Stupid ways you dropped your bike

Paparazzo

Everyone has done it at some point.

My worst one was getting off the bike and forgetting to put the side stand down! The bike was too far over when i realised it. I normally put the stand down as i'm rolling up to my space in neutral, this time I didn't. Thank god no one saw me!

Another one was coming off a kerb. I was half off and copped on I couldn't see down the road cos a van was parked badly. I stopped with front wheel on the road and the back on the path, so my foot couldn't reach the ground. Panic for about 3 seconds and then the bike was on the ground! Was really hard to pick it up that time too

I have a couple more involving a disk lock, and was really close a couple of times when the end of my jeans got caught in the foot peg.

Whats yours?

AgileMyth

I've actually only dropped a bike once. I was 16 and riding a moped, middle of winter, icy roads, generally stupid to be out on a bike of any sort.

Made it all the way to school anyways...then slipped on the ice in the car park with half the school looking at me. :rolleyes:

Not much damage done to the bike, none to me. Lesson learned.

cantdecide

I once attempted to focus the new xenon headlamp in my Blackbird at work one evening. No one was around to help me and I had no centre stand.

I tried to reverse the bike up to our forklift so the grab rail would hook up to the raised fork so it would be upright and steady. The bike ended up having a wee lie down for a few mins :rolleyes:

copeyhagen

dropped my first bike, varadero 125 while cleaning it :cool:

dropped my cbr 250 when i thought it was fully on the stand, just fell onto my cage :cool:

dropped my zxr4 last friday, was reversing down the ramp in work and rain bottoms got caught under my boot, spent 15 seconds in a tug of war to keep the bike upright, it had a brief lie on the gate in work, luckily it never dropped to ground and just scratched a bit of paint around the intake.. :rolleyes:

3 stupid ones now i think about it!!!

inchiuvatu

dropped cbr125 turning in my shed, dropped the super4 putting up the centre stand outside a bike shop -.-.. then 3 nearly drops because i havn't put the side stand down.. that never happened to me until i watched a youtube video of someone who lowsides then talks about forgetting the sidestand once... i said to myself "how could possibly forget that" and two days later im at a 45 degree lean wrestling my cbr600 to stand up again.

JohnnyCrash

The sidestand one seems to be the one that catches most out.Last month,pulling up outside my shop,thought i had the stand down,and while dismounting and letting the bike onto the stand,got the fright of my life.Luckily,bike didnt go fully down as i park close to a wall,but was pinned there for a few seconds:o

trad

Not my bike but my brothers, down the Straw Hall one saturday many years ago, he got pissed, I'm drinking lemonade so I said I'll drive his bike home. I get into his bike gear, get up on his bike, and as I make my exit from the car park in front of all his mates the loop on my shoe lace got caught in the gear change lever, I couldn't get my foot down, and over we go.

He was slagged for ages over it and it wasn't even him.

eurofoxy

had a funny one about 2 weeks ago in dublin, ride up to traffic lights come to a stop on the right as there was a large puddle on the left... i started looking up the road, forgot about the puddle and put my foot in it, realised too late it was a 6 inch deep pothole but by then the bike was on its side... thank fully the r&g bobbins did their job and the only thing damaged was my pride....

Keith186

Forgot the sidestand once when filling up on petrol! Amateur mistake but happens nearly everyone.

Another time I had a disc lock on, new thing for me cos I used to park in.locked car park in work but moved. Completely forgot about it when I took off slowly trying to do a U turn at full lock. For one wheels length and bam, hit the floor and broke a foot peg and bent the rear brake lever.

MargeS

Turning left at a T junction. Stopped slightly to the left hand side of the lane to make the left turn. Put my left foot down when I stopped..... oh! sh!t, no road. :eek:

The road sloped so badly away into the footpath so over I went! Managed to push myself away from the bike so that I wouldn't get pinned under it. Landed with my head on the footpath outside a pub mortified! Fuel spewing out and then had to sit outside the pub for 30 mins before the bike would start up again. Worst ever experience, had notions of packing it in after that

Paparazzo

MargeS wrote: »

Turning left at a T junction. Stopped slightly to the left hand side of the lane to make the left turn. Put my left foot down when I stopped..... oh! sh!t, no road. :eek:

The road sloped so badly away into the footpath so over I went! Managed to push myself away from the bike so that I wouldn't get pinned under it. Landed with my head on the footpath outside a pub mortified! Fuel spewing out and then had to sit outside the pub for 30 mins before the bike would start up again. Worst ever experience, had notions of packing it in after that

Was close to doing that before. Pembroke Street coming up to leeson street the road on the right slopes sharply down. Went to put my foot down and couldn't reach the road! Lucky the traffic moved so I could just blip the trottle.

MargeS

Paparazzo wrote: »

Was close to doing that before. Pembroke Street coming up to leeson street the road on the right slopes sharply down. Went to put my foot down and couldn't reach the road! Lucky the traffic moved so I could just blip the trottle.

That moment of panic..... ah! where's the road!!! :eek:

In my case it was lack of experience as I was the first person to the white line. So I had a chance to look at the ground and pick a safe place to stop.

But you always have that fear that if you are too far to the right but still indicating left, some muppet behind you in a car will attempt to squeeze between you and the path!

It's far more difficult if you are in heavy traffic and come to a junction you don't know. Anything could be under the car ahead of you.

jayok

Not quite a drop, but something stupid nonetheless. I was on my old Burgman maxi scooter (automatic) after two days of training on a normal (manual) bike with a clutch.

I was trying to mount the pavement outside store street Garda station to park the Burgman and wanted to use the "clutch" to control the power on the rear wheel - I completely forgot about this as an automatic. So I revved the engine and tried to use the left-handle that was to control the "clutch". The bike took off like a rocket and I ended-up smacking the thing into a parking pillar!!! A seriously absent minded moment -I was like WTF why isn't the power cutting.

Worst was the other "proper" biker standing there looking at me after parking his bike laugh he a** off. Thankfully I'd a full face helmet

Del2005

My best was years ago we where messing about up the mountains on trials bike when my brother came up on his Dommie. We swapped bikes and I went for a spin. On the way back I'd just overtaken a car and pulled off the road to my brother. He'd just gone up a slope and jumped off the back of my bike. I saw this as I gave his bike a twist of throttle and the bike spun around, I just stepped off and walked over to him leaving the bike in the ground. The faces on the people in car was classic as both of us dropped the bikes and walked over and just chatted. My brother then informed my he'd just changed to road tyres:mad:


Putting the Z750 on paddocks stands a few weeks ago it slipped over, luckily I caught it with my leg and only the mirror got damaged.

MargeS wrote: »

Turning left at a T junction. Stopped slightly to the left hand side of the lane to make the left turn. Put my left foot down when I stopped..... oh! sh!t, no road. :eek:

The road sloped so badly away into the footpath so over I went! Managed to push myself away from the bike so that I wouldn't get pinned under it. Landed with my head on the footpath outside a pub mortified! Fuel spewing out and then had to sit outside the pub for 30 mins before the bike would start up again. Worst ever experience, had notions of packing it in after that

Nearly got caught out with this in Enniskerry turning up towards Powerscourt, road dropped away and I'd a few hairy seconds as my leg kept going down with the bike leaning heavy. Barely held it

thomashood10

I've come close to dropping mine, was coming out of the drive way and I leaned it over too far to get around le cage.

It started to fall, but I heaved it back up. For about 15 seconds I was stuck in a power battle between my upper body strength and the bike. Finally gradually got the bike back up, but could've easily gone the other way.

sleepysniper

Didnt put down the side stand fully once, and while walking away from the bike, I happened to look behind me only to see the bike falling, like in slow motoin, to the ground, ran to try and save her from crashing to the gorund but to no avail!:(

unclebill98

Great to see I'm not the only one.

Dropped my first hd right outside the bloody hd shop!

Came in and went to line the bike up so I could reverse it in, turned to tight and the bike went over, had it held but could not get the strength to right the bike, felt like I was holding it forever, finally had to let it down very gently.

Thank god no one seen me.

gipi

Had a couple of dropping incidents.....

First day out on a bike (back in the 80s, Kwack KC100), heading to work, the mother is standing at the door with the rosary beads (only a slight exaggeration!). I figured that she has nothing to worry about, I confidently threw my leg over the bike (from the right hand side if I recall!), lost my balance, and me and bike headed to the left and down! (bike must have had a main stand, now that I think about it!)

Didnt exactly instill confidence, did I!!

Second time, when I came back to biking after 20 years - I was parking my Marauder 250cc around the back of the house. Had to negotiate a slightly overgrown rockery as I turned around the corner of the house but was doing okay....until my foot caught behind a large rock and I lost my balance and started tipping over to the right. I was determined not to let the bike just fall (2 months old, and shiny exhaust on that side!), so I held it up as best I could and let it down gently. Bike survived, I broke a bone in the left hand!

Best one of all....same Marauder, I was doing a slow u-turn in a carpark, found it had a slight slope which I hadn't noticed until too late, overbalanced and ended up on its side. Where's the stupid in that, I hear you say? The carpark was at the Driving Test Centre, and I was there to take me bike test.....thankfully the only people who came to help were an instructor and another student, and I passed the test!

KamiKazi

Pulled up outside work one morning, put on the steering lock, took out the keys, hopped off and starting walking away.

Got about ten feet before I heard the bike hit the deck.

Fvckin sidestand :pac:

Paparazzo

Another one. Parked facing down a hill. Hopped off, stuck it on the side stand and the poxy thing rolled forwards off the stand. Lucky it was soft muck.

copeyhagen wrote: »

dropped my zxr4 last friday, was reversing down the ramp in work and rain bottoms got caught under my boot, spent 15 seconds in a tug of war to keep the bike upright, it had a brief lie on the gate in work, luckily it never dropped to ground and just scratched a bit of paint around the intake.. :rolleyes:

You kept that one quiet!

Wossack

Stop at some traffic lights, put my left foot down to the ground, but my trouser leg catches on the peg... thankfully it was a 125, so light enough I could just about catch it

Saw a great one a petrol station once, hopefully can describe it well enough. Lad adjusting chain on his blackbird - with it up on its centerstand. He's just about done, giving the rear wheels plenty of spins to make sure oil is well covered on the chain. He's on his knees, and gives the tyre one last big smack to really get it spinning - and promptly knocks the bike forward, off the centerstand.
The guys eyes widen, and he struggles to get to his feet, to try and catch the bike thats rolling away from him. He doesnt make it though, and the bike slows, wobbles, and finally topples over... left, onto the sidestand. It was so funny, and if he'd meant to do it- so cool! But one look at the guys face, and you could tell that wasnt on purpose

Sids Not

Quick question...why are sidestands always on the left side...???

JohnnyCrash

few theories are:-
1. It follows on from mounting/dismounting horses from the left
2.The planet is dominated by 'righties' and its more natural to mount a bike from the left
3.Most bikes,if balanced and let go,will fall to the left

cantdecide

My guess is that it's mainly tradition. It suits us RHD people as we hop off the bike to the left and out of the way of the traffic.

Del2005

JohnnyCrash wrote: »

3.Most bikes,if balanced and let go,will fall to the left

:eek:Surely if a bike falls to the left it's not balanced and would constantly pull to the left when riding. And if they are designed it to fall to the left why not stick the stand on the right and design it to fall that way?

Also what's the point of something naturally falling one way or the other? If the side stand is up it won't miss the ground if falling left v's right.

cantdecide wrote: »

My guess is that it's mainly tradition. It suits us RHD people as we hop off the bike to the left and out of the way of the traffic.

Aren't we big headed since the vast majority of the world drives on the wrong side and the biggest bike makers where from LHD countries.



From using google, most people are righties, so it's natural for us to mount from the left. That's why horses are mounted from the left

JohnnyCrash

Del2005 wrote: »

:eek:Surely if a bike falls to the left it's not balanced and would constantly pull to the left when riding. And if they are designed it to fall to the left why not stick the stand on the right and design it to fall that way?

Also what's the point of something naturally falling one way or the other? If the side stand is up it won't miss the ground if falling left v's right.



Aren't we big headed since the vast majority of the world drives on the wrong side and the biggest bike makers where from LHD countries.



From using google, most people are righties, so it's natural for us to mount from the left. That's why horses are mounted from the left

Sorry,didnt make myself clear.If a bike is held upright in a 'Balanced' position and is let go,it will mostly fall to the left.So THEY say

Del2005

That's because the stand is on that side. If the stand was on the right it would be designed to fall that way. It's only common sense for it to be most stable when resting on the stand and not difficult to do this at design stage.

It still doesn't explain why the stand is on the left.

txpjl

Dropped mine twice. Raised the kickstand, shuffled my bag of books over my shoulder and lost balance. Did it in front of a few at the bike shop too after picking it up from a service. Felt like a right fool.

Second time, jumped on the bike too fast, was carrying a full fuel load and a bag on the back. Bike was on a slight slope and it just went over. Really hard to stop it.

So easy to do if you are not paying attention. Now I don't give a Sh!t.:D

P

Sids Not

It just seems weird to me that with most of the world driving on the right side that with the stand on the left, its putting people in danger as you're stepping "into" traffic..
It wouldnt bother me if it was on the right, but then the above applies...

Wossack

its cause us bikers carry swords on our left hips - so in order for us not to stab our steed, we generally mount and dismount from the left hand side

gipi

Is the sidestand to the left because the brake pedal is on the right side? A rider can get on the bike, steady it with the back brake and then kick up the sidestand?

(yes, I know old British bikes had the brake and clutch pedals reversed....what side were the side stands on those?!)

Wossack, brill answer - though as a leftie, carrying the sword on my left hip is a bit of a disadvantage!

Run_to_da_hills

Once got off my bike with the ex still on the pillion, she couldn't reach the ground and the bike keeled over.

Cuddlesworth

I forgot to put my legs down after stopping. In fairness I had only been on the thing about two minutes.

Haven't done the kickstand thing yet, nearly have but never quite let it drop.

Sids Not

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Once got off my bike with the ex still on the pillion, she couldn't reach the ground and the bike keeled over.

How did you get off.....?..Rossi style.......:p

Was it THAT night she became your ex....?

rameire

first day I got the deauville.
after a 80km ride home, drove the bike around my estate, slowly,
came to a junction, put my right foot down and the bike went over to the left.
cracked the bloody mushroom.

Del2005

gipi wrote: »

Is the sidestand to the left because the brake pedal is on the right side? A rider can get on the bike, steady it with the back brake and then kick up the sidestand?

(yes, I know old British bikes had the brake and clutch pedals reversed....what side were the side stands on those?!)

Wossack, brill answer - though as a leftie, carrying the sword on my left hip is a bit of a disadvantage!

Been a while since we had the Matchless out, but I think it was left. It's muscle memory for me going for the stand on the left, if it was on the right I'd have another good story for this thread.

TheFairy

Sids Not wrote: »

Quick question...why are sidestands always on the left side...???

Is this not to do with the camber of the road, ie falls to the left, so more sense to put stand on that side as 90% of the time you should be facing this direction?

Sids Not

TheFairy wrote: »

Is this not to do with the camber of the road, ie falls to the left, so more sense to put stand on that side as 90% of the time you should be facing this direction?

Unless you ride on the right side......;)

TheFairy

I thought the statment re the side stand being on the left was being general about Ireland and the UK. New to biking myself so unsure if its the same in Europe etc.

Del2005

TheFairy wrote: »

I thought the statment re the side stand being on the left was being general about Ireland and the UK. New to biking myself so unsure if its the same in Europe etc.

It's a world wide standard on most motorbikes. The vast majority of the world ride on the wrong side of the road.

Sids Not

Del2005 wrote: »

It's a world wide standard on most motorbikes. The vast majority of the world ride on the wrong side of the road.

Its just us poor saps that ride/drive on the "Queens" side............:p

antiskeptic

Motorcycle courier in my early twenties - at a time when the only weather protection took the form of a Barbour jacket and and council worker-style waterproof pants (that inevitably leaked at the crotch).

It was February and a bitterly cold. Most despatchers 'had punctures' that day so there was a relative killing to be made for those prepared to grin and bear it. I arrived back in town from a run and pulled up at a set of lights on Dame St. And my right leg simply refused to move - it had locked into position on the peg with the cold.

Over we went.

Imagine getting your head run over by a truck coming the opposite way.

For that.

:rolleyes:

Del2005

Sids Not wrote: »

Its just us poor saps that ride/drive on the "Queens" side............:p

The Romans drove on the left, the UK just kept it up after the Romans abandoned them.

harry21

1. Never dropped it because of the side-stand (that's where the good news stops)

2. After coming out of the front gate of the house I stop while still sitting on the seat (it was raining - I wanted to keep the seat dry - LAZY). I turned backwards to swing the gate shut. Had water-proofs on and the bike was at my knees before I realised what was happening. Tried to clench it between my legs, but with wet slippy pants, it went down. Wheelie bin help avoid any damage .

3. While taking off at full lock after about a foot I hit the disc lock. Went down fairly fast despite having my legs out. Just too much force.

Lesson Learned - put the lock right up to the catch point on the disc and take off slower :mad:.

jayok

Well it must be the Thread, as I dropped the bike over the weekend.

Side-stand issue, got on the bike, forgot my gloves so I stepped off the bike to get them from the house. CRASH!! Forgotten I'd lifted up the side stand. Down goes the bike. On the plus side, the mushroom took the forces and only it is scratched:D

cantdecide

I've had two offs, the recent one was a proper dinger but the very first off I had was two weeks into my riding career. I tried to do a U-turn but ended up just shakily squirreled off too much to the left grass verge. The front wheel touched the grass for a second and the bike was panned out down a 2' ditch. Morto. I really questioned if biking was for me for ages after that.... right up until when I got the headstock bearing done and realised how f****** dangerous the bike was. I thought I was the greatest rider ever for not binning it every day when I realised it was so bad.

I keep my bikes at my parents' place and I also got a call from my dad. He said the Busa just fell over for no reason. Luckily I was nearby and shot over home to pick the bike up. He later admitted he may have bumped into it five minutes before it mysteriously fell over :rolleyes:

Green_Martian

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Once got off my bike with the ex still on the pillion, she couldn't reach the ground and the bike keeled over.

Classic i would say she was well impressed with you

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

I forgot to put my legs down after stopping. In fairness I had only been on the thing about two minutes.

Haven't done the kickstand thing yet, nearly have but never quite let it drop.

:D That reminds me of a vid i seen on youtube or somewhere of an army bloke learning to ride a bike and stopped at lights and just went over:D

I have had 2 drops so far........i say so far cos ya never know:p

1st was when I only got the bike, never been on a bike before in my life, went to the local industrial estate pottery along grand not a bother then when i went i was completing a U-turn i lost power and then my balance and over she went, dented the tank and broke the rhs indicator and also destroyed the front screen:(

2nd was very funny, i was parking the bike alongside the front window of the house as i was pushing it back i had a bit of a wobble so put my right foot down to balance myself............didn't help as the driveway slopes away slightly and i of course could not reach the ground in time, had a bit of a power struggle and then over she went. Funny part was that my mother was in the living room and all she seen was the headlight shinning on the roof of the room, when she ran out she seen me trapped under the bike:P. She asked "Can i help" to which my manleness kicked in and said no no im grand:p i then proceeded to struggle lifting up a heavy Bandit 6:D

goodlad

I didnt see a cattle grid on a slight bend while it was raining until it was too late. Over the bike went and i had a fun little slide

I think im safe from the side stand issue as i actually cant get off my bike unless the stand is down because i cant get off it while holding it up, lol