Never Leave Scooters Idle on the Side Stand!
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2015 3:01 pm
I threw the dice and I lost. . .stupid stupid me.
Was in a hurry last Sunday night after just getting back from dining out and started up the Roughhouse to let it warm up and parked it on the side stand in my driveway. Since the temps have been dropping a bit I noticed it will idle a bit higher in the RPMs until it quiets down and is ready to ride but I figured it would be OK "this time". Wrong!!!
As I was bringing leftovers in from the car into the house I heard the thing drop and realized just at that point I will never. . .never. . .ever do that again.
I knew it's something that one shouldn't do but I allowed complacence to override my common sense and expedite the way to disaster. . .well almost disaster. Fortunately the only thing I had to replace was the left brake lever. That being said the rear turn signal suffered only scratches and remained in place. The left handlebar grip was mildly distorted and the bottom edge of the floorboard received some minor scrapes forward and aft. No body work was damaged. . .big relief.
It took some effort to get the machine restarted (since the carb was on it's side) but it finally caught and I took it for a short ride just to make sure everything was OK. The back brake was useless of course so I put the scooter to rest for a week and I expect my new brake lever to arrive any day now. . .about $25 bucks later (including shipping).
So the moral to the story is and always has been to start a scooter on the center stand if you are going to walk away from it. . .even for a minute.
The weather has taken a turn for the better now. . .it's almost like summer. . .and I'm hoping the new brake lever gets here today. . .I need to ride. . .go figure.
Was in a hurry last Sunday night after just getting back from dining out and started up the Roughhouse to let it warm up and parked it on the side stand in my driveway. Since the temps have been dropping a bit I noticed it will idle a bit higher in the RPMs until it quiets down and is ready to ride but I figured it would be OK "this time". Wrong!!!
As I was bringing leftovers in from the car into the house I heard the thing drop and realized just at that point I will never. . .never. . .ever do that again.
I knew it's something that one shouldn't do but I allowed complacence to override my common sense and expedite the way to disaster. . .well almost disaster. Fortunately the only thing I had to replace was the left brake lever. That being said the rear turn signal suffered only scratches and remained in place. The left handlebar grip was mildly distorted and the bottom edge of the floorboard received some minor scrapes forward and aft. No body work was damaged. . .big relief.
It took some effort to get the machine restarted (since the carb was on it's side) but it finally caught and I took it for a short ride just to make sure everything was OK. The back brake was useless of course so I put the scooter to rest for a week and I expect my new brake lever to arrive any day now. . .about $25 bucks later (including shipping).
So the moral to the story is and always has been to start a scooter on the center stand if you are going to walk away from it. . .even for a minute.
The weather has taken a turn for the better now. . .it's almost like summer. . .and I'm hoping the new brake lever gets here today. . .I need to ride. . .go figure.