This is kinda aimed at all the other F model owners...I am the only one that has crashed this thing yet? (twice?) I'm suprised at how well it takes all the abuse I keep putting it through...Maybe I should get a nick name on the boards for these wrecks...somethin like, "Stang the Spill Master" or anything great that some of you guys could suggest...
Well, I dropped mine once, riding it home from the dealership. I was about 1/2 mile from the dealership when I dropped it.
I dunno if you have a record for the most drops, but I think I have one for the earliest. Not that I brag about that or anything. :roll:
Does anybody have the link to that clip, where the guy drives his Duc out of the dealer's, only to basically drop it on the doorstep?
I started all my kids out on training wheel equipped bikes. My eldest took to riding in the hardest way. You guys DID take the training wheels OFF didn't you? JK :lol: ...Hope you are learning from each drop, my eldest did, he learned how to drop it more and more 8) Ride safe, give that little scooter lots of love and be nice on the forum. Love ya all.
C.......
ya know, i'd always heard stories of people dropping on the way from the dealer, but now i know it's true. were you super pissed? what went through your head?
Don't want to "hijack" the topic but with all this dropping going on it seems the right opportunity to ask, Picking the bike up, is there a correct method, especially for those of us who's backs and shoulders creak a bit.
We get loads of posts on how to get it onto the centerstand so I wondered is there an "approved" method??
http://www.motorcyclesafety.state.mn.us/pages/tips_pages/tips_lift.html
http://www.pinkribbonrides.com/dropped.html
this is the way. doing this, i've picked up my cb550, which has about 50 lbs on the GS quite easily.
cheers,
will
at the place i took my msf, they said about 2 outta 3 times the local bike cop shows up, lays his bike down, and picks it up by himself to show how it's done. he didn't do it at mine unfortunatly. he's got a bigass cruiser.
i guess i take for granted that i'm a pretty big guy. the two times i had it in a near-drop i just man-handled it back up.
This would be the soonest from leaving the dealership.
Third one, Titled Nice Ducati.
http://www.uponone.com/listvideos-everythingelse-date-190-10.php
Here's how I do it, and I'm not super-strong:
(and I had ample opportunity to practise)
Grab the lower end of the Handlebar.
Grab the frame under the sidecovers just in front of the back footrests.
Lift with back as straight as possible and knees bent.
Even if the bike is somewhere like 200 kg wet, I feel that I barely lift one third of that, what with the CG being low and part of the weight sitting on the wheels.
i heard that with heavier bikes you lift facing away from the bike (back against the fallen bike).
Quote from: indestructiblemanhttp://www.motorcyclesafety.state.mn.us/pages/tips_pages/tips_lift.html
http://www.pinkribbonrides.com/dropped.html
this is the way. doing this, i've picked up my cb550, which has about 50 lbs on the GS quite easily.
cheers,
will
Those are excellent examples of picking up bikes. :thumb:
So far I've always used the "facing" the bike technique. The "back to the bike" technique would probably be better with heavier machines.
I've always been so pissed that they tipped over that it's been no problem picking them back up.
I think you want to pick-up pretty much any bike with your back facing the bike. It's possible to grab it and lift, but if you have any adrenaline pumping at all, it's quite easy to pull a muscle. I followed the instructions from Skert in the "Pink Ribbon Rides" link above. It was pretty easy to lift the GS.
However, when you lift with your back to the bike, you end-up with the bike standing straight up, but you are facing away from it. It is difficult to judge when the bike has come up all the way, with you facing away from it. This makes it easy to bring it up too far, so that it falls away from you. And you don't have much leverage to pull it back towards yourself. Also, it's a bit strange to try to put the kickstand down with your right foot, facing away from the bike!
Just go slowly (except for the lift), carefully, and think ahead. Try to take the time to sweep the ground, wear gloves, and maybe put on some good work boots. You don't want to try this on gravel, wearing flip-flops!
I had to pick up the F650 in stages. Pull it up onto the wheels, turn, grasp frame, push with legs, brace, turn, turn bars to get the front wheel working with me, get it all of the way up. With much grunting and straining and swearing and almost-up-then-it-goes-back-down and soreness the next day. But with gas in it, it's over 500lbs. :roll:
Thanks, there is a pretty comprehensive set of answers there. Roadstergals's point about gas is very valid I have noticed from bitter experience that you are much more vulnerable with a full tank, shifts the centre of gravity a fair bit. Most drops seem to happen standing still or barely moving especialy on slopes or rough ground, take care.
When I drop it (only happened a few times... like 3-4) I take the handlebars, and lift... using my back... then I crawl to the nearest chiropractor.... :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Nah really I just take the handle bars and lift... not that hard... bigger bikes are more dificult.. but with adrenaline they will lift like nothing... I saw one of my friends (like 5"6 and like 120 pounds) really small and scrawny first do a nice catapult with a full size harley (acting like a fool, he's only 16 and it was his parents bike)... then proceed to lift the bike himself.. full size 1300cc harley.. adrenaline will help ya..
Quote from: perfdrugya know, i'd always heard stories of people dropping on the way from the dealer, but now i know it's true. were you super pissed? what went through your head?
Yeah, I was kinda pissed, but I figured now I don't have to worry about my first drop. I got it out the way early :)
What happened was I was stopping at a stop sign getting ready to turn right, and I guess I got too far to the right side of the road, where the road sloped down to the curb, and there was some gravel built up there, and I kinda stopped with my wheel turned to the right a bit and I put my foot down in the gravel and the bike just fell over on it's ride side, with me standing over it. Not too much damage to the bike, a few scratches on the mirror and turn signal, and a little scratch on the fairing.
I am surprised that I have not dropped my "F" once. I dropped my previous bike (Ninja 250) a lot... at least once a week. Loading/unloading from the truck, low speed turns,putting it up on the center stand, parking I think I dropped it like 5-6 times in the first month until it was finally murdered by a blind old lady in a PT cruiser. Luckily I was only going <30 when she turned in front of me :x . The bright side of this story is her insurance comp paid for my "F" :cheers:
dropped my F the second day i had it. making a 10point turn from my driveway. i got tired and decide to just "ride" it through the last turn then it happened my bike stalled and drop it but surprisingly no scratch on the fairings just the left mirror. wierd. i got help from my nephew picking up the bike.:lol:
Here's a good one:
My good friend is taking his course this weekend, but wanted to try practicing neutral-first-neutral straight line rides on my bike. We found an empty parking lot and although he stalled my bike two dozen times, he finally got the hang of it. Unfortunatley, he also managed to drop it once. Fortunately (or unfortunately for him), he positioned his body between the ground and the bike (he was nearly at a stop when it starting tipping over) to make sure the bike wasn't damaged much. He's very lucky it happened on the left side, or he'd have a pretty nasty burn scar.
Damage : just 1 or 2 tiny scratches on the botton of the left fairing, and not visible unless you bend down and look underneath the bike. The mirror cover edge and the front indicator plastic edge have tiny scruff marks, also not noticeable unless you look hard.
I did however ask him to get back on it and practice feathering the clutch in first (after a 20 min break, to let the shock of falling wear off, for both me and him ;) ). He was much better after that.
Next time I'll take the fairings off.
Thank you all for the valuable info. I used to just pick up my machine like I would a bicycle (handle bar only) with lots of grunting. Nobody ever taught me at MSF.
So what is the best way to centerstand heavy machinery if I can't flatfoot while the bike is fully rested on the centerstand?
:?