Have you dropped your bike? | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Have you dropped your bike?

Have you dropped your bike?

  • No, never what do you think I am? A noob?

    Votes: 23 29.5%

  • Yes, of couse. I'm honest and learned the 'hard' way.

    Votes: 55 70.5%
  • Total voters
    78
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Twice at 0 kph and once at around 10 kph and once at 50 kph.

#1 - 0kph - Edge of a driveway went to put my foot down only to discover the driveway was raise by about 8". Over went the bike onto me.

#2 0kph - Pulled over onto the shoulder to check directions. Shoulder was fresh gravel. Front wheel sunk up to the axle and then the bike kinda tilted over, didn't really fall, but wasn't nice to get it out.

#3 10kph - cottage/logging road up north, on a R6, washed the front end out coming down a nice steep hill on rutted gravel. Don't use front brake in gravel.

#4 50kph -Car turned left in front of me, onto a one way street, the wrong way. Really didn't see it coming. Grabbed a hand full of brake and managed a good impression of superman as I went over the bars. Helmet did its job as my head smacked the pavement hard, gloves and jacket saved alot of skin. My jeans were shredded. Getting gravel an bits of jean brushed out of knees is not a fun experience. Bike lost it fairings and then softly hit the rear 1/4 of the car. Driver said he didn't see me.
 
I have dropped every bike I have owned.

The most embarrassing one was my BSA at the front door of Cycle World West. I pulled up and flicked out the side stand. Well on a BSA you just don't "flick" the side stand out. You need to make a solid push to make sure it is locked. Well it wasn't and down she went.

In addition I have:


  1. rear-ended a car in the rain on my Kawasaki Enduro and flew over the car. Minor damage to the bike, just bent levers and broken mirrors,
  2. high sided my Honda 350 after making contact with a curb; too fast for the corner, (broken mirror and bent front fender),
  3. lost balance with my FJ600 in the garage and had it fall away from me and against the wall, another broken mirror,
  4. had my GS1150EF fall over more times than I can count because the side stand was too long and the bike stood too upright so I had to be very careful about the slope when using the side stand. Fortunately, there was never any damage caused by these falls, and
  5. my ST has only fallen over only once on the grass as I was trying to get it in the shed. A soft landing and no damage, but damn she is a heavy beast to get back upright!

My advice to new riders is to learn how to pick up your bike and try not to get too upset when it falls over.
 
Failed at a stand up wheelie...

Right side fender, new blinker, new brake pedal, and ****ed up forks.

;( tear.
 
Never dropped mine yet (knocks on wood, and I did add sliders just in case), however I did drop on of the CBR125s back on my first day at RTI -- Clutch was dodgy and my hand slipped, so I ended up launching towards another group that was practicing. Hit the brakes hard, stopped, but didn't get my foot down in time (bike stopped faster than I thought it could).

Side note, glad I had on my Alter Ego textile pants even for the course. The next 2-3 days my hip was a little sore from going down, so probably would have hurt a lot more had I been in jeans with no padding.
 
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Two years ago dropped mine in Twyn Rivers. Cage right behind me just went around me and kept goin. Had about eight cars pass me inculding a coworker who was a big enough d0uche to even tell me when he saw me a week later that he'd passed by me sitting down in the valley. Only person who stopped was an army medic who had just got back from the sandbox. Stayed with me for like an hour till my buddies showed up.
 
Coming out of Autosource after buying the thread lock for my axle and frame sliders I was going to put on, jumped on the duc, helmet, gloves, kickstand up, right foot on the brake.

Sneezed. HUGE sneeze, driving my left leg into the side of the bike didn't get the right foot down quick enough and couldn't stop the duc from going over. I heald it all the way to the ground made the fall as slow as I could but it still popped the brake lever(right at the break point), scratched the mirror and passenger peg.
Picked her up right away, apologized to her and went home, put the sliders on right away, ground the brake lever and touched her up. And also decided to not take off the rear pegs(would have damaged my tail for sure)

Lesson: Allergy pills are worth every penny :)
 
killerkeith said:
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


hey links not working, id like to learn from it.
thx
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Major said:
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.
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thanks for posting this!
we are sometimes too ashamed to publicize our mistakes....and some site members jump on newbs even suggesting they give up the sport.... WTF?
ive learned so much from reading the experience so far.....thx everyone

my dump story coming soon.....just dont know exactly when yet lol
 
I totally feel so much better! granted i wasn't gonna let anyone discourage me from being successful at something i wanted to do a very long time, but this really helped!
 
dropped by gs 500 (first bike) twice - once in parking lot - once in sand/gravel - have not dropped the bmw (yet)
 
Dropped my ninja500 a few weeks back (first bike, first season). I was at a light on Lakeshore waiting to take left with a car in front of me. Left turn light goes on, I'm following the car too closely, lean my bike a bit, and suddenly in the middle of the turn the car brakes to a complete stop (for what seems to me was no real reason). I panic a little and lock up my front brake, the bike loses balance at a low speed, and goes down. I didn't go down with the bike though, ended up on my feet and the bike didn't have any real damage. But when I snapped back to reality and looked up the car was gone...I was ******.

Lessons Learned: 1) Leave more room between the vehicle in front at all times. 2) Avoid slamming brake. 3) Some people on the road are complete idiots.
 
Dropped my ninja 250 going probably 5-10kmph doing a u-turn when I first started. Luckily no cars around around! Make sure to flip the engine kill switch, otherwise the engine will rev when you grab the handles and it might run away with you holding on. Made me realize I had a lot of slow speed control to practice. Surprisingly there was zero damage, just a crooked mirror I had to readjust. I had sliders installed so that probably saved me a few hundred dollars on faring repairs!
 
while everyone should learn to ride properly!!!! we all make mistakes.
AAABBBSSS :eek:
 
sunnyss said:
Dropped my ninja500 a few weeks back (first bike, first season). I was at a light on Lakeshore waiting to take left with a car in front of me. Left turn light goes on, I'm following the car too closely, lean my bike a bit, and suddenly in the middle of the turn the car brakes to a complete stop (for what seems to me was no real reason). I panic a little and lock up my front brake, the bike loses balance at a low speed, and goes down. I didn't go down with the bike though, ended up on my feet and the bike didn't have any real damage. But when I snapped back to reality and looked up the car was gone...I was ******.

Lessons Learned: 1) Leave more room between the vehicle in front at all times. 2) Avoid slamming brake. 3) Some people on the road are complete idiots.
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This almost happened to me once or twice on my bike. I now wait for the car in front to almost or completely clear the intersection before going through myself. Too many cages 'drive with their brakes'.
 
drop my the first week i got it...pulling around the last corner in my neighborhood to get to my house, hit gravel and slid, just right fairing dmg, lost all my confidence in taking corners now, but building it back each day
 
JonnyWyshbone said:
Two years ago dropped mine in Twyn Rivers. Cage right behind me just went around me and kept goin. Had about eight cars pass me inculding a coworker who was a big enough d0uche to even tell me when he saw me a week later that he'd passed by me sitting down in the valley. Only person who stopped was an army medic who had just got back from the sandbox. Stayed with me for like an hour till my buddies showed up.
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Conclusion: your coworker is an ahole and army guys are awesome.
 
Pan said:
drop my the first week i got it...pulling around the last corner in my neighborhood to get to my house, hit gravel and slid, just right fairing dmg, lost all my confidence in taking corners now, but building it back each day
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In slow corners, avoid dropping the bike into a lean and relying on throttle to pick you back up if you are not sure of what is in front of you. As well try to look ahead and into the corner so you can scan for debris, do not look down directly in front of the bike. If you see an obstacle or gravel staring at it will just guide you into it (otherwise known as target fixation), look at your escape route and forget the obstacle, it won't magically change so once id'd focus on your route you will use to avoid the issue.
 
Yep - last year, also my first year riding.

Considering the circumstances though, I'm not embarrassed. My wife and I were in Goderich down by the lake at the exact moment the tornado formed and destroyed the town. We were literally blown over. Lucky we didn't get killed. Had I been 30 seconds further ahead on the path I was taking we would have been directly hit by the twister as it worked it's way up from the lake.

Scariest day of my life. And to make matters worse, on the way home, soaked, scared and cold, the bike started acting up. Turned out my oil pump gear shaft snapped. Burnt the motor. Just got it rebuilt (and bored out from 1600 to 1800 cc).

Moral of the story: Avoid tornadoes.
 
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