Off, Run and Reserve are the three positions. O.K., Still sounds kind of pornographic talking about three positions. Stay with me, there is a point cumming, I mean coming.
While in Colorado on storm duty, I was on my way back to the airport rental to return my rental vehicle. It was about 97 degrees, with no breeze, and no clouds. I spotted a guy on the side of the freeway sitting on a guard rail next to his motorcycle. He was not on the phone, and not doing anything, which led me to believe he might need a hand. (Of course I stopped).
I asked, "Are you just resting, or is the bike giving you trouble?"
He said, "I'm out of gas."
Me,"I gotta ask the obvious, how bout the reserve?"
Him, "I tried it. No gas. Won't start."
Me, "Let me run through the scenarios. Were you riding, realized you ran out of gas, and hit reserve, and ran that out too?"
Him, "No."
Me, " You had it on reserve when you left, not realizing you were on reserve, and drained all of the gas?"
Him, "No, I ran out of gas, coasted to this spot here, turned on the reserve and tried to start it a couple of times. It won't start, so there must not be any gas."
Me, "There's gotta be enough gas in there to get you about 20 miles or so. You have a pressurized petcock. You need to give your throttle about two to three full turns while the bike is off, hit the choke, and she should start right up. Mind if I give it a try?"
Him, "Sure, go ahead."
I gave it a try, and she fired right up.
Him, "Thanks a million! You are a life saver. Where the hell were you 45 minutes ago?"
I followed him to the Airport area nearest gas station, and was then on my way home.
I posted this story not to boast about what I did for this guy, but to share a little knowledge for those of you who might not already know this. Hopefully I can save someone else the headache of thinking they are screwed when they are really just fine.
Happy trails!
11 comments:
Thanks for the tip. I love learning new things about motorcycles. I don't have a carberated (sp) bike, but it could be useful when riding with someone who does, or like in your case, when someone is on the side of the road, thinking they are screwed.
Ok, now you need to call this dude and tell him to switch off of reserve again. lol!
I'm laughing because many years ago I left my pet cock on reserve and ran out of fuel, thinking I had reserve....yeah.
Good on you for stopping to help a brother, too often we see someone stopped on the side of the road and just assume he is taking a break, we need to stop and check.
Atta Boy! You did you good deed for the day! Now I'm trying to figure out how a dude didn't know that?
The one thing I'm most diligent about since I started riding... gas... and how much I've got. (not talking about the Beano kind either)
I'm sure he'll never make this same mistake twice. Thanks for passing on a great tip and reminder... check your gas!
lmao!!!!!! ive got a story bout the 1st time (20+ yrs ago) that i heard the name "petcock"... lol...
Mr.M...This story makes me feel good in my heart...Thanks for helping him out...he may've been a dumb ass but so what
OK ...this comment is for mq01...don't tell you never heard of a pet cock....lol...you know mq01...we all luv ya dear
You said pet-cock….ha, ha, ha…yea I know I’m just an over sized kid.
Big Al
my petcock has been whacked since 2005. No reserve. just run out of gas...no matter what I do...it's still as empty as a dry rotted deflated tire in the desert. You would think I would take a few mins. to replace it...
You would think....
You did a good thing. I've been there. Oh I knew how to get it started right. It was the Beerthirty after work and thinking when I leave the bar I'll get some gas. Damn Bud!
Oh my, chessie... Your pet-cock has been whacked since 2005? Naughty!
Post a Comment