I had an issue once with not starting. Was going to take the wife for our first ride after being together for a couple of years (yeah yeah...I waited a while haha). I had the bike on the lift doing a little rear end work on the turn signals and after I had back on the ground it wouldn't start. Not only did I blow a fuse from exposed wires I forgot to heat shrink, I had a full blown retard moment and had the bike in gear...man was I pissed the next day when I realized the green "N" wasn't lit up. So I shifted into neutral and wouldn't ya know...the ol' girl fired right up. The wife just said "Wow, get it together and let's go ride." Luckily the babysitter was available the next day and we went riding around the hills of Northern California.

So yeah that was my "duh" moment of a simple bike repair...any other takers?

 

My wifes uncle couldn't get his bike to start, said he tried everything. He trailered it and took it to the dealer the Service tech looked at him and said "Turn the run switch on and try it". He catches so much **** over that to this day and that was 4 yrs ago!!

 

This reminds me of my lawn mower. I worked on trying to find out why I couldn't get it to start for about 4 hours before I remembered that you have to be sitting on the seat to start it.

 

That would be when I confuse *inch pounds* with *foot pounds*. Come on admit it, I'm not alone.

 

you are not alone on this!!

 

Almost the same thing. I had just changed the batteries in BOTH fobs. Trailered
the bike to the dealer. Called later that day...said it was ready. Good thing I left the fob with them. Heck of a dealer,no charge for me guess they enjoyed the laugh.

 

While doing a minor electrical mod I forgot to turn the ignition switch off. The end of the hot wire that I was working on slid off of my knee and just barely touched the rear fender strut. It arced and left a 2" scratch in the chrome. Most people don't notice it from 2 feet away but I see it and it still bothers me years later.

 

Mine was leaving the needle out of carb on my last Sportster and then trying to start it....hmmmmm.....oh what's that laying on bench?

 

Mine always seems to be forgetting to wrap a towel around the tank or fender and nicking the paint with a wrench handle. Crap, not again!

 

Hemmm that happened to me when I first got my Harley.... Was at a gas station and the bike wouldn't start. It took a little bit to realise I forgot to turn the switch to run. I guess it's not as bad as trying to turn the engine over using the horn button, have done that a time or two.