MistressOfMayhem

So there I was today... getting ready to change out my chain and sprocket and do a routine oil change when my bike, who has a hell of a sense of humor, decided to pull one over on me... yet again.

I started by pulling the sprocket cover off... I uncovered the following scene:



"What the fuck?!" "There's a wrench in my sprocket!"

The boyfriend looked up

He made his way over and shared in my surprise. As it would turn out, the tool kit that is under my rear seat decided that it wanted to jump ship. Somewhere during a ride most likely, and found its escape through the plastics near the subframe... (see here, the line of other saboteurs awaiting their chance at freedom)


...and fell onto the chain guide, which then routed it into the sprocket cover. This happened while I was riding of course. A couple of weeks ago I thought I heard something fall as I was riding. When I looked there was nothing there so I thought nothing of it and pressed on.

The culprit:


It's a good thing I didn't have better quality tools in there, otherwise it might have jammed. How it didn't is beyond me.

My new good luck charm...

ZX6RRECTION

Glad ur still alive..., crazy shit man

...story is very far fetched

Youssef636

ha wow

sXzx6rXa

Im so baffled as to how that shit didnt lock up. Im glad everything is okay.

blazenorange

... OOkk soo no more tools in my boot for me lol.. They will go in the backpack on road trips for now on..

Youssef636

+1 haha good thing i run no front cover anymore, o wait that would be a bad thing

TC636

WOW.. Unreal how the wrench worked it's way down there.
You had a little bit of luck there girl.
I'm glad it didn't get caught in between the sprocket and..... never mind,
I don't want to think about that.
Glad you found the wrench.

oldninjadude

Well well Rose, I'm sure glad it worked out like it did(haha not the wrench) You could have been seriously hurt.
Girl you better thank that angel riding on your shoulder.

After this I think it would be a good idea if we all checked our tool kits.
I have mine in a zip up bag, Still I'm gonna have a look.

baddog

WOW!! Definitely not something you'd want to find in your sprocket cover. Glad you found it before anything serious happened.

mecman

Was looking at the picture of the wrench. Noticed a grove worn into it from the sprocket or shaft. Is there any damage to those parts. That could have been nasty. Got to say though, think luck was on your side, may be a good time to buy a lotto ticket. lol Good reminder to all of use to check over the bike before each ride, even if its just going to be a short one

Aeon87

Now is a good time to remove your front sprocket cover and ride without it That way you'll KNOW what you got up front at all times. Glad you're ok.

MistressOfMayhem

The grooves you see on either end of the wrench are from where it was rubbing on the chain. When I examined the inside of the chain, the rivets were worn down but there wasn't any noticeable wear to the links themselves. It doesn't appear to have made any contact with the sprocket though.

The only other noticeable marks were grooves left on the inside of the sprocket cover at the top and bottom where the wrench got wedged, and a groove on the engine case behind the front sprocket, probably from where the arm of the wrench was.

It still baffles me how it didn't just fall to the road. The only thing I can think is maybe my leg was in the way? To be honest, I would pay good money to see a replay of the entire thing in slow-mo.

If it is the incident that I am thinking of, then on that same ride I came around a corner to find 3 deer standing in my lane. Instead of just running off to the side, they all scattered in figure-8s as I tried to dodge them. If I had been going any faster I would have hit at least one of them. I was just cruising that day which means I was probably doing about 90 when the wrench made it's move.

I'm gonna have to say that this is a definite first for me, and I've seen my bikes pull some pretty crazy chit (caliper bolts coming loose and falling out, shutting off in corners, etc.). Still, we just keep on truckin... er bikin'.

ZXNasty

I had to stare at the picture on facebook for like 5 minutes before I believed that was possible.

EvilTwin

Was that the same ride when I got three little tiny holes in my radiator and when I stopped I Zoom noticed that my entire tire and both calipers were covered in coolant?

You ma'am are a vortex of the improbable.

MistressOfMayhem

ROFL Dude!! I seriously looked, pressed my face in, poked the wrench and then FINALLY acknowledged it was there. Then I went through all of the POSSIBLE explanations before concluding that none of them are really possible at all. Even if it WAS a mechanic error, what the feck would you be doing with a wrench near the front sprocket anyway, much less BEHIND it with the chain mounted.

Then I traced the path and remembered that hole in my tail section... When I took the pic of all the tools lined up, I seriously laughed out loud at the fact that there was a perfect tear in the corner of the tool bag and the next size up of wrench was wedged all the way down by the subframe, on the verge of slipping through.

I still have a hard time believing it.