Just venting here...

After a night of strong storms, I found my GS knocked over (presumably by high winds) in the driveway. Right side bar-end mirror snapped, and part of the bracket holding the brake lever assembly to the handlebar. To add insult to injury, it was probably on its side for over 24 hours... I didn't see that it had fallen until the second morning after; and my dad wasn't able (or didn't want) to pull it back upright on its wheels.

I barely got a chance to ride all summer-- early in the season I found that both front and rear valve stems were cracked and about ready to fall off... at least that didn't happen while riding! It resulted in a flat front tire.

So there it sits: flat tire, broken handlebar controls and mirror; paint damage (and driveway damage) from gasoline leaking out of the tank. I don't think I'll be riding it any time soon :-(

Same thing happened to mine a while back. I feel your pain.

 

my bike sits really low on its OEM kickstand. [I do have slightly taller tires front and back] almost too low.. never thought of the wind blowing it over. I've had bikes sink into fresh asphalt before and fall over tho!

Yea, why does the GS lean so far? My setup is stock height and it still leans to far for my liking. I'm afraid to even park it on level surface. If there is even a slight breeze I try to park it leaning into the wind.

When mine blew over it was parked leaning into the wind. If it was leaning less, it'd be more likely to blow over. Leaning this far makes it more stable, not less.

Quote from: pliskin on October 04, 2018, 08:11:43 AM
Yea, why does the GS lean so far? My setup is stock height and it still leans to far for my liking. I'm afraid to even park it on level surface. If there is even a slight breeze I try to park it leaning into the wind.

It's a pretty normal amount of lean for a bike this size. Big old touring bikes and Harleys don't lean much, but that's probably got a lot to do with their size and weight. I did my test on a Honda CB500F and it was the same.

that's right Kookas, and remember that the more it leans, the more force it takes to tip it over. When it's nearly upright you can barely touch it and knock it down. As long as the side stand sticks out far enough to widen the base and keep the center of gravity between the wheels and the side stand then it's very stable leaned over.

Funny you mention the angles... I actually had it on the side stand leaned over to the left (a pretty good amount of lean, definitely nowhere near perpendicular) and the bike fell over onto its RIGHT side!

One thing newbies often miss is that you need to always park on the sidestand with the front wheel higher than the rear wheel if on a slope.
The bike can roll forward off the stand otherwise. That's why wised-up riders always park backed in to the kerb, taking into account the road camber.

Quote from: Joolstacho on October 13, 2018, 04:08:19 PM
One thing newbies often miss is that you need to always park on the sidestand with the front wheel higher than the rear wheel if on a slope.
The bike can roll forward off the stand otherwise. That's why wised-up riders always park backed in to the kerb, taking into account the road camber.

Or park in gear if you haven't got a choice.

Quote from: GSChesler on October 13, 2018, 10:35:15 AM
Funny you mention the angles... I actually had it on the side stand leaned over to the left (a pretty good amount of lean, definitely nowhere near perpendicular) and the bike fell over onto its RIGHT side!

Yeah that's what mine did too. Wind blew it over. It would be very difficult to get it to fall over on the left side, since the side stand is there to stop it. But it'll fall on the right because nothing will catch it.