Dumped your bike?

[redbirds_imp]

I dropped the first bike I ever rode, a BSA 441. It was a friend's bike and after a bit of instruction "how to ride a motorcycle", I took a short ride down the street and promptly dropped it as I came to a stop in his driveway. That was over 50 years ago and, knock on wood, that was the last other than two street crashes and numerous crashes while trail riding.

[Blockhead_imp]

Honda CBR25r

Pulled into an elementary school driveway to turn around. Slow-speed u-turn, dropped in front of 100 6-10 year olds exiting the school and their moms and bus drivers waiting for them. No real damage to the bike. Slight damage to the ego. Rode home.

Got home. Pulled into driveway as my daughter was backing out. I thought the vehicle was parked until it started moving. Bailed onto the lawn where I proceeded to drop the bike for the second time that day, this time in front of daughter, wife, and three neighbors who asked if I was OK. No damage to the bike. Slight damage to the ego. Parked bike and read up on looking where you want to go.

Good Lord! That one got me belly-laughing...
Dropped mine in my garage after a nice long ride. Got off the bike, took off my helmet and...you guessed it...forgot to put the side stand down. Bike fell into the back of my legs and we both went down. No damage to bike, a couple small bruises on me.

[CA200_imp]

I have a few bikes but I think the best was when I dumped a new bike
in front of 5000 people. I think it was in the early 90s and I worked for
a large dealer. There was a cycle fest of sorts at one of the schools
to promote cycle safety . A lot of local venders showed up including a
performance shop I know. As I went between the booths the owner -
who I know- urged me to take a new Cagiva bike for a ride. He had just become a dealer.I took it out dodging the crowd. I took it around
and on the way back in as I was slowly putting alone through the crowd I was going very slow and just as I turned into his booth I dropped it. I think about 25 people ran in to pick it up. I did not even take my helmet off, just walked away. I did stop it the next day to see
if I had damaged it. It was fine. The only thing the was damaged was my pride.

[ride4now_imp]

I’ve gone down twice. The first in 1972, in the woods, on a 1971 Yamaha CT1 175 Enduro. I was flying down the trail and rounded a bend and a tree was lying across the trail. Well... I hit the tree and went over the handlebars. I tore up the front fender pretty bad, and probably put a few scratches on it, but I was ok... just sore. I rode it home and parked it in the garage. Of course, my dad came home after work and saw it... and gave me 17 different kinds of hel** over it. I was 16 years old and it was my first bike and I only rode it on dirt at that time. I bought a used fender and spray painted it and the rear so they’d match. Dad got over it... and so did I. The second time I was on my then new 2004 SuperGlide and was heading over to my boat at a local marina. I pulled into the parking lot and made a slow and sharp right turn where there happened to be a dip in the pavement. I went down on the right side and immediately felt quite embarrassed because there was a lot of people there and what I did was pretty dumb. Someone ran over and helped me get it back on 2 wheels. I was ok, but the front single light put a nice dent in the tank, the brake lever was bent and both pipes had scratches. I fixed everything but the scratches as they are really not that bad and serve as a reminder of my dumb luck. Hopefully I’m done dropping bikes for the rest the of my life.

[Hondakid_imp]

Mine one tipover was simple so i'll keep it short. Right turn from paved road into a gravel parking lot. Big gravel pieces, of course it had spread out onto the road some. I saw the hazard and slowed almost to a stop but to no avail, tipped over almost at a standstill on the CB1100. My front slipped out from under me on the marbles on the road. Light scratches to the right engine cover, but I made a very rookie mistake and tried to catch the bike as it slipped. I stood on my right leg and held it up high enough to keep the bars from touching ground. My leg and back were sore for like a week, and I think I got off lucky that I didn't pull something trying that. I am a stout guy but the mass plus momentum of a 540lb bike is just stupid to try to catch once it is more than halfway over. Thankfully there was no damage other than paint scratches on the engine cover. This was the day before my engine guards came in the mail LOL.

[decarmine_imp]

CB1100 in my garage. Had just pulled the bike into the garage, put the kickstand down -- but apparently NOT FAR ENOUGH! As I got off from the left side, the kickstand retracted and the bike started down. Once it got halfway down I just could not hold it. Went all the way down -- very slowly -- with my left leg trapped beneath it. Motech engine guards prevented damage to the bike, but I broke my foot!

[MaFiHa_imp]

Ok, my first "drop the bike"-experience (1990) was with my Honda VT500E. In the Garage...
Wanted to put it on the center stand, slipped with the foot from the stand, bike flipped to the right and so did I, finding me lying on the bike...


Second Bike (1994) was a Honda ST1100 Pan European. Arrived at work,
again wanted to put it on the center stand, foot slipped from the stand, bikes flipped to the left...

Third, same bike and year, stood at a traffic light, wanted to start, engine stalls and bike tilt to the right.

But, knock on wood, since 1994 no tilting, no crash, nothing...

[Guth_imp]

I've only had one, but it was a good one. I just started riding street bikes 11 years ago when I bought a Honda Hawk GT. Visually speaking the bike was pretty clean overall but mechanically speaking it was a bit neglected. I bought the bike because I lusted after one in 1988 when they first came out and that motorcycle had never lost its appeal to me. My goal was to do all of the work to the bike on my own, learning as much about it as I could in the process. And so I did. The bike didn't need anything too major but the carburetors did need to be rebuilt and the tires and fluids needed to be replaced. I wasn't exactly sure what was going on but the bike was also having intermittent front brake "oddities".

On one of my first test rides after I got the carbs rebuilt I was simply taking the Hawk for a spin around the block. By the time I got to the backside of the block I could tell there was some drag taking place at the front wheel. When I came to a stop, I learned that the front brake lever had almost no travel left and was pretty much as hard as a rock. I decided to try and limp the bike back home, traveling at a very slow rate of speed. Well I only made it past a few houses before the front wheel finally locked up. Unfortunately I did not realize it right away as the tires were old so the front tire just started sliding without making much noise. I tried to keep things under control until coming to a complete stop, but I just couldn't keep the bike upright.

So there I was in front of my neighbors taking a spill on my new-to-me motorcycle (I'm sure that more than one of my neighbors figured it for my mid-life crisis machine). It had to have looked hilarious because it all happened in "super slo-mo". As I was battling to keep things under control the front tire finally started to kick sideway just before I came to a complete stop. I started to fall sideways while still rolling forward. Keep in mind that I had just taken ownership of the Hawk after driving all the way to Seattle and back to acquire it. The first thought going through my mind was that I did not want any damage occurring to the bike.

What happened next was truly embarrassing as I decided to use my body as sort of a human engine guard. In reality I ended up looking like a failed rodeo cowboy competing in a calf roping competition — the part when they try to wrestle the calf to the ground. For a while my boot sort of skidded along the pavement like a flat track rider while I tried to ease the bike down towards the pavement. At the very last second my boot sole caught traction on the asphalt. I still had a grip on the bars and tried to set them down as gently as I could while I was sliding along. But when my boot caught I ended up rolling feet over head with my legs sort of shooting up into the air cartwheel style before plunking back down on the pavement. Then it was over. As I sat there on my butt all I could think about was the Hawk. Fortunately a scratched up bar end weight and foot peg were the only items that suffered any damage. My jacket didn't even have a single scuff on it and my helmet was hardly even scratched. This incident had to have been one of the goofiest looking get-offs of all time.

Perhaps most amazingly, when I looked around to see if anyone was outside, there was no one to be seen. So I picked the bike back up and drug it along as close to the curb as I could get it — that was fun with the front wheel locked up. I walked home, got a wrench and returned to crack open the brake fluid bleeder on the caliper for a very brief moment. That relieved enough pressure in the system for me to ride the bike back home. Only afterwards when I was changing out the brake fluid would I discover that the tiny little expansion return duct that fed back into the master cylinder had become clogged with crud over time as the previous owner hadn't kept up with the maintenance. I suppose that I was pretty fortunate that I hadn't been ripping down the street instead when the front brake finally locked up.

[FLYTYM_imp]

Years ago I was in Santa Cruz,no paying attention and the trolley track grabbed the front wheel,boink. Recently on my 500 mile CB1100 slipped when I put my foot down,bike hits the ground. $2100 damage,all fixed.

[2017EX_imp]

First time was 1975 on my beloved 1974 CB750 Four. It had rained earlier that day, and the streets were damp. Sitting first in line at a stop light waiting for the light to change and make a left turn. Started into a slow left turn, and the bike slide out from under me. Fortunately the only damage was the left case saver bar, and only my ego was hurt. I have had engine/case saver bars on all my street ( except the Harley CVO I traded for my 2017 CB1100 EX ) bikes ever since.

The only other time was with my Harley CVO, around 2014. Had been on a ride with friends, and it was cold out. Went into a steep right uphill turn entrance to a restaurant parking lot. Crested the top of the entrance incline pretty slow, and my front tire caught a rut in the concrete. My front end instantly torqued full right to lock, and down I went under the bike. My friends came running to lift the bike off me. I was wearing full gear so no injury. However, front right turn signal got pushed into the tank, as well as a bunch of other cosmetic damage. It was $2200 to fix everything, the vast majority of which was covered by insurance. As I recall, the bulk of it was $1400 for a new factory painted tank, because it was a factory limited edition paint job!