How not to fill up your tank…

Hi folks,

Tonight I had a bit of a scare, in Tesco Petrol station of all places.

GSR was my steed today (until the warmer/dryer weather kicks in) and on the way home from work I stopped in at the station beside the FRB to top up the tank.

Of course the only pump available was the far left one, so the bike was leaning away from the pump. Not usually an issue. So as it’s a “pay-at-pump” place I got my card out, put my pin in and waited for the “please lift nozzle…” etc.

Got the pump nozzle, made sure the pipe was over the seat and went round to the left side of the bike (as the bike is leaning this way, it’s easier to get the nozzle in the petrol hole than try and flip it over)

The petrol cap kept flapping shut, meaning I couldn’t see what I was doing, and as I fill the tank by propping the nozzle on the very lip of the inlet as to get the most in the tank without it clicking off all the time, it was important that I saw what I was doing. Well of course what happened next?

Mid-fill, with the trigger fully depressed, the nozzle slipped out of the hole. And not just “oops, in we go again” I mean the force of the petrol coming out of the nozzle coupled with the snap slip of the nozzle leaving the lip meant the whole “gun” of the petrol pump was suddenly airborne and spraying petrol everywhere. It was up the petrol pump, it was all over my bike (think a thin film of liquid coating the whole tank, seat and quickly running south).

It’s not like I stood there with the petrol spewing everywhere, it was a “slip-oh shit-trigger off” quick thing, but in that split second it took to shut the petrol off, it was everywhere.  The petrol spews out at some lick, I tell you.

I stood for a moment waiting in horror for the petrol to hit either the engine or the headers or indeed the underseat exhaust box and engulf me and my bike. 3-4 seconds later I had ran round the bike, slotted the gun back in to the pump, ran to the place with the towels etc and grabbed a handful to try and stem the liquid from going further south.

Luckily nothing combusted except my heart rate.

I finished filling, got myself ready with my now petrol soaked gloves and took the bike away from the pump to give it a once over.

In doing so I noticed that the engine covers, the ones that had corroded before, were seriously corroded again. I mean seriously, to the point that it’s like a hill with a bolt sticking out the top.

Something I will have to address when I get the bike in the garage in prep for winter. Very worrying and it seems like the only thing that isn’t cheap rubbish on the GSR is the petrol I put in it.

Anyway,

That’s the first and last time I’ll do that, because if that was the MT, that petrol would have instantly hit the header pipes and both the MT and me would have been up in flames…in the Tesco petrol station.