for noobs like me

[hadesducati848]

not sure if this was mentioned before but i figured id post since i havnt seen anything on it yet. i almost dropped and or rearended a parked car in a parking lot yesterday while making a u turn luckily i was able to stop and hold up my 848 at a weird angle and fix the problem. what happened was that earlyer that day i add an extra key to my keyring for the bike.

this is what i normally have 1 bike key and 1 bike lock key.


then i added an extra bike lock key cause i needed to get my GFs bike for her later. so this is what i did


as i started to turn the extra key slipped in between the handle bar locker and frame and got stuck! and i was unable to come out of my turn and hitting the breaks while leaning over at a slow speed is not fun at all. i am so glad i didnt hit anything or drop the 848


and here is what the key looked like after i got it unstuck


so the lesson learned is that you dont want anything near that handle bar locker that might get stuck. i know now it sounds like common sense but i swear before hand i never thought that it would have been a problem.

[Autostrada Pilot]

Good reminder.

I personally only have the bike key right now.  I'll find a nice rubber (so it won't scratch the tank) piece of flair for the key ring, but I have set a limit at 1 other item on the key ring.  Thanks for reaffirming my limit to 1 item besides the bike key.

Good work on keeping the bike from falling down.....that's one of the most stressful situations.

[Slide Panda]

I keep my bike key on my TOB lanyard (Hey flounders.. how about some new ones?) clip off ring. The rest of the keys I need live on a little carabener clipped to the lanyard. That way, no extra keys to bang about the tank, or worse. And when I'm done on the bike, the key gets clipped back to the end of the lanyard for easy keeping track of.

[triangleforge]

Great reminder!!! I've got two keys on the Monster key ring (ignition & a disc lock key), and three for the ST key ring (ignition, disc lock & hard bags lock). All but the two ignition keys have clear vinyl tubing on them, which I put there AFTER the first couple of rides with the Monster and I noticed where the disc lock key had been smacking at the paint on the tank next to the ignition. 

[NAKID]

Single key, no ring or anything. I was always more worried about scratching the tank, but that's another good reason not to.

[Goat_Herder]

Nice job keeping the bike up and not adding to "128 ways to drop your bike".

[hadesducati848]

thank you. yeah i am glad the title wasnt "so i dropped my make the beast with two backsing bike after hitting a parked car today"
but i have to admit that it is a strange feeling when you try to straighten out your handle bars and lean upright and the bike is still stuck in a lean/turn and the handle bars dont want to move

[ducpainter]

thank you. yeah i am glad the title wasnt "so i dropped my make the beast with two backsing bike after hitting a parked car today"
but i have to admit that it is a strange feeling when you try to straighten out your handle bars and lean upright and the bike is still stuck in a lean/turn and the handle bars dont want to move

I can sympathize.

Years ago I went in to a store in Cambridge MA.

I locked the forks on my bike. Back then the fork lock was independent of the ignition.

I came out of the store, started the bike, and proceeded to pull away from the curb.

All went well until I tried to straighten the thing up. You did a much better job of it...I launched.

[Scottish]

Yeah, I have all my keys for each vechicle seperate. That way I carry 1 house key, and only the key to whatever I'm using at any given moment... but I hate stuff in my pockets.

[1KDS]

Good post I have never thought about this before.  I always just carry the bike key as it's a pleasure vehicle not a dd so I don't need house keys, work keys, etc. etc.

[justinrhenry]

i've learned to only have one key attached to my  bike keychain.  flopping keys are known to scratch things that you don't want scratched. 

[akmnstr]

I keep all my bike keys naked just like the bikes.  I seem to be much better a loosing individual keys that keys on a ring but, so far no lost bike keys.