Common methods of dropping bike?

[nodrog:Me]

Trying to balance a Big Mac combo at the McDonalds drive through.

Fanny.

[skinman]

parking bike in windy place
U turn on slope in narrow road with gravel edges

[Pascal]

Trying to balance a Big Mac combo at the McDonalds drive through

Bah. McDonnalds. The one in Greenlane has refused to serve me four times now. Apparently as I'm not "in a vehicle" they are not allowed to serve me.

Tried arguing that the food was going straight from her hands to the saddlebags (On the bike) but nooooo...

Wendy makes better burgers anyway.

[YellowDog]

New riders often put their bikes down at low speed due to use of the front brake whilst turning.

The bike stops dead and thows them off

Keep your foot over the back brake pedal when manoeuvring at low speeds

[zmlam]

Wow - thanks to all! Great (and some hilarious) advice - I'll do my best learn from what has been posted! Cheers

[HenryDorsetCase]

Hi,

Am a newbie - just got my learners and in process of looking for a bike and gear. Quite green in terms of experience (rode a 50cc bike at camp twice when I was much younger). But enjoyed the thrill of it back then, ~15 later years managed to finally decide on buying a motorbike! So extremely excited!! Been learning a lot through these forums (thanks!) and am very aware that I should approach learning with more caution than haste and all with the appropriate gear!

So my question is what are some common things people do to drop their bikes? I have read some about low speed dropping - I assume this would be caused by not looking ahead generally, or too going too fast? I can also imagine uneven surfaces could be a trigger, anything else?

I rather not drop a bike in case it becomes expensive to fix so would like to learn more about what to watch out for! Also it seems most people drop their bikes - though there is the rare few whom never have!

Thanks in advance!

its not uneven surface in my experience, its stuff lying on top of an otherwise fairly even surface.

shingle. loose chip. tar snakes. water. oil. diesel. actual poo (cow is the favourite round here but it could be sheep or horse). leaves. pine needles.

the biggest mistake new riders make (in my reckoning anyway) is being too concerned with operating the motorcycle, and not looking far enough down the road. When you get to a point where you dont have to think about the mechanics of riding, and can just focus on riding, that will be good. The further down the road you look, the more time you have to react to stuff.

[HenryDorsetCase]

New riders often put their bikes down at low speed due to use of the front brake whilst turning.

The bike stops dead and thows them off

Keep your foot over the back brake pedal when manoeuvring at low speeds

thats trail braking innit??

[HenryDorsetCase]

The dumbest newb crash I ever had was approaching a corner marked 35kph too fast (a left hander)... got into it too hot, though "Whoa, going too quick" put on the back brake, locked the wheel, lowsided. slid across the other lane and 10ft down a bank. luckily nothing coming, and I walked away, bike towed back up the bank, stared right up. one bent clutch lever was the only damage.

so yeah, learn how not to be retarded.

[\m/]

Stalling when exiting driveway and putting feet up too soon

[MadDuck]

Coming to a stop....putting foot down....ground too far away.

Has got me a couple of times but I have short legs you see

[Juzz976]

Getting new riding boots that jam inside fairings.

Tank slap over judder bars

seen someone slide because they had chain lube all over the rear wheel.

Mate of mine died because he did burnouts on his tire and didn't replace, blew out and hit 4wd head on.

[Str8 Jacket]

Heres a list of things that caused me to crash when I first started riding on the road and most of it because I was way to overconfident, some of it bad luck:

Wind gusts, small bike, stopped at intersection, Wellington.

Leaving disc lock on outside a packed local mall, maybe trying to show off and taking off with a full throttle.

Way too much brake into a corner.

Not watching the cars, people etc around you.

Watching the cars, people around you and not watching where your going.

Side stand still down.

I am pretty sure that there's many more 'incidents'....

[Juzz976]

forgot to add

having throttle cable pulled whilst turning bike because your dickhead flatmate wont stop F#$%ing with your bike and he doesn't know where the cables should be routed.

[HenryDorsetCase]

Heres a list of things that caused me to crash when I first started riding on the road and most of it because I was way to overconfident, some of it bad luck:

Wind gusts, small bike, stopped at intersection, Wellington.

Leaving disc lock on outside a packed local mall, maybe trying to show off and taking off with a full throttle.

Way too much brake into a corner.

Not watching the cars, people etc around you.

Watching the cars, people around you and not watching where your going.

Side stand still down.

I am pretty sure that there's many more 'incidents'....

Its not just newbs that do that, I am embarrassed to admit I did it outside work about three weeks ago!. did $300 damage to the bike too....l.

[SPP]

Rolling it off a paddock stand onto the side stand... that’s still up