Always check the simple first

[Ringel05]

I had let my bike sit for almost a month, went to start it up and while the "dashboard" lit up it wouldn't start. Ordered a well rated trickle charger which arrived yesterday and immediately hooked up the battery. Well I noticed about ten minutes later that the fully charged light had turned green but it still wouldn't start. That's when I realized the bike wasn't in neutral.......... Put it in neutral and it fired right up.........

At least now I have a trickle charger for when I do need it.......

 

[jbrownson0831]

I had let my bike sit for almost a month, went to start it up and while the "dashboard" lit up it wouldn't start. Ordered a well rated trickle charger which arrived yesterday and immediately hooked up the battery. Well I noticed about ten minutes later that the fully charged light had turned green but it still wouldn't start. That's when I realized the bike wasn't in neutral.......... Put it in neutral and it fired right up.........

At least now I have a trickle charger for when I do need it.......

Like Carl says....."it aint got no gas in it"......

 

[Baron Von Murderpaws]

I had let my bike sit for almost a month, went to start it up and while the "dashboard" lit up it wouldn't start. Ordered a well rated trickle charger which arrived yesterday and immediately hooked up the battery. Well I noticed about ten minutes later that the fully charged light had turned green but it still wouldn't start. That's when I realized the bike wasn't in neutral.......... Put it in neutral and it fired right up.........

At least now I have a trickle charger for when I do need it.......

Oh hell.............do I know THAT feeling!!!
Have worked on my own vehicles for years to avoid those price gouging mechanics.
I've done this on NUMEROUS occassions. Spent a bunch of money on things that didn't work, to find out it was just a loose connection, broken hose, bad fuse, or something stupidly simple.

 

[toobfreak]

I had let my bike sit for almost a month, went to start it up and while the "dashboard" lit up it wouldn't start. Ordered a well rated trickle charger which arrived yesterday and immediately hooked up the battery. Well I noticed about ten minutes later that the fully charged light had turned green but it still wouldn't start. That's when I realized the bike wasn't in neutral.......... Put it in neutral and it fired right up.........
At least now I have a trickle charger for when I do need it.......

That's Troubleshooting Rule #1.

I like watching the show Storm Chasers where this big shot know-it-all meteorologist jackass rides around with Doppler On Wheels chasing tornadoes trying to discover what creates them. One day the guy's computer which runs the radar stopped working. No picture at all on the monitor. Instead of simply checking the interconnect between the computer and the display first which often go bad because most are cheaply made in China, he took the computer in and spent the entire day at a computer shop, who obviously found nothing wrong at all with the thing.

Another time, the same idiot demanded his team head one way to a storm when everyone told him just looking out the damn window that the storm was the OTHER way! But he would not listen. Would not believe people's EYES. After missing the storm totally, he discovered he had the initial compass settings in his system reversed and his display was showing East as West.

 

[1srelluc]

Reminds me of the time I used a friend's Yamaha 4-wheeler and had to walk back to hunt camp (about 2 miles) because I had inadvertently hit the kill switch and did not realize it.....We doubled on my Honda (I had let my dad use it on another lease) and he put the switch where it was supposed to be and it started right up.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

I had let my bike sit for almost a month, went to start it up and while the "dashboard" lit up it wouldn't start. Ordered a well rated trickle charger which arrived yesterday and immediately hooked up the battery. Well I noticed about ten minutes later that the fully charged light had turned green but it still wouldn't start. That's when I realized the bike wasn't in neutral.......... Put it in neutral and it fired right up.........

At least now I have a trickle charger for when I do need it.......

Yeah...I remember my first street bike.
I put some gas in it and went to leave the gas station and it would stall every time I tried to take off.
I learned you had to put the kickstand up.
Another feature that protects the stupid.

 

[Paleman]

Oh hell.............do I know THAT feeling!!!
Have worked on my own vehicles for years to avoid those price gouging mechanics.
I've done this on NUMEROUS occassions. Spent a bunch of money on things that didn't work, to find out it was just a loose connection, broken hose, bad fuse, or something stupidly simple.

I got a better one. This goes back over 60 years, when I was still a teenager. I had an old 1930 vintage car that would not start. Thought it was the starter so decided to replace it. In order to do, so I had to drop the rear axle for clearance, which I did. Installed the starter, but it would not start. At this point, even though the gas gauge indicated 1/4 full, I tested the tank and found that it was empty. Talk about frustrated.

 

[Ringel05]

Yeah...I remember my first street bike.
I put some gas in it and went to leave the gas station and it would stall every time I tried to take off.
I learned you had to put the kickstand up.
Another feature that protects the stupid.

Yeah, I learned that the first time I tried to ride my bike........ Tried about 4 or 5 times before I figured it out.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Yeah, I learned that the first time I tried to ride my bike........ Tried about 4 or 5 times before I figured it out.

When the Wife and I first met my bike was my only means of transportation.
Someone tried to steal it from our apartment parking lot one night so I bought a cable lock.
Normally I'd run the cable through the front wheel and around the frame.
Well I forgot to remove it one morning and I rode to work without issue....only to look down and see the cable still hanging there.
I immediately turned ghost white and got nauseous....I had only run the cable through the forks rather than the wheel.
Had it got caught in the rim it would have been an extremely bad day.

 

[Paleman]

I got a better one. This goes back over 60 years, when I was still a teenager. I had an old 1930 vintage car that would not start. Thought it was the starter so decided to replace it. In order to do, so I had to drop the rear axle for clearance, which I did. Installed the starter, but it would not start. At this point, even though the gas gauge indicated 1/4 full, I tested the tank and found that it was empty. Talk about frustrated.

My memory is getting better. It was the fuel pump that was being replaced and not the starter. My bad.