| Author | Message | ||
     Rotzaruck |
I was searching BadWeb trying to find out how to lock the forks on this old M2, and came across an archived thread about dropping bikes. What? admitting it in public? Funny stuff! All the bikes I've seen for sale with "minor" damage is almost always from "dropped in the driveway, by the previous owner" (uh huh). I've gotten pretty comfortable sharing my ignorance here, but finding out I'm not alone in the stupid stuff department, and that being one area I really excel in, just makes me want to share. I dropped mine just the other day, trying to get it in the barn amongst the bicycles, go cart, blast, etc., just creeping up in the dark, in the grass, paying more attention to where I was going to put it, than what I was doing. Suddenly, my daughter(who was foolish enough to ride fifty feet with me), and I were leaping out of the way, the cyclone was laying there looking at me like "why did you do that", and I'm looking at it thinking "man, you got NO sense of balance when you're just barely moving", Beck's on the porch- HEE HAWING!! My daughter's explaining that she's satisfied, that's enough riding for her, and I start giggling thinking about some of the other stupid things I've done on motorcycles, but gee, this is the "quick board", sorry, I can't say anything quick, it's probably that "southern thing", I can't DO anything quick either, except.... you know.... stupid stuff. | ||
| Dapope |
Last fall. Rode the crud ride all day. Pulled into my driveway (now dark) turning left into my garage and ran the front tire over a golf ball my son was playing with. Little scratch on the hand guard was all but my immediate thought was "did that just happen". Couple hundred miles today, some nice curves, a few quick blasts here and there and I drop it 5 ft from it's parking spot. | ||
| Indy_bueller |
One weekend I pulled into a restaurant in a popular, crowded area of Indianapolis known as "Broadripple". Theres always people there, and plenty of good-looking women as well. Anyway, I turned into the parking lot, and was going a bit to slow. The handlebars were turned and I hit the front brake. The bike promptly fell over. Of course, I immediately tried to pick it up. The engine was running and I grabbed it by the throttle grip, revving the engine WAY up, attracting the attention of anyone who didn't see me drop it. There are few times in my life where I have been THAT embarassed! | ||
| Pregrid |
Very first ride on my 98S1 (bought it used in 99). Pulled up to a stop light to the left of my son on his F3. Went to put my left foot down, caught my pant leg on the goofy stock shift linkage and fell to the ground like "Laugh-in". Cars all around. Stood the bike quickly up (amazing what adreneline will allow you to do), waited forever for the green light and left. One week later there's a Banke shifter there. Dave | ||
| Oldog |
Unloaded my X1 from the back of a pickup using a mower ramp about 1 foot from the bottom I loose my balance I do the laughin fall over going backwards | ||
| Crusty |
I once dropped my H-D dresser picking up a quarter at a toll booth.  | ||
| Hughlysses |
Road 350 miles to March Badness II on my S3. Stopped at the motel in Dahlonega, checked in and took my stuff to my room. Came back down, got on the bike, put up the kickstand, then remembered something I needed to get out of my tailbag. Turned back, and as the bike got a little off balance, I evidently forgot the kickstand was up. CRAP! Right over in the parking lot. Popped the lense off one turn signal and bent up the shifter lever. Riding 350 miles solo without an incident and then dropping it in the motel parking lot makes you feel like a real moron. | ||
| Xbduck |
The last time I dropped mine I was just putting along with both legs splayed out using my feet as outriggers. I touched the front brake ever so lightly, THUMP, and it was gone in an instant. I was left straddling my precious laying on its right hand side looking up at me asking, why? I think that was the fastest my bike has ever moved! Turns out the only patch of mud in the whole back yard was under the front tire just when I hit the brake. | ||
| Damnut |
Funny I went for a quick ride yesterday. Decided I needed more leg protection so I came home and through on an extra layer, left the bike running outside. I finished getting dressed and go outside. Sit on the bike and put up my kickstand. Little do I know that my right leg is directly on a nice patch of black ice in the driveway. As my kickstand goes up my right leg starts sliding outward on the ice. LOL The patch of ice was about a foot and a half long and little bigger than my foot. It was the slowest, lightest drop I have ever seen. Barely scratched my mirror. | ||
| Toona |
Hahaha, I took my custom Cushman flathead Eagle to the drag strip for bike day. Everyone got to do a "lap" down the track. So I gear up, pre stage, stage, lights count down, yellow, yellow (bring the revs up), yellow, GREEN, dump the clutch and promptly dump the bike right there on the starting line. Turns out the left grip wasn't on as tight as I thought it was. Scooter launched about 3 feet, I didn't move. It fell to the left and broke the front fender off of the brackets.  Yeah, everyone was watching. IF you can't laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at....  | ||
| Kdan |
Gravity sucks. | ||
| Jlnance |
When I started riding, everyone told me to expect to drop the bike a lot. I supprised no one more than myself by not dropping it at all the first year. I made it through more than half the second year with the same luck. So where do I pick to do my first ever drop? Vegasbuellers front yard at his Daytona party last year. Nothing like having an audience of about 60 people. | ||
| Ezblast |
LOL - my first couple of years - my bike thought it was a yoyo, however, my two best drops both came unexpectedly. The first was getting gas after the first week of ownership - sitting at a light, bike shinny and new, nose itch, letting go of the clutch, the bike takes off spinning in a clockwise direction, I jump over the bike, thinking myself clever, I notice my bike is still spinning, I look down and realize that I haven't let go of either the throttle or brake - I let go too late - bike knocks me down on its second circle then rests. I was up, the bike was up and I was on it in record time - scratched mirror and learned humility. Second memorable time was coming back from the second SLO, taking pics of the way home, I pull over onto gravel, showing off, almost stopped, my foot already coming over the bike, a gust of wind comes up, blows me over in the opposite direction in laugh-in slow motion - was laughing all the way up to the damage check - 2 deep gouges on the tank and a broken break toe piece - lol - definitely more humility learned. Still - both are funny when I think back on them. GT - JBOTDS! EZ  | ||
| Tx05xb12s |
I guess we're not perfect after all. However, I can say I technically haven't dropped mine (thanks to the tabletop saw in the garage). LOL! I wheeled mine out to the driveway and washed her and detailed her down to the last square inch one sunny afternoon when she was just a few months old. When I was done, I decided to take her for a spin around the block. When I got back a few minutes later, I stopped the bike in front of the garage door just where I had been washing the bike (wet concrete) and opened the garage door. I got back on her and rode into the garage to park. Just when I was about where I wanted to be, the darn cat ran across the garage right in front of me. So what do I do? Grab a handful of front brake, try to put my wet tennis shoes on the slick concrete floor, and promptly slide/fall over to the right into the tabletop saw. Scratched my frame right where the puck goes, but I managed to catch myself before making the entire fall to the ground. Stupid cat. So, next week I bought a set of frame pucks to hide the shameful reminder. LOL! This subject reminds me of something related I've been thinking about - dealerships. Anyone ever sat on a bike on the showroom floor and dropped it? You know how they always park them in rows, so if you drop a bike, it's most likely going to knock over a whole row of them? I almost, ALMOST did that one day while sitting on a V-Rod. It was the one with the real tall suspension setup, and I was only able to get about 1/2 a foot down on each side. I was wearing tennis shoes (again), and my foot slipped on the right side (again). Thank god it caught after slipping only an inch or two. Right next to it was a $20K Screamin'Eagle V-Rod the salesman had just spent ten minutes cooing over and practically petting while he talked to me. They should put some rubber mats down or something. Needless to say, both the salesman and I about had a heart attack when my foot slipped. I was so embarrassed, I got the heck out of there! | ||
| Cityxslicker |
Gravity sucks, glad I have frame pucks. Dropped on left side due to kickstand issue. Felt the right side was neglected so gave it some level lovin too the next day. (accidental of course) 9.81 ft/s is a cruel mistress when 396 lbs starts to go and keeps going.... | ||
| Nevrenuf |
just had a few beers and sat on a newly painted custom bike and lost my balance. this was not good even if it was a small scratch. went back to have the shovelhead looked at after the break in was done on the rebuild, decided to go the back way because it was starting to rain and came up to the stop sign and bike came right out from under me. i was still standing. another good one was i had just got the 01 ultra and came home to get the wife and go for a ride. we go out for a little bit but when we pull up into the driveway my foot got caught between the heel and toe shifter somehow and here go's the famous laughin bike drop. thank god for the crash bars on them things. you do learn how to pick one up after the first time though. | ||
| Marlinrider |
Daytona 2003, 11pm or so. Backing my X1 off of a dew covered deck onto sand, with the motor running and dropped it on my leg. Our Daytona police officer/security guard helped me up. Oh, did I mention the half bottle of Knob Creek? I don't do that anymore! | ||
| Swordsman |
I'd had my Ss for about 6 months, and had gotten my frame pucks installed just a few days beforehand. There was a car show in downtown Cartersville, and I was going to meet my wife and inlaws there. The parking lot is tiny, and completely surrounded by the show. I pull up into a very prominent parking space (so everyone can stare at my awesome new bike), kick the stand down like I know what I'm doing, and basically threw it to the ground. The kickstand hadn't fully extended with my stylish flip, and promptly folded back up when weight was applied. Yeah, I was about 18 different shades of red. I heaved it back upright like it was a bicycle. Busted the left footpeg and gearshifter clean off. My father-in-law had to take me to Home Depot to buy big bolts and hose clamps to patch it back together so I could ride home. Wound up missing the whole dang car show! Thank goodness I had the pucks on, or I'm sure there would have been more damage. This past October I got rear ended by an old man not 3 blocks from where I dropped it. I'm tellin' ya, there something about Cartersville...  ~SM | ||
| Eboos |
I was pulling an FZ1 into the shop right before closing. I stood to the left of the bike as I was backing it in. I was at an angle from the sidewalk that I had to roll the bike over, and the back wheel didn't want to go over the lip. What resulted was the slowest drop to the right side in the world. When it started to go over, I thought for sure that I would be able to hold on to it. It wasn't until just before it was fully over that I just couldn't hold it anymore. I went right over to the other side and picked it right up. Only the bar end showed any sign of going over. I got lucky. One of our sales people had a remote start in his manual transmission truck and rolled it right into a couple of bikes. This is the owner's son. There were other incidents too (like tieing an advertising balloon to a Blast only to have it go over twice). | ||
| Mesa_cityx |
Pulling into the parking spot next to my wifes new wagen, turned too sharply, dumped the cityx behind her car. she looks up and thinks some goober ran his bike into her new car! Broken footpeg, no damage to hers. | ||
| Rainman |
So I've got my newly minted wife riding on the back of the 82 Old Wing Aspencade and we cruise into one of those old time backwoods rednecky kind of convenience stores where the check out clerk plays banjo while his friends draw straws for the last pickled pigs foot in the jar. I'm cruising slowly, ever so slowly up to the gas pumps trying to find the premium and when I do, I pull my usual Sportster routine and grab the front brake. The added weight of the Wing, plus my Marilyn Monroe-like wife compresses the forks and they immediately spring back up, sending the bike ever so slowly to the right. It's too heavy to get upright and all I can do is slowly let it go down. As it goes down and I go down with it to keep it from hurting itself too badly, I look behind me to see my wife -- who has sat on the seat with feet on the pegs all this time -- calmly step off with her right foot and as the bike gets about 45 degrees she swings her other leg over. When the bike and I land on the pavement, she ratchets up her face shield just as the Deliverance folks from inside come out to watch. "What the hell you doing?" she asks. "His modersickle is tired. It's takin' a nap," mocks the clerk and everyone laughs. Except me. | ||
| Littlebuggles |
Great story Rainman. I've plopped mine on the right side twice, first time hard enough to break the airbox. I keep telling myself not to forget the steering lock, but sometimes I forget. Last time was the first ride following reassembly after new paint and other projects, I hate scratched bar ends... | ||
| Slaughter |
"American Thunder" was going to film our BRAG club and a Battletrax we were going to out at Camarillo Airport. We were going to mount up at Glendale HD/Buell and they were planning to do some filming of a couple of us on the (then) new XB9R bikes. Timbo and I were the only ones at that time. I arrived, the film crew was setting up and I backed the bike to the curb, put the kickstand down (not quite) and as I left the saddle, the bike started tipping... ... and with a CRASH! the poor defenseless XB fell over, busted a turn signal and foot peg. I spent the next half hour changing parts while Timbo did the interview. Still a nice ride, nice day and Steve Natt did a nice piece on Reg and Battletrax. | ||
| Buellerandy |
Dropping bikes is like snubbin'em, it happens to the best of us...or maybe just me lol. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I visited my parent's on my bike when I first got it. Trying to get my bike to top of the driveway, I had to squeeze it between a parked car and the shrubs in the front yard. I was trying so hard not to scratch my mom's car, I dropped my bike in the opposite direction... right when I got to the rose bushes. I was trapped for the longest time between my brand new bike and my mom's prize rose bushes. Did anyone know that Vanson jackets are sticker-proof? | ||
| Strato9r |
A lot of years ago, I was on my shiny new Sportster, and had just gassed it up, and then pushed it ahead of the pumps so the truck behind could move forward. After paying, I was sauntering back toward it, thinking I must be the coolest guy on the planet, and there was the most beautiful assemblage of polished alloy and red laquer this side of an early 60's Ferrari. I don't know what must have looked more pathetic; the lovely XL slowly falling over because of it's not fully extended kickstand, or Yours Truly trying to accelerate from my Mr. Suavo pace to catch it, falling flat on my face in the attempt. Not a mark on the bike, but I was too young and stupid to realise how hilarious it actually was...................Last summer, I'm at the SAME gas station, on my XB, get on it after gassing up, fire it up, reset the trip odometer, oh, I better put my wallet in my jacket pocket, so I sit down to unzip my pocket,as IF the kickstand was down........and the next thing I know I'm crawling out from under the bike, laughing my bag off in front of a half dozen concerned onlookers. They must have thought I was nuts; one lady asked if I'd hit my head.......... | ||
| Smiley1eye |
Last night I'm showing my new girlfriend the bike. She wants one of her own. I got it parked on a funny slope kinda half-a$$ed in the driveway. She's in the saddle and I've shown her the controls already. I was just getting ready to start it up for her. And for some reason I was having trouble getting it back in neutral with both my hand and my right foot. So I toss a leg over the back pillon to try it with my left foot and reach around her for the grips. She sees what I'm reaching for so she lets go. Of the front brake. We roll back a bit. The bike was almost balanced for a whole second and I thought it would come back on the low side of the driveway and I had a toe down on the high side anyway. Had it right until she turned around and her weight (all 110 lbs) shifted to my right foot and I just couldn't hold it. Down we go all-a-tumble. She was immediately upset about the bike and I was just worried about her. She got a scuff on her elbow, but was fine. Bike had a mirror and blinker knocked loose and it broke (snapped in half!) right riders peg. Quick swap with the back peg and rode it home. I told her to brag about her first motorcycle accident to all her friends. | ||
| Dentfixer |
How about some HD shop accidents?? More stunning than funny but...Another mechanic had a customers bagger on his lift which is up on it's highest setting. He climbs up and starts goofing off. Next thing you see is the bike and lift on it's side and hear the thundering crash echoing through the shop. Needless to say he was on unpaid leave for a couple of months. Me, Back in Aug 06 I had just finished detailing an 07 Screaming Eagle Fatboy with beautiful orange/silver/red custom paint. Limited edition. One of the first arrivals that year. Must have been the tire shine I had used on the sidewalls to make it an eye catcher on the showroom, (I knew it would be washed again before it is on the road so figured it'd be safe.) But walking away the front tire clamp just wouldn't hold onto the tire. 15 feet away I turn to watch the bike slowly fall out of the clamp and onto the floor next to the bench. A most embarrassing and stupid a$$ed moment indeed. Also did the rosebush thing same as Djkaplan, on my new 06 Xb12Scg, caught my bootlaces on the left footpeg and went over into the roses oh so slowly. Luckily the fence behind the bushes helped me lay it down slow but it still took of the shifter peg. It was night so nobody saw me. |
