Okay, we had some fun with reading the demographics of our group but I wonder how many of us can be totally honest with this one. I'm going to start this off and here's how it works. Tell us, or confess, whatever you'd like to call it, about the dumbest thing you've done regarding MBs or anything mechanical.
My story: When I was a kid my dad bought me a mini-bike. Who rememberes the Doodle Bug? It resembled a Cushman Eagle but was kid sized. Mine had a 3 horse Briggs & Stratton with a kick starter. To kill the little four stroke there was a strap of metal that mounted to one of the head bolts and when you pushed it against the exposed spark plug top it grounded the ignition and shut down the engine. My idea was to mount a kill switch where it was easier to reach than fumbling under the seat usually resulting in touching the top of the plug in an effort to kill the engine. I took a standard toggle switch, mounted it to the handle bars and ran a wire to the frame and the other one I twisted around the top of the spark plug. "Should work." I told myself, and it did. Only one problem. The high voltage current that was supposed to go to the plug was now let loose in the frame of the mini bike and, yes, you guessed it, into me. On my first attempt to shut off the engine with my new switch it didn't take me long to get off of that bike. Wow! who would have thought that little mag could have produced that much juice?
Okay, there's ONE of the dumb things I've done. Anyone else care to contribute their confession?
My story: When I was a kid my dad bought me a mini-bike. Who rememberes the Doodle Bug? It resembled a Cushman Eagle but was kid sized. Mine had a 3 horse Briggs & Stratton with a kick starter. To kill the little four stroke there was a strap of metal that mounted to one of the head bolts and when you pushed it against the exposed spark plug top it grounded the ignition and shut down the engine. My idea was to mount a kill switch where it was easier to reach than fumbling under the seat usually resulting in touching the top of the plug in an effort to kill the engine. I took a standard toggle switch, mounted it to the handle bars and ran a wire to the frame and the other one I twisted around the top of the spark plug. "Should work." I told myself, and it did. Only one problem. The high voltage current that was supposed to go to the plug was now let loose in the frame of the mini bike and, yes, you guessed it, into me. On my first attempt to shut off the engine with my new switch it didn't take me long to get off of that bike. Wow! who would have thought that little mag could have produced that much juice?
Okay, there's ONE of the dumb things I've done. Anyone else care to contribute their confession?