The day my motorbike lost power and nearly set alight

At the beginning of September, I started doing a motorbike maintenance course at Hackney College. One of the items on my ever growing bucket list is to take a motorbike travelling holiday and I thought it would be a good idea to get some basic mechanic knowledge behind me before going on any kind of long distance trip.

While I’m not 100 percent sure where I want to go on my bike yet, one of my dream trips would be to try and replicate the amazing Santiago to San Francisco surf trip Tom and Sally did a few years ago!

Anyway…the motorbike maintenance course at Hackney is a ten week evening course. Most of the people there are like me – bikers who want to know a bit more about how to service their bikes, either so they can save money by doing it themselves, or because they are also going on long distance trips. (Stay tuned for my review of the course in a few weeks).

The course is very practical and you learn how to work on your own bike (and others) from the second lesson. Changing the brake fluid, replacing the air filter and adjusting the chain are just some of the lessons we have covered so far.

My motorbike lost power!

A few weeks ago I was riding home from the course and just about to join the A40 when I noticed my motorbike lost power and started chugging along. I shifted gear a few times thinking I was in the wrong one and when that made no difference, I pulled over to a side road and stopped the bike. As I came to a stop, I noticed grey smoke coming from the bike.⁣

I turned the bike off and walked around it to see if there was any visible issue. As there wasn’t, I tried to start the bike once more. As the engine wouldn’t tick over and the oil light had come on (although there was no issue with the oil level) I decided to phone Nationwide and get some roadside assistance straightaway as I had absolutely no idea what the issue was. ⁣

Even though I had just come from my mechanic course, I knew it wasn’t something that I’d done that day as we hadn’t worked on our own bikes.

After about an hour, the recovery vehicle came. The mechanic turned the bike on and it ticked over for a few seconds before losing power. He turned it on again and revved the engine a few times before a large amount of liquid started dripping out the bike. ⁣⁣

It was my fault

The smell of petrol was unmistakable. My fuel nozzle had come loose as I was riding which was what had caused the loss in power. The fuel dripping from the tank on to other parts of the bike and burning/evaporating was what had caused the grey smoke. By revving the engine, the mechanic had caused the fuel nozzle to come off completely, spilling petrol all over the floor. ⁣

I’m pretty lucky that 1-  I hadn’t made it on to the flyover before breaking down and 2 – that the bike didn’t catch fire! ⁣

I worked with the mechanic to lift my tank off my bike (something I wouldn’t have known how to do prior to my motorbike course) and together we worked to get the fuel line back where it should have been and secured it properly. I turned the bike on and was glad to see that it was maintaining power once again. It was a pretty simple fix for an issue I had no idea about.

I’ve really enjoyed working on my bike and I will continue to do so but this is one of the risks of working on your bike yourself. A qualified mechanic would have known I hadn’t connected the fuel line back together properly, but hey, I have no mechanic background and I’m learning as I go along. ⁣

A few weeks before the incident, I changed my spark plugs which meant I had to take the fuel tank off. I’m not sure that the fuel tank nozzle was connected 100% in the first place as when I did take the fuel tank off, the fuel line came out very easily. At least now I know exactly how the fuel line is supposed to be connected. ⁣

This could have been worse and I’m so thankful that it wasn’t.

Do you work on your bike or car yourself? Share your experiences with me.