I put it away (and BONK  ).

[MAD6Gun]

 I hear ya Jess. I've done that myself more times then i like but the difference is I have the LaMonster pointed bar bullets installed on the ends. Needless to say it hurts a bit more....

[Jess from VA]

I hear ya Jess. I've done that myself more times then i like but the difference is I have the LaMonster pointed bar bullets installed on the ends. Needless to say it hurts a bit more....

I remember those things Mark.  It always seemed to me they could cause real injury in a fall and slide (or some kind of get-off).

[MAD6Gun]

I hear ya Jess. I've done that myself more times then i like but the difference is I have the LaMonster pointed bar bullets installed on the ends. Needless to say it hurts a bit more....

I remember those things Mark.  It always seemed to me they could cause real injury in a fall and slide (or some kind of get-off).

 Possibly but they do look cool......