[DesertRat]

Sometimes life sucks guys.
I'm riding home from work. It's a nice 30 mile drive of freeways. I exit and wait at the red light. It turns green and I pull in the clutch and shift to first. It jerks and stalls. That's not right....kickstand isn't down. Back into neutral and try again. Same. It felt like the clutch wasn't being engaged when I was shifting so I check the cable and sure enough, only a few stretched wires holding on. I'm blocking traffic, so I try to adjust the lever so it would pull more and try again. It just snaps off. Great. Pull to the side, call for a help and wait....at a red light...with every one looking. I guess you don't see to many broken down motorcycles.
I've never been one to discriminate other riders for what they ride, but only one rider stopped to see if he could help...a Harley guy.
Anyways, got home and the part is ordered. 2 to 4 days. I hate driving to work in a cage as I wait for it to come. :thumbdown

Question though, where do you guys strap this bike down? I tried to go up high by the handlebars but couldn't find a nice area free of cables. Had to go low to the frame. Held, but way more wobble then I want.

Could have been worse, but not a great day.

 

[NVKrawler]

bummer man! What year six do you ride?

I strap my o6 on the triple... i recently purhcased canyon dancers but havent used them yet, that is another option for you.

 

[YamahaJoe]

thats horrible man at least one person stopped. i strap mine from the handles i bought nylon straps from the dealer (actually they gave them to me haha) and they loop around the handles then i hook them to my tie downs then strap it to the trailor. I push down on the bars to push the forks in then have a buddy pull the tie down tight. no movement at all once its done

 

[Dark]

Sucks to hear bro. At least you had someone that came to get you and that it wasn't raining.

Most Harley guys are SUPER nice, you have to realize that when they see a young rider they are always tempted to stop and help since most of them have children (that parent instinct kicks in).

Where was the cable sheering/fraying apart at? ^^What year is your bike?
This would be good to know for other owners to keep an eye on.

 

[cashmoneyflo]

gotta lube ur cables so they dont fray

 

[joose]

Thought i'd chime in.... sucks you broke down but it couldve been worse...as always.

But lessons learned... Stop and help someone if you can. Cars/bikes, whatever.
It sux to be stranded and maybe when you help someone...someone might be willing to help you.

 

[nitrosportman]

i had that happen on my gixxer once coming to a red light i got lucky and and it turned green in time i just did the whole clutchless shift thing all the way home had to really time the rest of the red lights

 

[DesertRat]

Thanks guys. It's an 05. I admit this is almost certainly my fault. I never thought to even check the cables, let alone lube them. I probably would have seen signs of trouble. Lesson learned there. It broke right where it connects to the clutch lever.

NVKrawler, what are canyon dancers?

I don't have a triple tree front stand. I guess I just need to find a way to go to the front handlebars. Any other ideas there? Or maybe some pictures of it done?

 

[reck1ess]

i had that happen on my gixxer once coming to a red light i got lucky and and it turned green in time i just did the whole clutchless shift thing all the way home had to really time the rest of the red lights

how do you go about doing clutch-less shifting? i've been driving a manual cage for 3 years and riding for 2 and i've never heard of that

 

[Owen_R6]

just matchin the revs and shifting without the clutch...

 

[MityMouse]

+1 on the cayon dancer. I've got one and it comes in very handy. Got mine at a local stealership.
It's a strap with collars that slide over your grips. Then you just run ratchet straps to the loops on both sides. Costs like $35 and well worth it. I used mine to hang my bike from the ceiling to take the front tire off.