Have you dropped your bike?

[Major]

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To make some riders feel better, I thought this post may help. I think all (and I mean ALL) motorcycle riders have dropped their bikes at some point in their riding lives.

Mine was at 20 when I got my first bike. Right out of the dealership parking lot. Huge lowside. Needed a new right side fairing, brake lever, and Helmet. Had been on bikes before, but I litterally forgot where the low and higher gears were. I kept trying to move off the line shifting up and into higher gears. Revved so high to take off in 5th gear, popped a great wheelie and slid 50 feet down the street. I finally stopped when my head smashed into the curb, bike went another 10 feet. Surprisingly, bike only had the fairing damage and scrap along the muffler.

Gf was in the car behind me. We parked the bike and went to a friend's house and he rode it home for me. I signed up for the MSF course next day and didn't touch the bike again until after the course.

Anyone else care to share their story. May help new riders avoid the same mistakes we've made.

 

[Griffin]

Yes, ranging from speeds of 0 kph to 100 kph.

In 35 years I've dropped my bikes maybe 4 times at or near 0 kph.

Two times stand out. My brand new '87 Honda Hurricane 1000 was fully loaded for a trip down east. Stopped for gas and extended the side stand and got off the bike. There is a little rubber do-dad on the end of the side stand to make sure it goes up before you fall down if you forget to put it back up before you take off. That rubber thingee tends to get in the way and sometimes prevents the sidestand from making good contact with the ground. And.. the bike slowly fell over on its side, scratching the spotless plastics and embarassing the crap out of me in front of my girlfriend and about 100 other spectators. Interesting I had no trouble getting the 300 kgs of bike and gear back upright - amazing what adrenaline will do.

Second one that stands out was about 3 years ago. Working on my '87 Hurricane in the garage, extended the side stand, jump off and start walking away. Remember that rubber thingee? So did I when I was about 2 metres from the bike. I turned around and watched the bike leaning over as the sidestand folded. I stupidly dove for the bike and managed to slow it so it was a no-damage easing to the ground instead of a crash. I was lucky I didn't hurt myself.

Oh, another one was my first bike, a CB400T Honda. I stalled it getting going and when the bike lurched I fell over with it in the driveway.

 

[killerkeith]

The only bike I haven't dropped was my CBR 125.
Low sided my Ninja 650 locking up the front wheel during a panic stop
Low sided my Ninja 250 at Deals Gap taking a hairpin at slightly higher speeds than posted
Low sided my Versys on cold tires on cold pavement. Video Seen Here

Moral of the story, Kawi's are prone to lowsides

 

[rawr]

Dumped my old 250 Nighthawk on a left hander out in the country. Entered the corner too fast and wide, and had my head down. went onto the gravel shoulder and panicked. Locked the front brake and lowsided it. Bent fork and dented the tank. I was fine, but my ego/pride was bruised more than anything. Worst part is that I was literally 2 days away from doing a straight swap for an 84 Honda VF500 .

10 years later, got back on 2 wheels and haven't looked back. Haven't dropped this one yet... (knocking wood)

 

[cknowles]

Had my '97 Virago fall off the stand 3 times before I learned and now always park in 1st gear. It rolls forward so easily then the stand folds up.
The first time it happened at Port Dover in front of 50,000 witnesses.

Once doing parking lot practice with my daughter riding pillion, after successfully doing a left turn 180 degrees, we did a very graceful right hand turn at about 5 km/h and just kept leaning over until the foot pegs dragged. Fortunately no injuries other than to my ego and my daughter's confidence in my riding abilities, oh and the pillion right side foot peg broke off. A little more throttle would have kept the whole thing from falling over. Ten minutes later my Wife was doing the same maneuver on the same bike and dropped it onto the left side in order to make the scratches symmetrical!

 

[Bermuda]

Dumped my 250 while riding just days ago in the rain. Rookie mistake (however appropriate); was riding like it wasn't wet out. Coming to a stop at a light in the centre track (I know... I know ), and went shotgun on my brakes. Shaved some of my speed before going down at about 25-30km/h.

Lessons learned: Stay away from the slick centre track at lights, especially in wet conditions, and don't ever become too complacent. Things go wrong when you least expect them to, and when your just sitting pretty you expect nothing to go wrong.

After my fairing patchwork with some zip ties (looks better than it sounds - for cracked fairings, anyway), I've decided to name the little sh*tter Frank. Short for Frankenstein. It's sure to capture the attention of some villagers

 

[cknowles]

After my fairing patchwork with some zip ties (looks better than it sounds - for cracked fairings, anyway), I've decided to name the little sh*tter Frank. Short for Frankenstein. It's sure to capture the attention of some villagers

Does it resemble this helmet repair at all?

 

[Bermuda]

Those staples on helmet?! Yikes.

Went with crosshatching black zip ties. There is a nice line running up the left rear, from the bottom to top, and a small chunk ready to fall right out of my left fairing without them. Ghetto as all hell, but I can't justify new bodywork.

 

[Jinniwind]

Dropped the poor CBR125 3 times at RTI... can you believe it??

Dropped my Ninja 250 once on my first ride. I was soooo worried about droppping my bike given my horrible record at RTI, and finally it happened.

all of these happened at 0 speed, and everytime I laid the bike down gently and turned off the kill switch right away so there's not much damage, not even visible scratches.

My story is boring but the moral is that if you always think you are a noob and you will drop the bike and worry too much about it, then it's very likely that you will end up dropping it...

 

[the_falcon]

Drove right into the front gate off the lot with a brand new ninjette. I was angry and tired, idle to high, choke on after bike was at operating temp, and i hadn't clutched a bike in years. wheelied into it. Bruised ego. demolished right fairing and upper cowl. Street fightered it.

Second time i dropped it was last weekend, gave to much gas trying to do a 12. bike shot away from me, scraped the bar end and a bit of the pipe bracket. severly bruised and scraped knees.
broke the right rearset bracket clean off. Ordered some ebay ones.

 

[OMGSelenaGomez]

When I got my first bike (CBR125) I dropped it a bunch of times at slow speeds while learning slow speed technique. Done in a controlled setting (parking lot with instructor).

After those training sessions, I've had some close calls but no actual accidents / drops.

After becoming confident and outgrowing the cbr125, I picked up a r6 feeling confident that I wouldn't ever drop it. And to this day, I haven't dropped it.

Dropping a beginning bike is sort of expected. That's why beginner bikes are called "beginner bikes." You're supposed to learn from those mistakes and not make them in the future. If you start on something too big, you'll probably learn the "hard way."

 

[Griffin]

.

Dropping a beginning bike is sort of expected. That's why beginner bikes are called "beginner bikes." You're supposed to learn from those mistakes and not make them in the future. If you start on something too big, you'll probably learn the "hard way."

+1.

My sister's first bike was a heavy Yamaha cruiser with shaft drive. She dropped it in a low speed corner within weeks of getting her licence and mangled her foot. She never rode again and her foot never completely healed.

 

[TwistedKestrel]

I think I've dropped bikes about 8 times?

If I ever drop my Ninja 1000, which I won't, I will cry like a little girl who got a puppy for Christmas but then the parents brought it back.

 

[LoneRonin]

Dumped my 250 while riding just days ago in the rain. Rookie mistake (however appropriate); was riding like it wasn't wet out. Coming to a stop at a light in the centre track (I know... I know ), and went shotgun on my brakes. Shaved some of my speed before going down at about 25-30km/h.

Lessons learned: Stay away from the slick centre track at lights, especially in wet conditions, and don't ever become too complacent. Things go wrong when you least expect them to, and when your just sitting pretty you expect nothing to go wrong.

After my fairing patchwork with some zip ties (looks better than it sounds - for cracked fairings, anyway), I've decided to name the little sh*tter Frank. Short for Frankenstein. It's sure to capture the attention of some villagers

Same thing happened to me a little over a week ago on the same bike after nearly 50k km on it...
I was coming to a stop sign in the wet and front braked right on the painted white line, it was apparently slippery as hell....
Things like that can happen at any time regardless of experience or skill level.

 

[dricked]

Street bike, never (12 years), track bike once (mechanical issue), dirt bike... A lot.

 

[BusaBob]

more often than i care to remember, and a couple i wish i could forget

 

[imnothng]

Cruiser, never dropped. Dual sport, in the dirt a few and on pavement once when I got off thinking the kickstand was down (it wasn't).

 

[overkill13]

Three times, three different bikes all in my driveway at 0km/h and never when I was actually riding.

Knocked one off when I was washing, another when I moved it around and the last putting it in the garage. I cried a little each time, especially on the last one.

 

[Scuba Steve]

moved the ex's brand new bike onto the driveway to get mine out, it rolled forward off the kickstand. Broke the mirror on the bike and turn signal, destroyed the door and fender on the car. Bike was around $100 to fix car was close to $2000 FML.

 

[Scary]

Never dropped any of my bikes, knock on wood. I have a feeling once I get more serious with the track next year, that will change.

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