Pretty Sad...

[greenmonster]

I belatedly took my bike out of storage today...can't believe I did it so late.
I rolled her out of the garage, gave her a good washing, then rode her back into the garage.
How's THAT for a road trip, eh? but I'm getting ahead of myself. it didn't start out so smoothly...


now for the sad, sorry-ass part:

I took the battery off the charger it's been hooked up to since last october or thereabouts. I put the battery back in her and turn the key, set the choke...gauge lights come on. hit the starter button. silence-ish. just a small, muted hum/sorta kind of noise that slowly wound down. like the way a weak battery acts when trying to turn the starter...but much quieter. headlight isn't on. but it comes on with the starter button pushed. i'm thinking wtf? I pop the fuse box...they all look good. I try several more times...no go. sooo I pull the battery out, thinking I'll take it to the auto parts store for a load test, even tho the charger said the battery was at full strength. but who knows, right? stranger things have happened. like roswell. suddenly I remember I have a volt meter buried somewhere in the basement. dig it out, hook it up...it says the battery is ok. fine, then. I put the battery back in, thinking it's an electrical f-up somewhere. I have no clue. a bad connection? frayed wire insulation? I'm scratching my head. what can it BE??? what am I missing? I walk back into the house, when suddenly it hits me...is the bike in gear? I had her up on a rear wheel stand all winter. as far as I can remember, I've kept the bike(s) in neutral as a part of my ritual of storing the bike. ok, so out I go the the garage, and as I approach the bike, I'm thinking "PLEASE don't rotate when I push on the rear tire!" Gave it a little push...THE FUCKING THING IS IN GEAR!!! Woo-Hoo! 2 seconds later I'm muttering to myself "how can I be so stoopid?" (don't answer that) Put it in neutral, hit the starter and she fires right up, as if she'd never been stored.
I walk back into the house, shaking my head in disbelief, and call to Peg..."Peg, I'll give you 3 guesses as to why the bike wouldn't start." She says "no gas in the tank?" strike one. "didn't turn the key on?" strike two. "put the battery in wrong?" strike three.
I say, "nope, the bike was in gear. you can't start a bike when it's in gear without at least pulling in the clutch." I look down at my dog, Cooper. "Jesus, Cooper, even YOU could've figured it out, and that's saying something." I've been riding since 1986 and this has never happened before. just goes to show you that life can throw you curve balls no matter how experienced you are or how smart you think you are. and that's the end of my sad, sorry-ass story.

ps...Sean...remember the fuel gauge problem? the disconnected wiring to the sender...d'oh!

[MotoFreak]

Nice! At least it was an easy fix. I think we've all little instances like that (or maybe its just me)...and of course, the best part is sharing em with everyone!!!

[stoinkythepig]

FYI, the humming noise you heard was the fuel pump (it's a carbureted Kawasaki, right?). You just learned the "secret" trick to priming the fuel bowls before running the starter. It's also a great way to test the fuel pump for excessive noise.

[sveesix]

The thing that I always forget to do is disengage the kill switch.

[SVRACER01]

older hondas would turn over and over and over if the kill switch was in the OFF position

[nhbubba]

I had/have one of those Hondas. Wore a battery flat once with that problem. Fortunately the same Honda has a kick-starter.

This spring I rolled mine out of storage, splashed some fuel in the tank, fired it up. Couldn't understand why it idled kind of okay, but ran like poop as soon as I got on the throttle... then suddenly realized the fuel was below the reserve level and didn't have the petcock set to res. Doh..

[schleppy]

You have such awesome luck Mark! The old "check the simple things first" rule is still one I'm trying to learn. Hopefully we will get it someday