Did it or didn't it?

[Jantar]

Following on from the threads about: Which first bike; Is a Honsuzakihasung gzxrs250 the best bike for me to learn on; Which sould I get; etc. I have maintained that a new biker should start on a mild mannered naked bike because they are likely to drop it in the first 6 months.

I am not saying that a crash is inevitable, but that it is more than likely that the bike will come in contact with the ground at some stage.

It maybe while riding, it maybe while manouvering it, or it may have simply rolled off the stand.

What I am looking for here is a good indication of whether or not your bike has come into unintentional contact with the ground at any time during your first 6 months of riding.

As the thread develops I'll work out the mean and standard deviation based on a simple bi-nomial distribution and come up with confidence limits for how likely it is that a new rider will drop their bike in the first 6 months.

[Gremlin]

twice in 3 days... into a couple of ditches, probably about 4 months in, then nothing for a couple of years after

[Madness]

At the age of 16 I pulled up outside my local Fish & Chip shop one Friday evening. There were quite a few people in the shop and it had the obligatory large glass frontage. The RG250 drew quite a bit of attention as I pulled up, this probably distracted me as I dismounted. I forgot about the side stand, crrraaaasssh.

Nice balanced poll, BTW.

[Hitcher]

Not in the first six months. I saved that for later...

[Maha]

That would be YES!!!
My beautiful YZF600 took a lay down while parking in between cars, Mom was a few parks over and could see me but could hear me...

[nodrog:Me]

what makes people think that dropping a naked bike is cheaper than dropping a faired one?

example -

K6 GSXR1000, sent down the road at 40-50kph, damage - scratched side fairing, cost to fix - $900 (or just cover the scratches with go fast stickers)

mv augusta brutale, sent down the road at 25-35kph, damage - scratched engine cases, block, radiator, frame (all of which is covered by a cheap piece of plastic on a faired bike), cost to fix - $1 reserve on trademe because it is fucked (the labour cost alone was nearly enough to write it off, because the whole bike needs to be stripped to replace these parts)

[Usarka]

what makes people think that dropping a naked bike is cheaper than dropping a faired one?

Fairings are good sacrificial scratch pieces and dirt collectors.

washing naked bikes is a PITA.

[NighthawkNZ:Me]

I never had an accident or dropped my bike till I was older and started getting cocky

[fireball]

first 6 months nothing, then after that came the affair of little asain women in mercs and bmws trying to kill me

[road king]

i had my first bike for about a day. pulled into a gravel driveway, stopped, lost my footing and over she went. i think there was a small scratch and maybe a broken indicator. about 2 months later i put it into a ditch at about 50km. damn near wrote it off

[dpex]

That would be YES!!!
My beautiful YZF600 took a lay down while parking in between cars, Mom was a few parks over and could see me but could hear me...

How does you ride feel after you top 150+, without fairings?

[dpex]

twice in 3 days... into a couple of ditches, probably about 4 months in, then nothing for a couple of years after

You wuz just goin' after the free watercress, eh, Grem?

[Maha]

How does you ride feel after you top 150+, without fairings?

Who the hell goes that fast??....

To answer your question...windy!

[Ragingrob]

It didn't.

[hayd3n]

Who the hell goes that fast??....

To answer your question...windy!

maybe he was on a track or a closed road