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So I went against popular advice and ended up with a restricted BMW G650GS. I just didn't like the feel of the Honda CBR250 when I sat on it. It felt a little too small for me. So the BMW won out. I now know it is a heavy bike. I had to pick it up twice now. The first time was just a dumb "O Ring" mistake I forgot to lock the kickstand and it dropped over when I dismounted. I was too much in a rush to get to the pisser. Now I've been riding to work every chance I can get but the weather here in Germany doesn't help. I've only put 4000km on my bike since I purchased in November. Any chance of rain and it's the cage for me I don't want to try and climb the hill where I work in wet conditions. I'll learn to one day but dont' feel I'm ready to risk wet conditions on a up or down hill with blind turns. The bike itself is great for me I think enough power to cruise the autobahn and great gas mileage. It's not as nimble as I would like but for my first bike I think it's great. So for the 2nd drop I had with this bike was pretty much my fault and I only damaged cosmetics. Scrapped the break lost the handlebar end cap and cracked some fiberglass in the rear nothing major. I did tear up my riding pants a little as well. I decided to take a weekend trip to Paris on my bike and really wasn't ready for it. Riding in Paris is very intimidating especially since I've only riding for 3 months when I went. Lane splitting and roundabouts were chaotic. I learned quickly to avoid Paris and bypassed upon returning home. So on the day I was coming home I was north of Paris a light rain had just ended and the sun was up and things were drying quickly. I was heading on to the autobahn I went to lean right and I felt the back tire slide I just grabbed the clutch and went down with the bike doing about 25kph. I think I might have just leaned way too far to start not too sure what exactly happened. I slide for about 15 feet and ended up with the bike on my leg in the wrong lane. Good thing it was early morning and nobody was on the road yet. It took alot of effort to get the bike off me I just ended up bruised.

As a result of this I took 2 weeks off from riding. That was back in March now I'm backing to riding on fair weather days back and forth to work. I've noticed that when it comes to leaning right I seem to be a little timid. I back off and take it easy. I guess that's just being safe. Not like I was riding super fast since I started. How long will it take to shake the first crash?

Hi Drew,

"How long will it take to shake the first crash?"? Well, it really all depends on the rider, some just get up and shake it off, others stop riding, but the majority keep on going clutching onto that bit of extremely valuable experience they learned and apply it forward to their riding style. From the sounds of it, you are in that majority, your riding style has changed as you have learned and are moving forward in your riding career. You won't be the "same" rider as you were because you'll be a "safter" rider now and will find yourself thinking about what happend and trying to stop yourself getting into that situation again.

After my accident it took a year about to fully shake it off and it took about 4 years before I re-rode that same spot. But after my accident (too fast into a corner and group mentality over-riding) I'm a more cautious rider in those circumstances and more aware of the road and my surroundings.

The majority of accidents happen in your 1st year of riding as well. I have an expression "You have either had an accident or you will have one", it's not a scare tactic at all, but more of a "right of passage" a good number of riders go through; so welcome to the club and I'm happy to hear you are fine and it didn't put you off riding.

Ride safe,

Mike

I am mostly over my after crash jitters....but there is still a scenario that makes me queasy....after 5 years, when I see a vehicle backing out of a driveway onto a main road as I am riding along, I stll get anxious.

Other than that, it took a couple of years to really regain confidence and find the enjoyment again.

Only one crash, so far, back in 1994. Since then, I am hyper vigilant about patches of gravel in intersections. I felt it break loose, hopped off, and watched the bike head for someone's hedge. Didn't make me stop riding, though. I picked myself up out of the intersection, got the bike out of the bushes and rode home. Then, I had to explain to my dad why his bike was missing the windshield and the turn signal was dangling by the wiring...

Yikes! I've been riding since 1969 and I'm still not ready to ride in Paris.

collian1 wrote: How long will it take to shake the first crash?

depends...

for me, about the time it took to lift my bike up.