Learned the Hard Way... How NOT to Park the F6B

[Bryster]

OUCH!

Hopefully the scratches are not deep, wish you all the best for a speedy heal!

[speedjunkie]

Ouch! Hope you heal fast, that's a painful lesson to share!




Mike

[Av8er]

Ouch!!! Hope you heal fast. Now where's the pics? Everyone loves pics!!

[53driver]

Glad to hear you will survive. How did the bike fair? You can always tell the new riders when they are fresh from riding school because at every stop they are looking for neutral before parking the bike, maybe Steve can tell us why they teach that. Just not necessary to park or crank. And now you know, never park pointing downhill, much better to back downhill into a parking spot.

We don't teach that!
We teach them leave the bike in gear when you park.
We teach them to put it in N when starting.

Not sure who might be teaching otherwise.
Cheers,
Steve

[Deerkiller]

We don't teach that!
We teach them leave the bike in gear when you park.
We teach them to put it in N when starting.

Not sure who might be teaching otherwise.
Cheers,
Steve

Yep. Always park in gear and start in neutral.

Sorry this happened to you. I learned several years ago not to park the bike nose first into a decline. Simply because my Roadstar (at the time) was too heavy to back up even a small incline. This bike is even heavier.

[3Chief]

Heal up, unfortunately it happens.

I never park my B facing down angle but I always leave it in neutral. I've tried stopping with a down angle on the B to close the gate and it's a no go. I have to park at the bottom of the driveway and walk back...For another day or two anyway, working on installing a gate minder between work shifts. I've always left my manual transmissions in neutral unless parked on a steep hill too.

[MisterB]

One vote for no pics, sounds gruesome. Glad it wasn't a 127 Hours situation, but it still sounds rough.
Regarding parking in neutral or in gear: you have to imagine what's the worst that could happen in either scenario and choose accordingly.
Leaving it in gear has far fewer negative outcomes.
When I was young and motorcycles didn't weigh as much it wasn't a big deal. Now I'm older with a bad back and quickly learned with my top-heavy ST1300 that it's best to have it held in place by the transmission when parked.
The F6B is heavier that the ST1300 but the center of gravity is lower, still a beast though! Weighs about as much as two 55 gallon drums of oil.

[oldxtreme]

Well, I finally got enough courage to crutch it out to the garage to to see what I did to the bike, knowing that flesh and bones heal but scratches and dents never do!

The good news is that my ankle served as a pad for the bike and no dents or scratches anywhere

I did figure out that my ankle was trapped under the passenger peg. Ironically, the day before this happened, I was looking at those pegs and planned to remove them since I never ride two up.

After 50 years of riding, there are still things to be learned! 1. Bike in gear & 2. NEVER point down hill!

By the way, when I did get help, picking up the bike like is shows in many Goldwing videos, really works! It came right up with minimal effort. I am so glad I watched those videos even though I "knew" I would NEVER drop this bike! And I didn't for almost two weeks

[druggr]

Sorry to hear you got hurt, and I hope you heal quickly.

Unfortunately, there are 4 rules all learn when riding a 2-whl GL1800. Some learn them sooner, some later. In spite of what they teach in motorcycle safety training classes, here is rule #4.

- always be in 1st gear when parking
- put the side stand down to kill the engine (never use the kill switch)
- with then engine off, let the clutch out, and allow the Wing to roll, whichever way it wants, to take up all backlash in its drivetrain
- then set the side-stand

I meant to write rules #1, 2, and 3.
Rule 1 - GL1800 only like pavement ... stay on the payment.
Rule 2 - When braking, and coming to a stop, make sure the bars are always pointing straight ahead at 0mph.
Rule 3 - If coming into a curve to "hot", never stand them up and brake ... push harder on the bars, and go deeper into the curve.

[oldxtreme]

Yep, we need a Golden Rule Book for Goldwings! I made my contribution to the "BOOK" early.

The interesting point is that all of these rules are probably lessons learned "the hard way", by seasoned bikers. I doubt that a Wing is anybody's first bike.


Taxfree4, chagrin, I feel and thanks for not mentioning how the Indians got scalped by the Yankees