What are the chances?
Two weeks ago my GSX decides to throw its chain. Whilst cornering (and not hanging around). Fortunately it wasn’t too dramatic, it jumps off the rear sprocket to the left, wrapping around the swing arm and shatters the front chain guard. As luck would have it, the rear wheel was left free to rotate so I was saved from becoming a polish trucker’s bumper mascot.
Bad luck, I figured, a lesson on chain management (I think it was a stiff link that caused it) and a chance to reflect on karma looking kindly on me.
Then, yesterday, I’m riding back from North Wales, somewhere in Snowdonia, executing a standard overtake on the CBR I bought to replace the GSX (karma might have been kind to me but I didn’t want to tempt fate, she’s known to be a bitch). Suddenly, it’s all revs and no power. I pull in to take a look and, unsurprisingly, the chain is nowhere to be seen. I’m a fan of irony but being stuck in the middle of no where with no phone reception and no way to get the bike running wore my patience thin.
Eventually me and the bike get picked up and taken home. Now I have to replace the chain. Its a couple of weeks til pay day and I left the chain with the recovery guy. It’s not looking good.
I made a phone call to a mate this evening to see if he has a spare chain. He does, I’ll be back on the road making myself a menace to society within days.
But this has left me thinking. As a keen and committed bike rider, like so many of my friends, you’re taking your life right to the edge every time you ride. Luck has to be on your side to make it home in one piece. Why do we do this? Why live on the balance of the thrill and death or at least serious injury?
I think its more than just the feeling you get from a spin on a dry, warm and grippy day. Or leaving that BMW M5 standing.
I reckon its also got something to do with the feeling of being part of a collective. Every time I’ve ended up on the side of the road, someone has stopped to help. You can strike up a conversation with any rider and have something in common. I’ve even seen someone hell bent on kicking the living piss out of someone suddenly stop because they found out they rode an SV650.
We all know the feeling, we all take the risk, and I think we all have a level of respect for each other. For swinging your leg over that bike and doing it one more time.
Gillan
