I guess this is relevant for the smaller guys too but I was thinking of the ladies being one myself.
Can you pick up your GS if/when you drop it? I seriously don't know if I could. I have only laid it down once (at very slow speed, no damage) and it was when I was riding with my boyfriend, he jumped off his bike and picked it up and was going over it before I had picked myself up off the pavement.
If you are a smaller person and you can pick up the bike, could you please describe the technique you use. I am told that with the right technique even the smallest person can pick up a bike but after the hard time I had picking up even the tiny little dirt bikes on my safety course, I have some doubts. I'm about 130 pounds and not especially strong.
It's really a matter of technique. (The adrenaline rush after going down also helps.)
Squat down. Grab the lower end of the handlebar and the frame right in front of the attachment triangle for the rear footpegs. Now with straight back and arms as straight as possible lift with your legs.
If you are insecure do a training session, laying the bike down on some soft padding.
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.
No I cant Im a wuss. But my plans are if I drop her again is to take my helmet off, shake my hair around like one of those shampoo commercials, and then to show at little skin as to attract some guys to stop and pick up my bike for me. :thumb: :thumb:
Guys are complete suckers sometimes.
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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.
+1 Works great for my VStrom!
Oh yeah, being a guy, I'm a sucker for the hair shake/ skin thing..... I never pass a lady biker in distress....
ChuckS
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
Im not a big guy, and I don't have much of a problem picking mine up myself. I've knocked it over more times than I care to admit. :icon_rolleyes: Like mentioned before, sometimes the adrenaline helps, but it is also technique. I helped my neighbor pick up his Harley after he tipped it in his driveway too, without any issue.
I fall into the wuss category too. I have dropped my GS 3 times and never picked it up myself. The first two times my friend was with me and he picked it up for me. The last time I dropped it on the side of the highway (it was going up hill too) and had a guy pull over and help me. Even with the technique my friend showed me for picking it up I didn't have ass to pick it up alone.
Quote from: ajgs500 on June 21, 2006, 03:39:31 PM
Guys are complete suckers sometimes.
Unfortunately, this is true...
Quote from: blue05twin on June 21, 2006, 02:58:20 PM
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.
Thank you! That looks great. That looks like the technique my boyfriend used to pick up my bike, but he did it so quick I didn't really see exactly what he did.
Why the heck don't they teach that method on the safety courses? I couldn't get even a very small bike up with the way they showed me.
Jenn, the first thing I would suggest you do is get a new boyfriend.
Second, learn to pick it up. It's not a matter of strength, but method. The best ways for me are to either put my butt against the tank, grab whichever handle bar is pointing down, and the frame under the seat and lift with my legs or to squat down and grab the "down" handle bar with both hands and lift with my legs (best for light bikes).
ninja edit...the pink ribbon riders link is great!
Quote from: ajgs500 on June 21, 2006, 03:39:31 PM
No I cant Im a wuss. But my plans are if I drop her again is to take my helmet off, shake my hair around like one of those shampoo commercials, and then to show at little skin as to attract some guys to stop and pick up my bike for me. :thumb: :thumb:
switch teams when it benifits you.... :icon_rolleyes:
Guys are complete suckers sometimes.
Quote from: werase643 on June 21, 2006, 10:03:50 PM
Quote from: ajgs500 on June 21, 2006, 03:39:31 PM
No I cant Im a wuss. But my plans are if I drop her again is to take my helmet off, shake my hair around like one of those shampoo commercials, and then to show at little skin as to attract some guys to stop and pick up my bike for me. :thumb: :thumb:
switch teams when it benifits you.... :icon_rolleyes:
Guys are complete suckers sometimes.
:thumb: :thumb: :thumb:
I can pick mine up! It wasn't adrenaline either cause I dropped it gettin it off the centerstand in my basement. :oops: Grabbed the bars and lifted it right up. I couldn't lift it the way on the website suggested because when my gs went over, it went flat over, it was laying on the bar end, and pegs and the crankcover was flat on the cement. There was no angle to get down in there and lift. :dunno_white: just lifted must be all the hay bales
HICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :kiss3:
Aj who is on left?
then i can guess who's on right ;)
Im on the left.
thank ya, ma'm
actually if u use the way they show u on the msf corse it shouldnt be that hard. i renember this short woman doing the techineque during the corse. the didnt have a problem
I'm a tiny dude.. 5'3, about 135lbs... I've dropped her 4 times (maybe 5, can't remember) since I bought her (two weeks ago :laugh:)... No problems picking her up at all. Like Mak said... grab the down handlebar, grab the frame, push. It's all leverage.
Quote from: blue05twin on June 21, 2006, 02:58:20 PM
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!
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
Quote from: TadMC on June 21, 2006, 07:12:21 PM
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 :P
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)
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 :oops:
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.
good read, for you ladies
http://www.sportbikes.ws/showthread.php?t=34246
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*....
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 :flipoff: :flipoff: Phae, RVertigo, the rest of the peanut gallery :flipoff: :icon_mrgreen: ), 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. :icon_mrgreen: 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 :cookoo: :laugh: :kiss3:).
This is my long-winded way of saying, nope...I can't pick my bike up. :cry:
Quote from: pandy on June 22, 2006, 07:05:20 PM
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.
I vote for freak. :thumb:
Quote from: Onlypastrana199 on June 22, 2006, 07:34:15 PM
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.. :o :2guns: :bowdown: :icon_razz: :kiss3:
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)
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. :)
Quote from: stangbaby67 on July 05, 2006, 10:51:25 PM
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :bowdown: :thumb:
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... :laugh: The next day I made myself go to the same area and ride around the bump...
Quote from: pandy on July 06, 2006, 07:44:18 AM
Quote from: stangbaby67 on July 05, 2006, 10:51:25 PM
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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :bowdown: :thumb:
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?
OH YEAH!!!! :laugh: 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... :dunno_white: I wasn't taught what to do in that case, so my only thought was people are looking and my bikes on the ground... :thumb: 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, :icon_mrgreen: 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!!!!
Quote from: BikerChick on July 06, 2006, 06:47:40 PM
OH YEAH!!!! :laugh: 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... :dunno_white: I wasn't taught what to do in that case, so my only thought was people are looking and my bikes on the ground... :thumb: 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, :icon_mrgreen: 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? ;)
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?? :dunno_white: I was told most people use one hand on the handlebars and one on the back of the seat?? :icon_confused:
I picked mine up the same way, two hands one the bars and just lifted..but it has been voted that I'm a freak..so I'm not good to judge by..
Quote from: Onlypastrana199 on July 06, 2006, 07:23:39 PM
I picked mine up the same way, two hands one the bars and just lifted..but it has been voted that I'm a freak..so I'm not good to judge by..
You picked yours up with your boobs... Dont lie!
There was a link a page or two back to a page that shows how even the smallest of riders can pick up the biggest of bikes! /end annoying infomercial voice.
The technique was basically: butt against the seat, one hand grabbing the handlebar, the other grabbing the frame (or something sturdy) near the seat. I used the handy-dandy handle behind the rear seat of my bike. Legs out in front, knees bent slightly pushing up and back, using your backside for leverage.
This way, you can help guarantee that you're using your legs to lift, instead of your back, which could cause some pretty nifty damage there. (Yes, I said nifty.)
BTW, is that handle on the back an F thing, or does the E have that handle, too?
my brain read this thread title as 'can you pick up ladies with your GS'
why yes.. yes i can pick up ladies with my GS :cheers:
Quote from: ajgs500 on June 21, 2006, 03:39:31 PM
No I cant Im a wuss. But my plans are if I drop her again is to take my helmet off, shake my hair around like one of those shampoo commercials, and then to show at little skin as to attract some guys to stop and pick up my bike for me. :thumb: :thumb:
Guys are complete suckers sometimes.
dont lie... you don't have skin to show... its all a lie.
Quote from: stangbaby67 on July 06, 2006, 07:37:07 PM
There was a link a page or two back to a page that shows how even the smallest of riders can pick up the biggest of bikes! /end annoying infomercial voice.
The technique was basically: butt against the seat, one hand grabbing the handlebar, the other grabbing the frame (or something sturdy) near the seat. I used the handy-dandy handle behind the rear seat of my bike. Legs out in front, knees bent slightly pushing up and back, using your backside for leverage.
This way, you can help guarantee that you're using your legs to lift, instead of your back, which could cause some pretty nifty damage there. (Yes, I said nifty.)
BTW, is that handle on the back an F thing, or does the E have that handle, too?
Mine has a handle on the back of the seat Its an E
Another useful trick to know is how to pivot your GS 360 Degrees on the centerstand because you got stuck between two rude asses and couldn't pull out or back out.
Quote from: ambisinister on July 10, 2006, 01:08:14 PM
Another useful trick to know is how to pivot your GS 360 Degrees on the centerstand because you got stuck between two rude asses and couldn't pull out or back out.
Sounds like a good time to have an extra
key on you..
I meant the sidestand not centerstad :icon_confused: