Dropping Bikes, Not Shapes

Seanie_H

Ah, I dropped my bike the other day in the car park. Was about to try for a tight U turn, didn't follow through with enough momentum and ended up turning to sharply. Funny thing is, just before I was about to kick off the menouevre I thought 'keep it moving' - ha.

It got me thinking, how often do regular riders drop their bike? I'm pretty sure it happens from time-to-time but I've never seen it on the road.

Any funny/interesting drop stories?


I have the bike about 15 months, it's a V-strom 650, a lot heavier than my other bikes but that's no excuse. No damage to the bike thank God.

kaimera

First day on my k4 SV,

After stalling at lights in 5th and not understanding what was gone wrong,

I too dropped it doing a uturn with a kerb slope at one end.

derp.

Dropped it off bike supports as well when I was repairing it one other time. No, I didn't "have it"

Seanie_H

kaimera wrote: »

No, I didn't "have it"

Hahaha. As I was dropping mine the other night I had it at about 40 degress upright thinking 'I have it..... I have it..... No..... Ah shi*e!!!!'. Down it went.

Picking up a bike is like eating a banana - can't be done gracefully or with class. Can't avoid looking silly.

robinwing

New ride with 500 cc bike , no experience except for IBT . Came to a T junction very slowly and braked to a standstill too abruptly with front brake only , the front wheel was pointing slightly right and it tilted bike over on me , got my foot down but couldn't stop it. I laid the bike down as gently as I could . Brand new bike , the only brand new vehicle I ever owned. Luckily just put slight scratch on bar end , indicator and exhaust. Thought the faring would be damaged . Was shaking like a leaf and embarrassed as its just down road from where I live. Don't know where I got the strength to get bike upright as I am in my 60s but I managed it. Had to park bike for a bout 15 minutes before I got the nerve to fire it up again . It undermined my confidence a bit

serious3

pulled into the petrol station behind a mate, he stopped and i tried to do a sharp right inside of him, engine stalled and not enough momentum meant down i went.......cue lots of WTF looks from the cage drivers and forecourt staff, needless to say the helmet stayed firmly on my head:D

BKtje

Have my first bike since late March (bought new, just fell in love with the Ninja 300) and I've dropped her once. More precisely she fell over. I parked her on a slight hill and left her leaning into the hill, I came back four hours later and she was on her side, kick stand pointing straight up (is there anything more unnatural looking than a bike on it's side with the kick stand pointing straight up? )

I realised she was down when I was more than 100m away and the panic and worst case scenarios running through my mind made that a veeeery long 100m. Got there and there was a small pool of petrol on the ground (Turns out it leaked through the keyhole ) which didn't help ease my fears either! Worst of all was that there was another bike parked just beside so I had zero room to lift her up. Luckily a passer by felt sorry for me and gave me a hand Damage wasn't too bad. Some very light scratching on the exhaust, the body and on the pointy end of the handle bars and some of the bodywork had to be snapped back into place. Also something snapped off from under the foot peg and to this day I have no idea what it does so haven't bothered to replace it.

The worst of all was that when I parked, a guy shouted something at me and between my helmet and his heavily accented French I didn't understand so I just gave him a smile. Thinking back I think he was trying to warn me. Lesson learned anyway and hopefully the last time I see my bike like that.

Pedro K

I nearly dropped my CBR in my back garden once. I thought I locked my keys in the boot compartment and was shaking the bike from side to side to see if I could hear them rattle. I shook a little too vigorously and it nearly went over. Had to call for help from my house to stop it going all the way.

When I finally did drop it, this February, it wasn't so much a drop as a spectacular highside. I did a few flips and the bike did a few flips after me.

robinwing

Pedro K wrote: »

I nearly dropped my CBR in my back garden once. I thought I locked my keys in the boot compartment and was shaking the bike from side to side to see if I could hear them rattle. I shook a little too vigorously and it nearly went over. Had to call for help from my house to stop it going all the way.

When I finally did drop it, this February, it wasn't so much a drop as a spectacular highside. I did a few flips and the bike did a few flips after me.

Were you injured much ?

Pedro K

robinwing wrote: »

Were you injured much ?

Nope. I was extremely lucky. I had a sore shoulder and hand for a while. Think I may have broken a small bone in my hand. But that's about it. I started a thread here called first off after it. Pics of the damage there.

BrokenArrows

Dropped my bike in France. Was riding for hours and pulled into a lay by.
Took out my phone and was sending out a few messages. Then after about 5 minutes I stepped off the bike. I hadn't put the side stand down so down the bike went.

Luckily I had soft luggage and caught the handlebar so only damage was a snapped clutch lever. Much more damage to my pride with plenty of other people watching.

MargeS

Pulled up to a T-Junction once to turn left. Put my left foot down when I stopped.
Realised that the road fell away sharply into the gutter so no matter how far I put my foot out I couldn't touch the ground.
Over I went, and landed on the foot path, bike was flat on the ground.

Worst thing was.. it was outside the door of a pub and a few lads were out having a smoke. The bike was flooded and had to sit there for about 20 mins before I could start it again.

Now, I try and take up more of a lane even if I'm turning left...

Doylers

Was driving from waterford to dungarvan, massive backup of traffic after a collision. I filtered up to the front to see what the story diversion wise was. A lad came past me to tell me what to do and he started talking but i had my earphones on and stuff so i needed to mute it and lift the lid up(flip helmet) while i was rushing to do that the bike went to lads in the van started laughing i just looked and laughed myself, no doubt the traffic behind me enjoyed it too.

Dropped bike the day of my driving test, 20 min before head to the test center,that instilled confidence haha