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View Full Version : Ever dropped ya bike at standstill??



Bloody Mad Woman (BMW)
23rd August 2006, 11:14
Couple of years ago when I had the K100 - it was a very wet, windy morning (unusual for Wellington), had ridden to work and pulled into motorcyle parking area. Got off the bike ok, went to put it on the centre stand, foot slipped totally, being a heavy bike, it started toppling over - I figured it was best to let go rather than totally humiliate myself, I just thank God there were no other bikes on that side - the domino effect would have been quite expensive! There were a few people at the crossing, and one guy on my side - who just stared blankly as I'm trying to haul the bike up - never could lift that damned thing even in sheer anger! In the end I turned to him (mind is saying fn retard - well forget what I'd just done) and said "Could you please help me?" Chivilry is dead!!

I seemed to be doomed with that bike - dropping it at a standstill.
Only had the thing for 2.5 hours - and got a massive speeding ticket. Bought it in Hamilton and rode to Napier (never done the road before - and in the dark - now that one is a long story). This is in July - freezing cold. Got to Napier, found a motel, I remember I had to turn, and there was also a small gully - concrete dip thing - and my right foot didn't touch the ground - boof!! I hit the deck, bike on top of me. I would like to add at this point that I was actually suffering from hypothermia and exhaustion - hindsight is a wonderful thing. But I didn't do it once that night - I'm blonde enough to say - that motel was booked out and I had to find another. I can't read maps, have no sense of direction, tired, cold, don't know where the hell I am (nothing unusual some wd say), and as I left the place, bugger me if the bloody dip from the driveway to the road didn't get me. By this stage it was FK IT used the cellph and said to a friend "Come and get me". The bike had left the shop in pristine condition - 4-5 hours later, scratched to buggery.

It doesn't end there tho - a week later from the above incident. I was up Jville way, and doing a Ueee on a slight hill, busy road (but I didn't know that at the time) I'd taken the wrong road, it was dark, I was half walking the bike around - cos the previous incidents had made me nervous - it seemed to topple very easily but only on the right hand side. Yep I dumped it again - it just toppled. Had a full tank of gas, but I was rather pinned down this time - however isn't it amazing how fast one can move when headlights are coming towards you. To this day, I don't know how that car missed me. Now here the brain started thinking - I'm not that much of a useless rider - there has got to be something wrong with this bike. (Hey I was ready to get rid of it!!) I am pleased to report there was. The steering lock thingy had to be adjusted and handlebars heightened - different bike after that and never dumped it again!

98tls
23rd August 2006, 12:02
Bloody helll....you would have been thinking about training wheels at one stage eh...glad you got it sorted...upright is good.:yes:

Drunken Monkey
23rd August 2006, 12:05
Since you've brought it up, there is a correct method for picking up motorcycles. If I can find the vid on the net again, I'll post it, but basically this rather petite lady picks up a heavy cruiser all on her own.
For future reference (not just for yourself, women in general, but all people who find it difficult to lift their bike if it has fallen over) what you need to do is:
1. Stand next to your seat (i.e. stand next to your fallen bike on the opposite side to the wheels!).

2. Turn and face AWAY from the bike.

3. Squat, keeping your back straight.

4. Put your hands behind you, face up, holding the bike up from underneath.

5. Start 'duck walking' backwards. As the bike starts to lift, you will naturally start standing up with it.

6. When the bike is almost completely upright, you can twist your body clockwise, bringing your left hand on to the left handlebar.

From here it's all pretty routine, you should be able to turn completely and flick the side stand down.

I don't know why this method isn't taught to everyone.

babyB
23rd August 2006, 12:07
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: bugga gal, but all good

& um yep ;) & more than once:whistle:

McJim
23rd August 2006, 12:20
I've dropped my bike twice at relatively slow speeds (50kmh and 15kmh respectively) I am very lucky coz I'm a big bloke with a little bike. I have a tendancy to lift the bike straight up with no decent technique and push it on to the pavement.

The disadvantage with this arrangement is that the bike isn't really powerful enough to drag my lardy ass along the road at any decent speed!

Pros and cons..heigh ho.

Goblin
23rd August 2006, 12:24
I don't think anyone with a few rides under their belt hasn't dropped their bike at some stage. I've dropped my 600 twice. First time was after a long Coro ride. It might have been from fatigue but I thought my back wheel was loose so I stopped at the Pyes Pa Cemetry & put my bike up on the center stand and checked the rear end out. All seemed to be fine so I pushed it off the stand, only it was on a slight hill....and over she went! Was by myself so had no choice but to pick it up. Second time was at the Gull gas station in front of the Sulphur City Clubrooms. I had already gassed up so waited for my friend to fill up. Went to take off but didn't see the car coming in on my left hand side. Managed to avoid hitting the car but had stuffed steering head bearings and hit the notch in the middle & couldn't turn the bars any further.....over she went! I did the classic "fall & roll" & landed on my friends boots. He looked down at me & laughed, then helped me pick my bike up.:o

limbimtimwim
23rd August 2006, 12:32
I dropped my RVF400 at a standstill two weeks after I got it. I put it on it's stand, got off.. OOOPPPPPPPsss.. It landed ontop of me. I think I hadn't put that stand down properly and my foot slipped on the gravel I had parked it. I was just being too casual.

Second time I dropped a bike at standstill was my 2 week old GSXR750K6 (See a a pattern here, 2 weeks?). Same problem, think I didn't put the stand down properly, started to get off.. Opps, bike a top of me.

So when I get another bike, I will remember, 2 weeks after purchase, be extremely careful :)

R6_kid
23rd August 2006, 13:09
Boomer did once when we were riding back through Huntly. He ditched it after trying to do a stoppie for some kids. He's stopped when dropped it, but he wasnt 'standing still' :lol:

phantom
23rd August 2006, 13:21
I started my bike once when it was on the centre stand, little did i know it was in gear and just this once its clever bit of circuitry that is supposed to stop this happening wasn't working. The mighty GB400 promptly took itself off the centre stand and lay itself down in a most undignified manner. To cap it off there must have been at least a dozen people see it. Thank God for full face helmets:doh:

Maha
23rd August 2006, 13:34
Like Goblin said.....most of us have.....:doh:
Droped mine in town....parked, to take a beauty shot of the bike, got off, and the bike followed me.......:confused:
People in shops would have come to my aid....im sure of it...just as soon as they picked themselves up off the floor that is.....:rofl:

Str8 Jacket
23rd August 2006, 13:46
Man, you have pretty bad luck girl! We should start a club....

When I first got my GN the guy that delivered it just left it in a very awkward place, I tried pushing it while walking next to it but I was to clumsy like and dropped it. Got it back up and started it up thinking that id just ride into a better parking position but I stalled it and went to put my foot down but was on a steep verge so fell over. This happened a few more times before I finally sussed it however what I didnt realise was that there were builders right acrooss the road watching, doh!
The most recent and probably most embarrasing was when I went to take off with my disc lock still on.. Gave it a fist full of revs and BANG, over she goes. I was at a very busy gas station right across the road from a shopping mall with a majorish bus stop with piles of school kids watching along with streams of people. Glad I had my helmet on!

Shaun
23rd August 2006, 13:47
OK, Down town pub in Auckland 20 yrs ago, me and a friend go to the pub on my GSX750, as young men do, we had a pint or 2! anyway, there is a bunch of Australian chicks there and one that just demands my attention:love:

So, bit by bit I get her to smile at me ( probally fealt sorry for me) and then I move on over as smooth as can be and drop her a line from hell, well bugger me, she goes for it!

Anyway, of me and her go on my bike,

First set of traffic lights OVER SHE GOES TREV- She handles that ok

Second set of lights- YEP, Over she goes- Again, she handles that

On third ride away, I am thinking my bike is a bit noisy tonight, then realise I do not have my helmet on! DOH, next lights, OVER SHE GOES AGAIN

LESSON LEARNT

Do not give AUSSIE chicks a ride on your bike.

Of Course, I do not drink and ride/drive anymore:done:

boomer
23rd August 2006, 13:49
Boomer did once when we were riding back through Huntly. He ditched it after trying to do a stoppie for some kids. He's stopped when dropped it, but he wasnt 'standing still' :lol:

biach!! betwwen the 3 bikes i've had i've dropped 'em 7 times; Well, once it got knocked over, once i dropped it in the sand pit ( nice lay down @ puke ), once doing stoppies as Gareth has said; Once cleaning it; once pushing it up my drive and once coming to a junction i normally ride through so lent but there was a bus so stopped and fell, oh and doing a u-turn i slipped on white lines; other than that i haven't had a crash :innocent:

Lou Girardin
23rd August 2006, 14:40
Last time was at Easter. Rode from Hanmer to Waipara, had a big lunch, tasted some wines etc. So I was a bit knackered when we got back to our accomodation. I went to lift the bike onto it's centrestand in the garage and the bitch toppled over away from me.
Lifted it up, expecting to see broken this and cracked that. There wasn't even a scratch, a little scuff on the mirror was all. Thank you God for naked bikes.
And a big thanks to whoever put carpet on the garage floor.

Beemer
23rd August 2006, 14:57
When I got my RG150 and learned to ride, I pulled up at a set of traffic lights on Christmas Day one year and while trying to flick it into neutral (it was a bitch to get into neutral at a standstill), I completely forgot to put a foot down and of course the lack of momentum meant I just fell over! Felt a right fool, but the guy who came to help me was even funnier - he had a Santa hat on!

Dropped it at a WIMA rally when the back wheel dropped off the edge of a path as I was manouvering it, and dropped the Beemer once when I put my foot down and the edge of the road wasn't in fact flat but a fairly deep gutter - that time the bike landed on my ample thigh and no damage was done to the body work!

Touch wood, I've never dropped the Goose... and I hope I don't either!

mikey
23rd August 2006, 14:58
Of Course, I do not drink and ride/drive anymore:done:

yeh me to:rofl:

Shaun
23rd August 2006, 15:06
yeh me to:rofl:

Its because of the bumps

bell
23rd August 2006, 17:25
Came back to my Z750 a few weeks back after doing a first aid course to find some C*%T had backed into the bike and knocked it down. They had very kindly picked it up and put it on its stand again though. No note left, no witnesses can be found....means I'm up for the $500 excess. So far the quote is at $3500. Scratched and bent quite a few bits. But the ultimate fucking irony, and I deserve some bling for this I reckon (!), is that the night before I had unsuccessfully attempted to put on a set of crash posts! They would have been on it if I had been able to get a hold of a long enough 8mm hex head wrrench...). Yep, sad but true eh. That bike will NOT get ridden out of the workshop until those crash posts are on it!

Crisis management
23rd August 2006, 17:39
I've definately dropped a few bikes but only rarely at a standstill, it takes rare talent to achieve that BMW:innocent:

I think (and I am looking for the brain cell dedicated to rembering things "that" long ago...) the most embarassing standstill one was trying to impress a new girlfriend.

She was on the footpath waiting to be picked up, I flamboyantly nailed the bike towards (4 into 1, no baffle) her, pulled up, flicked the side stand down and stood up on the pegs to dismount.
Sidestand carefully slotted between the grill on a gutter drain and I faceplanted at her feet.

She was quite impressed!:sick:

Kickaha
23rd August 2006, 17:46
I'm still not sure how I managed this but I hopped on my BMW R75/7 in the driveway and promptly fell straight over and off the other side ( I was sober) luckily the BMW twins have those sticky out bits so you dont have to lift them as far

1992 (or 93 cant remember) just finished 19 1/2 hours riding on the 1000 miler and pull into Turangi Motor Camp, I go to put the Darmah on the centre stand, lifting under the seat as I always did and it come off in my hand and the bike falls over, I think someone even got it on video :Oops:

Her_C4
23rd August 2006, 18:19
Hmmmmm - maybe I have :shutup: ....... on at LEAST one occasion:yes: :gob: One of the issues some of us that are vertically challenged face ... always looking for a bit of flat ground to stop on :shit:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=6366

petesmeats
23rd August 2006, 18:29
yep i was riding down to christchurch from wellington at the beginning of this year and i got to Kaikoura fine and decided to stop for some lunch (about 4pm saturday.) at a lookout somewhere (loose gravel carpark) ... I finished my fish and chips and then went to back my bike out of the carpark and my foot slipped on the gravel... Downski's... It went down hard. right next to a touring couple on a BMW:doh: Luckily they were a nice couple... They helped me pick it up. On close inspection of my unscratched neptune pipe i discovered minor scratching and then decided to check other more integral parts of the bike and found that i no longer had a front brake lever... Rode the rest of the way to christchurch with rear and engine brakes only... DoDgy

rwh
23rd August 2006, 18:36
I haven't dropped mine yet (fingers crossed), but I've had a couple of nervous moments ...

I've made a policy of never getting on or off without the sidestand down - if I want to put it on (or take it off) the centre stand, I do so with the sidestand down as well. I then have at least one 'safe' way to lose control :)

Richard

mdooher
23rd August 2006, 18:45
Exactly one year ago today my wife and I drove to High Country Motorcycles in Fairly, that’s inland from Timaru for those who are wondering, to take a look at a nice shiny red Ducati ST2. “WOW yummy I’ll take it” or words to that effect went through my mind. But being totally cool, after a suitably long discussion period I actually said “looks ok, I’ll just need to take it for a test ride”.

Off I went, up the 1km long dirt track that served as the driveway and onto the main road toward Tekapo. After about 10min of smiling I thought I should make my way back so at the first opportunity decided to do a U turn….

Guess What! A Ducati ST2 has a much bigger turning circle than a GSX250.:scooter: The result was that the front wheel hit the wet grass that sloped away from the road and to cut a long story short I was left standing over the bike holding the bars to stop it sliding down the slope.

I got myself on to the right side of it with my boots JUST on the roadway and through sheer adrenaline and embarrassment lifted it up and pulled it back up the slope. Zero damage

I discovered two things that day
1) I love my Ducati
2) I can lift my Ducati

kensuem
23rd August 2006, 19:36
Many,many years ago I was late riding to Tech college in the UK,due to 3 inches of hard packed snow on the roads,I pulled into the car park and went to haul my Royal Enfield Constelation onto its centre stand.My feet shot out from underneath me and i ended up under the bike,which weighed a ton,or thats what it felt like! Due to the snow and ice I couldnt get a grip on the ground,and ended up laying there for 15 minutes untill another late arriver turned up and helped lift the bike off me.I was just glad the hot exhaust wasnt on my side!Although the bike was powerful,because of its weight,the power to weight ratio wouldnt allow the wheelies that modern bikes do,although opening the throttle hard on a wet road one day did cause the back wheel to slide round sideways.From memory I think the Connie was about 54 hp.

Jsn
23rd August 2006, 20:15
Ha the same day I bought my mint condition (not a scratch on it) RG250, I parked it on a slight incline at the beach.. everything was fine so i walked to get a coffee.
20 METRES LATER!!!!
Heard a crash, turned around and yelled obscenities at it. gr. Turns out when you park on a hill on a windy day you REALLY REALLY shouldn't leave the bike in neutron. :gob:
Was kinda funny, becuase we had sat down for a coffee and saw my friends car drive past us on the back of a tow truck, so I thought to myself "hmmmm better move the bike eh".. in hindsight i should have left it where it was. :(

Also dropped my tzr in my driveway (not quite sure how it happened.. just let go of it..
Also when I picked the TZR up after buying it, I put it on a trailer and we got all the way to the turn going onto my friends street before the strops gave way and the bike smashed onto the side of the trailer :( thats just good fortune after already driving for an hour.

Timber020
23rd August 2006, 21:34
Wellington has alot of steep driveways and streets, I have dropped my bikes about 5 times around the place, every time because my downhill leg was about a foot to short.

Zapf
24th August 2006, 00:13
haha... yea dropped my VTR250 at the 1st day of my CBTA course, the instructors wern't too impressed.

And with my SV650S, dropped it doing a U turn the 2nd day I own it while looking up at the wind farms.

NSR-Dan
24th August 2006, 01:10
Damn People

If i ever see an auction onn trade me for a 2nd hand bke and it says "never been dropped" im not goin to believe it.

axamax
24th August 2006, 04:08
Yep! Triumph T140 (Left the chain on it), BMW R45(reversed back and hit kerb too early), GL1500 (3am, put the stand down and didn't notice the pothole). BMW K1200LT(Putting it on it's Hydraulic Centre Stand- panicked when both feet left the ground and let go of the button.)
I have a copy of the PIck Up video, I'll try to post it

KATWYN
24th August 2006, 08:17
I seemed to be doomed with that bike - dropping it at a standstill.



Yup. I've had my R6 for 5 years and over this time I dropped it
twice at standstill......both times in one day - I couldn't believe it - that day WAS not
a good day for me!!!. It happened in Motueka then again that day in Westport on our South Island tour.

Lou Girardin
24th August 2006, 08:21
I've dropped an Ultra Classic too. Did a sharp right turn on the narrow road where the Rawene cafes are, was about 1 km/h too slow and 2 degrees too much lean and over it went. My wife bailed brilliantly, I was left straddling the beast. It landed on the crash bars, so no damage was done and we managed to lift all 400 kg's upright. Bloody embarrasing though, I'm glad the 30 bikers around the corner at the ferry didn't see.