Dumped your bike?

[MM300_imp]

Have you dropped a street bike? Ever? When did it happen? What were the circumstances?

Here are mine. My first bike was a brand new 1990 HD Sportster. Between February and May ‘90 I dropped that bike twice. Two slow speed stalls. No damage done. Not a scratch.

Next was my Kawi ZRX 1200. Summer 2003, Riding to work after an overnight rain and I was sitting at a (long) red light. The smell of something cooking was wafting up from the engine bay. I put the bike on the side stand to have a look. It was earthworms burning on the headers. The road was a slight downhill and the bike rolled off the kickstand. Parts got broken.

Lastly, in 2006. Kawi Z1000. 70mph, operator input error, tank slapper and highside. Bike, leather jacket, jeans, sneakers and helmet totaled. I was banged up, bruised and road rashed

[gtcoupe65_imp]

2005 Harley Ultra. Turning left into the sun on the island one afternoon. Looked carefully for sand in the intersection, proceeded to turn and roll on the throttle and of course sumped it when the rear tire spun out in the sand I couldn't see. New highway bar and strained wrist were the result.

[LongRanger_imp]

Never, unless you count the time a driver suddenly entered the roadway from the left shoulder and made an illegal U-turn right in front of me. That was in 1984 on my CB400F (probably 600,000 miles ago), when I didn't know what a front brake was. But I don't count that. It was an avoidable crash, all my fault, not a drop.

On dirt bikes as a teenager, yep, I dumped a zillion times.

[egleaves_imp]

'81 Yamaha XS1100. Made a right turn from a stop at an intersection behind a pickup truck that, as it turns out, had a bunch of water in the bed. When the truck took off it left a trail of water in an arc going around the corner. I was paying more attention to traffic than I was to the road hazard that literally wasn't there a second ago, goosed the throttle a bit about halfway through the turn and dumped it. I don't recall breaking anything on the bike (I got back on and kept going), but I limped around on a sore right leg for a few days.

[misterprofessionality]

had somebody cut an illegal left turn in front of me on my Virago years back. i was quite green then, less than one year off my Vespa and onto a "real" bike. Being green, I stomped /grabbed all the front and rear brake i could, fishtailed and lowsided hard doing about 45mph. slid under the bike with it for a while, rolling around and meat crayoning a bit. stood up afterwards, covered in blood, and the dude who made the turn just looked over his shoulder at me and then took off. basically everybody in the intersection saw it happen, and saw the guy take off, but nobody got his plate. a better rider might have avoided the crash, and a better rider certainly wouldn't have grabbed that much brake, but sometimes i think if hadn't slid down like that I might not have skewed left of his back end. I think the accident would have been way way worse if i had come in contact with the car.

Police ruled it a hit and run, and i ended up with a new Vstar after all the bandages came off.

[Bheezy27403_imp]

2008 Triumph Bonnie was the first I ever dropped. I had been riding 17 years on the street prior to that.

I was managing a bar and forgot my key that morning to get in. Hopped back on the bike and threw my helmet on, wasn't going to lace it up because it was a 2 min ride back to the house and started her up. Then I thought " that's stupid, lace your dang helmet it dummy" took my hand off the clutch to strap up the helmet and I had already put it in gear. Flopped right over out from under me.

I guess I learned the hard way not to take any shortcuts when it comes to safety on a bike.

[teamvisegrip_imp]

I have only had two bad accidents in the 40 plus years of riding one in 1986 and the next in 1987.

1986 Accident... much like PowerDubs... I was following my girlfriend at the time, to my mom's place to store the bike for the winter. The car in front of her stopped quickly with no brake lights. Acting on reflex she stopped instantly and I was following too closely. I did the Superman over her car when I hit the back end. Broke my left hand and foot plus messed up my jaw a bit. The bike... a 1986 Honda VF500, it was totaled.

1987 Accident... the replacement to the 1986 Honda VF500 was a 1986 Honda VFR750. I was riding around town on a bright sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. I was out for a ride in town. Enjoying the day and was coming around a corner a little to tight but within my skill level! Half way through the turn there is standing water all across the road. it was a windy day and there was a fountain at the corner. The wind was blowing all the water from the fountain into the road. I was committed to the turn and hoped for the best. I almost made it... the tires lost the grip and I went down. No injuries to me this time and the bike was repaired. I still have it to this day.

Since then I never follow to close to anyone and always expect the worst going around the corner. I have never had an accident since nor even a speeding ticket.

[4 Paws_imp]

Dropped my CB500X three weeks ago while making a U-turn on a very small back road in the mountains. Swung wide into a driveway, down shifted, and “made the turn” while releasing the clutch and giving it a bit of gas to maintain momentum. No big deal, done it hundreds of times. Oops, bike was in neutral! Tried to catch it by grabbing the brake and planting my foot. Nope. Bike stopped but momentum transferred to me! Bike ended up on its side in the middle of the road and I went head over heels rolling across the road and into the ditch thinking “ are you f’ing kidding me!”
Deserted area, thank goodness. Other than my pride no injuries. Oh wait, just one - bike was on its side in the middle of the road on a fairly steep hill AND I COULDN’T PICK IT UP! It just spun in circles.
Waited 10 minutes and a car came by, nice 70 yo lady. Offered assistance after checking to make sure I was ok. Said she’d send her son shortly. Ten more minutes and a pick up comes by and stops. Checks on me then says well I bet both of us can pick it up. Yep.
Pushed it into a driveway and then sat down and drank a bottle of water while waiting for my head to stop spinning and adrenaline to subside.
Bent clutch lever, wounded ego, renewed vow of concentration while riding. Had purposely gotten lighter bike realizing age was tipping the scales relentlessly in the other direction. Best I can recall 3rd street bike drop in 47 years, all low speed careless mistakes. A pattern is emerging.
Humble pie is a filling meal.

[Offroad]

My only time was on my 1973 CB 350 rounding a corner in town hit some sand in the middle the turn down before I knew it. Bloodied my elbow that was it.

Needless to say I am always on the lookout for road hazards.

Another strategy I've used since, I try to be as straight as possible before I really ever hit the throttle hard.....I figure I can handle a little fishtail, but a rear wheel slide in the middle of the turn is hard to hang on to.

[tinboatcapt_imp]

Too many years, too many bikes, too many drops to accurately remember. But I must be improving. I have not yet dropped the CB at 1 year/5k miles ownership. But the ST; two drops in 12 years 90K miles.
Jim