Blonde moment - rode with the oil filler cap off!

[Stormtrooper]

I thought I would share my first blonde moment with my Monster!

After a hard ride a few days back I unscrewed the oil filler cap to let the condensation vent from the crankcase, hence avoiding the cloudy sight glass thing...

Yesterday, the brother in law comes over and his 7yr old begged me to take the motorcycle out so he can hear it...I gratuitously comply.  Yes, you can see where this is going.  I completely space out and forget that I hadn't screwed the oil filler cap back down...and of course the kid is firing out 20 questions as I rolled the bike out of the garage as to further distract me.  With a small audience,  I ride up and down the street a couple times.  As I pull back into the garage I noticed my pant leg was wet and I smell oil.  I look down, and see the the entire right side of the bike covered in oil! I jump off panic stricken and quickly realized my goof.  Of course everyone was like "OMG your bike exploded" as it sat there covered in oil accumulating a puddle beneath it.  I tried explaining there is nothing wrong with the bike except for its stupid owner.  LOL

I cleaned the bike up, added back a teeny bit of oil, threw my jeans in the wash, and no harm was done...except for my ego.  Oil will shoot out of there like a damn geyser if you leave the cap off!  Don't do this at home people!  

[the_Journeyman]

I cranked by old Bandit without the oil cap on.  Once.  It was ugly. 

JM

[stopintime]

My idea was to accelerate the oil glass de-cloudy-ing and the genious touch was to just let it idle.
Better than riding it, but still good for a right side thin layer of warm oil.

I think it was on a Honda I recently saw a sight glass with an internal viper - operated from the outside by a flat head screw driver.

[danaid]

    that sucks!

 I recently quickly parked my bike, jumping off without the kickstand locked forward. I felt for an instant the bike start to fall, than all of the weight. The fear that developed caused a super burst of adrenalin that allowed me to catch the bike in an instant. Underwear change was needed when I got home. 

[RBX QB]

Been there, done that... all over my dad's cruiser.  

Now I put the cap up by the ignition so I don't repeat it.

[LMT]

Blond men all over the world are now yelling that their hair is grey, grey damn it, not blond!

[suzyj]

My idea was to accelerate the oil glass de-cloudy-ing and the genious touch was to just let it idle.
Better than riding it, but still good for a right side thin layer of warm oil.

I think it was on a Honda I recently saw a sight glass with an internal viper - operated from the outside by a flat head screw driver.

Yeah, me daughter's Spada has that. Very clever those Honda engineers.

Rumour has it their bikes actually start reliably, too.

[Gossamer_in_FLL]

I don't know about EVERYone having moments like yours Storm, but I certainly had mine...twice.

You know how it is when you first get a new car or a new bike...you have to develop habits to start it up or shut down / park. 

To start it up you might put the key in, turn it to the on position, flip the kill switch and start up your bike to warm it up while you zip up your jacket (for the northerners), put your helmet and gloves on and mount.  Kick up the kickstand, shift into gear, rev a couple of times (this step is a MUST), and off you go.

To shut down you might flip the kill switch, dismount, unzip your jacket, take your gloves off and then your helmet.  Grab your key and off you go.

You keen observers may have noticed I left an important step out of that shut down process...yep.  TWICE I forgot to put the kickstand down.  The first time I compounded my mistake by trying to hold up the bike with my leg as well as by pulling on it.  Result? Huge leg bruise, bike down (no scratches, thank God), broken OEM lever and a sprawled rider across my job's parking lot (let's not even talk about my ego).  This led to the first mod on my Monster - shorty, adjustable levers.

My second mod was bar-end mirrors.  I hadn't had them on more than 2 HOURS when it happened again.  I was distracted by how cool my mirrors looked that I forgot the all-important kickstand down step of the shut down process and down I went again...this time stumbling about 30 feet in front of my house.  Result? Scratched brand new bar end mirrors (no bruise this time...I just rolled with it) and a crushed ego.

Thankfully, there was no audience (to my knowledge) to see both my goofs.  At least that's what I tell myself whenever I think of these embarrassing incidents.

[kuzemko]

I was changing the oil on my first bike ('03 Bandit 600) and trying to get it up onto the center-stand. I was standing next to it in the garage rather than straddling it and while rocking it back I lost balance and tipped it away from me.

I had a good hold of it since I was rocking it back, so I tried to hold it and pull it back. Ended up just slowly letting the bike go over the opposite side. Worst part was stumbling looking for footing and completely doing a header over the bike after it laid down. Felt like a complete idiot, but only a broken brake lever. Lesson learned.

My second bike (DRZ-400) got treated like a dirt bike, so it went down often, but typically not due to completely bone-head maneuvers. Typically in the dirt.

I'm so careful with my 696 now that I would probably cry and look into witness protection program if I downed it for something idiotic... I've got their number handy just in case... bound to happen eventually.

[Skybarney]

I have a fool proof system for never forgetting to put the kickstand down.  I use the kickstand as the off switch.  Can't remember the last time I used the off switch or the key to turn off the bike.  It has been so long that after my last service I nearly walked into the dealer to ask them why the hell my bike was not starting.   

[SpikeC]

 I find it interesting that the msf teaches to use the kill switch to turn the motor off, butt Ducati says to not use it unless it is an emergency. I personally agree with Ducati on this.

[Kev M]

I find it interesting that the msf teaches to use the kill switch to turn the motor off, butt Ducati says to not use it unless it is an emergency. I personally agree with Ducati on this.

MSF teaches it so that it becomes automatic (muscle-memory). That way you'll do it like a reflex if you ever need it in an emergency.

Guzzi also says to use the key to shut the bike off (at least they do with their current bikes, I don't believe they did on the older EFI ones, but I honestly never checked/cared).

I use the stop switch...


That said, on a related note to this thread - I've never seen any moisture in the sight glass (696) is this a difference in models or usage?