A Series of Incidents around Motorcycle Battery

A motorcycle accident occurred on June 25th. Fortunately, the injuries were not severe, but it took about a month to fully recover (excluding the skin’s color restoration).

Foreshadowing

I remember back in March this year, there was a problem with the motorcycle battery. The Qianjiang Smart Ride App kept alerting me about low battery. However, due to the cold weather, I couldn’t go out for a ride. Finally, on a clear weekend, I pushed the motorcycle to the nearest battery shop and asked them to charge it using a portable battery pack. Then I took a ride on the highway to charge it for a while.

But running out of charge after a single ride was still a problem. So, I needed to go to the Qianjiang store to get the battery charged. It was around noon on a Tuesday when I went to the Qianjiang flagship store in Wangjing. I charged the battery for 2 hours. The staff told me that if I could ride around 20 kilometers every week, it would ensure that the battery wouldn’t run out.

However, due to various reasons, I didn’t have many opportunities to ride the motorcycle, which led to another battery depletion. Pushing the motorcycle to the repair shop was too tiring. So, I referred to a method I found on Xiaohongshu (a social media platform) and bought a portable battery pack. It arrived in late June, but I didn’t rush to use it. On the night of the 25th, Yinyin suggested that we should try it out. Although I had only seen how to use it at the repair shop and hadn’t used it myself, I tried it and surprisingly succeeded.

Injury

Then we started riding around the surrounding roads. However, there were many large vehicles on the road at night, and since the battery was low, I didn’t dare to turn on the headlights. It was fine in areas with streetlights, as long as I remained focused. But when we reached Guzidi Happy Farm (we found out the location later), there were no streetlights or car lights. We veered into the roadside curb. Before the crash, I had already started to imagine what would happen after the crash. Luckily, our speed wasn’t fast, and we only went into the green area. After the crash, I momentarily lost consciousness, but quickly realized that I was still alive. So, I quickly got up and checked Yinyin’s injuries. Her shoe had flown off, and the helmet bore deep scratch marks (I was grateful that I bought the Arai retro helmet that cost over 5,000 RMB — it’s a life-saving helmet; otherwise, my face would have been scratched). Both of our left sides were covered in dirt and scratches.

(There should be photos of the scratches and helmet damage here)

Fortunately, neither of us had serious injuries. They were just minor scratches (although they looked bloody). At that time, we didn’t feel much pain, just a numb feeling in the injured areas. We got up together and checked the motorcycle. My thought at the time was that we should be able to ride it back. We found that the vehicle was basically undamaged, except for the gear lever being completely broken. It meant that we couldn’t ride the motorcycle back. We noted the location of the accident, pushed the motorcycle to the roadside, and then called a Didi (ride-hailing service). We kept our helmets on and laughed heartily. The driver told us to fasten our seat belts, and we said, “We have helmets on, so we’re safe.” Hahaha.

Recovery

It was already past 11 when we arrived home. I distinctly remember that night we had chicken feet pot from Pang Ge Liang restaurant. The frozen chicken feet remained on the table while we returned with injuries. We quickly confirmed the extent of our injuries under the light, then took a shower and washed our dirty clothes.

The process of healing for the skin and muscles was slow. We slowly felt the pain, which eventually became quite intense, especially in the areas where the arms were scratched. We quickly bought a lot of medicine, including iodine, large adhesive bandages, etc.

The next day, we both took a day off to rest at home, accompanied by dressing changes and shouts of pain.

It took a long time to recover because it was summer, and the injured areas were exposed and couldn’t touch water (although we both didn’t follow this rule). It took at least a month for our bodies to gradually recover, including the relief of shoulder pain and the shedding of scabs. However, some scars remained with darker colors.

Repair

After the accident, we didn’t have time to deal with our motorcycle until the following weekend. When we arrived at the location, we found that the motorcycle was still parked there. So, we called nearby repair shops and two staff members came to help us ride the motorcycle away (although the gear lever was broken, they rode another scooter behind ours and stepped on the front pedal with their feet to guide the direction).

At the repair shop, the mechanic said it was a gear lever problem, which they fixed. They also recharged the battery and washed the motorcycle. After that, we went home.

Battery Depletion Again

Originally, I planned to ride the motorcycle every week, but I became lazy. In addition, I went on a trip in the meantime, and the motorcycle battery completely ran out of charge. Qianjiang Smart Ride kept alerting me multiple times, but I ignored it due to my laziness. It was not until recently when I realized that autumn had truly arrived and I wanted to go for a ride and feel the wind. So, I went with a bit of expectation (expecting that the low battery notification was false) and tried starting the motorcycle by pressing the ignition. It indeed ran out of charge; even the motorcycle display didn’t turn on when I inserted the key.

I took out the portable battery pack and tried, but it still didn’t work. It felt like the battery was dead. So, following the guidance of the repair shop, I removed the battery and rode a small electric scooter to the repair shop to get it charged. When I went to pick it up the next day, the mechanic tested the voltage and found it to be around 2V. It seemed that the battery was indeed dead.

So, I bought a new battery with the intention of installing it myself. That day happened to be Yinyin’s birthday, so I didn’t have time. After a week had passed and I had some free time, I tried installing the battery, but I still didn’t feel any power. So, I had no choice but to think about pushing it to the repair shop (pushing the motorcycle again and making myself even more tired). But there was no better option. The process of pushing the motorcycle is not described here.

(There should be a video of pushing the motorcycle)

Arriving at the repair shop, it was the same mechanic. I explained to him that even after changing the battery, I still couldn’t get power. He took a quick look and said that the fuse was blown. He fixed it in less than 5 minutes. It’s true that professionals do their job professionally.

Pushing the motorcycle there and riding it back.