Ladies - can you pick up your GS?

[joedude]

Here you go a page with tips on how to pick up a droped bike by a female

http://www.pinkribbonrides.com/dropped.html

Hope it answers some questions you have about it.  And I hope you never have to pickup your bike.

Awesome! I'm forwarding that link to my mom! she's 5'2" ~125lbs and the rides a 2001 Kawasaki Vulcan 800... needless to say she'd still have some trouble picking it up alone... but if she is stuck alone, at least she'd have a better chance at getting it done!

Thanks!

[ets_gs500f2004]

the adrenaline rush just does it for me lol and well i grabed the lowest handle bar and try to find some thing in the back to grab that solid..... lift up...

    shes a lil bit more heavy than i thought when i went to pick it up it surprised me

[BaoQingTian]

Sh!t, my GF dumped my bike while tring to learn how to ride, Now Im a big (muscular guy) 

I mean I bench 315, curl 130 and what not and it had a strain getting that thing up

Man, sounds like you need to do some deadlifts, rows, and squats or something- strengthen up that core buddy.  If you can seriously bench 315 and have trouble just tilting a 400 lb bike up straight, maybe you outta stop working just your chest and biceps every day

[CirclesCenter]

I move appliances for my meat and potatoes so I'm a bit strong. I can lift it off the center stand (not easily, but I can!)

There's no fleeping way I could bench 315. Maybe like 215. Curls? I can do 100 once hHhahHAha. I'm such a wuss.

I think I'll plop her down in the grass and lift her up for you guys sometime with a friend taking pics.

I'm only 170 (ok I've been eating fast food too much, 180) And really it doesn't pose ANY problem for me, unless I was injured. (Like a broken arm or something)

[red_phil]

I managed to drop my gs on an enbankment with the wheels uphill about 8 inches above the handlebars.
I put my ass against the seat and reached back and grabbed the frame by the foot peg with one hand  and the downside handlebar with the other.
The I pushed back and up using the grip of the wheels to help me. Not too tricky really.
You have to be careful not to push it too far as you have your back to the bike.
It was embarassing to drop it right down onto the other side.
I mean it would have been, if that's what I had done, which it wasn't ...  DAMN

[jackiei26]

my huby p/u mine but I think it's a grt idea to learn on my own.  I'll practice but I think it's impossible when u weight 112 lbs.

[rangerbrown]

good read, for you ladies

http://www.sportbikes.ws/showthread.php?t=34246

[Jace009gs]

i'm not a female but in the 125lbs range and I could dead lift the gs rightside up from a tip over. I got down low grab the frame at the triples and the metal bar that runs under the fairing in the rear and take a deep breath and mentally focus then scream it out and lift! It worked in the parking lot with no problems but in the grass I found that It took a couple of tries to get my footing right...


It is leverage tho


I have since packed a few lbs on since owning the GS and my FZR is about 100lbs heavier than the GS.... I did have to muscle it up one time when I cought it  falling [long story short...put the kickstand down first then dismount] It wasn't all the way down but defently past 45*....

[pandy]

The only video I've seen with a petite lady successfully picking up a bike is the one where the lady is picking up what looks like a Goldwing, and the Goldwing is already half standing up due to the hard sidecases. The instructions for picking up a bike tell us ladies to do the following:

"You place your butt mid way on the edge of the seat.
This is CRUCIAL. The placement of your butt too high or too low on the seat will not give you the leverage angle. You are pushing the bike with your butt and upper legs. You will have to pull up with your arms a bit but mostly you will be pushing the bike up with your legs."

I don't know about anyone else, but when my bike drops (which it has once or twice or so  Phae, RVertigo, the rest of the peanut gallery    ), its seat is pretty close to the ground....like...ON the ground. To put my butt midway on the edge of the seat would put the rest of me sitting on the ground. I have a hard enough time picking MYSELF up off the ground when my butt's that low, so there's not much chance that I'll be picking up my bike that way.

But...I'm a wimp.  I've been fortunate. My boyfriend has been around  most of the time I've needed to get a bike back up, or else someone has always offered to help (and not just cuz I'm female...the dear souls have offered before knowing I was female...and then they just get all macho when they find out I'm female  ).

This is my long-winded way of saying, nope...I can't pick my bike up. 

[Onlypastrana199]

its seat is pretty close to the ground....

This is exactly what I was trying to say. I weigh 100lbs Jackie, still managed to pick it up, women are alot stronger than they think, its about lifting correctly and efficiently. There's an extra little push in you when you don't think so. Lift with your legs not your back and arms, get it most of the way up and then push with the arms. But then again maybe I'm just a farm kid freak.

[ajgs500]

I vote for freak. 

[pandy]

But then again maybe I'm just a farm kid freak.

See? Told ya' I'm a wuss...skinny little farm-kid freak can do what I can't.. 

[daneilah]

Wait 'til your gas tank is near empty, then go out to your backyard, lay it down on the grass, and practice picking it up.

Have someone there to give you a hand laying it down gently (and picking it up if you get stuck)

[stangbaby67]

I was complaining to my rather large male friend the other night that I can't maneuver the bike in tight spaces by walking it, since I'm too short.  Being the big guy on the big Honda cruiser, he showed me how he can walk my bike by leaning it against his hip.  I tried this the other night.  What I discovered is that I'm still not strong enough to walk it that way.  And that when I'm too weak and lean the bike against my hip too much, it ends up at a 45* angle.  I'm not strong enough to pick the bike back up from that, but I'm strong enough to set it down gently, as if there were padding underneath it.
No one around to flag for help (why does everyone go to bed so early in my complex!), I tried the method from the pinkribbon site.  Did nothing.  Moved my butt higher on the seat.  Now, I wouldnt' say it went up "like paper" and  I wasn't in any real danger of throwing it all the way over to the other side.  But I did pick up my own bike!!  It was really exciting.  I tried explaining it to a friend of mine, and they just didn't understand my elation.

So the point of my long rambling is that...yes, I can pick up the bike, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

[pandy]

So the point of my long rambling is that...yes, I can pick up the bike, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

w00t!! Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

[BikerChick]

The 1st time I road my bike, I had stopped to make a U turn when a car was coming towards me....  it just so happened that I stopped on a bump in the street (also top of the hill) and I lost my balance and fell to the right...  The bike fall on my right knee and the brake handle hit the curb and broke the tip...  I got my leg out from under it and just picked it up....  Hell yeah it was heavy, but I didn't want more people seeing me with my bike down!!!  I don't remember much about "how" I picked it up...  I do remember that I kept my knees bent and pushed it up by the handlebars...  That stupid little hill bump...    The next day I made myself go to the same area and ride around the bump... 

[stangbaby67]

So the point of my long rambling is that...yes, I can pick up the bike, and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. 

w00t!! Well done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Thank you! I'm quite proud.

BikerChick--Did you just pick up your bike while standing next to it, grabbing the handlebars?  If so, that's badass!  Adrenaline rush?

[BikerChick]

OH YEAH!!!!    When I had fell over...  I got up, looked at the bike on the ground laughed cause I was happy I had gotten up to 3rd gear (had only been taught to go to 1st with feet up at the time, 1st night on it, my husband was teaching me like the MSF class) I grabbed the handlebars and pushed it up...    I wasn't taught what to do in that case, so my only thought was people are looking and my bikes on the ground...    Then I had to wait for my husband to run up the hill because it wouldn't start...  he hadn't gotten to the part about getting it outta gear...  So when he showed me I was back on it.. going down!!!  My knee hurt for about 2 weeks with a few bruises, but I was still happy I had done good, and outta 1st gear!!!  Shocked him,  I told him, I was going and it sounded like it needed to shift, so I did, and then again LOL  My Hondas a stick, so the sound wasn't any different!!!!

[stangbaby67]

OH YEAH!!!!    When I had fell over...  I got up, looked at the bike on the ground laughed cause I was happy I had gotten up to 3rd gear (had only been taught to go to 1st with feet up at the time, 1st night on it, my husband was teaching me like the MSF class) I grabbed the handlebars and pushed it up...    I wasn't taught what to do in that case, so my only thought was people are looking and my bikes on the ground...    Then I had to wait for my husband to run up the hill because it wouldn't start...  he hadn't gotten to the part about getting it outta gear...  So when he showed me I was back on it.. going down!!!  My knee hurt for about 2 weeks with a few bruises, but I was still happy I had done good, and outta 1st gear!!!  Shocked him,  I told him, I was going and it sounded like it needed to shift, so I did, and then again LOL  My Hondas a stick, so the sound wasn't any different!!!!

My MSF class didn't teach me anything about picking the bike up, and they tried telling us that driving a stick shift was going to mess us up on the bike.  I haven't quite figured that out.  When my car revs high, I shift.  When my bike revs high, I shift.  When I'm slowing down and/or the revs are dropping, I downshift.  Don't see how my 5spd hurts that knowledge.
I will continually be impressed at your ability to pick it up by the handlebars.  Oh well. I can pretend like I'm showing off my tush when I'm pushing it up the other way, right? 

[BikerChick]

I personally think my driving a stick helped me when knowing when to shift, (like you said) it took alittle bit to learn the differences (gas on right hand, not foot, that kind of thing) But overall, I DO believe it helpes!!!  Because you already know the whole gas and shifting part!!!  So, how do you pick up your bike??  Did I do it the wrong way??  or is it just odd for a female to pick up a bike??  I was told most people use one hand on the handlebars and one on the back of the seat??