Has your bike ever hit the ground?

[mstewar1]

Mine got knocked over by careless car drivers, twice, within the first year I owned the bike. One left a note and paid for the damage, the other didn't.

And just last week I dropped it at an intersection.

I normally put my left foot down when I stop. But on this occasion the intersection was at the top of a steep-ish hill. When I stopped and went to put my left foot down, the bike wanted to lean towards the downhill (right) side. But that foot was still up on the peg. It caught me totally by surprise and by the time I got my foot off the peg and going down, the weight of the bike was far enough over that I simply couldn't hold it up.

The situation was made worse by the givi top case and a bundle that I had bungied onto the seat. That extra, top-heavy weight made it just so unwieldy, so unmanageable. All that I could do was set it down on the ground. Had to off-load the givi and the bundle in order to lift the bike.

Scratched bar end, mirror, and signal. Squished right-side slider. Glad I had the sliders on...

Frickin' flippin' Bumpus!

 

[Doorag]

Unfortunately I came off mine right in the middle of the Trafalgar Square roundabout in London.

 

[DrBart2]

I have dropped many a bike, just not this one. yet

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Yep, unfortunately.

One morning as I was preparing to leave, I dropped a glove off the right side of the bike while I was already astride the bike with the sidestand up.

Being a colossal dumbass and woefully undercaffeinated at that point, I thought I could bend down far enough to pick it up.

...And I did!

As I came back upright, I guess momentum carried me too far and the bike went slowly over onto its left side. Seriously, it took probably 15 or 20 seconds to go fully down. I fought it the whole way, and nearly won a few times. There is a minute scrape on the case and on the left mirror.

These days, I finish gearing up before I start to mount up. :spank:

Too bad there were no videos of this one, sound like it was a great battle. LOL. You described it like it was an arm wrestling match.

Interesting posts by many of you, but I'm kind of surprised how many bikes have not hit the ground. I thought it would be more skewed in favor of hitting the ground.

Wonder who's going to be the first member who's going to have to retract their reply.

 

[abraxas]

Well i've just joined this club

Got home the other day, parked the bike while opening the gate, and halfway through that, i hear a crunch.

Not sure why it chose THAT day to fall over, or why it did

Cracked plastics (glued now) and scrapes

 

[LERecords]

Well i've just joined this club

Got home the other day, parked the bike while opening the gate, and halfway through that, i hear a crunch.

Not sure why it chose THAT day to fall over, or why it did

Cracked plastics (glued now) and scrapes

that blows man.. but hey.. few parts and it will look like new.. sorry to hear man.. fell better

 

[YamaSpeed]

Just curious how many members have ever had their bike touch the ground. Flop and drops, knocked down, tipped over, etc, or even worse, suffered a crash since you have owned it?

Like an idiot I dropped it on top of me in the back yard. Not even a scratch...

 

[dean owens]

bike has 1300 miles on it. the previous owner dropped it at about 500 miles. some little scratches here and there. nothing too bad.

 

[gt89stang393]

I voted yes, but I dropped the bike in the grass the one day, backing it around and it just leaned a little too far and I lost my balance, it was let it drop or crush my leg, I slowed its fall and pretty gently laid it in the grass. No issues from it either :thumbup:

 

[Nefilim]

Sometimes I hate the fact that I'm 6'0" - especially in houses with low ceilings and chandeliers. I bet if I shaved my head now, you would find more lumps and bumps on my scalp than the moon.

But when it comes to bikes, I've never had any issue keeping mine upright. I was warned about getting my first bike (1100cc Shadow) since it was a big, heavy cruiser and newbies "ALWAYS" drop their bikes. Just never happened.


So at this point, I feel like I'm bound to drop mine any day now as if karma were due. It's kind of like when you're playing an arcade game and you find yourself breaking the high score and you keep blasting through, realizing that you're about to crash and burn and ruin your glory. I know that the end of my winning streak is nigh and I'm going to attribute it to that shoddy ramp I built to get in and out of the driveway without having to move the cars.

 

[Relayer1974]

I dropped a Kawasaki Super Sherpa twice during an MSF course. My FZ6, not so much :rockon:

 

[JRNATION]

twice. the first time happened when i picked up the bike from the first owner. rain=wet ramp and an inexperienced rider. all i broke was the fairing. second, i was coming into my driveway, maybe just a little too fast, the front tyre slid out from under me and crash. if i would hav had frame sliders and flush mounts, the fairing might have been saved. otherwise everything else is fine except a little scratch on the tank.

 

[danfree]

I fall down at least once on my dirt bike on every trail ride. I'm hoping that satisfies the Falling Bike Karma gods. But my FZ has never tipped over and touched the ground. Having said that, it will probably happen now. Of course I'm not stupersticious (as long as I can find a way home now making only left hand turns).

 

[kustom17]

God... 3 weeks into owning my bike, I came out to the street to find someone had backed up into it.. .Snapped the side stand off, engine case and bar ends scratched, the clutch lever bent around and front fairing cracked/broke. It was probably the worst feeling ever.

oh and the cop that showed up was a dick... trying to argue that maybe the wind knocked it over, here was a little bit of the conversation.

Cop - "well it's pretty windy it probably just fell over"

Me - "It broke the side stand........"

Cop - (while looking at the center stand that it was currently standing on) "the Stand looks fine to me, are you sure the wind didn't knock it over"

Me - (still really pissed about the bike... since it had been all of 30 min.) LOOK, first this wind (not very windy) could not knock over a 400lbs bike.. you can obviously see where someone backed into it, snapping the side stand.....

Cop - What year is it
me- 2005 (happened in 2008)
Cop - you sure the side stand didn't break on it's own, that's pretty old
me- ... really

lets just say i had to go back and forth with him.... wasn't the brightest person with badge I've met and it didn't help that I was angry as hell.

 

[bigdog9191999]

the police helped the previous owner drop it, and the wife dropped it very gently once

 

[Wh0M3]

I've droped my FZ6 twice, once when stepping down on some ice, and once when I was trying to get my leg over it while I was all geared with rain pants that didn't want to let me lift my leg that high. Luck for me I was in the grass when it happened so nothing much happend. When I stepped on the Ice I had to fix my right front blinker, just some gorilla glue and letting it set fixed it good as new.

My gf also dropped it once too, she was trying to put it away while I was in the hospital, :spank: I told her she should have waited and found someone to help her, but she just didn't want it to be sitting out at the gas station just waiting for someone else to come by and take it for themselves.

 

[karmageddon14]

Dropped it for first time a couple of weeks ago when I hit a patch of gravel left over from winter sanding up here. Barely going 30 km/h into a corner. Worst feeling in the world. I was ok, other than the wounded pride and having to listen to every cager at work pass on their words of wisdom about riding too early before the streets are swept.

another rider passed this on to me:

"There's 2 types of riders, those who have hit the ground and those who have yet to..."

 

[Have2BeFree]

Haven't dropped this bike yet and no accidents ever either. Saying my prayers.

 

[DrBart2]

I have dropped other bikes that I have owned, but not my FZ6. Yet

 

[Fusion]

On my second day of ownership. I was so excited that I wasn't looking ahead turing out of my garage. Saw an SUV coming towards me. A little panicked I grabbed and locked up the front brake. Was going about 5mph and the bike just feel on to it's side and slid on the pavement a little. Surpisingly little damage. The engin mount of the frame took most of it. Now have frame sliders that cover up most of the damage. Expensive lesson to learn.