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i just got back from a ride, horn quit working, pulled into garage left side against wall, turned switch on & was leaning over to wiggle the wire under handle bar,(left side) (had just pulled pants legs up) to try to get horn working left leg touched 1 hot pipe, got a brand now about the size of a silver $. it has been in my mind what would happin if it fell on hot pipe side & your leg was under it. i have never read anything about any body getting burned, have you? i see riders with short on & i wonder. when i had tmax scooter i could.

What an interesting question! I'm sure riders do get burned. I've never burned myself but I have melted my boot to the pipe when riding pillion!

There was a story floating around last year about a guy who was shot (in the back) by police during a traffic stop - rookie cop apparently thought he didn't get off his bike fast enough. Guy was pinned under his bike, and was burned by the pipes or engine..... and the cops wouldn't take the bike off him. I believe he ended up paralyzed by the shooting, so I guess the burns weren't the first thing on his mind.

I burned my left elbow on an exhaust working on a bike in 2006. Folks told me the scar would eventually fade away..... it hasn't yet!




EDIT: I hadn't been following that shooting story. Police officer was convicted for the shooting last year, and is now appealing. Biker is paralyzed from the waist down.

Yep burning yourself on exposed pipes is fairly common, especially if you work on them yourself.

Singed my calves a couple times, burnt a finger here and there over the years... but the dumbest thing I ever did happened while working on my Sportster. I was rejetting the carb, which was a trial and error method involving several jet swaps and tuning sessions and at one point I was having problems getting a screw threaded in to secure the float bowl on the carb. So I leaned in close to the engine and tried to peer around to the back of the carb for a better look - well, my forehead touched the hot cylinder barrel and I had four parallel lines burnt into the front of my skull. It took WEEKS for them to disappear.

gummie, thats why you should leave the bike repairs and such to the professionals. We are used to getting burned. lol

Melted my (textile) pants while just moving the bike around the garage. Didn't even feel it actually (once the pants melted through, the pipe made contact with the knee armor). Stupid, annoying mistake, especially since the pants were almost new, but better them than my skin.

humm, like Andrea said, interestering question. i like the response i getting, thank you. i sure there is some good one's to come. I put a ice cube under my sock over the brand yesterday until bed time. ended up wetting 2 socks & my shoe before i thought of putting a folded paper towel below to keep from wetting my shoe. bed time water hit it & i was on fire, put some Neosporin on it lightly when i went to bed. didn't bother me all night.not sore this morning, just a brown spot on my leg. i think ice done the trick.

fireguzzi wrote:gummie, thats why you should leave the bike repairs and such to the professionals. We are used to getting burned. lol

Dude... I've been wrenching on bikes since you were busy filling your diapers.

I once got smacked by a lady coz of hot pipes. Was on my old CB750 and crossing the Fraser on the old ferry at Fort Langley. Been doing a lot of riding that day and was heading home so the pipes were toasty hot. Anyways, a family had gotten out of their car with a little kid who wandered over to the bikes and he started reaching his hands towards the pipes of the CB. I yelled at him and smacked his hand away....his mom thought I was attacking her kid and smacked me on my head (had taken the helmet off for the crossing). Her hubby comes over to see what the commotion was all about and when he heard the story, basically told his missus to say sorry as I stopped their little darling from possibly suffering some major burns on his little hands.