How many time have you dropped your NC and how ?

[L.B.S.]

- Very first time was 1' outside the dealer's parking lot, (with the odometer reading "0") when the rear end spun out turning right and onto the street. It was if the tire was made of Teflon, coated liberally with lard and Armour All, and traversing ice that had oil poured on it, lol. Speed about 5mph or less. No broken bike parts, only some light scrapes on bar end weight, ball end of brake lever, underside of rear brake pedal, and front weld seam of muffler.

- second time was trying to hurriedly push the bike out from under a deck where it was parked, when I discovered gasoline leaking out of a split fuel vapor line. It was dark out, and I had forgotten about the disc lock on the front brake rotor. d'oh! Speed essentially zero. No evidence of any scratches on left side, but disc lock bent the bracket that the brake caliper bolts onto, juuuust enough to tweak the distance between the ABS sensor and the ABS tone ring, so that the bike couldn't read wheel info, therefore disabling ABS function. Bike rode normal other than that, and I didn't bother doing anything about it for that summer. Eventually in the fall I thwacked the bracket with a hammer and a block of wood, putting the ABS sensor back into allowable reading distance tolerance, and ABS came back on line.

- third time was a zero speed flop in the dirt on my right, when I was going uphill over a water bar and high centered, stopping me dead in my tracks. No scrapes or damage.

- fourth time was a 5 mph flop on my left, going down a super steep soft ball sized rock strewn jeep trail, which bounced the front tire over into wet grass, instantly tucking the wheel and dumping me. No discernable bike scratches other than a bit of left bar end weight rash, possibly a nick in the powdercoat on the Givi engine bar, but you'd need better eyes than I have to really see, lol. The bigger hit was the left Trax aluminum pannier, which got a bit of small denting done in the lower beveled portion. No biggie though.

Other than kinda putting my back out on flop number two, no damage to me or any of my riding gear ever.

My most expensive and gnarly damage, has all happened without me crashing or dropping the bike, lol

 

[Old Can Ride]

A point to remember is that if the battery is completely flat you cannot push start it. There has to be at least enough battery to operate the fuel pump and run the ECM/PCM.

Do not tell my daughter's weight lifting boyfriend that! It is so much fun sitting my fat body on the bike with a dead battery, and having her boyfriend push me around the block !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just got to love fuel injection !!!

 

[JoeTx]

Wow feel like a klutz, from numerous to tight turns, stepping on the dog bed in the garage, always picking the wrong line off road, must have dropped my poor goddess at least 20 times.

 

[Brillot2000]

Wow feel like a klutz, from numerous to tight turns, stepping on the dog bed in the garage, always picking the wrong line off road, must have dropped my poor goddess at least 20 times.

After having a few chuckles at you all. We have to remind ourselves that there are two types of riders. Those that have been down and those that are going down...

Many of us fall (pun intended) into the first category...

 

[CB4ME]

1) Unattended tip over in the driveway. Cause - Givi foot pad was placed flat with the ground but not locked forward. Bike was pointed slightly downhill. I started walking away and the bike rolled forward and tipped over.

2) 50 mph low side when I hit a patch of oil and lost the front. Bike was saved by an engine slider but I had to throw away $800 of riding gear (money well spent).

 

[Therapy]

ONCE - pushing the thing up on the lift. The rear wheel was alllmmmoooossstttt up and I gave another heave. I over-balanced to the right (away from me) and it went over. I tried to slow it but it just flipped me over like a judo throw into my sons NC which tipped over pushing the little 100 into the shelves. I am good at dominoes! Wife hear the crash - OOPS! and other son helped me pick it up. Bar end scratch, brake lever scratch, broken mirror. Whew!
It has been dropped by both sons more than once right after I got it though. How can you say no, eh?

PS I found slightly larger mirrors for like 20 bucks (a pair). Not quite as good but they work. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CHCPT32/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s04?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[DanH]

1) Standing drop at a red light
2) overpowered through a left turn and sent it skidding
3) hit a brick flower bed
4) over braked in a turn and slipped on gravel - buried the bike under a guard rail - that one sucked.
5) low speed drop, front wheel slipped on dry leaves on smooth concrete
6) Son riding pillion overbalanced the bike at a stop
7) was too focused on the car behind me in stop and go traffic and grabbed too much front brake at 5 MPH in rush hour traffic
8) 7) again at 25 a week later
9) overbalanced in the garage

I might have missed one somewhere. Learning to ride can be hard on a bike.

 

[MichaelJohn]

Wow, all of these stories are making me afraid to get on my bike! My only drop so far on the NC (I have dropped other bikes but that doesn't count on this forum) was when I was backing it into the garage and I went to get off the bike thinking that the kickstand was down (it was, I swear) but some evil spirit must have moved it and down I went under the bike. It pinned me down pretty good until I wiggled my way out - I wasn't hurt but plenty red in the face. The only damage was a scratched bar end and a blow to the ego. I hate that split-second realization that the bike is going down and you can't do a damn thing about it.

 

[Brillot2000]

Wow, all of these stories are making me afraid to get on my bike! My only drop so far on the NC (I have dropped other bikes but that doesn't count on this forum) was when I was backing it into the garage and I went to get off the bike thinking that the kickstand was down (it was, I swear) but some evil spirit must have moved it and down I went under the bike. It pinned me down pretty good until I wiggled my way out - I wasn't hurt but plenty red in the face. The only damage was a scratched bar end and a blow to the ego. I hate that split-second realization that the bike is going down and you can't do a damn thing about it.

How do you think I felt when this happened?



This actually happened during unloading Sparky by myself. I made a rookie mistake and tried to unload the bike while on it. The good news is that it was controlled fall as I was still holding onto Sparky as she came down. Only a few scratches to the plastics on the left hand guard, mirror, and a few on the rear box. I smoothed out all the rough spots and put some Mothers Back to Black to bland everything together and hide the repairs.

Your heart stops when you drop anything for the first time.

Here's one of Murphy's Motorcycle Laws:

Murphy’s Law - Clause 1: It’s a fact of life that a motorcycle cannot fall over without an audience. The odds of a motorcycle falling over are directly proportional to the number of people watching and the rider’s ego. If the motorcycle is new and expensive then the chances of this happening are even greater.

There is a sub-clause to this; the chances of your helmet dropping to the concrete or asphalt is directly linked to how new it is and how much you paid for it.

 

[anglachel]

Wow, all of these stories are making me afraid to get on my bike!

I've never bought a motor vehicle with the intent to not use it.
Use invariable leads to wear.
Part of wear is scratches and dings.

Don't fear wear, embrace it, it's a sign of a life well lived.

 

[Brillot2000]

I've never bought a motor vehicle with the intent to not use it.
Use invariable leads to wear.
Part of wear is scratches and dings.

Don't fear wear, embrace it, it's a sign of a life well lived.

I do not understand why people spend a lot of money to restore something that they are never going to use again for its intended purpose and then trailered it around for the rest of its life. That is a total waste of money if you ask me.

I am a firm believer that anything intended to be used is to be used until it cannot do it's intended purpose. If is breaks, fix it. If it cannot be fixed, simply replace it.

 

[davidc83]

I seem to be quite creative at dropping my bike. I dropped it 4 times now and each time in a different way ;-) ...

Drop #1: I was at a dirt riding clinic and we were doing the slow "race". Well, I guess I was racing too slow and I dropped it.

Drop #2: After a 2 day camping trip I was filling up (only about 50 miles left to home out of about 750) and I pull into a gas station. There wasn't much space to the left between the bike and the pump so I said cool, I'll dismount on the right side. Left boot caught on my bag which was on the back seat and brought the bike down ... together with my gorgeous self ;-) ... Good thing I had all the gear on. Hitting my head on the cement without the helmet wouldn't have been fun ...

Drop #3: I was motorcycle camping with a friend and his regulator died (he has a 94 VFR ;-)). So I suggested we swap batteries. Obviously my bike won't start with his discharged battery so I try to start it by going down an incline. Trouble is it didn't get enough speed and guess what happened at the bottom of the little hill ?

Drop #4 (yesterday): I was about to continue S on HWY 9 and was ready to make a left turn when I see some cars coming from the right. At that time I stopped but didn't have the presence of spirit to straighten the bike first ;-) ...

The good thing is that my bike has engine guards and Givi boxes so when it gets dropped the only side effects are some scratches on the guards and the appropriate rear box. Love that stuff ...

What are your stories ?

Dropped once pulling into a parking lot with a drainage ditch and a speed bump at the entrance to the lot-not enough speed and over she went-no damage
Dropped once in my canted downhill gravel driveway backing out of garage-foot slipped in gravel-no damage
Dropped once (2 months ago)-got ran off the road by a Ram truck on the wrong side of road on a blind hill/blind curve, ran into the ditch-problem, bike was canted to the right do to the slope and ground next to my right foot was 2 feet lower than the bike-over she went.
Dropped once last month when I was committed to make a right turn at a traffic light-leaning right with handlebars turned right-hit brakes hard so I wouldn't get t-boned by someone running a red light at a high rate of speed-bent right foot peg which I straightened with a pipe wrench.

To the OP, cant bump start these bikes with a drained battery, no matter what speed you build up-needs electricity from the battery to run the FI and Electric fuel pump-no fuel, no start.

 

[Bert]

1 In the sand while playing around.
2 On the grass while packing it up it sank quicker on one side than the other.
3 On the grass while standing it on the side stand it also sunk.

Never at any speed.

 

[Beemerphile]

To the OP, cant bump start these bikes with a drained battery, no matter what speed you build up-needs electricity from the battery to run the FI and Electric fuel pump-no fuel, no start.

It depends on how drained the battery is. It is possible for the battery to be too weak to run the starter, but still have sufficient reserve to run the fuel pump and FI controller (ECM/PCM). But yes, if you don't have enough power to spin the pump you are going nowhere.

 

[happy]

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[Brillot2000]

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Famous last words!!!

 

[Olythom]

1. Gas station - reached out with my left foot and missed the curb.
2. Parking spot at work - did not get the sidestand all the way down. It started going over so slowly that I did not notice it fast enough. Then I tried with all my (limited) strength. I couldn't stop it - that one hurt as I popped a hamstring.
3. Pulled off the road onto a gravel are at a big intersection and happened to stop at a spot where there was a dip in the gravel on the right hand side (the side into which I was leaning).
4. Pulling out of our gravel drive onto the road. I normally slow down and roll onto the road without a full stop. This time, there was a car coming down the road in the early morning dark without lights. When I finally spotted him, I stopped too quickly and off-balance.
All four were zero speed laydowns and Skookum only has a couple of minor scrapes from the ordeals. But Boy, did I feel stupid each time!

 

[670cc]

Zero drops so far.

I haven't ever dropped the last four bikes I've owned. The last street bike drop was back in the late 90's, I believe. Mind you, I'm not counting my dirt bike, which has had quite a number of drops and crashes.

That doesn't mean I won't drop the NC today or tomorrow or the next day. Nor does it mean I'll ever drop it.

 

[MichaelJohn]

I've never bought a motor vehicle with the intent to not use it.
Use invariable leads to wear.
Part of wear is scratches and dings.

Don't fear wear, embrace it, it's a sign of a life well lived.

I don't fear wear or scratches and dings at all, I try to wear my bikes out. I just prefer to wear them out in the upright position.

 

[Ed Up]

So far I haven't dropped the NC. But, the dirt bike, well if I don't drop it every time I ride, I just wasn't trying hard enough. Some of those dirt bike drops are some hard drops to get up from.