Motorcycle Breakdown – 10/29/2012

Riding my motorcycle is something that brings me great joy. I enjoy the open air, even if it is only to and from work a couple times a month. It was cold outside when I started out and I had “smoke” coming out of the tailpipes.

The day was perfect and I had nothing to complain about. After work, I had an appointment that had me going home a different way than normal. I knew there would be more traffic including lots of stop and go, but it was still going to be faster to get where I needed to be. I was in 6th gear and traffic was slowing. I saw an opening in traffic and went to downshift to pick up speed and hit my opening. I pressed in the clutch and pressed down on the shifter, but it wasn’t there! I let out the clutch and kept going, looking down quickly, I saw the shifter hanging down near the ground. It seems that the shifter had broken right off.

With only the top gear, I had a very tough time moving through traffic. I worked my way to the right lane. I could go as slow as 15 mph before the motorcycle started violently shaking from the engine going too slow. With a huge gap in the traffic in front of me, I was hoping that I coudl keep going and magically get home without stopping. This worked for about two miles before traffic came to a halt. I had no choice but to pull over and admit defeat.

If this had been my van, I would have been furious, but I just laughed about it. Riding a motorcycle is about adventure. I have learned that from many people. So I laughed and then called Danelle to see if she could find a tow truck for me. But while she was looking up a service, I asked her to wait and I would call her back. Then I called my mechanic, Flying Tiger Motorcycles. I asked them if they had a recommendation for a tow company. Eric offered to come out on the side of the road and help get me rolling back to the shop.

On the side of the highway, Eric started working on my bike and got me back into first gear. But when I went to start the bike, the battery was dead. After a push start, I was rolling slowly back to the shop.


In the end, I made it to the motorcycle shop and Danelle came with the kids to pick me up. I laughed about the mess, but overall had a great day!

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