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Is it just me?

DanH

DanH

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At work there is a spot in the garage where there are two handicap spots and two motorcycle spots. Generally I pull into the motorcycle spots by rounding across the back the handicap spots and forward into one of the motorcycle spots instead of stopping and walking the bike backwards into the spot. Well, last fall some leaves blew into the spots and have never been cleaned up and all winter I have been driving across them thinking - man, you'd only need to grab too much front brake on this mess once to drop your bike. You know where this is going right? Yeah, so it happened this morning - just a tiny little bit faster than normal and just a tiny bit more front brake and the leaves must have been a little dryer than normal and down the bike went at 1.2 mph, essentially a standing drop.

My question is this: Is it just me? Whenever I lose control of the front end, even for a heartbeat, I end up dropping the bike. Is it the seat height that makes it hard to catch? Is it reflex from working with steel in my youth - "just let it drop and don't hurt yourself" got yelled at me often. Whats your experience?
 
DanH said:
At work there is a spot in the garage where there are two handicap spots and two motorcycle spots. Generally I pull into the motorcycle spots by rounding across the back the handicap spots and forward into one of the motorcycle spots instead of stopping and walking the bike backwards into the spot. Well, last fall some leaves blew into the spots and have never been cleaned up and all winter I have been driving across them thinking - man, you'd only need to grab too much front brake on this mess once to drop your bike. You know where this is going right? Yeah, so it happened this morning - just a tiny little bit faster than normal and just a tiny bit more front brake and the leaves must have been a little dryer than normal and down the bike went at 1.2 mph, essentially a standing drop.

My question is this: Is it just me? Whenever I lose control of the front end, even for a heartbeat, I end up dropping the bike. Is it the seat height that makes it hard to catch? Is it reflex from working with steel in my youth - "just let it drop and don't hurt yourself" got yelled at me often. Whats your experience?
Click to expand...

That is one of the finer features of every motorcycle ever made. Comes with every bike - THE DROPS ! The taller the seat height the greater the frequency.0.jpg

Smiley2thumbs1eye.jpg

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DanH said:
At work there is a spot in the garage where there are two handicap spots and two motorcycle spots. Generally I pull into the motorcycle spots by rounding across the back the handicap spots and forward into one of the motorcycle spots instead of stopping and walking the bike backwards into the spot. Well, last fall some leaves blew into the spots and have never been cleaned up and all winter I have been driving across them thinking - man, you'd only need to grab too much front brake on this mess once to drop your bike. You know where this is going right? Yeah, so it happened this morning - just a tiny little bit faster than normal and just a tiny bit more front brake and the leaves must have been a little dryer than normal and down the bike went at 1.2 mph, essentially a standing drop.

My question is this: Is it just me? Whenever I lose control of the front end, even for a heartbeat, I end up dropping the bike. Is it the seat height that makes it hard to catch? Is it reflex from working with steel in my youth - "just let it drop and don't hurt yourself" got yelled at me often. Whats your experience?
Click to expand...

Ouch, sorry buddy! :(

Personally, I've never done the lock front brake and bin it thing, but that is waaaay far away from saying I haven't dumped a zillion bikes in a zillion different other ways, lol.


I used to amuse myself by seeing how far I could skid the front tire while at speed...:eek:

Doing this should really have ended badly on uncountable occasions, but for some ridiculous reason, I survived unscathed from that era of dumb. :rolleyes: :eek:
 
L.B.S. said:
Ouch, sorry buddy! :(

Personally, I've never done the lock front brake and bin it thing, but that is waaaay far away from saying I haven't dumped a zillion bikes in a zillion different other ways, lol.


I used to amuse myself by seeing how far I could skid the front tire while at speed...:eek:

Doing this should really have ended badly on uncountable occasions, but for some ridiculous reason, I survived unscathed from that era of dumb. :rolleyes: :eek:
Click to expand...

Stoppies - Faces and Bikes are blacked out to protect the guilty!2.jpg

Stoppies.jpg

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Sorry this happened to you,can't say I have done it.my question is if the leaves have been there and you knew about it why did you not move them?I have been checking our spots at work for screws that somehow get to the spots(factory).all of use who ride to work check daily for stuff like this.lbs is that you in the pic?
 
I personally cannot instantaneously hold 400+lbs going down sideways with one leg and my back not straight so if the bike starts going over I let it go. I think it is an automatic reaction because my mind knows I can’t hold that much. Plus the little damage that happens at that slow a speed is a whole lot less than the medical bills. I count it as a blessing that my automatic reaction is let it go.

On another note…….most damage stories I hear are from very slow speed drops. At slow speed the bike doesn’t have that natural tendency to stay upright that it has at speed.
 
I have dropped my Nc700x once at basically 0 speed, knew I couldn't hold it up and laid it down (no damage). Riding into a Hardee's parking lot which had a very deep drainage ditch between the road and the parking lot entrance, with a bump on the parking lot side of the drainage ditch. Had to go slow over-thru and the parking lot had a 5% downgrade, so when I crossed the ditch, going to slow, couldn't catch it, and laid it down so I wouldn't get pinned. Picked up and continued on my way (I was headed to the Dragon). Note to self, keep RPMs up and don't go to that Hardee's anymore. It happens, I have dropped my 600# cruiser 3 times in my driveway backing out of my garage (downhill and canted) and I dropped my BMW G650gs at least 3 times in the driveway; just help the bike down and don't get pinned.
 
ziggie said:
...my question is if the leaves have been there and you knew about it why did you not move them?...
Click to expand...

This is exactly the question I was asking myself as I kicked the leaves out of the way after parking my bike... :)
 
In my case its called getting old and I'm not as strong as I used to be. I've softly laid mine down three times. I do think the seat being higher than that which I'm used to adds to the difficulty. I cant stand flat footed on this NC so by the time my foot is flat she is already tipping over. I very rarely had this problem with my CBR's but I never took them on dirt trails either.
 
I have no significant experience with any bike but my NC. That said I just had this happen to me the other day. I was riding on a country road and as I looked ahead noticed that the road went steeply up to the stop at the end of the road probably a 25+ degree grade n prep I started to downshift and brake. In the end I had lost to much momentum and as I was turning towards the right to make a right turn noticed that I had gotten too close to the edge of the asphalt which had a double step down into gravel on the side of the road. Bike started to roll back wards and rear tire slid off the asphalt and down the bike went. Only thing injured was my pride and a some scrapes on the right bar end. Of course after a few glances around to see if anyone had seen me I went over and picked up the bike (thankfully had seen some videos on techniques to make this easy) and after pushing it up the rest of the hill to flatter ground remounted and rode home.

I like to think that this is basically new biker education.
 
CGFS said:
I like to think that this is basically new biker education.
Click to expand...


Don't worry, even when you're old and experienced, "education" can kick you right in the backside, lol.

I was delivering fast food on a Honda 50cc Spree scooter many years ago, and was in top form for skill, strength, experience, etc., with motorcycles, but the scooter riding thing was a bit new. It had a large, rather heavy, plastic insulated box bolted to the rear rack to put the food in.

I was paddling the scooter backwards to park at the curbside, and hit the rear brake. I did an instant reverse endo, with me flying over backwards, and the scooter landing on top of me on the sidewalk.

Picture me laying there with KFC meals strewn all about, completely amazed and mortified, with people all around gawking and laughing their heads off.
 
Is it just me or is the first thing everybody does when they drop their bike is to look around to see who saw it? Live and learn. I have dropped every bike I've ever owned.
 
RiderCoach said:
Is it just me or is the first thing everybody does when they drop their bike is to look around to see who saw it? Live and learn. I have dropped every bike I've ever owned.
Click to expand...

I've done that while riding alone out in the middle of the woods......like there is anyone around to see beside the squirrels.....
 
When I dropped it last week I had just passed some folks in front of the farm that was at the base of the hill. I was sure that when I got up and turned around they would all be staring at me. Luckily by grace they had left in the 25 seconds after I passed.
 
Dropped mine when I pushed the bike slightly forward without realizing the side stand had been shifted. This is a tall and heavy bike. Once you moved beyond the central neutral, the weight is significant and it's hard to recover.
 
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