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But here it is anyway...Today I stopped for breakfast in a small town about 20 miles from here. Afterwards, I rode to the other side of town, where I stopped along the roadside to remove my helmet and put my earplugs in. This has happened before, and indicates a little inattention to detail. As I left town and set out on a beautiful country ride, my mind began to compose a forum reply to a rider who asked about bicycling and how it might help. He stated something about knowing how to "lean the other way" in a turn, and I was looking for words to gently correct the apparent confusion. As I composed this in my head, I was saying how a motorcycle must be persuaded to lean in order to turn, and this was accomplished by contersteering, blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, I'm just cruising somewhat on auto-pilot. As I approach the medium tight left-hander at about 60-65 mph, I set my lean angle, and hear a scraping sound...without a lean!

As I rapidly, unintentionally left the road and assessed my fate while emergency braking, now in grass...the difference in height of the pavement to the grass (no shoulder)somehow PUT MY KICKSTAND BACK UP, and I regained total control. I checked my mirror before re-joining the highway. Yes, I felt like a complete idiot (still do).

I was so anxious to get going after the earplug stop... I nearly spent some time at the bottom of an embankment. It was all grass, no man-made hazards, but it might not have been so good. I ended up riding on a three foot wide section of level area before it dropped off about thirty feet, but the bank was turning just like the road, and I was headed straight. I was truly fortunate to ride out of this stupid mistake, and wanted to share this as an example of what can happen when you let your attention slip.

Thanks for bearing with this. Especially If you don't have a kickstand switch, make this a definite, deliberate cross-check before you ride off. Some guys hate the switch, but I guess I'm getting scatter-brained enough to wish I had one.

I think anyone who's ridden the older bikes has done this at one time or another, Ron, so don't kick yourself too much over it. But it's a good pointer you offered to always check the sidestand.
I'm glad my bike has the switch. I've tried to pull off a few times with the stand down and it's promptly killed the motor, so who knows, it may have saved my butt. Certainly it's prevented an embarassing and potentially dangerous moment like you had.

Thanks for the encouragement. You always know how to build us back up. It's amazing how little time you have to react, and how confusing it is in this particular situation. The feeling of no control...I was pleased with my ability to just ride and analyze my surroundings. At least there was time for that. And I learned something, which is always good. If there had been a road sign there....don't want to think about it. Thanks again.

Thankfully, mine also has the switch - but the amount of times the engine's died as i've put it onto gear....

After that story I won't think bad things about that switch as I restart my bike. After, of course, putting up the stand and checking to see if Kathy noticed.
RandK

Ron,

Would you believe I did that just today? I stopped for some road construction, poopped 'er in neutral, dropped the side stand and let it idle. I absently picked the bike back off the stand like I was at a stop light, then completely forgot about the stand when my lane started moving. I actually rode for about a mile before the first left sweeper, then was I surprised!

Luckily I immediately knew what I'd done, kicked the stand back up, and heeled it over just before crossing the fog line. I bet the people in the cage behind me were laughing their heads off.

On closer inspection, my bike has the safety kill switch, but it's been disabled. I think I have a small project this weekend...

I left the stand down during the lunch break of my MSF Course on the second day !!!

The instructor was not pleased. He later told me that he would have failed me on the spot, but didn't because i recovered well and he figured the embarrasment was worth enough

I guess noone is immune to the occasional brain-fade, huh? That's why practising for emergency situations is so important. The more we practice, the better prepared we are to handle the unexpected.

I know I have forgotten to put my kick stand up a few times and ridden around like that for a bit.

In my b52 days, I used to tell students the emercency procedures were written in response to trials and errors (watered-down translation). I guess the kick-stand kill switch is the same way. Thanks for all the replies. I'm glad I ponied-up and admitted this.