GS Titanic: A Warning

[Villager]

We all know that resting your side / centre stand on an infirm surface is a recipe for misery and woe, and I've always been aware of what I rest the bike on when it's parked. However, I parked up outside my parents' house, resting the bike on its centrestand on a firm tarmac path. There was some softer, crumbly path next to this, but the area where I rested my bike seemed plenty firm and solid.

However, at approximately 5.30 this morning I was awoken by the next door neighbour's car alarm going off. I went to inspect, and found that it had been triggered by my bike falling onto it! The tarmac under one of the centrestand's feet had completely disintegrated, sunk to the point where the bike was so unbalanced, it fell. My fat little GS crushed the earth beneath it!

There was no real damage to the car, and the neighbour wasn't fussed, but I have a shattered foot peg, scratched engine cover, bar end and exhaust.











Just thought I'd share the experience; be extra careful about where you leave your pride and joy!

[Mdow]

 

that sucks man

i almost lost mine like that the other week gas leaked out of the tank and broke down the asphault under it but its didn't fall over it was SOOO close tho

[tripleb]

the MSF course I attended gave everyone a plastic circle that is intended to be used for this very situation.  It spreads the weight from the sidestand in a much bigger area.

Next time, try putting a flattened coke can or something else like that under the sidestand if you suspect something like this might happen.

[fred]

The guy who taught my MSF class was a Marine Pilot and he told a story about a fellow pilot who drove his Harley to work and parked it all day on the hot tarmac. When he went to leave work at night, he found that his side stand had sunk into the tarmac when it was hot, but since it was now night time, he couldn't get it back out. Eventually he ended up removing the side stand and just leaving it there. I always took that as a cautionary tale for parking really heavy bikes, but after hearing this I guess I should look into one of those little plastic things for parking on poor surfaces...

[dgyver]

Another reason I do not like center stands. Bikes will fall over to the right as they sink, the center stand arm touches the ground stopping the sinking on the left side and it continues to sink on the right... eventually tipping over. Much hard to tip a wider 3 point triangular base with the side stand. I carry a small 3x3 piece of s/s sheetmetal to sit the side stand on.

[bikejunkie223]

Garage FTW! Besides, I can't seem to figure out how to center stand my GS without someone to help me pull it up on it.

[cstilt]

I nearly lost mine in the parking lot at Bob Evans. Parked it on fresh pavement and came out a while latter.  Side stand had pushed into the pavement ~3 inches.  Yeah, I was in there a while...

[DoD#i]

Garage FTW! Besides, I can't seem to figure out how to center stand my GS without someone to help me pull it up on it.

Stand beside the bike. Hold the left handgrip with your left hand, and the left under-seat luggage bar thing with your right hand, placing your left foot on the centerstand leg. Push down with the foot while pulling back and up with the hands. Well, up is the right hand. Probably a good idea to have that extra person standing on the other side of the bike until you are sure you have the hang of it, but it's not hard when you know how.

[scottpA_GS]

The guy who taught my MSF class was a Marine Pilot and he told a story about a fellow pilot who drove his Harley to work and parked it all day on the hot tarmac. When he went to leave work at night, he found that his side stand had sunk into the tarmac when it was hot, but since it was now night time, he couldn't get it back out. Eventually he ended up removing the side stand and just leaving it there. I always took that as a cautionary tale for parking really heavy bikes, but after hearing this I guess I should look into one of those little plastic things for parking on poor surfaces...

I call a big BS on that... If he couldn't pull the stand back out he was a big puss! And no Marine for sure.

[sledge]

The guy who taught my MSF class was a Marine Pilot and he told a story about a fellow pilot who drove his Harley to work and parked it all day on the hot tarmac. When he went to leave work at night, he found that his side stand had sunk into the tarmac when it was hot, but since it was now night time, he couldn't get it back out. Eventually he ended up removing the side stand and just leaving it there. I always took that as a cautionary tale for parking really heavy bikes, but after hearing this I guess I should look into one of those little plastic things for parking on poor surfaces...

I call a big BS on that... If he couldn't pull the stand back out he was a big puss! And no Marine for sure.

Me too  I first heard that tale in about 1983-4 but it was a Goldwing not a HD......I asked how far the tyres had sunk in and was met with a blank......"your not supposed to ask that"..... stare.

[beRto]

Garage FTW! Besides, I can't seem to figure out how to center stand my GS without someone to help me pull it up on it.

Stand beside the bike. Hold the left handgrip with your left hand, and the left under-seat luggage bar thing with your right hand, placing your left foot on the centerstand leg. Push down with the foot while pulling back and up with the hands. Well, up is the right hand. Probably a good idea to have that extra person standing on the other side of the bike until you are sure you have the hang of it, but it's not hard when you know how.

Expanding on DoD#i's comments, here is a thread with some further explanation:
http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=41769.0

[Juan1]

Garage FTW! Besides, I can't seem to figure out how to center stand my GS without someone to help me pull it up on it.

My technique:  Left hand on the frame under the seat (just find a comfortable place to grab the frame in that area), right hand on the grab bar on the back.  One foot on the ground, the other foot pushing hard on the center stant.  In one motion, pull the bike back and up, while putting lots of pressure on the center stand.

[the mole]

Never thought about this before, but do US bikes have the centrestand lever-you-stand-on on the right side of the bike?

[DoD#i]

Never thought about this before, but do US bikes have the centrestand lever-you-stand-on on the right side of the bike?

No, and I don't think you have your brakes & gas on the left, or your clutch & shifter on the right, either. Now if it was only easier to rent a bike when flying to a country that drives on the opposite side of the road... other than suddenly needing to be wary about right turns, the other side of the road did not bug me - but the fact that my sense of where the car was was all wrong, that bugged me.

[bikejunkie223]

The weird thing for me driving in Jamaica (right hand drive cars) was shifting a manual trans with the left hand, while the clutch was still the left foot. That was odd.