Dropped bikes

[Gary856]

I've heard a shop owner say, “what bike hasn’t been dropped?” My own record bears that out – out of the 14 bikes I’ve owned in 10 years, only 4 have not been dropped by me. So while it’s possible to “never drop” a bike (4 out of 14), it’s very likely. How’s your record?

At 55 years old, 175 lbs and not that in shape, my ability to pick up a downed bike is borderline. GS, surprisingly, aren’t too hard since they rest on the cylinder heads that stick out sideways. With SuperDuke 990 and 950SM, I couldn’t pick them up alone because they lie so flat to the ground. Much worse when it’s on an inclined gravel surface. I've seen all the common techniques but often it's just hard to get enough leverage on the bike.

I wonder if some kind of simple tool might help, such as tying a strap to the bar grip so I could pull on the strap and not have to stoop so low to lift, or use it as a shoulder strap to lift the bike. Another thought is to use an inflatable tube to do the initial lift. Any clever ideas other than brute strength?

 

[ejv]

When you say drop you just mean tip over, not a proper crash? If that's the case I have never dropped a bike. Been close a few times. I've owned 2 bikes but ridden close to 100 at this point in a little over 15 years riding. The biggest have been a 1200GS, Concourse, and a K1600GTL. I did crash my old SV at a track day running off track into desert sand. I had so much adrenaline I had the bike up before I knew what had happened but I was much younger then. I've picked up many other bikes for other people. Just picked one up yesterday and another one last Sunday. Not always by myself but sometimes. Last Sunday was an R1 in a very awkward position in a ditch. Three of us lifted it and it was still a little bit difficult. How they land and on what surface seems to be just as much of a deciding factor on how hard they are to lift as which bike it is.

I don't know of any tricks but I have seen lifting straps used for heavy things like refrigerators. Maybe something like that could be adapted.

 

[sjuels]

I'm 6'8" 285 lbs and I'm strong for my size, and have caught a lot of bikes, that I should have dropped in the 38 years I have been riding.
I know amazingly talented riders that have dumb-dropped their bikes in the driveway, and I think it is a mental state and focus issue, more than anything else.
I went through times of tremendous personal loss and pain, where I wouldn't even trust myself on a tricycle.
If a dealer tells you that "everybody drops their bike" maybe what he is saying is " don't be too hard on yourself"

/Soren

 

[Marcoose]

I lost my footing once on Mt Diablo, and a grandma ran to the rescue. Before I could say I was ok, she lifted the 1997 R1100RT by herself.

There’s your benchmark.

 

[Pking]

Dropped mine today riding home from work. Made a stop at a light. Took off no problem but when the cager in front hit the brakes I did too, gently & successfully....buuttt with some blown debris on the ground my foot landed on it and slid from under me. It wasn't a like an instant drop, but those slooowww kind where you struggle to bring it back up and it keeps leaning...leaning...leaning! Until you realize trying to hold up a 465lb (fully wet) bike with one leg just ain't gonna happen. So you just let it go and try to make it drop as gentle as possible. Ugh! No bike damage though. Lifted that biotch up, gave it a few minutes for the liquids to settle, cranked it up and went on my way. :thumbup

 

[banshee01]

I dropped my Wr250r in the street while loading it into the new owners truck. I tripped over my own feet.... thank god it was a dirtbike or I probably would have been handing back some.of the money.

Dropped 848 once, had to lay it down or ride into a barb wire fence.

Layed my wife's monster 696 down

My huskies haven't been down yet though.

For my own bikes I dropped 2/5

My wife has dropped (tipped over) 5/6

 

[sckego]

I’ve never dropped my Ducati in 30k mi, though it bears evidence of being down during previous ownership.

Honda 500, once, in the garage, because I forgot to put the sidestand down before leaning it over. :rolleyes

I had an FZ1 for 60k mi, never dropped that one.

 

[HadesOmega]

I think I dropped all my bikes except my Empulse TT, trying not to drop that one almost high sided it though =P I haven't dropped my 750 turbo. I even rolled my quad!

 

[Butch]

There is a tool I have seen to lift a dropped bike! I will see if I can find it...

Heres one http://www.motobikejack.com

 

[Butch]

This is the one I was thinking of
https://www.keithproducts.us/product/dirt-napper-adventure-bike-spill-recovery-jack

Dirt Napper, by an Alta guy.

 

[budman]

I came within inches of dropping my Mulit in Butch's driveway. My boot kept it from touching the ground, but it was a tip over. His D/W has a slant and I got my boot stuck for a moment.

Dropped my RD in the High School parking lot going over a speed bump at 1 MPH. Can't remember any others. :dunno

 

[cheez]

Took MSF, got +M, test rode a bunch of dealer bikes, knew exactly what I wanted. Showed up in dentist's driveway in a nice neighborhood with a wad of cash to buy a shiny used VTX1800 that he had just replaced with a Goldwing. Hand over cash, ride bike down street, attempt U-Turn, clip curb, dump bike on left side. No damage, got the bike up in 2 seconds with a minor feat of strength, rode back to dentist's driveway, apologized for the fuck-up, and rode away.

Shit happens. Wear a helmet.

 

[moto-rama]

I'm 6'8" 285 lbs and I'm strong for my size,...
/Soren

Can I call you next time I get in to a bar fight?

I haven't dropped any bike in a long time, but generally speaking it's not brute strength but location the kind of bike, and technique that get a bike back on it's feet.

 

[splat]

There is a tool I have seen to lift a dropped bike! I will see if I can find it...

Heres one http://www.motobikejack.com

Those dropped bikes are still at a 45 degree angle! :laughing

And their video instructions doesn’t say anything about putting down the kickstand. It says to first put the base plate at the center of the bike (which is easy if your bike isn’t actually down!).

On most modern sports bike that tool probably won’t do much anyways.

 

[dravnx]

I don't worry about picking up my dropped bike. Any time I've ever dropped a bike, it's been in front of a bunch of people so plenty of help.

 

[Blankpage]

Almost dropped a new ducati at a dealer recently. Had small plastic disks under the sidestand to protect the floor. I sat on a bike and as I was getting off I tried to position the small disk under the stand. My foot was on it as it started to slide. I managed to get my foot off before too late but I mentioned to the sales guy what happened and that plastic was a bad idea, should be rubber. I figured it was just a matter of time before someone else has the same experience.

This was a dealer relocation to a new store. They hadn't used those plastic things at their old store.

 

[VicTim]

I have never dropped most of my bikes however, I recently dropped my Indian doing a slow parking turn. The bike hit the highway bars and stopped there. I easily picked it up the way you're supposed to pick up a big heavy bike. There was a tiny mostly undetectable scratch on the front highway bar. Other than that no damage.

 

[Cabrito]

I've dropped my 1090 twice now, and thank god I had some friends with me to help pick it up.

I've since picked up one of these MotoWinch from Eastbound
https://www.eastbound.shop/demo-videos/motowinch-demos/

I haven't tried it yet. I prefer to do these types of experiments in the field under stressful survive or die situations...

I ordered and then canceled my order with the Dirtnapper guy due to lack of communication and him having my $200 for three months without sending me anything.

 

[Climber]

I can never forget about the weight of the Goldwing (900 lbs), it gets heavy as hell at stops once it gets past a certain angle, fotunately it hasn't gone over yet, but I had a close call when my daughter stepped on the outside of the step getting off and just hung out there with her center of gravity well out to the Left.

That's been the biggest thing to get used to with the change from sport to cruiser bike. :laughing

Though, once it's moving, I don't notice the weight at all, especially with the engine rotating around an axis inline with the bike.

 

[Biga]

I purposely drop my bikes to name them and to break the new shiny bike curse :cool