04-11-2019, 10:18 AM
(03-11-2019, 07:47 PM)Tony Griffiths Wrote:(03-11-2019, 03:10 PM)Mike Costigan Wrote: So, you've started the engine whilst the front wheel is off the ground; how do you lift the stand and get under way? They don't show that bit!
Having covered his hands with grease, oil and fuel getting the engine going, the hopeful rider would straddle the bike and with, presumably, no clutch and a lever-action hand throttle, lung forwards to push the bike off the spring-retracted front stand. With the tickover set on the fast side to ensure that the engine does not stall (as strictly advised against in the copiously-detailed bedienungsanleitung) the front wheel now grips and the bike lunges forwards. The rider (a loose term at this point) is thrown backwards; his hand slip off the handlebars, his right hand makes a futile grab for it, misses and yanks the throttle lever to the full-on position. Now prostrate on the dusty road, our hero watches with some alarm as the bike, nicely stabilised in the vertical position by 50 kg of engine rotating at 2000 r.p.m., accelerates off down the road towards a group of kinder picking flowers on the grass verge....
A very real scenario.
A friend of mine did that bump starting his Model 9 Sunbeam. Not wanting to let go when thrown partially off the bike he foolishly held on (instinct), and the dragging made him apply more throttle. A sturdy oak arrested the runaway and partial rider. Neither rider nor bike came off well. The tree was unperturbed.
Charles