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Ever Been Stranded on the Trail?

By suppresst,
in California

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suppresst

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I am working my way through the various regional forums seeking to engage riders on their stories of being stranded in a fairly remote spot, owing to mechanical failure of one's bike, and how you got your bike out.

 

I ride in Michigan, and while some of the trails I ride are pretty long (40 miles or so), I'm typically not too far from a forest road or regular roadway so that I have to worry about being stranded overnight - I could walk out. My concern is getting my bike out of trails typically 50" wide or less (too narrow for pickup truck) with lots of hairpin turns, sandy and hills too. I was nearly stranded two weeks ago with carburetor failure and it really got me thinking about how I would have got my bike out if I hadn't got motor running again. I've concluded it would have killed me trying to push it out over several miles of such terrain.

 

What are your stories and what solutions have you tried or propose. 

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Experienced

stanmerrell

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Had a complete engine failure recently in the desert. All I could do was ride my boy out double and hide his bike and GPS mark the spot to come back to with the van. Still had to do a lot of pushing. Going to get a tow rope for m/c for the future.

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Grand Master

Jeff aka Bolt

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I remember a ride where you called your wife to come and recuse you:lol:

 

Ya that was after pushing that friggin 530 a mile and half through that damn wash.  I could SEE the house for a half hour but the cell towers would not work in that valley.

 

 

 

Don't let your valves get out of tune fellers...  bike will run hot and give up starting on you.  I was chasing the cooling system for awhile all that was wrong is valves way out of spec.

 

Didn't you have a KTM with those same symptoms ?   :thinking:

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BOBRR

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Several years back my trusty WR450 started laying an egg at the very end of Rattlesnake trail in Kennedy Meadows. After looking over everything and having no clue, we pushed pulled and towed. I had to leave it overnight and ride out on the back of another bike where I could and mostly do a bunch of hiking. We went back the next day and finished the job. It took two full days to get it out. Turns out it was the coil that had gone bad...

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suppresst

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Well I appreciate the stories guys. These are the best I've encountered yet. I suppose I've been riding in a bubble up until now, not really engaging in my mind with "What If?" scenarios. Having one bikes go over a waterfall (out West where you all live) sort of falls into the same category of having a bike snapped up by a tornado (here in the Midwest, where I live). Now you've really got me thinking about how to prevent disaster, and if I do fall prey to disaster, how I'll get out. Thanks a lot.

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Grand Master

still2smokin

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I've had a few breakdowns but luckily the buddy system has always saved the day and that's the key to not being stranded .

Some guy named Emil had an extra spark plug to save the day when my resistor in the spark plug boot failed on my smoker and then when I fouled that one half way back he traded me the one in his bike to get me back to camp at stony . Also had a clutch explode locking the motor and a buddy helped me push it up out of a deep Valley for hours at Carnegie. Another time my 4 stroke grenaded .......

Then there is the great group of guys I have been riding with for the last couple years ...always wait at every intersection for the guy behind you and no matter how hard I try they never let anyone ( me ) ride back to camp alone .

The buddy system is the only way to go .

Edited by still2smokin
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Grand Master

ballisticexchris

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Ya that was after pushing that friggin 530 a mile and half through that damn wash.  I could SEE the house for a half hour but the cell towers would not work in that valley.

 

 

 

Don't let your valves get out of tune fellers...  bike will run hot and give up starting on you.  I was chasing the cooling system for awhile all that was wrong is valves way out of spec.

 

Didn't you have a KTM with those same symptoms ?   :thinking:

 

One of the first signs of needing a valve adjustment is when you have to touch the throttle to start it.

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Grand Master

ballisticexchris

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For me it was Cal City in a nasty canyon. I could not be towed out so I rode my XR600 until it seized. Undid the chain then pushed/towed to a fireroad and waited for my buddy and his truck. Spooky thing was when it started making noise were figuring on taking the bike apart and hiking it out in pieces. I was lucky enough to get it into a sand wash before it locked up. I hope to god I never have to get get stranded 50 miles from the truck.

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