Live and learn

Motorcycles give us the opportunity to explore, and I think this is a big piece of why we all fall in love with them. The first time you get on a bike when you’re a kid, the freedom you feel is something unexplainable. A feeling I’ll never stop pursuing. Another part of exploring with motorcycles for me has been figuring out how they work, and learning how to fix them. These adventures can be just as exciting as the riding sometimes!

I’m at a point now where there isn’t much I’m scared to tackle when it comes to working on bikes, and that’s a fairly rewarding place to be in. Being able to work on your own bike saves you money, not to mention giving you something to pass the time with. Fixing problems is something I find rewarding, so I don’t mind having to invest the time to do it. The lessons you have to learn along the way to become competent are part of the process that I enjoy a lot less, though. On the bright side, most of the lessons come with some entertaining stories.

I had the luxury of racing for factory teams during most of my career, and before that my dad always took care of our bikes. When I was a kid, I didn’t have a lot of interest in how things worked; I would help my dad wash bikes and do air filters, but beyond that I didn’t attempt much. I think most kids are this way, and working on your own bikes eventually comes from necessity, not from choice. Once you’re an adult and own your own bikes, you need to be able to maintain them. This is where I arrived when I was in my late teens, I started to work on my own bikes, and would ask for help where needed. I learned some easy lessons, some hard, but all of them have contributed to the large bank of knowledge I rely on today.

I have a funny story to tell from a hard lesson learned, coming from the classic mistake of overlooking the most simple and obvious details.

Back in 2012 when I was racing World Superbike, I came home for the two-month recovery from my neck fracture. At the six-week mark I started riding motocross again and was training lots on my KTM 250 SX two-stroke at our local sand track to get back into shape. It was a perfect hot afternoon to put some laps in, couldn’t have asked for a better day. My bike was prepped so I unloaded everything, put my gear on and went to do some laps.

I’ve ridden two-strokes my whole life, and had quite a few of them blow up on me, so I know the feeling and how the bike acts. I got about five laps into warming up, and the bike started to act like it was losing compression. I recently had the cylinder ported and polished, so as soon as the bike started bogging a couple times and felt like I had no power, I shut it off to try and minimize damage. Luckily this happened not too far from the pit area, so I pushed the bike back. I wasn’t a happy camper to say the least, but at least I got a good workout in.

Back home I go. I wanted to get back to riding as soon as possible, so was hoping it was just a quick piston and rings with no real damage to the cylinder, and I could be back out the next day. I started tearing the bike down – off the side shrouds came, drained the coolant, and started to unbolt the gas tank. I got the gas tank loose, picked it up off the bike, and thought to myself, man these plastic tanks are light. Didn’t think much beyond that, was just focused on getting the cylinder off, so kept working.

Cylinder comes off, everything looks fine. Piston and rings look brand new. Now I’m really sour. I pick the tank up again and shake it to confirm there is some gas in it, but hear nothing. Took the cap off and flipped it upside down, nothing. Ran out of gas, and tore the top end off the bike, awesome.

I laugh so hard every time I tell this story. I feel a bit of shame telling the story, but I think we all have some experiences like this one where you fail to check the most obvious details, and jump to a worst-case scenario conclusion without thinking it through.

This is the beauty of motorcycles: you live, and you learn. The living you do around bikes is some of the best possible, and the learning isn’t far behind. IM