Struggling to move Your bike, ? ,(imagine that..) Please watch guys. My name change.

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It just occured to me that riding a 1967 BSA A65 gave me a lot of experience pushing a motorcycle.
As did a very very poor 15 year old owning a Matchless 350.

It's amazes me these days when I see my weekly bills on how I managed to live on basically nothing back then.

Once I pushed it more than 50 km. Including a few long downhills which gave me a free run.
 
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try doing a u-turn on thick gravel outside my garage! Will be putting down plastic mesh to keep gravel in it’s place before long!
When the 961 ran out of fuel on the motorway in May, the rescue truck guys and their winch did a vg job of hauling it onto the flat bed, once front wheel was in it’s locked tray. Service station had fuel, so that got round ignoring the low fuel light....
 
The only way out of my garage is to push the bike backwards into a 3ft wide alleyway up a very steep hill
I can still do this ok with the commando but my t160 is very difficult
 
Heck, I'm 71 snd I push my Commando up onto my Harbor Freight lift table from the side.

The secret is getting some momentum before you encounter the ramp. Not for the feint of heart.

Once the front wheel rolls into the chock it will stay upright sucurely enough to allow the tie downs to be applied.
Dan,
I ride my bike up the harbor freight lift as I am too short to push it. I also have platforms on both sides as a safety measure. I am pleased with the lift
Mike
 
Mind you. thinking on.... My first riding 'lesson' was with a mate who was going to let me loose on his bike
(H*nda 250 Superdream) at the local gravel pit.
We got a puncture before I'd even had a chance to throw my leg over, so guess who had to push it back??
Probably in my DNA by now....
 
When I first had my Norton I lived on a fairly steep hill in an older part of town where modern road engineering standards were only a suggestion. I used that hill many mornings to bump start my bike so as not to wake the neighbours until one morning I found myself at the bottom of the hill with a bike that wouldn’t start. Being young (and poor) I pushed that bike up the hill. Nearly perished. Never tried again. If it happens today I’m on the phone to a towing service straight away.
 
When I first had my Norton I lived on a fairly steep hill in an older part of town where modern road engineering standards were only a suggestion. I used that hill many mornings to bump start my bike so as not to wake the neighbours until one morning I found myself at the bottom of the hill with a bike that wouldn’t start. Being young (and poor) I pushed that bike up the hill. Nearly perished. Never tried again. If it happens today I’m on the phone to a towing service straight away.
Yep I've done that a few times
 
Really that video in how to push your bike is really common sense, the Norton isn't a heavy old Harley and is a lot easier to push around same as my modern Thruxton 1200 easy as pie to push around, not that I have to much usually push back out the shed door or push it up the lift table ramp to do some maintenance, its all about using your legs, same as if you drop your bike you use your legs to lift the bike back up not your body.

Ashley
 
Honestly ! ( knock on wood ) have never had to push a bike more than couple hundred yds , as a young guy ….. I become so careful , I’m positive when I ride out , I will ride in ….. my “good luck” over now ….
 
Honestly ! ( knock on wood ) have never had to push a bike more than couple hundred yds , as a young guy ….. I become so careful , I’m positive when I ride out , I will ride in ….. my “good luck” over now ….
Now you’ve done it. Better keep your cell phone handy to call the tow truck.
 
Last year I broke down in the mountains with no cell signal. I was on my 750 and coil went bad. I had to push it as well as coast 14 miles down the mountain to get a signal so I could call for help. It half killed me. Broke down at 11 in the morning and got home 7 that night. I could not walk for a few days after…
 
Last year I broke down in the mountains with no cell signal. I was on my 750 and coil went bad. I had to push it as well as coast 14 miles down the mountain to get a signal so I could call for help. It half killed me. Broke down at 11 in the morning and got home 7 that night. I could not walk for a few days after…
That was basically my story. Except I was 17 and it was a 350 Matchless. Much much easier.
 
That was basically my story. Except I was 17 and it was a 350 Matchless. Much much easier.

Years ago I had a Laverda Mirage that broke a chain maybe a mile from where I lived, an uphill incline all the way home pushing it, had the bike about another 2 months after that, couldn't wait to get rid of it and get on a relatively light Commando again
 
Years ago I had a Laverda Mirage that broke a chain maybe a mile from where I lived, an uphill incline all the way home pushing it, had the bike about another 2 months after that, couldn't wait to get rid of it and get on a relatively light Commando again
What was the mirage like?
Years ago I went to buy one from "the bike barn" and came away with a Ducati 860gt !!
 
What was the mirage like?
Years ago I went to buy one from "the bike barn" and came away with a Ducati 860gt !!
To be honest I didn't get on with it. It was very heavy to start with, it vibrated worse than any bike I've ever ridden - at 125 mph my eyeballs were shaking so much I couldn't see where I was going. It hated any rain and the carbs used to get water ingress if the bike was left out (which in them days it was). It did about 25mpg. Breaking the chain was the last thing for me , couldn't wait for it to go. One other point is it had no proper oil fiter, bit like a T140 ! and obviously parts were extremely expensive. I regretted selling a lovely 850mk 2 to get it and went back as soon as it sold. Later on I found out that chain reaking was a fairly common thing ( 98 hp on standard chain) and many suffer crankcase damage when it snaps.....
 
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I once looked at a Slater Egli Vincent " Shadow 70" kit that was sold in the 1970s and never assembled.
Roger Slater was a Laverda dealer so he used Laverda wheels for these kits.
I couldn't believe the weight of those wheels. Pretty sure an Egli built with those wheels would be heavier than a standard Vincent. Which makes you ask, " What's the point?"
Perhaps that's why it still sits in pieces.

Glen
 
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