Most Memorable Breakdowns

In honor of Bigincher (Tom Johnson) post your most memorable breakdown. Tom suggested the idea in the loaded up topic.

Ongoing topics on interesting subjects, what did you do on/with your bike (or other things)?
Ratedspeed
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Re: Most Memorable Breakdowns

#16

Post by Ratedspeed »

Back in the 80's the wife and I were out for a putt on the pan and about 20 miles from home we got off the bypass to merge onto rt.30 in Downingtown, Pa. and when I gave it some throttle the engine just flared up like the clutch was slipping so I pulled off the road to check out the situation to find that I had lost all the rear sprocket rivets, the sprocket was just spinning on the drum, so I went through my tool bag and found about six cotter pins that fit snug in the sprocket and we were able to ease the bike about a quarter mile up the road to a gas station where I was able to purchase enough cotter pins to fill all the rivet holes along with some extras just in case and was able to nurse the bike 20 miles back home. What at first appeared to be a SOL moment turned out to be just a thirty minute inconvenience,
drinner-okc
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Re: Most Memorable Breakdowns

#17

Post by drinner-okc »

I'm gonna post this even though it's not my breakdown. since I retired from my real job 2 years ago I've been working 'part time' (most weeks are over 40 hours...I'm not doing something right) at an independent bike shop in Mustang, OK. We are about the only place in town that works on Evos, Shovels, Pans & even Knucks. Yesterday afternoon we had a young man ride in on a late 70's (ish) Superglide. The young man is from Brazil, he bought this bike 2 weeks ago in California, rode up the coast & then headed East to Daytona. Unknown bike, alone in America & minimal english.
The bike was knocking & smoking bad from the rear cylinder. The closest Harley dealer directed him our way. We made a rough estimate of repairs figuring it was a lost wrist pin keeper, broken or burnt piston. I took him to a local hotel last night and this morning we started the tear down. They cylinders are max bored, the rear piston lost a clip & the gouge is deep as a penny. Also the head bolts had no washers & both head gaskets were puking oil. (think the bolts had bottomed out) When we got both cylinders pulled, the rods were very loose & had like a hundred thousandths side play. So we had to completely refigure the repairs. The cost of a complete overhaul is way beyond his budget.
He's young and has been posting his trip on social media, he posted he was having to quit due to breaking down. Someone in Brazil starting a crowd fund or go-fund-me type deal. He got either a text or message that his friends had raised & were sending enough $$ to repair the bike correctly, and put him up in a hotel for 3 nights. Today we got the engine completely torn down & cleaned, Timkens replaced & the Pinion polished & fit for new rollers.
It had the worst crank pin I've ever seen. But on the Plus Side..we did find all the spiral-lock ring!
Mark44
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Re: Most Memorable Breakdowns

#18

Post by Mark44 »

My breakdowns are more mundane than some of the others in this thread. I wasn't doing a cross-country trip in another country or a multi-thousand mile trip across the U.S. My most memorable breakdown happened about 16 years ago, on a longish ride (for me) from where I live in Washington state over to Idaho and Montana and back, about 1500 miles in all. I was on my 2000 Superglide and my way back home coming through Wallace, ID, when the engine started making a lot of noise. It was a Sunday, and I thought that if I could make it to Coeur d'Alene, I might find a shop that could help me out. I was on I-90, and riding at about 35 mph in the slow lane or in the road margin. As I got to C d'A, the engine didn't sound any worse, so I thought I would have better luck finding a shop in Spokane, WA, a larger city.

Continuing on, the engine was still holding together so I continued on past Spokane, and stopped for the day at Ritzville, WA, a small town in Eastern WA. My plan of action for the next day was to leave early the next morning so as to cross the Columbia River and make it up the 10-mile-long grade on the west side of the Columbia while the temperature was still cool, and from there, make it up to Snoqualmie Pass and then back to the house.

Fortunately for me, the engine held together all the way home. As many of you might have already guessed, the problem was the notorious cam chain tensioners had reached the ends of their lives. Not long after that, I had my local Indy replace that cam with an Andrews gear-drive setup.
Ratedspeed wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 2:45 am I gave it some throttle the engine just flared up like the clutch was slipping so I pulled off the road to check out the situation to find that I had lost all the rear sprocket rivets, the sprocket was just spinning on the drum
The exact same thing happened to me on a ride a few years back on my Panhead, on a local ride near my home. While pulling up a long hill the last remaining rivets on the rear sprocket sheared off, as if the trans had slipped out of fourth gear. I pulled off the road and parked the bike in a safe place, then stuck out my thumb. As luck would have it, the second car to come by was someone who lived in my neighborhood, and he gave me a ride all the way home. Once I got home, I drove back to where the bike was parked with my trailer, and brought the bike home. I had the wheel off the next morning, took it to the same Indy, who welded the sprocket back on. The pan was back on the road less than 24 hours after the incident.
flatboy1950
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Re: Most Memorable Breakdowns

#19

Post by flatboy1950 »

I had a comical non breakdown way back : I was putting in to work on my customized 45" , cruising along the beach front road here in Durban , South Africa. I suddenly felt the bike bumping up & down in tune to a loud Bang Bang Bang .... stamped in the clutch & switched off the motor , ripped off my helmet to a deadly silence !! Kicked the motor over a couple of times , all free , rolled the bike back & forth , all free. Started the motor again , all fine , engaged first , all fine & took off. Went about 10 yards and suddenly : Bang , Bang , Bang again. Stomped in the clutch & switched off the motor again and coasted to a halt. Bang , bang , bang ..... the noise went on ; took of my helmet & looked around to see a pile driver at a construction site !!
Looked back down the road to see a bunch of ripples in the road surface , I had been watching some surfers & not seen the bumps as the construction workers tested the pile driver !!!!
Flatboy.
Mongrel505558
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Re: Most Memorable Breakdowns

#20

Post by Mongrel505558 »

flatboy1950 wrote: Wed May 31, 2023 9:42 am I had a comical non breakdown way back : I was putting in to work on my customized 45" , cruising along the beach front road here in Durban , South Africa. I suddenly felt the bike bumping up & down in tune to a loud Bang Bang Bang .... stamped in the clutch & switched off the motor , ripped off my helmet to a deadly silence !! Kicked the motor over a couple of times , all free , rolled the bike back & forth , all free. Started the motor again , all fine , engaged first , all fine & took off. Went about 10 yards and suddenly : Bang , Bang , Bang again. Stomped in the clutch & switched off the motor again and coasted to a halt. Bang , bang , bang ..... the noise went on ; took of my helmet & looked around to see a pile driver at a construction site !!
Looked back down the road to see a bunch of ripples in the road surface , I had been watching some surfers & not seen the bumps as the construction workers tested the pile driver !!!!
Flatboy.
Reminds me of the first time I rode near a bike with a stereo, back in the late 1980's or early nineties. The speakers and fidelity weren't all that great back then. I was on shovelhead and kept hearing this squawking-type sound that seemed to come from my primary case. Knowing what's inside, I couldn't come up with any scenario in my head to explain it. Then we came to a stoplight and I realized the sound was coming from the stereo on the bike in front of me.
Northman
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Re: Most Memorable Breakdowns

#21

Post by Northman »

Here's one that comes to mind..
The wife and I left Stevens point mid June and headed to Sydney Nova Scotia via u.p. through Sioux St.Marie and through Canada. The bike started running on one cylinder somewhere before Montreal. I limped it along untill I could get over and off the freeway. I Found a parking lot and stopped to inspect, couldn't find the issue, poke around, pull, prod, check plugs spark yada yada..start the bike runs fine, take off....10min. down the super slab it starts in again, bang, pop, fart, running on one cylinder again. Here we go... start maneuvering up to the next exit and there just happens to be a shop there. Pull in the lot....closed. ok time for another look, can't find anything, don't see anything gotta be something with the ecm bypass I installed. ( had the Magneti Marelli system) back on the highway we go one cylinder dead, putt putt putt. No cell phone, no one speaks English, what's that? ...Ah ha, a bill board for a h-d dealer, Piedmont H-D. Perfect, it's Saturday everything closed, looks like we're staying till Monday and hopefully they will get us in? Found a flea bag motel not far from the shop. 4 doors down from our room, a couple working girls were busy doing what they do. A couple blocks down looked like a little festival of sorts. Let's check it out, It sure was, and the sign said BEER. We sat around and listened to the band sing 50's and 60's tunes. After about 6 or 7 beverages I asked the gal at the beverage wagon (Julia) who spoke English and French who the band was and where from. She said they have quite a following...since they don't speak English. I said huh? And she's laughing saying nope not lick. I was like ...All lip sync and not an instrument played? By now we are both laughing our asses off. Sunday was a day of nursing Saturday evenings fun. Monday morning we pushed it down to the dealership door waiting to open. They got us in mid morning and we waited patiently for 4-5 hours. Finally we were on our way... until we got to the end of driveway. Sputter sputter spit fart....Turn around, go back in. Bike misses like crazy. Can't even get out of 1st gear. So the sit and wait starts all over once again. Finally, just before closing and a lot of me asking what's going on, we were on the road. The trouble was tuning the bike to the cam. The aftermarket ecm did fail and the OEM system had to be re mapped or tuned, if you will...the rest of the trip was trouble free, the weather was a lot of rain and sleet. It was 54 degrees when we arrived in Sydney, the warmest day of the year. We rode around the cape with fair weather then headed south down through Maine and to the Poconos. Great ride.
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