Accidents & Offs - What happened to you?

[Laminar]

Everyone will drop their first bike. You just took care of all the parking drops in one night. One day you will look back and laugh.

I didn't. And the only time my Nighthawk has hit the ground is when I let my sister take it for a ride and she forgot to put her foot down soon enough.

There have been close calls, though, like the time an Escalade was nice enough to catch the bike before it went the other way.

[LOKi]

Then your the statistical anomaly Laminar. Way to make the guy feel bad about. 

[mwallette]

I didn't...There have been close calls, though, like the time an Escalade was nice enough to catch the bike before it went the other way.

Close enough!

[Laminar]

Close enough!

But that was the Nighthawk, my second bike.

[Tryvelcro]

I watched my first bike go down.  We went for a ride in the hills, his bike (a nice, big, heavy BMW) managed to stay on the side-stand.  My itty bitty, light wee-ceptor did not.  On the positive side, I figured out  I could pick up my own damn bike if I'm mad enough :)

My "off" has it's own thread, I won't clog up this one by reposting it.

[LOKi]

They say around 5,000 mile mark is the most likely time to crash a bike. Its far enough to be comfortable and confident riding the bike, but not far enough to have the experience to go with that confidence. Lends to getting in over your head. So watch out all you n00bs getting close to the 5K mark. Maybe a good time to take the advanced MSF class?

[Custom82Hawk]

deer can commit suicide on your front forks no matter what your mileage though.

[LOKi]

Guess it's more the self imposed crashes that happen around then.

[Laminar]

They say around 5,000 mile mark is the most likely time to crash a bike. Its far enough to be comfortable and confident riding the bike, but not far enough to have the experience to go with that confidence. Lends to getting in over your head. So watch out all you n00bs getting close to the 5K mark. Maybe a good time to take the advanced MSF class?

Uh-oh, I'm approaching 6K now. I better look out.

[Tryvelcro]

They say around 5,000 mile mark is the most likely time to crash a bike. Its far enough to be comfortable and confident riding the bike, but not far enough to have the experience to go with that confidence. Lends to getting in over your head. So watch out all you n00bs getting close to the 5K mark. Maybe a good time to take the advanced MSF class?

Pffft.... I was double that!  Damn laws of averages... at least I know I'm "above" average

[mwallette]

They say around 5,000 mile mark is the most likely time to crash a bike....Maybe a good time to take the advanced MSF class?

...at least I know I'm "above" average

Nuts...I had been riding for less than a week when a big, mean, bully cage pushed my bike over    Since I'm still only at about the 900 mile mark right now, I guess I'm well below average 

Going slightly off-topic, has anyone taken the advanced MSF course?  I'm curious about what they teach in it, whether it's worth the time/money...basically, would those who have taken it recommend it to others, and why?

[Tryvelcro]

Nuts...I had been riding for less than a week when a big, mean, bully cage pushed my bike over    Since I'm still only at about the 900 mile mark right now, I guess I'm well below average 

Going slightly off-topic, has anyone taken the advanced MSF course?  I'm curious about what they teach in it, whether it's worth the time/money...basically, would those who have taken it recommend it to others, and why?

Like... ran you off the road?  Or like, hit your parked bike & knocked it over?

[LOKi]

Nuts...I had been riding for less than a week when a big, mean, bully cage pushed my bike over    Since I'm still only at about the 900 mile mark right now, I guess I'm well below average 

Going slightly off-topic, has anyone taken the advanced MSF course?  I'm curious about what they teach in it, whether it's worth the time/money...basically, would those who have taken it recommend it to others, and why?

Like... ran you off the road?  Or like, hit your parked bike & knocked it over?

Tryvelcro, second page reply 33 or something like that.

mwallette, that one doesn't count. You haven't been riding long enough for your confidence combined with lack of experience lead to an off. That was just some jackass backing into you.

[mwallette]

Yep, I'm still a n00b 

[rwilli1228]

I have over 17000 miles of riding since I started 14 months and 3 bikes ago.  I've never taken the MSF class.  I just completed a 2000 mile trip this week.  It was my third bike when I first dropped/crashed just a couple of weeks ago.  I know plenty of guys who have never dropped their first bike.  Well anyway... It was pitch black night.  I was turning in a parking lot.  I didn't see that a 3 foot wide section of pavement was stripped for construction reasons.  (no construction road signs either).  I wasn't perpendicular enough to the raised pavement of the parking lot.  It caught the front wheel and threw me off at about 10 miles an hour.   

[Shaivong]

Dropped it once trying to put it on the center stand. Dropped it again doing the exact same thing. This time the previous owner was there with me and he rushed to my aid, assisting me in lifting it back up straight and over to the other side. I hope there were no small children in screaming distance  

Was driving alone through some country areas trying to improve my skills a couple of months after I started riding. Came to a corner fast, which was much tighter than I had realized. Being the newb I was (and am) I tried to brake rather than pushing through it. Locked up the rear wheel, released, rode the snap and drove straight through the corner off of a 2' bank into a hay field. Rode around in the hay field for 30 seconds and gunned back up the bank onto the road. Stopped at the next clear shoulder to pull the hay out of my exhaust  

Also, 'God' is a title, the proper noun would be something close to YHWH (Yahweh or Jehovah?). That's what they told me growing up, anyway  

[Doogie_D]

The only time my Nighthawk went down:  Parking lot, about a 15 degree incline coming out, waiting for the traffic to pass.  OK, GO. Clutch engaged too fast.  Bike died. Bike went over.  My mistake: I tried to stop it, tried to keep the bike upright. My hamstring ruptured.  A guy nearby resisted laughing and helped me to get the bike back up. Off I rode, followed by a visit to the orthopedist.  Limped around for six weeks--but the bike was OK.  Lesson: If it's going down, get out of the way and let it go. 

[Custom82Hawk]

i had a 500 cc silverwing that i never really rode much.  took it for a test ride (that was a mistake) and i went to turn around at the end of the lot in the trailerhood, and it started to fall over.  got my leg under it, kept it halfway up, but couldn't get it the rest of the way.  i ended up buying it anyway.  dang heavy bike for a 500.

[JordanA]

I'm almost at my 7K mile marker and no incidents thus far.  I purchased the bike last October.

[rapta619]

most imbarrasing and funniest one you'll read.

i was helping a buddy who tipped his goldwing, he was old so i had to lift the 700 lbs plus machine by myself. im like "well im a strong 18 year old kid, i can do this"

i sqaut down, grab the handle bars, pull and as the bike comes up i pulled harder and harder (thank god for football practice building me up)

got the bike up, and poof, it fell over ontop of me,

luckly it was in the grass so i wasn't nearly crushed. burned my leg, lots of brusies and pinched my finger! (that hurt the most actually, damn clutch lever).

i squirmed outa there and said to hell with it, we waited for more help. lol while luaghing

[Brumbie13]

Next time, get beside the bike, turn to face the opposite direction than the bike.

Squat down and grab the handlebar with one hand and a passenger handgrip whith the other.

Then slowly stand up and walk backwards.

This will get the bike up AND you won't hurt yourself. 

[rapta619]

now you tell me!

[Brumbie13]

I would have told you before if you asked.


A salesman showed me how to do that on a showroom floor with a brand new Goldwing.
I believe he was in his mid-60's.

By the way, if anyone in Las Vegas is looking for a salesman, I recommend seeing if he's still around at the Honda/Kawasaki on Rancho near the Santa Fe Station. I told him up front that I was browsing, we talked for about 2 hours while he explained to me about all different kinds of models. He knew I wasn't going to buy one, and he didn't pressure me the least bit. He was way more interested in talking about bikes than he was about selling them. He said he was a part timer there (retired, wanted something to do, decided to do what he was really great at, which was bikes.) because he went on a lot of trips. As I left, he showed me his Goldwing for a second in the parking lot. I don't know if he's still around, it was about 2 years ago, but I guarantee you that if I'm ever looking to buy a bike from a dealership, he is the FIRST person I will be looking for.

[NoCal Tom]

In 1992 I was in college in Athens, GA and had a new Suzuki GS500E.  Heading down a country road one afternoon, I realized I was going to fast into a corner, panicked, stood it up and went off the road.  Clipped a street sign, into a ravine, then flipped over the bars and landed on my heels (divots in the dirt confirmed this) and fell forward.  Helmet never touched the ground.   Limped back up to the road and a man and his son in an El Camino stopped and loaded me up and took me home.  Insurance fixed the bike and I had bruised heels (and my ego!)

I know now that I could have leaned harder and most certainly made it through the corner.  Lack of experience and innatention to what I was doing caused this.  Good lesson to learn for a new rider and i am just glad I wan't hurt worse.  Memories of this event come up everytime I hit a set of twisties.  Keep meaning to take a riding school so I can hit corners with a bit more confidence.

[tcoop]

My experience was just after getting my xj750. I had just put new tires on it. I needed to pick up my daughter from a party,It was 9:00 o'clock at night so it was dark. I was going about 5 mph in a residential area went around a corner through a small puddle. The front tire went through just fine, the back tire, not so much. The bike went right out from under me left me standing in the street. Still don't know how i didn't go down with the bike. I looked back at the puddle and there was a layer of moss  at the bottom of it. I was glad that it happened before I picked her up and that my wife didn't see it happen.