[DumbLuck]

what? who me? do something stupid on a bike? never !!!!! (the list is long and impressive) I always try to check that the lights aint on before i walk away.

I've always been tempted to wire a switch into the headlight circuit for when the battery gets low. no lights might just get me the little extra juice to kick the skoot over. US bikes have a little jumper in the right switchpod connector block for the headlight circuit you can use, or get a canadian or european right switchpod with the headlight on/off switch in it. this, however, wont help with leaving the tail light on as it's a different circuit.

[kidblooper]

yep i've done that a few times

[cybrnathan]

Guilty... I've done it only once so far though. I make it a habit of turning the key all the way to that point of "I'm going to drain your battery if you leave the key here mark, Moron" and then turning it back to the Lock position. Lesson learned

[whrich13]

i've almost done that, but i've noticed that all my lights were on before i walked away. but if the battery dies, just pop start it, simple enough...just need a slight downhill

[Electrical_Tech]

That depends on how bad it dies. If your battery is completely flat, you're S.O.L. That's what happend to me. No juice, no go not even a bump start.

[Suzy750f]

CenCalKat My question is why did you leave the bike and take the batt??? You could have jumped it or even push started it.

I tried push starting mine one day, down hill, down lots of hills. Not even worth a try. Try a jump or charge the battery.

[Slofuze]

Been there....done that......and have a new battery to prove it!

[A_Lady]

I haven't done it, but hubby has on his Ninja. So when I got my Kat, he pointed it out to me, so I make sure I'm in the lock position and not Park.

[The CyberPoet]

I'll go you one worse in the "I'm in a rush/being an idiot about lights" category...

I was at the '04 or '05 rally, and another rider and I were running late to eat at the Tapaco Inn (the last place in the area to still be open for food that late in the evening) -- trying to get in the door before the kitchen & restaurant as a whole closed. We zipped into the parking lot and pretty much ran inside... when we came back out after eating, I realized not only had I not shut off the running lights, I had left the key in the slot AND left in run with the headlights on (it would appear I just hit the kill switch and then blanked on anything but food as I dashed off). Battery was so dead, it didn't even want to light up the dash.

Fortunately some local popped by to grab a six-pack of beer with his pick-up truck and was willing to let me charge off his jumper cables (5 minutes) while he got his beer, then I finally got it started. By the time I got back to Fontana, the battery was cook-top hot from charging as I rode... I let it cool down, then charged overnight on a charger and was fine -- but I replaced it about a month down the road anyway; it had seen better days at that point, with the casing actually being a bit wavy from the heat of that ride back.

From that day on, I've been extra cautious about the lights on the Kat... The ZX-14 I have now has the running light option in the other direction -- past run clockwise, instead of past park counter-clockwise.

Cheers
=-= The CyberPoet

[Rangerx52]

never done that. but i did do something dumb about a month ago

bike was running kinda rough, so i figured i'd look at it after work. SO i turned sat on the bike, leaned it to the center, turned the key and hit start. nothin.

i had recently rewired my signal lights, so i thought F*** i've blown a fuse or killed a relay, or i've finally found that bad switch that people pepper the mechanics 101 room with, and i was nowhere near replacement parts.

pull off my helmet and gloves, get halfway through a profanity till i realized the kickstand didnt pop all the way up , it fell just short of contacting the button.

and yeah, people saw. curses.

[JokerZwild]

never done that. but i did do something dumb about a month ago

bike was running kinda rough, so i figured i'd look at it after work. SO i turned sat on the bike, leaned it to the center, turned the key and hit start. nothin.

i had recently rewired my signal lights, so i thought F*** i've blown a fuse or killed a relay, or i've finally found that bad switch that people pepper the mechanics 101 room with, and i was nowhere near replacement parts.

pull off my helmet and gloves, get halfway through a profanity till i realized the kickstand didnt pop all the way up , it fell just short of contacting the button.


and yeah, people saw. curses.

Yep been there a few times! But after the first you tend to realize it and dbl check b4 you wig out.

[JHILDE]

I have left mine in Park for several hours (8+ hours) and it has been fine. All LED's, with the exception of the headlights, draws very little power.

JHILDE