Have you ever dropped your bike?

[the_zander]

Ive had several low/no and high speed experiences, one today actually, i was just relased from the Cochrane urgent care facility (up here in Canada). I was t-boned on the ride back from banff (a weekend destination for us Canuks). A jeep cherokee hit my left side at a t-intersection on one of our secondary highways, Pining my leg between their bumper and my tank. The jeep pushed my bike laterally several meters while i somehow managed to maintain the bike upright. i coasted to a stop put my right foot down only to find out that it (my left leg) wasnt working. Naturally the bike toppled to my dismay and embarassment.

There you have it, dropping a bike is nothing to be ashamed of.

-Zander.

[7981GS]

Zander, keep us posted on your recovery and the perpetrators losses $$$.

Daniel

[sedelen]

Yeah, I'm sorry to say I dropped my bike once, this was the "Skunk" back in '79 in Biloxi Mississippi. I was out riding around on a weekend night with a passenger on the back. For some reason I was driving very cautiously, maybe I had a gut feeling. Anyway, I was driving through this neighborhood at night getting ready to make a left turn, a Voltwagen was
approaching from the opposite direction, as soon as he cleared I turned, and there was a little pile of gravel in the road along with about a foot long piece of broomhandle. Too late to avoid it, my rear tire hit that broomstick and out from under me the bike went. I must've been doing all of 5 mph. Still the bike was down on the left side, went down hard enough to crack the stator case a little as oil started to leak from it. I made it home and put some epoxy on the stator cover which stopped the leak.
Hopefully I learned a lesson as it's important to see whats on the road soon enough to avoid any debris on it.

[oldpara]

Oh yes !
I got four of them, I've dropped them all, driveway, parking lots, on the lawn, solo and 2 up.
I have a couple of aquaintences who boast about been riding for 200yrs and NEVER dropped a bike, blah blah blah...
They ain't trying hard enough.
Boy are they going to be embarassed when they do.
I certainly don't enjoy falling over but it happens and I don't really think too much about it. I do get a kick out of the nice people who actually will stop and gasp and ask if I'm ok.
They seem astonished that I survived a tip over.
You know, these dangerous, deadly motorcycles.

[Hovmod]

Twice.
Both times my previous bike, a BMW GS.
Once at a gas station, just one of those "S**t I can't hold it" things from a stand still, but the other time was spectacular.
I was at a hillclimbing event, and decided to take the bike down a trail to the bottom of this quarry. As I descended, the path turned worse and worse and I knew I'd have problems getting back up. My brilliant idea was to open up and see what happened. So I'm fishtailing up this steep muddy path, almost enduro style, full throttle, when my spinning rear wheel hits a rock under the mud. I go flying, straight up in the air, and flopped down in the mud on my right side, still in the proper sitting position, only on my side. Exactly half of the bike (and me) sunk in, so I had one clean side and one covered in gray clay. A nice perfect stripe down the middle of my helmet and all. I looked ridiculous, of course, but I was laughing hard too. I got a cut and bruise on my calf, which had hit the right cylinder as I kicked out when I flipped over in the air (boxers...), and I needed a new plug cap. The first guy who came over actually had one in his pocket, so I was up and running in ten minutes, and this time I made it up without incident, exactly half caked in mud.

[MelodicMetalGod]

Have you ever dropped your bike? Gently or not so gently? I find myself being intimidated by the weight of a lot of the bikes out there.

I can’t ride my husband’s old Honda because I am to short. I feel like a weeble wobble when I try to place my feet on the ground. I have ridden it and do great as long as I don’t have to stop!

Granted, the bikes of today aren’t as heavy. I have a friend with a GSXR and the bike only weighs about 300 lbs. I love my Suzuki GS850GL. It is the perfect combination of both worlds and my My feet can reach the ground.

I don’t see myself on a speed bike. I love the old vintage bikes. Call me a classic type of gal. They don’t make things like they used to. I tease my friend that I have the original sport bike! Reaching speeds of 100 back in the 60’s and 70’s was pretty cool.

There is something about owning a classic bike. I love it when people, after getting over the fact that as a girl, I love to ride and wrench on my own bikes, look at me with that blank stare and say “BSA what?” I am sure in southern California; you see British bikes all the time. A few know what the Suzuki is. Around here, you see mostly custom choppers, speed bikes and Harley's. The only metrics I have seen are the new ones like the star lines and such.

For me, the problem with the older bikes is the weight issue. You know, I am not intimidated by the power, just the weight. I guess that is because when I set down my (which has now become my husband’s) ’78 Honda CB750, I had a hell of a time picking it up. I was stopped at an intersection in my neighborhood and a gust of wind literally blew me off balance. You see, because I am so short (5'5") I had to lean the bike to the left a little to allow my foot to plant firmly on the ground.

For those of you that have been to west Texas, you’ll understand about the “little gusts”.

Anyway, it knocked me off balance and I couldn’t get it back up. It was too heavy. There I was waiting for a Good Samaritan to help me. ITo know avail! With the adreline gowing through my veins, I got it back up on 2.

The bike wasn’t damaged, just my pride. I felt like an idiot. Honestly, I felt like I was the only person in the world that had ever dropped their bike. I guess that just comes with the territory, doesn’t it! Well, at least the bike and I are ok and we lived to see another day. I am just happy that it wasn’t my BSA or Suzuki! That would have been tragic!

I'm saddened that this thread has 8 pages of replies. lol I think I've dropped every bike I've ever owned, one way or another, including the Hayabusa which is THE heaviest bike I've ever owned.

Google 'pick up motorcycle' and you'll find lots of good tips/tricks for pickin' up a fallen ride.

This vid has a pretty good example of how to get the seat in the air and the wheels on the ground again. Check it out at 2:20.

Good luck!

[MelodicMetalGod]

Like many, I had dropped my (extremely heavy) GS on occasion. But the greatest mishap was more along the lines of a FALL. I foolishly parked my bike near the edge of a gravel road with a 15-foot drop to a lakeshore. After deciding that I would leave it at that spot for the weekend, I checked the stability of the center stand and I couldn’t foresee anything knocking it over. After a few days (and nights of heavy rains) I came back to the scene only to find that the road where I was parked had broken off and my bike was now lying among the rocks of the lake shore with waves crashing around it. Quite an upsetting sight!
With the help of a couple of strong hands, we propped up the old girl and inspected the damage: lots of assorted dents and scratches, some water and gravel in everything and that was about it. And being true to form, that engine fired up without too much trouble. Some serious smoke burnt off for the first few minutes but then she ran normally. I checked that the lights were operational and that the tires were good and I rode it over a 100 miles back to my home without incident.
Now that is bulletproof engineering!

Like, W O W!

[Steve]

I'm saddened that this thread has 8 pages of replies.

And I am saddened that you have not yet found that you can increase the number of posts per page.

Yours is the first post on page THREE for me.

.

[ChicagoBob]

I dropped my GT250 at a gas station one winter while touring, because my hands were so cold I couldn't hold on when tryng to lift it onto its center stand to fill the tank. Broke off a footpeg, which I replaced with a friend's highway peg for the rest of the ride home. This was in Oklahoma in 1977.

Can't believe we used to tour on something like a two-stroke 250. It usually couldn't hold 60mph in 6th gear, but could get up to 70 or 80 in 4th or 5th.

[Road_Clam]

There's two types of motorcyclists. Those that admit they dropped their bike(s), and those that are lying saying that they have never dropped their bike(s).

I've dropped 3 out of the 6 street bikes i've owned. All threee times were trying a very slow tight manuever in dirt/gravel/wet grass or pushing a bike and lost my footing.

Oh yea and the all too familiar "rested the bike on the tiny side stand foot in the soft wet dirt" deal...

[FreshmanJoe]

Twice i dropped mine. The first time i was giving my gs1000 an oil change and forgot to put it on the center stand. When I realized this my hand were oily, the bike slipped but went down very slowly into a pile of junk. The second time was backing out of a unfamiliar driveway stepped into a pothole, twisted my ankle and down she goes. No damage thank god.
To all the ladies out there, as I have read many of you saying that you dropped your bike cause of your height you may want to check this out. My wife is 5ft 0in and thought she would never get a bike over 500cc cause of her size. We came across www.roarmotorcycles.com at a bike rally. she went for a test drive and told me she felt as comfortable of that 1100 then she felt on her 250.

[MelodicMetalGod]

And I am saddened that you have not yet found that you can increase the number of posts per page.

Yours is the first post on page THREE for me.

.

lol A matter of preference. Guess I'll refer to post count rather than page count in the future.

[7981GS]

Besides while PARKED! ,
real close to dropping one: http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum...=176264&page=2


Daniel

[cowboyup3371]

Not while driving on the highway but have three times in my yard (once by the wind pushing it over, scratched ignition cover), twice at Tkent02's place thanks to me being on the wrong side of the bike where his driveway slopes down (Broke brake handle), and once when I got caught in some deep sand on my dirt road (broke clutch handle).

I'm hoping I never drop it on the road though.

[themess]

Oh yes ! I got four of them, I've dropped them all, driveway, parking lots, on the lawn, solo and 2 up.
...
I certainly don't enjoy falling over but it happens and I don't really think too much about it. I do get a kick out of the nice people who actually will stop and gasp and ask if I'm ok.....

If a person rides long enough, he will probably go down. Most of us have. But if going down isn't rare, there is a problem. And that problem could lead to very serious injury.