Dropping your 250 road bike

[firefighter]

Ok i'm sick of seeing people giving advice about buying a first bike, and saying don't get fully faired bikes as "you will drop it buy a GN or some other slow piece of shit". Fucken bullshit, I don't personally know ANYONE who dropped their first bike, so I thought i'd see who has.

Ok to clarify this does'nt include race or trail bikes........for obvious reasons. I'm meaning the 250 road bikes......cruiser or sport

[Madness]

So you think that those who have been unfortunate enough to have dropped their first bike will indicate yes in the poll with the options you have given them?.

Go ride your Hyobag, probably more constructive than this pointless drivel.

[firefighter]

So you think that those who have been unfortunate enough to have dropped their first bike will indicate yes in the poll with the options you have given them?.

Go ride your Hyobag, probably more constructive than this pointless drivel.

oh fucken waaa waaa waaa- perhaps I could have been a little less obnoxious, but hell it's my poll.

[Trudes]

I've dropped all my bikes, shit happens, they're heavy.

[Tank]

I didnt drop mine, nor my second bike, and only my third the other day after trying to mount in a stupid location (fucken north shore driveways).

[Lissa]

Ive dropped a GN and my Bandit. GN in a driveway when I lost my footing and wasnt paying attention. And my Bandit in the driveway of work which is thick gravel, not proud of it but not going to worry about it.

[BOGAR]

3 times. :third: First when some lady pulled out in front of me from the other side of the road, second on a corner in the middle of the night and I just panicked (slow speed crash) and the third was not long after the second. I was going for a ride around the port hills getting my confidence back and just as I was heading back into CHCH I hit a patch of grit in the middle of the road on a tight corner. :doh: I now know a few more things to watch out for apart from paint and manhole covers. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

Having said that there was never much damage to the fairing so I never worried fixing them.
<o:p>Having done it I’m glad it happened on that bike and not my current one and I hope that was the last of it. If people should get one or not because they might drop the bike is their call in the end though.
</o:p>

[MIXONE]

Yes I dropped my first bike.On the road/beach/trailriding/racing!!!If you don't fall off when your a noob you don't know your or the bike's limits.
Dropped my last bike too and that's more than 50 bikes later.

[firefighter]

I didnt drop mine, nor my second bike, and only my third the other day after trying to mount in a stupid location (fucken north shore driveways).

ahhh yeah I DO personally know people who have dropped their second-third bikes, as they are usually big buggers, and I understand the northshore driveway thing, the thing that I find odd- unless your a small lady if your moving around a little 250 you should be able to hold the thing up.

[Usarka]

If you don't fall off when your a noob you don't know your or the bike's limits.

Do you encourage young drivers to crash their cars too - to find their cars limits? :sherlock:

[firefighter]

Yes I dropped my first bike.On the road/beach/trailriding/racing!!!If you don't fall off when your a noob you don't know your or the bike's limits.
Dropped my last bike too and that's more than 50 bikes later.

hmmm, yeah perhaps i'll adjust that to road bikes, trail bikes I understand!(or race bikes)

[MIXONE]

Do you encourage young drivers to crash their cars too - to find their cars limits? :sherlock:

If they happen to be racing at the proper place,ie the track,then crashes are bound to happen.


PS Love your holier then thou attitude just because you have been LUCKY enough not to have crashed yet!

[firefighter]

Shit there's quite a lot of you that dropped their first bike! Mybe my mates just never fessed up? LOL

[3L4NS1R]

sht happens. My mate dropped his pulling out of a petrol station, I dropped mine when I stopped to go back and help him. The observers were having a field day laughing at these two noobs fcking up thier brand new (fairing clad) bikes.

[3L4NS1R]

hmmm, yeah perhaps i'll adjust that to road bikes, trail bikes I understand!(or race bikes)

lol... what about trail bikes while on the road?

[pzkpfw]

It was an RD350LC, on road tyres, coming down-hill and around a curve on a freshly (deeply) metalled country road, with my Girlfriend on the back; and neither me nor my bike had any licenses. (The bike was way more experienced than me.)

So I dropped it.

And yes, I used to be mentally challanged.

[Usarka]

PS Love your holier then thou attitude just because you have been LUCKY enough not to have crashed yet!

Why thanks you, but where did i say i hadnt crashed?

And btw - there is more to not crashing than luck alone, i'm just concerned that the message to noobs seems to be "you will crash".

[Trudes]

I don't know if all noobs crash, however being aware that you may could help. I remember when I first learned to ride thinking I was pretty hot shit after about 3 weeks of riding and started doing some pretty stupid stuff, until I had a wee accident and realised just how much I had to learn. Cockiness is dangerous.

[Madness]

Fucken bullshit, I don't personally know ANYONE who dropped their first bike, so I thought i'd see who has.

So you still think the advice is fucken bullshit? Do you still think that if you haven't had personal experience of something it must be a crock of shit? Do you still think your mates represent the entire biking universe?.

I hope my house never catches on fire if you are an example of the level of intelligence in the N.Z Fire Service.

As I said before, go ride your Hyobag.

[Blossom]

I have not dropped a bike yet at all.
My current bike is my 2nd. Yeah I am a nana.. Dont care. I like to cruise and am convinced everyone else on the road is trying to kill me.
I imagine I am a pain in the arse to ride with. I don't even like riding with other bikes as they get a bit close for my comfort.

[firefighter]

So you still think the advice is fucken bullshit? Do you still think that if you haven't had personal experience of something it must be a crock of shit? Do you still think your mates represent the entire biking universe?.

I hope my house never catches on fire if you are an example of the level of intelligence in the N.Z Fire Service.

As I said before, go ride your Hyobag.

perhaps you should go have a cold shower mate, your acting like a baby.....:crybaby::spanking::baby::Playnice:

[Ragingrob]

I still don't see the stats as so overwhelming that you could advise new riders that they WILL drop their first bike.

On my 3rd bike so far and haven't dropped any. And I have short legs, so should theoretically be more prone to dropping.

[disenfranchised]

I dropped my first bike...but it took 2 and a half years...and I'm still on my first bike.

Was a stupid mistake on my part, while the roads were wet.

I actually agree with firefighter a bit though.
While a lot of people might drop their bike while they're learning, if you're sensible there's really no reason to....so you may as well get whichever bike you want, regardless of fairings or not etc...

Besides, I'm sure all learners would get insurance...so it doesn't really matter what the damage costs to fix does it?

[Madness]

I actually agree with firefighter a bit though.

Well you would wouldn't you, Hyobag riders are all the same, aren't they?.

[vifferman]

Yep, I dropped my first bike. I was a wafer-thin 15 year old, and actually dropped it in the owner's rose garden at the end of the test ride. :o
Can't remember other 'drops' (but probably did when riding it off road). Also wiped out once on gravel on a corner (obscured by pedestrians standing on the road in front of it), and ran over a cyclist (turned abruptly in front of me), a car (didn't see it, coz I was wearing a tinted visor at dusk, and it was a Mini, so almost invisible :rolleyes:) and another car (it failed to give way).

[klingon]

Do you encourage young drivers to crash their cars too - to find their cars limits? :sherlock:

Nope. He didn't ask if we crashed our first bike, just if we dropped it. Big difference.

I dropped my bike for the first time while practising emergency stopping in a car park about a week after I had learned to ride. I shouldn't have been doing it because I hadn't even mastered normal stopping yet! Anyway I dropped it and broke the clutch lever.

Several months later I rode out of my driveway and across the road just as I had done hundreds of times in the last few months. Went to put my foot down and apparently someone had moved the road. :Oops: It wasn't a big bike, and I'm tallish so I should have been able to stop it falling but somehow I couldn't. The bike fell onto the grass verge so no harm was done.

Big deal. I'm not proud of it, but nor am I ashamed.

And I have never crashed a car (or a bike) and never intend to do so.

[Usarka]

Nope. He didn't ask if we crashed our first bike, just if we dropped it. Big difference.




Huh ??????

If we are only talking about dropping from near stationary then how does that tell you anything at all about the bikes limits?

[firefighter]

I dropped my first bike...but it took 2 and a half years...and I'm still on my first bike.

Was a stupid mistake on my part, while the roads were wet.

I actually agree with firefighter a bit though.
While a lot of people might drop their bike while they're learning, if you're sensible there's really no reason to....so you may as well get whichever bike you want, regardless of fairings or not etc...

Besides, I'm sure all learners would get insurance...so it doesn't really matter what the damage costs to fix does it?

yeah after that long on the same bike, well yeah accidents can happen, I find it really pointless advising people to ride a bike without fairings because it's their first bike, whoopty shit from what i'm reading the same majority didn't drop a bike until it was their 2nd + bike, so they may as well buy what they actually want and be happy with it, if they drop it they should be insured anyway.

[Rosie]

Besides, I'm sure all learners would get insurance...so it doesn't really matter what the damage costs to fix does it?

It does if your bike is off the road for 5 months waiting for repairs :weep:

[gijoe1313]

What will be will be, we obviously don't intentionally plan to do daft things, but the best of intentions is like a condom with extra large holes for aeration, practically useless when confronted with reality!

If you drop it, you drop it - it's just the biker gods way of giving your bike a little rest and some humility to filthy biker scum. Everyone has heard or had a good story about their drops.

All part of the patina of life that paints a passing parade of pain over the plaudits that pose as perfection! :yes:

[Kflasher]

Ok i'm sick of seeing people giving advice about buying a first bike, and saying don't get fully faired bikes as "you will drop it buy a GN or some other slow piece of shit". Fucken bullshit, I don't personally know ANYONE who dropped their first bike, so I thought i'd see who has.

Ok to clarify this does'nt include race or trail bikes........for obvious reasons. I'm meaning the 250 road bikes......cruiser or sport

This is, as I interpreted it, a way for new riders to not get all disgruntled about dropping and spending copious amounts of time and money when they could be spending more time in the saddle.
Makes sense if you are on limited budget... my 2-cents.

[eelracing]

Good thread Firefighter.

I actually highsided my first bike, a cg 110 of all things.
Had an uphill driveway with a 45 degree turn halfway up it.
Well i thought i was Eddie Lawson or something and got her reet over one day.Found out the hard way that the footpegs were not the folding up kind and of course it dug in and lifted the rear wheel off the deck.Rear end came round then gripped again and threw me over the highside.It was all at about 10kmh so no serious damage but farkn funny at the time.Still gives me a laugh now but thank christ me mum was'nt watching.
Don't worry bout the mightier than thou few on this site they've obviously forgotten the sheer thrill of the first bike experience or maybe they are at the mature age when starting to learn.

[klingon]

...
Don't worry bout the mightier than thou few on this site they've obviously forgotten the sheer thrill of the first bike experience or maybe they are at the mature age when starting to learn.

Unfortunately being a 'mature' learner doesn't make you immune from dropping your bike! :mellow:

[Beemer]

I'm short and I am not embarrassed to admit I dropped my RG150 a couple of times when learning to ride. One incident was at a set of traffic lights while trying to get it into neutral - and I forgot to put a foot down! Another time was at a WIMA rally when I was moving the bike and one wheel slipped off the path I was wheeling it along and over she went.

I've NEVER crashed a bike on the road so won't be clicking on the only option available to me.

However, despite dropping the bike a couple of times, I didn't damage the fairing either time. I bent the clutch and gear levers and put a small scratch on the tail piece, but the fairing never had any damage at all.

[El Santos]

fuk mate i've droped mine as well, js when i go pass sum pretty ladies & ask them if they want a ride bummm!!! my face flat on the treee wahhhhaaa... shit happens bo

[Brett]

slid it into a ditch twice. once, being an idiot racing another bloke in the wet, in the dark with a tinted visor on twilight rd (I mean really, how dumb was that.)

Second time, was ghoing along at jogging pace waiting for some mates to catch up, looking back over my shoulder, rode down into a ditch.

Neither times were too serious, both damaged cosmetics.

[sunhuntin]

ive dropped 2 of my bikes so far, all from a standstill. first time i forgot to put the stand down. second time i lost my footing while parked on the side of the road taking photos down south. i almost had a 3rd drop, but somehow managed to force her back up again... that would been nasty, as she woulda landed on the ball part of a trailer. i told my watching partner that next time that happens, she can feel free to help me stand it back up again!

[MotoGirl]

If you don't fall off when your a noob you don't know your or the bike's limits.

I'm going to disagree with you here. If you are taught to think carefully about where you park (to make it easy to get out again) then you shouldn't have any problems.

Not everyone drops their 250 (it could be someone else's :rofl:) and I'm picking whether it happens to a rider will depend on how he or she learns to ride. If you apply appropriate handling skills from day one (such as knowing how to control the throttle and clutch during a U-turn), you should be less likely to drop your bike.

Maybe I was just lucky because I'd spent years riding around the farm before I got into road bikes.

[ManDownUnder]

Not a road bike but I did an endover on the ER185 I rode for a while. Front dropped off a step down on the quarry I was riding in, skid plate hit - and over we went.

The rear sprocket and chain proceeded to put a HUGE gouge into my helmet right around my right ear ... (i.e. if the lid wasn't on I would have been VERY sore)

A good lesson but to answer the question - yup. I dropped it. Done it a good one too.

[Jantar]

I hadn't seen this thread when I started a similar poll on http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=87458

I didn't limit it to 250 road bikes as some riders start on bikes smaller than 250, and some start on dual purpose or trail bikes. Also many of us started riding before the 250 limit came into play, but I did limit it to the first 6 months of riding. The poll on here is even more inclined to show that is likely a rider will drop their bike during the first 6 months of riding. Its a pity this isn't a public poll or I could have combined the data for those who have voted on one thread and not the other.

However on the Did it or didn't? thread at the 75% confidence level it is more likely that a rider will drop their bike during the first 6 months than not drop it. On this poll it is very likely (95% confidence limit) that a rider has a greater chance of dropping their bike during the first 6 months than not.

[nigel]

Yep I've dropped mine twice.. once was more like a low speed accident when I did a U-turn on gravel. Landed on and scratched a fairing that had only been repainted the week before! :doh: (it was scratched the first time from where the bike shop dropped it :angry:). The other time I dropped it at home, but the only thing damaged was the brake lever that went all banana shaped.

I started learning in a group of 5 or 6 people, out of those people all but 1 has made it through the first two years without a drop or minor crash.

[Jez]

i have only just got into riding on the road ... got myself a nice fully faired stealth black zzr250 when i decided to get a license

i have ridden off road on the farm for the last 17 years on all sorts of bikes doing all sorts of stupid shit and have dropped bikes many many times.

i have not dropped my zzr yet, i hope i dont, but shit can, and generally does, happen ...

end of the day ... if i do drop my zzr and the fairings get fubar'ed, ill just go street fighter styles til i can afford to repair em ... shit i ride for my enjoyment, what do i care what my baby looks like? shes MINE after all :P

[bezajel]

3 times:

1) in my garage trying to shift it around (to make space for my partners' bike) - within first week - no damage.

2) at slow speed turning onto an up-hill street on my first time outside of a carpark (slipped into neutral instead of second, then tried to go straight to second) - within first couple of weeks - bent clutch handle.

3) couldn't hold it up when a huge gust of wind hit me just as I stopped at some lights - within first month - bent clutch handle.

Nothing since then. It was just getting used to manoeuvring something heavier than me.

[Nagash]

yeah after that long on the same bike, well yeah accidents can happen, I find it really pointless advising people to ride a bike without fairings because it's their first bike, whoopty shit from what i'm reading the same majority didn't drop a bike until it was their 2nd + bike, so they may as well buy what they actually want and be happy with it, if they drop it they should be insured anyway.

It makes sense though.

New riders are more likely to drop their bikes then more experianced riders. Considering everyone's following the legal law here.. obviously more experianced riders have a tendency to ride faster and more dangerously but with inexperiance comes the increased likelihood of having an accident.

So, if the advice is to buy a bike with no fairings, or atleast take the fairing's off till you feel confident, I don't see what's wrong with that. It's potentially saving the rider abit of cash down the line (Fairings are fucking expensive for what they are) and if the rider doesn't crash, well good on them. They shouldn't really be doing speeds where the fairing's make a huge amount of difference while learning, and if they are, a 250 isn't capable of doing much where fairings are really required.

Yes the statement 'You WILL crash' is abit of an over-exxageration, but it's a shock tactic. Installing the fear of god into newer riders so they refrain from doing stupid shit.

In my opinion, it's just advice. Not to be considered law but to be taken with a grain of salt and abit of after thought.


---

And yes, I crashed my first bike (a 125, not a 250) many, many a time.

[Seraph]

1st, put into a slide the day i got it, ice patch in a carpark learning tight turns, was a GN, smashd indicator, otherwise not a scratch..

2nd, about 4 months later, toppeled over the side of my balius after going to lean on it, misjudged the slope, and it went straight over sideways...Me with it. again, not any damage, naked bike, was alright.

3rd, car slammed into the side of me, I was sitting in hospital picking shards of shattered fairings out of my clothes and hair 3 days later. god knows how they got in there cos i was wearing a full face helmet but hey.

I'm glad my first bikes were naked, I learned alot without causing alot of damage, I'd never go back to them now, But it was a good experience to have.

[ukiwi]

I've almost dropped my load a couple of times while riding my bike but never dropped the bike (yet).
Saying that it weighs about the same as a flat cap full of lollies, so unless both my legs fall off, without me noticing, as I pull up at the lights I have no excuse really.

[Sable]

I've had 2 since getting mine. One was relatively minor - 8 year old front tyre gave out at 20km/h round a corner, then the footpeg dug in. Second time - yesterday, actually - was following some guy on another old 2 stroke, overcompensated for the shitty front tyre by including the side of the road in my braking and hit some gravel. Over I went.

[Blossom]

So, if the advice is to buy a bike with no fairings, or atleast take the fairing's off till you feel confident, I don't see what's wrong with that. It's potentially saving the rider abit of cash down the line (Fairings are fucking expensive for what they are) and if the rider doesn't crash, well good on them. They shouldn't really be doing speeds where the fairing's make a huge amount of difference while learning, and if they are, a 250 isn't capable of doing much where fairings are really required.


As a side note to this... I found a lot of people were just as opposed to buying a 'new' 250 as a first bike for the same sort of reasons as above.
fwiw, I agree that its buyer beware. If its new and you drop it, be prepared to deal with it.



Saying that it weighs about the same as a flat cap full of lollies, so unless both my legs fall off, without me noticing, as I pull up at the lights I have no excuse really.

As disturbing as that mental picture is, I have to agree. The vl does not feel very heavy at all. Mind you I suppose its what you compare it to.

[Fatt Max]

I dropped my guts at a wedding once,

Fecking stunk the church out and no end