Total Motorcycle Community Forums

I had my bike up on a paddock stand to fix a rear flat, when I put the wheel back on I lowered the bike with the side stand still up ... down she went.

Also, wet manhole covers, or those that have sunk below the road surface, if you are in a turn, down you'll go. I wouldn't know though ...

Moving your bike in your garage by walking next to it (like the guys in the bike store do) instead of sitting on it.

I don't feel so bad about ALMOST dumping my bike. But yeah, parking the bike will probably result in a dump in my case.

Oh I forgot to thank everyone for their replies. Some of them are giving me a good laugh today!

I've now secretly started building a list so if I ever dump my bike and my Fiance notices a new scratch and says "What'd you do this time!?" I can look on the inside of my helmet and see which ones I crossed off already.

I dunno if she'll buy "aliens" though so that might go lower on the list

Brackstone wrote: I dunno if she'll buy "aliens" though so that might go lower on the list

"Gremlins".....make sure you use the "gremlins" excuse!

ShadowGrrl wrote:

Brackstone wrote: I dunno if she'll buy "aliens" though so that might go lower on the list

"Gremlins".....make sure you use the "gremlins" excuse!

LOL

This reminds me of those new progressive commercials. Have you seen them?

I caught a little bit of the new Progressive commercials...pretty funny!

Its more believable to tell the wife that your sidestand was stolen by road gremlins than expecting her to believe the alien bit.

Ground is wet and soggy.. trying to back your bike up slightly uphill onto pavement. Giving it one big tug and the bike just slowly tips over. It doesn't stop tipping over no matter how much force I give it to try and bring it back up. Its almost as if theres an invisible force pushing it down harder.

Jas0n wrote: ...Its almost as if theres an invisible force pushing it down harder.

As a new rider I always felt this way when I listened to some stories about people dumping their bikes. I'm always like, well why didn't you just put your foot down and stop it?

How much does the average bike way anyway? Do people's legs get pinned under their bike sometimes when they dump it?

A light sportbike like a Ninja weighs around 400 pounds with gas (the 500 is a little more than 400, I think the 250 is a little under it). The weight is one of the reasons why it is recommended as a starter bike - because it's easier to handle, easier to catch from dropping, and easier to pick up if you do drop it.

Cruisers weigh significantly more (with a couple exceptions) and the bigger bikes can get to be 800 or even 1000 lbs.

One of the things I cured myself of very rapidly was the impulse I had from bicycling to put my foot down to help support the bike while I was stopping. On a light bike like mine you can do that in an emergency, but you'll be feeling it for days and it's terrible for your legs and back. On a bigger bike you can seriously injure yourself -- one of the things the MSF course harps on is that you only put your foot down when you're stopped. Not slowing, not nearly stopped, but pretty much at the last moment. Remember force = mass * acceleration, and if your bike has a huge mass, even a little bit of forward momentum can hurt!