was buzzing around last night. sitting on the side of the rode was a man and his bike. i gave him the thumbs up and he returned the thumbs down.

so a couple turns and u turns and got back to the spot and i pulled over. he asked if i knew much about bikes to which i replied some, but not much.

he had a 2001 and it would crank but not even cough. he said it backfired and that was all she wrote. it was in awesome shape and clean. he said he had some work done to the engine but had never had any problems.

i waited with him, didn't like the place he was at so i put on my flashers. the tow truck, the flat bed kind came and i helped him load it and strap it down.

so my quesion is - who out there could have even started helping with some diagnostics past 'does it have gas' or 'did you try the reserve tank'.

 

Was it a carb or an EFI?

 

You doing a code check or something like that.

 

There are some "road side" diagnostics, easy enough to determine if it is a fuel, fire or air problem. If you have all those something should happen. If you figure which one of those, you can eliminate further, for example you might get it down to a plug wire, coil, etc. if it is electrical. I stop and try to walk guys through or help when I can, but in these days I'm wary about touching anybody else's ride unless I know them, too much liability, even if what happens is no one's fault, people today are quick to judge. In the old days, everybody helped and if you were willing to give a hand, one was accepted. Times have changed ........

 

i've tried helpin a few ppl out but i'm like you, i only know a little and what little i do know its mainly about my bike.

most of the time when i pull over to help someone i try to diagnose and if its not "that easy" (it hardly ever is) then i just offer to let them use my phone....thats the best i can do most of the time

 

I stopped for someone a couple years ago who had the same problem...it was a carb engine and turned out he just flooded it.....told him to wait for a bit...1/2 hour or so later I tried it and it fired right up

 

Wife and I were riding our bikes this past weekend in Southern NH (Rt.124 Jaffery area).
Comming around a downhill left hand turn and we see a bike down with rider still sitting
down after the fall. There were 3 of his buddies helping him. They were riding alittle fast
for this road and then downhill lefthand 90 degree turn came up too fast.
He was lucking because 4 more feet and he would have nailed a 4 foot deep culvert.
We carry water all the time (for drinking) and some paper towels. If we had our touring
bikes we would have also had a medic kit. It was a Softail Classic, bent up the engine
guard bars and headlights/aux lights. He got some wicked good road (gravel) rash and
a NASTY chunck of flesh (size of a half dollar) taken out of his elbow. We washed
out all his cuts and then 2 of their other buddies showed up (they were front riders).
One of them lived 10 min away so we straighten up his bike (all the controls & bars)
and had one of his friends pre-ride it before he rode. One thing for sure he was a
hurten puppy on the next day ! BTW ... He was wearing a half helmet and only had
a scratch on his nose (NH is a helmetless state and they were from MA).
Rob .....

 

it was carb
and i have no idea how to do a code check - guess i should check that out at least for myself

back in the day i could figure stuff out - had a honda 750 4 cyl with 4 carb and i would tune/balance those 4 carbs which was a real trick

i had thought about checking that fuel was actually coming down the tube but then decided:
- i had no tools except for a pocket knife
- didn't want to spill gas over his pretty engine
- usually the gas hose doesn't get clogged so what to check next

i had thought about checking for spark but:
- i have gotten zapped doing this in the past and didn't want to get zapped, especially if i had drained gas all over the engine from the previous step
- didnt have then necessary tools

 

You did the right thing. First, admitting your own limitations is key to stay out of other troubles. Second, you stopped! That alone says a lot. Then you hung out until help came. Even though it may be awkward with some, I'm sure the person appreciated not waiting alone. In this day of cell phones, roadside plans, etc., the only thing missing is someone to share the time with and you were it. Good for you!

 

I stopped a while back to help a guy out that had the positive wire broken off of his coil, luckily I had some ring terminals ans a pair of needle nose visegrips, the ring terminals turned out to be too big, but the visegrips came in handy, I eventually had to leave him sitting in the strip mail parking lot, but left him my pliers. About two days later I stopped to help another guy broke down on side of the road, this time the guy had everything he needed and I was there for moral support only. Both time though it was a good feeling to know that I stopped to help.