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[Justin Andrews]

One that we all need to be aware of.

This happened to me tonight, now as we all know, its getting colder. Ok here in the UK its not quite Wisconsin cold, for example I don't have to chip the ice off my retinas before riding... It is however cold enough to make little luxuries such as heated hand grips suddenly look at bit more necessary.

So riding in the dark tonight, I took my hand off the throttle to turn up my handgrips, and the bike went dead. Grabbing the throttle and opening it did nothing.
Pulling over, I cycled the power, nothing, bike still dead...
Looking at the dash, I saw the fault light flashing away, flipping the kick stand up, cycling the power, all did nothing.

Then I spotted the motor kill switch looked... different...

Yep, in my hurry to turn up my handgrips, I turned the fecking motor off...
A classic FEBHAS (fault exists between handlebars and seat) error!

*sigh*

Ride safely in the cold and learn from my mistakes...

[dkw12002]

Haha. I've more than once got off a gas motorcycle, jumped on the Zero and reached for the clutch at the first opportunity. I have also come to some pretty quick stops thinking I was on a gas motorcycle instead of the Vespa and squeezing that left lever real quick and hard on the Vespa thinking it was the clutch. Mostly I just honk at people for no reason since one of my bikes has the horn where the turn signals are supposed to be. That's one advantage of wearing a helmet...so people can't identify you so easily.

[trikester]

thinking I was on a gas motorcycle instead of the Vespa and squeezing that left lever real quick and hard on the Vespa thinking it was the clutch.

Ever since I bought my first DS Zero in 2010, then the 2012 DS, and finally the 2013 FX I've seriously considered mounting a rear brake lever on the left handlebar for more precise rear braking control in dirt riding. However, I haven't done that because of a fear of doing exactly what you have done - grabbing a handful of brake thinking it's the clutch in a panic stop situation. 

Has anybody on this forum made that modification to their Zero? If so what has been your experiences?

Trikester

Hmm......maybe there should be a new thread for this subject.

[Richard230]

My 2010 Electric Motorsport GPR-S had the rear brake on the left handlebar because its big sepex motor stuck out of the right side where the brake pedal would have been.  Although I had 5 other IC bikes, with handlebar clutches, at the time, I had no problem transitioning between the GPR-S and my other rides.  The bike was so different from my IC motorcycles that I never became confused (like I used to do when trying to shift on my old Triumph, which had the gear shift lever on the right and the brake pedal on the left    ).

[NoiseBoy]

Lol I have had the horn problem too. Hooting at people whilst making a turn and then indicating furiously when someone cut me up.

[trikester]

Thanks Richard, that's good to know. I guess our brains can sort it out when the machines are enough different.

When I first started riding trikes I worried that when I would then ride a two wheeler I would forget to counter-steer on curvy roads. That has never happened, even to my 79 year old brain. 

Trikester