Accident on the Road! How Far Can You Fix it with First Aid?

A motorcycle is a vehicle that can tip over.

Of course, no one wants to be mocked, of course. But a motorcycle is a two-wheeled, balanced vehicle, so carelessness, disturbance, or a slight operational error can cause you to fall over. And bikes, being machines, can break, and flesh and blood people can get hurt.

What do you do if you have such a problem or accident when you are on the road? Should I call a wrecker? You want me to call an ambulance? It may indeed be the right thing to do.

Motorcyclists are basically dominant. So the creature tries to get home on its own somehow. Maybe it's that 'quick temperament of not giving up' that makes the inconvenient and imperfect ride of a motorcycle so enjoyable.

WebiQ, which brings you a little happiness and motorcycle knowledge. This time, how far can you go in an accident on the road? It's chock full of strange knowledge that might come in handy someday! There is also a collection of intense stories at the end.

Machine trouble

There are two main types of machine problems that occur on the road: those in which the body of the vehicle breaks down, and those in which the vehicle is damaged due to a fall.

The damage tends to be more serious in the event of a fall, but in fact, it's easier to make an emergency repair in the event of a fall because the damaged area is clearer. On the other hand, in the case of an unexplained stop, while running smoothly, you have to start from the cause of the stop, and depending on the contents, the level of difficulty increases. This is because it is difficult to identify the cause of a simple disconnection, even if it is caused by a simple wire break.

In this article, I'm going to give you a lecture on how to survive, using an example of a problem that is easy to identify in one shot.

Kill switch off (100% chance of survival)

The kill switch is used to stop the engine in the event of an emergency such as a fall. It's like an emergency stop button. It's often attached to the right side of the handlebars, but this can be turned off without you realizing it because of some bouncing hand, clothing, luggage, or helmet touching it. It's a pattern that won't start the engine when you try to start again.

If the lights and blinkers are on and the cell motor is turning, but the engine won't start, then quite possibly the kill switch is off. (Depending on the motorcycle model, the cell motor may also stop turning).

The only measure is to turn it on if it's off by eye. It's an elementary mistake that is so silly that you forget to check it, but sometimes it's a problem that we all experience at least once. If you keep running the cell motor in a hurry, the battery will be weak and it will be really impossible to restart it, so be careful. Basically, if it doesn't hang by turning the cell the same way all the time, it's almost useless to turn it more.

Out of gas (50% chance of survival)

If the kill switch is on and the cell motor is turning, but the engine won't start, the next thing to suspect is a lack of gas.

The bottom of the tank is often complexly shaped, so there are not many motorcycles that can use up every last drop of gasoline perfectly. In many cases, the motorcycle still has gas left in it, but it runs out of gas and stalls.

On the other hand, if you use that remaining gasoline well, you may be able to run for a while. You can find out how to do "Shake" & "Tilt".

If you shake it and hear a chirping sound, you may be able to suck gasoline that couldn't be sucked before by tilting it to the side of the fuel cock as hard as you can. You can't tilt it about as far as a side stand, you need to tilt it to the very limit of what you can do, which is just before you fall over. Best if you can rock it back and forth at an angle! It's a classic method, but if you're lucky, you can drive quite a distance to the nearest gas station.

However, as a result of the recent changes in the shape of the tank bottom due to the widespread use of injection, it's not very viable anymore. Moreover, it is very difficult to deal with a lack of gas in an injected motorcycle after the fact, so be careful.

Ignition system (25% chance of survival)

If you have gasoline in the tank and the kill switch is on, but the engine won't start, the probability that the ignition system is having trouble skyrockets. This ignition system problem has a high degree of difficulty in emergency treatment, and there are many cases where the intention to treat the problem is to make it worse. If you're not sure, good luck not touching it!

One of the most common cases is the loss of the plug cap. The solution is to just plug the plug cap in. But when I tried to plug it in, the cord and the cap separated! In many cases, the problem can become large, such as plug caps are not meant to come off, and if they come off, there is a high probability that there are other serious problems.

Next up is plug blurring. The idea is that too much fuel will cause the plug to get wet and prevent sparks from flying. The countermeasure is to remove the plug and then burn it with a lighter or something else.

Next up is plug fogging. Too much fuel will cause the plug to get wet and prevent sparks from flying. The countermeasure is to remove the plugs and then burn them with a lighter or something else.

Thus, the ignition system becomes a whole lot more difficult. If you have the knowledge and experience of maintenance, you can make an emergency repair at the site, but it's very difficult to perform maintenance in a place where you've never done it before. These days the ignition system is often electronically controlled, and if you have a problem with the control system, which for some reason doesn't fire, it's almost impossible to repair.

The cell motor won't turn (95% chance of survival)

This rarely happens in vehicles that are close to new, but it can happen suddenly in vehicles that have been driven for several years. The cause may be that the brushes in the cell motor have become worn out, or the spring holding the brushes down has become weak. It is said that it is not energized due to poor contact.

However, the cell motor should have been spinning fine when you left home, so there's a good chance that just a little shock can get it to work a little bit more. A countermeasure is to "tap it", a method that smells full of Showa-era flair and is effective.

As for tapping the cell motor, you can tap it with something hard on the butt of the motor. Twice it comes back alive by lightly tapping on it with a random rock (with rounded corners about the size of a knob) that I found on the side of the road.

By the way, even if the cell motor is a complete disaster. It's not a problem if you can "break-in". Pushing is a useful technique that can be used when the battery is running low, so you may want to practice it when you have time to spare. The trick is to use a higher gear and to jump down on the seat during the clutch meet to overload the rear tire and prevent slipping. If you're going downhill, you don't have to jump on it, so it's easy to execute. However, if you complete the descent and still can't start it, you'll have to push it up the hill, so if you do it lightly, you'll get in trouble. Also, if you're not used to jumping on it, be careful because you'll knock it over to the other side and increase the damage to yourself.

They stopped charging (100% chance of survival).

There are two types of battery runs. However, if the battery is dead because something in the charging system is broken and the battery is not charged, the difficulty of getting back from the motorcycle will be greatly increased.

If the battery is temporarily dead, you can recharge it while running as long as you start it up by pushing it over the edge, etc. No major problems.

However, if the charging system is broken, the battery will be drained, so no matter how much it is fully charged, it will not be able to ignite and stop after some progress. If it's already stopped, it has zero battery life left, so even if you let it rest for a while and revive it somewhat, it should stop in less than a minute.

But on the contrary. As long as you have power from a fully charged battery, you don't need to charge it to run. That's what I mean. The problem is how to get a fully charged battery on the road, but I've walked to a gas station and bought a large battery for my motorcycle and a jump cord to get back to where I came from. All that's left to do is secure the battery to the rear seat and force it to connect with a jump cord. This allowed me to travel 50km to the bike shop without any problems. (I wanted to conserve power as much as possible, so I did some simple things like turning off the lights (disconnecting the connectors) and not applying the brakes when stopped.

It's basically impossible to fix it locally, but it's quite possible to survive.

The fuse blew (30% chance of survival).

Fuses rarely blow due to vibration. There is always a cause of the blown fuse, so first, find out the cause and repair it. Can you find the cause of the blown fuse? If the cause can be identified, the probability of survival increases dramatically.

The problem is when you can't identify the cause of the breakage, and in this case, the fuse will blow again in the near future, even if you replace it. The next time you turn it on, it could be out the moment you turn it on, or it could be a week later.

Assuming you can identify the cause of the break, 99% of the time the cause is a short in the wiring. First, insulate the problem areas in some way.

Not many of you carry insulating tape around with you on a regular basis. But the bottom line is that as long as you don't short circuit, you can take off your underwear at worst and wrap it around the part you want to insulate. I once escaped from a problem by wrapping a weed stalk around a piece of paper trash that had fallen on the shoulder of the road and securing it. If you can find the cause, it's usually manageable.

The next step is to replace the blown fuse, but what if you don't have a spare? It will not conduct as it is, so it must be conducted somehow. There are two main ways to do that!

One method is to pull out other fuses as a substitute. For example, if your motorcycle has both a cell motor and a kick, you can pull the cell motor fuse and use it for the problem area. It would be better if you can use a fuse of the same amperage, but you can also put in a fuse of a different capacity at your own risk. If you put in a small capacity fuse, it may blow again, and if you put in a large capacity fuse (because the fuse won't blow), it may fatally damage your motorcycle body. To be honest, I don't recommend it, as it could lead to a vehicle fire, but in an emergency situation, you should know that it's possible.

The second method is to insert a completely different object and force it to conduct. Ignore the fuse function and focus only on conducting, so I can't recommend it at MAX! This is the last resort when there is absolutely no usable fuse.

A familiar substitute for a fuse (which conducts electricity) is torn the silver paper from the cigarette box, roll it up and stick it in (!), roll up a gum wrapper and stick it in (!), break the juice pull tabs and shape them with stones and shove them in (!)

I've had experience with everything but gum wrappers, but it's surprisingly manageable. However, the potential for vehicle fires is maxed out, so you really shouldn't do this unless it's an emergency.

A broken lever or pedal (50% chance of survival)

This is a completely different result depending on what's in the onboard tool. You may be able to remove the lever with a standard onboard tool, but it won't do you any good if you don't conveniently have a spare part. Even if you carry a spare lever, I don't think any of us have a spare pedal, as expected.

Besides, if the tip of the lever or pedal is slightly broken, you can go home without replacing any parts. The problem is when the lever is broken at the root and there is no longer a place to put your fingers or feet. In this case, if you have a tool called vise pliers, even if you don't have a spare lever, there's a pretty good chance you'll be able to work around it.

Vice pliers, also known as locking pliers, are a tool that can hold something in a strong pinch. Is it easy to imagine a tool that can hold something between pliers and maintain an all-out grip?

With these pliers, even if the lever is broken from near the root, the remaining part can be held tightly in your mouth. Then you can use the pliers themselves in place of a lever or pedal. Of course, it's hard to operate, but if you can operate the levers and pedals, you can go home slowly, right?

This is really handy, and I highly recommend everyone keep a pair of small vise pliers in their onboard tools on hand! It can be used in various ways other than as a substitute for a lever, depending on your ideas, and can be very useful in emergency repairs. I would actually like to have two sizes, one large and one small. Vise pliers are so versatile!

The case was broken in the fall (50% chance of survival)

This is another common accident. This is especially noticeable in a vehicle with a parallel four-cylinder and a dong left and right crank, and when I knocked it down in a parking lot, the side covers broke off and the engine oil started leaking out! This is typical.

If you've fallen over from a high speed and scraped a big hole in it with a flashy scrape, such as, you can give up, but in many cases, I think it's a symptom of cracks and oil lingering out. I'm sure many of you have had the experience of giving up and getting towed because the oil leaked out quickly enough to seal it up with gummed tape.

Actually, it can be sealed with gummed tape and soap. You have to scrub the soap against the cracked area and press it against the cracked area to seal it up, and then you have to tape the soap and everything else in place. Both gummed tape and soap are readily available at convenience stores, so you'll have a pretty good chance of getting home.

If it's fancy and cracked and obviously punctured, it's not possible, but if it's just a small hole, it might be fine. In my experience, I've had a hole the size of a nickel coin, but I've been able to get away with it for a few kilometers. It's a bit of a luck dependency, but it's worth a try.

Note that if the first aid is incomplete, the oil will leak during the process. Not only is it dangerous for you, but it could be a fatal accident if you ride in a vehicle behind you, especially a motorcycle with leaking oil. Start the engine at the repair site and make sure it's absolutely fine before you leave.

Nails in the tires! We have a 90% chance of survival.

If it's a tubular system, it's impossible to drive it on your own unless you fix the puncture, because it will go flat the moment the nail is stuck. Let's give it up. But what if this was a tubeless system?

If it's stuck and the air isn't fully expelled if you don't do anything else, you have a pretty good chance of getting home. You do nothing as it is and leave quietly. If you try to pull it out or try to fix it with a puncture repair kit, there's a good chance it will get worse.