Have you been down?

[JSXR]

so is there any experienced rider in here thats NEVER dumped it?

[inspiron]

Not that I'm aware of. Dropping your bike is part of gaining experience.

I've had three bikes, and managed to drop all of them. The Vespa went down when a s**thead decided to run a stop sign ... the classic "I didn't see him" defense. The bike was laying in the middle of the intersection, with me standing next to it.

The Honda went down when I was not paying attention - I forgot that I had installed the disk lock, and the bike dropped when I tried to leave the curb (embarrasing and expensive, but no bodily injury).

The Suzuki was dropped about two weeks after taking her home - again, just pulling away from a stop, not enough throttle and too much lean angle.

I've been on 2 wheels for more than 10 years, and have never been injured due to an accident, but I have a very conservative style, and ride well within my limits. But I have replaced alot of plastic and metal in that time...

[Trapper]

Not experienced, but I have 7 months riding and have never dropped the bike. **knocks on wood**

[Uncle Bob]

Down three times and two other incidents where I was really lucky.

[Jammer]

So far...never have been down.

[themeatmanlandry]

Once. Corner too fast. Could have made it. I've taken that corner 10-20 mph faster than I was going that day when I stood it up, slid off the road, and intentionally low-sided to avoid a fence.

Newbies need ten-speeds with weedeater motors on them for the first 1,000 miles.

[GixSix]

Comming home from a ride, I was in traffic doing about 25mph in the center lane. This guy in a Jeep Grang Gherokee attempted to switch over into my lane (Center). He had plenty of room to do it. As I saw him move, I had plenty of room to get into his lane (Left) so I gave it some throttle to get there. Well, As we were both switching, he saw me at the last minute and jumped back into the left lane. I locked my rear brake and hit the back of his truck causing me to fly off the bike and flip over in mid air. It was weird, because I was so calm the whole time. I even thought about how I was going to land and did it before I hit the ground. I only received a dislocated left middle finger and damage to the plastics on the right side of the bike. All he had to do was commit to his lane switch...

[87gsxrnut]

Rear Brake?!?!?!?!

[GixSix]

I used both, but the rear locked and I skided into the truck.

[Phease]

Have lowsided before because my tyres were still cold (only 1 mile from leaving home) on a cold, damp february day and i leaned it too far in a corner.
And have had the front end taken away from my bike by joyriders while i was sat at traffic lights - just bad luck that one would have happened to anyone sat at the front of traffic waiting for the lights.

Have always worn leathers when going out on the bike and helmets are compulsory in the UK so have never actually had an injury more than bruising of body, pride and bank account due to these incidences (looking for wood toi touch for luck now).

[SuzukiGirl1]

Originally Posted by Phease

Have lowsided before because my tyres were still cold (only 1 mile from leaving home) on a cold, damp february day and i leaned it too far in a corner.

Side-topic...how far is too far when talking about leaning on cold tires??

[stock28]

Stop sign, left turn. Killed the motor, bike tipped over while stopped. I guided it down but couldn't keep it off the ground. Only a very minor scratch on the rear turn signal. Still hurts to look at though. When you hear everyone will drop their bike, that is mostly the kind of drop you can expect, very slow to standing still. It happens to most everyone eventually, even veteran riders.

[Trapper]

I feel safer now. Thanks for the bell, C50Tiger.

[rmcelroy]

i suppose i am one of the fortunate few...

I've been riding for just about a year now. Started on the Bandit 600, rode it for about 10 months, then went onto my GSXR 1k, rode it for about 1 month, and now I have a CBR 1000, been on it for a week now...

In between I've also been on my room mates SV650 several times, and my other bud's older model CBR 1k...

I've not dropped a bike yet. I do not consider myself "experienced" yet, however. But I did make it past that dreaded 6 month period. I suppose that period starts over once you "upgrade" from a 6 to a 1k, eh?

I have not tried any tricks or any other "risky" manuvers. The most ive done would be about 140mph. I'm starting to hit the twisties harder and harder... i know it's coming, but I'm trying to prolong it as long as possible.

there are 2 types of riders: those who have wrecked and those who are gonna wreck.

[FIVEINCH]

Originally Posted by SuzukiGirl1

Side-topic...how far is too far when talking about leaning on cold tires??

Your tires will lose traction when you don't recall them losing traction at that angle in past rides. In my experience with my tires, stock Dunlops (vey hard when cold), the rear breaks lose under very little throttle application when leaned over. I just ride it out and don't lean that far for a while longer. As I progress on that ride I test the waters until I feel confident the wheel will stay put.

[GS550L]

First bike, Nice red GS550L, cruiser with an inline four and a teeny tiny front wheel.
Learned to ride motorcycles on the test drive.

First crash:
At the time I was in the army, stationed at Ft Polk. I decide to make a lame excuse to the sgt, and blow off the final formation of the day. I ride to the end of the parking lot, stop before entering the intersection - I had leaned the bike over in anticipation of the right hand turn I was about to make. I put my foot down, but the bike was too heavy for me to hold.

The entire company got to watch my first crash as I slowly lost the battle with gravity and dropped my shlny new bike on the pavement.

Second Crash:
Same bike, maybe two days later.
Now that I had some experiance with my bike (total lifetime experiance on a motorcycle, 2 days) I was feeling pretty cocky.
Out hitting the clubs with a friend that owned a 600 hurricane. After 5 or 6 hours of drinking, we are racing back to the post, and Im losing pretty badly (big surprise) He slows for the turn onto entrance road and I see my chance. I cunningly downshift two gears and nail it. Hoping to get on his inside thru the intersection and pass him for the win. Did I mention that it was raining? As soon as I hit the throttle the bike just dissapeared out from under me, leaving me hanging in space 3 feet from the ground. Once again my old enemy gravity got the advantage and soon I was sliding across the pavement on my face shield until I was stopped by the front wheel of a louisiana state patrol car that had set up a drunk driving stop on the other side of the intersection. (wonder why I didnt see him before?) Fortunately my bike stopped nearby.

While the nice officer was trying to flag down my buddy (I think the cop thought I was dead.) I jumped up, stuffed the broken peices of my instrument cluster into my jacket, jumped back on and hauled *** in the opposite direction. Stopping at the next bar to hide and wash the gravel out of my hands.

Damage wise I got off pretty lucky, ruined face shield on my helmet (wore it like that for two more years.)
Broke off all of the plastic protecting my tach and speedo. (rode it that way till the bike died a couple years later.)
Medium case of road rash on my palms, I started wearing gloves after that.

The cop never caught me, I had a couple more beers ( why learn from my mistakes? ) then headed back onto base using the back gate.

I rode the bike till I was assigned to Korea. Had many more adventures that were similar to the stories above but I dont remeber wrecking that particular bike again, though Im sure it was more luck than skill that kept it that way.

All this happened 15 years or so ago, clearly Im lucky to be alive

[JSXR]

well I've never been down but then again I'm not an experienced rider so thats not that interesting...but the only person that I've met so far who has never been down on a bike is this guy i know whos a late 40's Harley driver. He said that the only time he had been in a crash is when he was younger when he was on the back of his buddies bike and they lost traction around a corner. Granted he was a lil intoxicated as he was telling me all these stories so he may have "forgotten" some incidents, but so far he's the only one i know of.

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by SuzukiGirl1

Side-topic...how far is too far when talking about leaning on cold tires??

IMHO "cold tire syndrome" is just an excuse for bad riding practices. Obviously riding in february when temps are just above freezing or it's raining will affect traction but I seriously doubt that the tire temps themselves will modify the capabilities of the tires to any significant degree for regular street riding.

I think it has more to do with "recent rider experience" or lack thereof. What I mean is that we lose skills as soon has we stop riding, be it for a day, a week or a month. Haven't been on the bike because it's been raining for the last ten days ? When you get back on, your skills will have been affected negatively, they will not be at the same point they were when you parked it ten days ago. It's not the tires that are cold it's your abilities.


My two cents .

[themeatmanlandry]

FWIW, I can tell the difference between a cold and well-warmed tire.

Maybe it's all in my head, but a cold tire is like a crayon that's been in the freezer . . . it'd rather just break traction than leave a little wax behind. That is to say, it seems to feel harder and more willing to bust loose, whereas a warmer tire feels softer and well-planted.

Probably psychosomatic.

[Uncle Bob]

And why are you storing your crayons in the freezer ?