Was on a biketrip with a few buddies this summer, I live in Denmark and we decided to take a trip to Sweden, all the way up to Stockholm, and there we'd take the ferry to a place called Ålandsøerne (the Å-land islands)
Was a great trip, I think Sweden may have some of the best, least crowded roads in Scandinavia, maybe Europe!

Anyway, having driven about 1400km's to get up there, i go ahead and throw away my goddamn motorcycle keys!

Stuck in a foreign country and without any means of moving the bike, it was apparent that the only real option was to short-circuit the bike. - This turned out to be the least of my problems, apparently, after working on it for less than 5 minutes, the bike was up and running! In fact, you can steal a standard bike like ours, without electronical antitheft system, using a ratchetspanner and a small piece of metal, and be off in less than 5 mins.

Anyhow, getting the bike running was the least of my worries, it turns out that more energy has been spent on securing the fuel from being stolen, than the bike itself! The tank-lid was by far the hardest thing to get up, and we ended up having to go to a nearby cycle shop and have it drilled up!

In the end, i could get the bike running back home, using a pair of cable-shoes as a make-shift ignition, and duct tape for holding the fuel-tank shut.

New ignition and tank lid cost me around 150$

The point of my story is, wait for it, dont lose your ****ing keys!


waiting for the ferry to Åland

First campsite, fitting a videocamera to my friend's KTM

One of the many small, free ferries connecting the Åland-islands

Working on taking out the ignition, my friend on the right is sharing my grief

my "new" ignition

Yours truly, while the local greasemonkey is "working" on the tank-lid

In sweden you may camp where ever you want to, even on other people's property! You just have to be responsible and clean up afterwards, close fences etc. This place the guy owning it, came to say hello, and brought us coffee and cookies, gotta love Sweden

The CBR's lined up for the night, the nut on the KTM insisted on showing off by parking it by the water, just to make up for a whole week's mocking when he couldnt keep up


I hope you've enjoyed the pictures, we sure had a great trip, hopefully we can take two weeks out of the calendar next year!

Martin

 

Lol, yeah I've lost my keys, but always carry a spare. Road trips are always an adventure, always someone in the group that ends up in some sort of minor crises. Like broken throttle cable, their bike falls over, they fall over or both or so hungover from the night before they can barely stand, let alone ride. Its amazing how we always seem to manage to get it together.
This is me in 1983/84 (can't remember exactly) did a 1000 kay round trip to a log week-end bike meet, loaded everything that I could to make my overnight stay comfy, including a sleeping bag & lie low, (got totally p*ssed & ended up passed out on the turf & no bugger bothered to kick me towards my gear) I was so hung over, but because my riding buddy & I had commitments on the Tuesday..
This pic was taken about an hour before we rounded a corner & had to swerve passed a dead kangaroo in the middle of the road. Myself, my bike & all me gear (that I never used) ended up in the bush, bend bars, mirrors & gear lever.

 

Cool story and pics, the both of ya!

 

awesome! but i dont understand how you lost your keys?

 

Very related lul: I sold my 96 F3 back in July. Two days later I get a text from the kid asking if I happen to have a spare key, cuz he totally lost the one I gave him. I did not.

 

what size tire is that on ur f3

 

Very cool pics. Sucks you lost your keys, but it's funny now, right.

A guy I work with just bought a nice custom 2005 fatboy the other week, but he didn't realize that you're supposed to unlock the ignition and then take the keys out. He left them in the bike... dangling from the side... and now they're long gone.
The worst part is that the spare was attached to the original.
He had to go to Harley with ID, the title, etc. and they're sending him new keys.

 

Hah, amazing mate, would ****ing love to drive in Aussieland!
We kept more or less alcoholfree the entire week, my uncle lost an arm in a motorcycle accident when he was my age, my parents would kill me if i got hurt!
Cool picture btw


No idea Ill look tomorrow and see if it says on the rim If I knew where i lost the keys, I'd have picked them up and used them instead of mutilating my bike

Yeah, i guess its kinda funny, but im not going to hear the end of it from my compatriots

Luckily, i could break a deal with the local chop-shop, appears the ignition and tank-lid is the same on an F2. The more you know...

Was a great trip never the less, had a few times where you drive on for a while, and you just never want the road to end, perfect high speed turns, small hills and valleys, and the most beautiful scenery in northern europe. Man it sucks to be back in flat, pasty Denmark again

 

My bike runs fine but I lack the confidence in it for the long haul...!

 

I had no problems what so ever, but then again, I take care of my baby, so she can take care of me.

And just a small addendum, from april to now, she and i have driven just over 10.000km's