Things I learned while STRANDED

[Cpl Punishment]

Holy crap, I got pinned!  

eD

How does it feel?

[goldylocks303]

Kind of dirty  

eD

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Especially when he saw who pinned him  

[Allstar]

Greetings, new guy on the forum, anyway...
Along with the repair manual, you should have an electrical and wiring schematic of your machine.

A good place to keep a spare clutch cable is loosely zip-tied to the one in use.  That way you can forget having to thread a cable into your bike in the field, just connect both ends up to where they need to go and ride off, remove the broken one later.  same basic thing can work with all control cables.

[Jeff N]

Greetings, new guy on the forum, anyway...
Along with the repair manual, you should have an electrical and wiring schematic of your machine.

A good place to keep a spare clutch cable is loosely zip-tied to the one in use.  That way you can forget having to thread a cable into your bike in the field, just connect both ends up to where they need to go and ride off, remove the broken one later.  same basic thing can work with all control cables.

Beat me to it.  

[Cpl Punishment]

And, in the case of my old Norton, a COMPLETE SET OF iMPERIAL sOCKETS AND A HEAD GASKET SET. aLWAYS GOT ME HOME, THOUGH.

Sorry about the capitals. Slip of the wrist.  

[XJCoupe]

Great thread!  Another noob here who has lurked some since getting my first bike in the last year.

Only been stranded once, due to a dead battery. Had to buy a set of jumper cables (am I the only one who carries a set in my car anymore?), which now go in my tank bag.

Riding a 25-year-old bike begs for thinking through some of these scenarios (e.g. tie down straps, as mentioned earlier).  I have a copy of the wiring diagram on the bike, but hadn't thought about taking the shop book.  The Honda shop book I got is loose leaf, so I ran it through the scanner at work and now have a PDF.  I think I'll condense that down to what I could realistically could use by the side of the road (hopefully < 50 pages), since taking the whole book isn't convenient.

Hopefully your bike manufacturer has already included a toolkit that allows a reasonable level of "field" servicing.  Taking inventory of the fasteners, etc, on your bike is a good idea -- but don't duplicate what's in the toolkit.  While some of the factory tools may not be ideal, they are there for emergency use.

Someone else mentioned a multimeter, which is a fine idea.  A cheaper alternative that still provides a lot of diagnosing ability is a test light.

[tjhess74]

my number one problem is running out of gas. i like to always stretch to see how far i can go.  aerostich has a folding, laminated cardboard single use 'gas can'.  its basically like a bigger juice box that is prefolded and easy to pack.  im cheap, so after pushing my bike a mile to the next exit on i-95 in bfe florida at 3 am (didnt want to leave it and have to walk back), i learned to take at least one, usually two, small plastic water bottles full of gas with me on long trips.  just make sure they are completely dry (duh) and leave some room at the top so you can slightly squeeze the bottle before putting the top on to allow for expansion. ive never had any issues/problems with them leaking or bursting, however i check on them whenever i stop just to keep my mind at ease.

that previous comment on just taking your tank with you is genious.  why didnt i think of that???  my tank is 7.5 gallons (ie, large), but that beats cupping your hands to hold some gas and then having a nose itch...

[ZZR Rob]

I carry 2 flashlights, 1 penlight and one that can be strapped to your head so if you breakdown at night and you are by yourself you will be able to still work with both hands.

[jschmidt]

1. Sometimes, on a busy highway, you can't hear the earpiece on your cellphone anywhere between the road and that big ass fence that's meant to keep people out.

2. It's just as hard to climb from the inside.

[traveler]

Cell phones seldom work where you end up stranded, unless you do most of your riding in the city.

[Cpl Punishment]

Cell phones seldom work where you end up stranded, unless you do most of your riding in the city.

Today, I bought my first "cellphone". I will report back on how it goes. Possibly.

[panther289]

Found this one late. Recommend tire irons, a torque wrench(if you have the room) and a large ViseGrip clamp. A cut tire late on a Saturday made me aware of these items. Cycle shop sold me the tire but didn't have/want to make the time to change it for me. Ended up rolling the bike to a gas station that loaned me the clamp and torque wrench. Changed the tire by hand and used their air line and a rope to set the bead. Took awhile but got it done. Oh, for those that don't know, the coloured dot on the new tire is lined up with the valve stem to aid in balancing.
Never thought of taking the tank to get gas.  

[Black Ice]

Greetings, new guy on the forum, anyway...
Along with the repair manual, you should have an electrical and wiring schematic of your machine.

A good place to keep a spare clutch cable is loosely zip-tied to the one in use.  That way you can forget having to thread a cable into your bike in the field, just connect both ends up to where they need to go and ride off, remove the broken one later.  same basic thing can work with all control cables.

Welcome to the jungle!!    Great idea, but I would add that you pack a bunch of grease into said cable and rubber-band some plastic wrap around the ends.  Few things suck worse than your backup cable snapping the first time you use it.  

Great idea sticking this, O Moderator Goddess.  It could just save someone's life.  

[bluepoof]

Things I learned while stranded last week:

1) Even if AAA won't tow your bike (unless you have the premium policy; see next point), if you're a member and you call, they will find you the phone numbers of local tow companies that'll tow bikes.

2) If you're a AAA member and tour on your bike, splurge on the premium motorcycle towing policy. Or get a different towing policy.  Either way, don't be like me and think, "I've got 100,000 miles under my belt without needing a tow; I'll never need one!".

3) If you can, throw money at the problem first.  I spent 3 hours fixing a flat tire in 105F heat when I should have just gotten the tow in the first place.  I wound up needing the tow anyway and, by that point, I was dehydrated, sunburnt, frustrated, etc.

I'm sure I learned more but that's what's off the top of my head.

[oblivion]

How about a pencil and scratch paper - good for jotting down phone numbers, part numbers, or a note if you have to leave your bike.  

[Black Ice]

How about a pencil and scratch paper - good for jotting down phone numbers, part numbers, or a note if you have to leave your bike.  

Good one!  

[trainwreck]

This weekend I learned the hard way that many oem tool kits do not have allen wrenches; rather infuriating considering fully faired bikes need the fairing removed to anything with the motor and much of the electrical system.  Also don't drop your cell phone in a puddle, not that anyone really needs to be reminded of this.

[VisabilityIsEverything]

I see a lot about tire plug kits and air compressors that run off 12vDC,  why not just a can of fix a flat? Am I doing something terribly wrong by carying a tire cure in a can? Not trying to be sarcastic, just wondering why no one mentioned it, I can not be the only one that swears by it? My riding partner spent all sorts of money on a tiny air compressor, and plug kits, bla bla bla, fix a flat never failed me, although I never had to use it on a bike, I figured it would work just as well as it did on my car!

Later,

Mark

Speaking of tires,  a tire pressure gauge is good to have around and doesnt take up much space.

[black hills]

#1 thing to me is a properly functioning brain.. You can't believe the  people I have stopped to help only to have it be a problem that they could have worked around. Remember to stop and think first, come up with a plan and then get to work. A few other thoughts

Most bikes have a dual throttle cable system, you can usually use the return cable to replace the pull cable.

You can ride fairly easily without a clutch cable. Stops are tricky, but it can be done.

For tubeless tires a simply plug and CO2 kit is great, add a small bicycle pump. It takes a long time but is better than finding your CO2 cartridges are junk and not having an option

carry a masterlink for your chain.

Electrical tape and duct tape are very versatile

A turkey baster is a great fuel transfer device