So the other day I parked out the front of a friends house for 5 min and when I came out it had fallen over - but onto the opposite side to the stand.
When i parked it up I was a little worried because it was on grass and it had rained the day before, but in that case you would think that the stand would sink and it would go over onto the stand side.
The other option i can think of is that somebody pushed it over to shaZam! me, casual vandalism of bikes seems pretty common where I live.
One friend had his pushed over onto his helmet after the vandals realised that they couldn't remove it from the bike; another had somebody jam a screwdriver under the seat and lever it off to see if there were any valuables underneath.
My bike got a little damage to the fairing bolt mounts near the indicator but nothing a little super glue couldn't fix
Anybody esle had mysterious bike falling over circumstances or care to share vandalism stories?
Unless it was a windy day I would say it was pushed over. Some people out there hate motorcycles.
...and you wonder why so many people have security cameras now. Heck, even I have a wifi camera outside the front door and a DVR going 24/7. I even have a car DVR.
Quote from: john on April 22, 2014, 08:00:13 PM
Unless it was a windy day I would say it was pushed over.
Unless it was almost upright with the sidestand down (sloped surface) this would be the only logical option, unless there's evidence a car bumped it. Park across the street from a driveway by any chance?
I also have a DVR setup. I feel a $100 setup is pretty justified to protect a few thousand worth of vehicles.
I try to use the center stand if I know the bike will be sitting for a bit. Run into the store and out, side stand, go to a restaurant or a friends house, center stand.
Quote from: john on April 22, 2014, 08:00:13 PM
Unless it was a windy day I would say it was pushed over. Some people out there hate motorcycles.
Yeah that was my thoughts as well - it wasn't an especially uh "nice" neighbourhood - there's also a little bit of a problem in my town where there seems to be a disproportionate amount of rowdy teenage "locals" who think it's hilarious to vandalize and litter on everybody's property.
Quote from: Watcher on April 22, 2014, 11:05:47 PM
I try to use the center stand if I know the bike will be sitting for a bit. Run into the store and out, side stand, go to a restaurant or a friends house, center stand.
that sounds like a good idea, i was just stumped because i was barely in there for five minutes and come out to my bike on the ground. Not to mention that my friend parked right next to me on his ER-5 and it was still upright :dunno_black:
oh well, it's all fixed now anyway.
Bike is always more stable on the sidestand than the centerstand - Only cases where it may not be is on a slope (in which you would face the bike in a proper direction so that it is, i.e. facing uphill), or if your side stand is simply too long without enough lean (shouldn't be the case with stock setup). Centerstand is only good for storage (weight off rear wheel, and evenly distributed on front) and more convenient maintenance - it isn't something you should use to routinely park with unless its in your garage.
- Bboy
Quote from: BockinBboy on April 23, 2014, 06:17:30 AM
Bike is always more stable on the sidestand than the centerstand - Only cases where it may not be is on a slope (in which you would face the bike in a proper direction so that it is, i.e. facing uphill), or if your side stand is simply too long without enough lean (shouldn't be the case with stock setup). Centerstand is only good for storage (weight off rear wheel, and evenly distributed on front) and more convenient maintenance - it isn't something you should use to routinely park with unless its in your garage.
- Bboy
This.
There's a reason the "lock" key position needs the bars turned all the way left. This combined with the side stand helps form a "tripod", which is the most stable method possible to park a two-wheeled vehicle....depending on wind, ground conditions & slope, vandals, etc.
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I wouldn't necessarily say the bike is more stable on the side-stand, it is a wider stance but the "foot" of the side stand is rather small which can be an issue on some surfaces and because of the suspension it can be easier to knock over (compressing the suspension changes the center of gravity a little).
The center stand doesn't have as wide a stance but it's still a tripod, the weight is very balanced over two rigid feet, and in my experience it is still hard to knock over since it can't fall backward and in order to fall sideways or roll forward off the stand it has to go up and over the legs which is very unlikely by happenstance.
It really is quite situational and I don't center-stand my bike all that often. At home, at work (closed lot), or just running around I keep it on the side stand. Just if I've got it parked on the street in front of a house or something and I know I'll be tied up for hours then I typically prop it up.
As far as the bars always locking left, I don't think the reason is because of stability. For example, when parked down a decline wouldn't you want to turn the front wheel the other direction? From what I know from my truck, when parked downhill you turn front wheels into curb, that way if it rolls it turns into the curb and stops.
If the wheels are turned left then you'll roll into the street as well as have your bike topple over the opposite direction once the center of gravity changes.
I always park in gear so that's really a non-issue for me, however it is good practice. Ideally the bars should lock in either direction.
Quote from: Watcher on April 23, 2014, 04:34:13 PM
For example, when parked down a decline wouldn't you want to turn the front wheel the other direction? From what I know from my truck, when parked downhill you turn front wheels into curb, that way if it rolls it turns into the curb and stops.
I wouldn't ever park my bike facing down hill if there's a curb, being a bike it's small enough to nearly always be possible to point it uphill and have the rear wheel on the gutter - plus it's not like a car when parking on the side of the road where you have to park with the direction of travel.
I guess the lesson here is if you can't be sure that your bike won't roll downhill or sink into soft soft ground or get blown over or pushed over then don't park it there.
Quote from: Toiletbooger on April 23, 2014, 06:23:10 PM
I guess the lesson here is if you can't be sure that your bike won't roll downhill or sink into soft soft ground or get blown over or pushed over then don't park it there.
We can all agree on that! :thumb:
Don't forget to put in gear on the side stand. This will prevent if from rolling off of the support arm.
Lol toiletbooger. Love the username
Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on April 24, 2014, 04:30:01 AM
Lol toiletbooger. Love the username
Haha i thought of it when I made my first battlenet account for warcraft 3 and it's stuck as my online alias ever since
Quote from: Watcher on April 23, 2014, 07:24:30 PM
Quote from: Toiletbooger on April 23, 2014, 06:23:10 PM
I guess the lesson here is if you can't be sure that your bike won't roll downhill or sink into soft soft ground or get blown over or pushed over then don't park it there.
We can all agree on that! :thumb:
For Sure! :thumb:
I really don't mean to go on about it, I promise! But, I was inclined to add on to my previous post anyways...
Please don't turn the wheel to the right to park it - it is much less stable that way, and I would say centerstand is better option than turning the bars to the right, though I don't have solid info from which to base that on... The geometry of the lean would play a large role, and would be different for various models and bikes, so I'd steer clear making a wide generalization for that. However! Full left lock, leaning left on sidestand is most desired position for every bike. ;)
Generalization Ahead: I don't know why, but it seems Harley riders are the worst perps for turning the bars to the right when they park - it just makes me cringe to see it. I also see them get on/off there bikes on the right side more than any other riders. You ride by the local biker pub, and more than half of all the Harleys parked out front have bars to the right. (Which around here, You'll see just as many sport touring and Adv Touring Bikes at these locations as you would Harley's, if not actually more than). It almost makes me wonder if that's like a club thing or something to park bars to the right... but I doubt getting on/off their bikes on the right is part of that if it were. Harley's have exceptional sidestands too though, so maybe that's a factor :dunno_black:
Anyways it ultimately up to the particular situation, but certainly as TB said it best, if you can't be sure your bike won't be safe how/where you are going to park it - Find a better place to park.
Cheers guys :cheers:
- Bboy
To add on to the full lock left -- Since we have caster angle on our forks, the wheel turns/pivots forward of the point that it actually contacts. With the contact point behind the pivot point, when you turn the wheel to the left, your contact point moves a little to the right. When on the sidestand, this widens the stance of the bike. It's easy to imagine when you think of one of those bikes with the forks almost horizontal.
I had my bike blown over by a helicopter at work once. Granted it was only a 250 and light as anything but was still annoying. The hospital refused to pay for it. Haha
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Quote from: Toiletbooger on April 24, 2014, 05:31:11 AM
Quote from: yamahonkawazuki on April 24, 2014, 04:30:01 AM
Lol toiletbooger. Love the username
Haha i thought of it when I made my first battlenet account for
warcraft 3 and it's stuck as my online alias ever since
lol same as my usn and the one in my sig as well. Sorry for not adding anything of value to the topic, imho what.needed to be said has been said
My DL1000 (v-strom) fell over once when I parked it in a parking lot on a hot day. The side stand sunk into the pavement.
^^^^ had that happen to my 79 gs750 , so i started carrying a a crushed soda can .
Quote from: rotten on May 23, 2014, 04:44:06 AM
^^^^ had that happen to my 79 gs750 , so i started carrying a a crushed soda can .
That's genius!
There's all kinds of stuff you can use to increase the size of the "footprint" of the side stand. I know they sell stuff you can buy, but why do that when it's so easy to just find or make something?
I've got a little pocket sized drum-pad I'm going to start using.