Preamble:
Through my own fault, on a trip to Brighton (had day off work and it was a lovely day) I drained my battery on my Triumph TT600.
I went home by train, got a spare battery I had, made sure it was charged up then went back to Brighton with battery & [just in case] jump leads & battery charger.
Changed battery, pressed starter switch and …lots of clicking. Grrrrr. Second battery is duff - (charges OK but flops under load).
Found nice flat owner who put first battery to charge up for a few hours (nice sunny weather for a drink on the beach), changed battery and …lots of clicking. Grrrrr, needed to charge for longer.
Used jump leads to slave in both batteries, but still not enough oomph [technical term] to get engine firing up.
Decided a jump start was needed, but no car drivers to ask.
So wait for a biker to stop and offer to help…
The meat:
So, there am I with bike by side of road, seat off, big bright jump leads spread over bike, me in stripped down leathers, hoping that car will park nearby or can get biker to stop,
So, thinking next biker past will stop, I wait.
5 bikers pass in about 20 min, all see me and ride right past.
Methinks perhaps I ought to try a bit harder, so I try to waive the next few down with ever increasing signs of desperation, but none stop.
Must have been about 15 proper bikes (no mopeds or learners counted) that sailed straight on by.
So, is it me - I’d have stopped were roles reversed - or is it just Brighton?
Finale:
Eventually a nice bloke in a VW Golf parked nearby and kindly let me use his battery. Didn’t start Golf engine as don’t want to risk over-voltage.
But then, to make a bad day worse, I noticed the engine management light was on. On the way back I found the horn wouldn’t work. Thought horn fuse, but handbook says fuse covers indicators & brake lights too, but in any case why fail at same time as engine management light coming on? Will have a look at these at the weekend.
when i broke down (yes i no many times b4 you say it) the only person who helped me was a mod on a vespa who lent me a plug spanner and the time after that a bin man who gave me a push on the bike lool. but i stop all the time if i see a biker in need.like the chap last year on the mayday who tryed to jump his ducati off my 125 battery pmfsl i said it wont work! and my bro was 5mins behind on his 900 that did the job:D
Bikings not as tight knit as it used to be because more people do it and because, unlike in the past - when a lot of bikers were mechanically savvy and did their own maintenance etc (and were therefore keen/happy to see if they could help out a fellow two wheeler) - these days a lot of people that ride bikes have them maintained by dealers and shops (because people don’t have the time/space to learn/do this stuff anymore and because we have moved from an industrial economy when a lot of blokes were used to doing mechanical things and getting their hands dirty to a service economy where people tap keyboards and get someone else to do oily mechanical stuff for them - including many bikers - consequently they are less inclined/confident that they can help a fellow stranded biker. Thats my theory anyway. Plus we are more selfish these days and people expect that with mobile phones/breakdown cover etc being so ubiquitous that you’ll probably be ok anyway. Saying that - I’ve stopped for stranded bikers in the past to see if I can help.oh yeah - and because bikes are getting so fugging electronic and complicated that you can’t fix them anyway.
Oh I don’t know. . .
Sorry for the long-winded sociological explanation.
When I was stood at the side of the road looking sorry for myself after my minor off two chaps stopped to see if I was ok, which was nice.
When I’ve been a corner man passing bikers have given me the ok? thumbs up a few times also.
I think people are a lot more suspicious these days though. They might have thought you were a highway bandit with a gang waiting to steal their bike once they’d stopped. Well maybe.
Sounds like you were unlucky. A couple of Saturdays ago I stopped on the hard shoulder of the A21, just before the roundabout where you join the M25, to find out why my satnav had stopped talking to me. Within about 10 seconds, a guy on a Ducati stopped to check I was ok. Top guy.
One solution would be for you to always ride with a leather-clad girlfriend riding pillion. Other bikers will be fighting each other to give you assistance, especially the ones in Brighton! :laugh:
these days a lot of people that ride bikes have them maintained by dealers and shops (because people don’t have the time/space to learn/do this stuff anymore and because we have moved from an industrial economy when a lot of blokes were used to doing mechanical things and getting their hands dirty to a service economy where people tap keyboards and get someone else to do oily mechanical stuff for them - including many bikers - consequently they are less inclined/confident that they can help a fellow stranded biker.
–nice theory Sid, but I disagree. I know sod all about mechanics and sit at a desk all day tapping away but if someone was flagging people down for help, I’d like to think I’d stop and hope most other people would. (That’s not to say I’m so great, I’m not.) I think it was a case of bad luck and a long line of selfish idiots rode by. I stopped once to just adjust my luggage and bungee cords and another biker came by and asked if I was ok. I’d like to think that’s the norm, or maybe it was just that I was in Wales and not the southeast.
I expect your right Alistair - good to know people still stop for each other - I was probably just over-analysing things as usual! :PI’ve been helpful too - a few years back I was riding along the Chelsea embankment at 2.00 in the morning and saw some courier pushing his bike along - turned out he ran out of Juice - told him to jump on the back and took him to a petrol station where he bought a bottle of mineral water (decanted it) and filled it up with petrol - took him back to his bike - and saw him go off on his way - he was really happy we had a chat and he showed me a pic from his wallet of his missus and kiddie which was touching - we then rode off on our separate ways into the night.
Last summer I was posted at a roundabout in what seemed like the middle of nowhere to help direct riders to the Excel Car Park for the Unity Ride. I had two seperate non-Unity bikers stop to see if I and my scooter needed asistance!
Oi…I moved down to Brighton end of last year from East London.
Didn’t realise there was a class system in biking, but have come to learn that through this site. Must be the easy 5 mins access to the great roads of Sussex and the ability to ride rings round most of you lot (exceptions include - Seb, Jonny Bravo, Powderpuff girl and Ducati pete) on the track that makes me a poser. Why don’t you lot stay sipping your coffee round Frith Street and Borough instead of cluttering (and crashing) up our roads if you don’t like it.
Bad that no-one stopped to help the OP, though by the metal faced/bulldog bash/tattoed looks of some of you most people would hesitate…
Sorry Elad, should have put you in the exceptions list, those lean angles on the old Thundercat at Brands… you certainly have the skills to pay the bills.No camomile for me today. But fed up with reading bashes to other bikers from a bunch of armchair pundits and coffee drinking kerb crawlers. See I can do it too
hehe, wasn’t fishing for addition to the list…still got a year of practice to go…but have been missing your commentary ! I’ve got a GSXR now as well …;
“Bad that no-one stopped to help the OP, though by the metal faced/bulldog bash/tattoed looks of some of you most people would hesitate…”
Oi. I’m a very respectable bloke. I have no tattoos, am not big (except where it really counts, if you know what I mean, but don’t listen to my ex-wife) so can’t see there is anything to be scared of. Nowadays I’m more of an aging accountant than a hairy biker.
BTW tattoos etc; are all fine by me - each to their own. I’ve been thinking of getting one for years, but can’t make my mind up what & where…
I’ve been waiting to say this for ages, hee hee,…you can’t comment properly about other bikers until you’ve put some time in, I’d say 25 yrs + (which my 30 yrs meets)
Have fun out there!
Cheers,
Ian
ps Jetstream was right - a dozen trips and 40+ miles, the engine man sys light is out…
