Joining the dropped the bike club now

[switz]

I was at home in the driveway and put the left foot down. I was at the edge of the drive and it slipped off into gravel. A slow motion fall did not mark the bike. However, my backside had the opportunity to get into a cactus, whose thorns went through the leather jacket as if it was not there. I think I got the short stick on this one.

[machew01]

It sounds like we all need to be a little more careful about where we put our feet. This thread makes it sound like bikes are dropping all over the place!

mac

[Mikeal]

Well I just dropped my 04 Rockster for the first time tonight. Tried to turn into a parking spot I just past way to slow. At least I stopped by the bike from dropping hard, but I do have a scuff on the right jug now. : (

Anyway, question, now both red warning LEDs on the left grip are blinking in an alternating fashion since the drop. The bike has ABS and the brakes are functioning fine, I still also hear the servos still. Is there a way to reset the alert?

Thanks.

Mike

[toner87]

Anyway, question, now both red warning LEDs on the left grip are blinking in an alternating fashion since the drop. The bike has ABS and the brakes are functioning fine, I still also hear the servos still. Is there a way to reset the alert?

Thanks.

Mike

Red LED's on the left grip? Can't imagine what you're talking about, unless you have your emergency flashers on... Probably turned em on by accident when you dropped the bike. Just push it in and release it. (Yes, our bikes do have emergency flashers.)
T.

[chris]

Fitted my head guards...can't be long now, they're dropping like flies!

[Anger]

I haven't dropped the beakster (and don't plan to) but I absolutely HATE the ABS brakes tendency to grab when I'm trying to finesse my way into a turning braking stop. I’m sure I look like an amateur to all the harley riders at work when I pull into a spot but I purposefully have to use more straight lines when braking and turning due to the servo grab. I’ve read so much here about low speed dumps pulling into gas stations, etc and I almost did the same when some ahole cut me off at a gas station.

[ebolean]

i dropped mine during the test drive - at a stop.
it has happened too many times in the few months that i have been riding it - all at a stop.
so much so that i am apprehensive about riding it - which i haven't done for the last 6 weeks.

any suggestions for getting over this psychological nightmare other than selling the bike?

Bob

[machew01]

Bob, you shouldn't be apprehensive about riding, just stopping.

Handling the bike at a stop is something that can and should be practiced - both on and off the bike. Don't be afraid to ask someone to spot you, especially if you're off the bike. Handling bikes at a stop or at very low speeds is a learned skill. Just watch the people at a big BMW dealership move bikes around the shop or showroom. They make it look deceptively easy!

mac

[Mikeal]

Yeah I don't know what I was smoking when I wrote that. : ) It was the brake light on the console and the one next to it that kept on flashing. Anyway, after reading other articles on the forum I went and turned on the iginition then turned the throttle 3 times then turned it off, so apparently it reset itself because no more flashing lights.

Thanks all.

Mike

Anyway, question, now both red warning LEDs on the left grip are blinking in an alternating fashion since the drop. The bike has ABS and the brakes are functioning fine, I still also hear the servos still. Is there a way to reset the alert?

Thanks.

Mike

Red LED's on the left grip? Can't imagine what you're talking about, unless you have your emergency flashers on... Probably turned em on by accident when you dropped the bike. Just push it in and release it. (Yes, our bikes do have emergency flashers.)
T.

[dwayne]

...The worst drops are those where you think the side stand is down and lean it over...at the point where you realize it's not down it's too late...

GAWD DAMMIT!!!!!

Talk about forshadowing. Long and short I now have a bit of scratched paint on the bottom side of the cylindar..stupid...stupid...stupid... If it happened any slower I could have had a coffee break watching it happen.

[Tlaloc]

We stopped in Cascade Locks, OR (Columbia River Gorge) for ice cream (mid 80's today!). I parked the R on the street on it's center stand. As I took it off the stand to head home it got away from me, down on its right side. (NNNOOOOO!!!!)

The only damage is a couple of small gouges to the engine guard. I am SO glad to have those. Still, I felt like such a doofus.

As soon as I assessed the damage, we got out of there quick.

It was particularly embarrassing because I was on my second date with a very nice lady. It was my first time riding with a passenger. At least it didn't tip over when she was on it!

[toolinalong]

Now you can further justify buying the Throttlemeister with the matching bar ends; stainless steel with a red line. I think they look much better than the stock black ones.

I did my first one at an unpaved pull out on the Pacific Coast Highway a ways south of Big Sur; I did a sort of a roll tumble right off the left side of the bike after braking incorrectly on the soft stuff, right in front of a bunch of folks who ran over to help me out. It was my first ever road trip, on my 1978 R80, I had been riding for about one year at the time. I am quite certain it looked pretty stupid.

[Sit]

Bob,
Don't sell your bike. Go to a parking lot and practive your straight line stops. Remember, smooth on the brakes and keep your eyes up. When you stop, if you look down at the stop line etc, your bike is going to follow towards whatever side you look. Pick a point on the horizon and gently bring the brakes on. Feet stay on the pegs, as the bike starts settling to a stop, left foot comes out and the bike weight will gently follow onto your leg. I find that just before stopping, if I throw out both feet to catch myself, I upset the balance of the bike. If you do put both feet out, do it smoothly. Real low speed parking lot turns and stops, I only use the rear brake, leaves the right hand available for gas which when used with the clutch in the gray zone will keep the bike up right, that and a little counter balancing.

Just remember, keep your eyes up, look where you want to go. On a straight stop, on my R, I can almost stop and balance the bike with no feet and as it starts to lean, can power out of it and move on. Have to keep eyes up though, if not, I fall. Drive in an empty parking lot across the parking lines stopping at every other line. Have someone watch you to tell you when you dont keep eyes up.

[Fozzie]

Kristi,

Now I've gone and fallen off!

Speed: 0 mph.

Surface: wet concrete, shady side in winter, covered in a slimy coat of fallen leaves and mossy stuff at my parent's house.

Scenario: carefully brake to a halt noting slimy surface, put down foot, slip and CRUNCH ...

Damage: minor scratch to RHS mirror, bar end and pillion peg.

And my sister saw me do it!

Tres embarrassing, but no damage done to me.

Once these heavy bikes go past that point of no return ...

Happens to all of us. I've been riding for 30 years.

Fozzie

[iowabeakster]

yep done it too. pushing it out of the garage casually, and before i knew it I was fighting a losing battle with what Newton called "gravity".

now for my really good story though:

years ago. small town gas station. I pull up close along side the gas pump. I do this so that I can gas it up without dismounting. With the tank full I lean the bike onto the side-stand. (here comes the fun) At this point I realize I never kicked down the stand. The bike continues it's falling arc until my left leg is stuck inbetween the bike and the pump. Convienently, the pump was NOT BOLTED TO THE CONCRETE! So now my bike, myself and the pump housing (or whatever you call it) are falling like three dominoes. I spazzed so drastically I managed to free my leg. A person can expend great amounts of strength when in full panic and humiliation! I got the bike up, then righted the pump. I scanned around and not a person to be seen. Then I went in to pay the gas and asked the clerk if he had seen me. Nope, not a single witness to the whole fiasco. I almost wish somebody had seen it.

[LonestaRR]

Iowabeakster:

That is hilarious and I had to laugh (not AT you). But the episode would have been hilarious to have seen.

In a car one time, I stopped at a station in Ennis, Texas on my way to Dallas. It was Self Serve, but an attendant there asked if he could pump the gas for me. So I let him. I went on in to the little store to get something to drink and pay for the gas. When he came back in, I paid and then left. But the guy had never taken the pump out of my car and so I drove off with the "housing". Pulled it completely off and the hose was stretched as far as it could go. I think there were sparks too - at least that is what I heard someone shout. Of course I stopped, but not before people started running everywhere. He came running out screaming at me. I had assumed he would have taken the pump out of the car since he put it in there. I couldn't see it when I go in my car. (it was on the right side of the car and facing opposite the station store). He continued to scream at me and I just stood there taking it. Finally, he gave up and said, "just get out of here before I get your information". So, I just hopped in the car and left and never stopped there again.

There were plenty of people to witness my embarrassement. Lucky for you, yours went unseen. Hilarious though.

[chris]

Had a lucky break this morning. Parking up at work I went to kick out the sidestand as I let the bike drop onto it. BUT the bottom of my trouser leg hooked the gear lever and stopped me kicking out the stand or getting my foot to the floor. Luckily I was close enough to the wall to get my left arm out to stop it going over or I'd have been applying for membership here myself! I think I'll be making sure of the stand before I start to let the bike go in future!

[Lion_Lady]

After five months of owning an R, I'm finally in the "dropped bike" club. I dropped my bike yesterday in a parking lot at Washington on the Brazos (a state park in Texas where our Declaration of Independence was signed) It all seemed to happen in slow motion too. That was weird. I was turning sharp to enter a shaded parking spot and was on unlevel ground. I turned too sharp, it leaned...........and leaned....my life flashed before my eyes......I got my foot down to hold it up, but I was past the point of no return. I held it for a few seconds there, but ran out of strength and down the bike went and me as well. I felt sooooooo stupid.

Now I have a noticeable scuff on the left head guard, left bar end, and left clutch lever. Is replacing the parts, the only way to "fix" the marks? The bar end and clutch lever both have about 1/4 " diameter of the black paint scuffed off.

I've got you beat... dropped my Rockster THREE TIMES IN ONE DAY!! Only one was 'observer free' and because of WHERE I'd tipped over, I had to go and GET help to get upright. Was afraid of tipping over and down a steep hill the other way, if I righted the beast myself.

I've got scuffs on BOTH brake and clutch lever ends and bar ends.

If it really really bothers you, replace them. A cover up just seems to draw eyes. Besides, as someone else said, you don't see the marks while you're riding.

P

[Boxer]

Kristi, you should have yelled back at that Ennis gas pump guy. HE was the stupid one.

[fnfalman]

I dropped my Rockster on both sides within half an hour of each other. The right side's indignity happened when I came to a stop sign and put my foot down to find out that there was a big hole where hard surface is suppose to be. I tried to let the bike down slowly. The left side took the fall when I tried to make a U-turn on an extremely gravelly road.