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

[2wheelsforme]

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, mabey 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.

[willtill]

Ouch oldxtreme. Heal well bro... and hopefully quickly and without issue.

Some interesting comments about parking your bike in this thread.

I’ve never killed the engine with the kickstand, nor made a habit of parking my bike in gear. I HAVE parked my bike in gear though, if I perceive that I’m on an incline.. but NEVER facing downwards...

Normally I do like to stay in neutral at a stop, providing that I have ample stopped cars behind me...

[unsub]

Thanks for sharing your story oldxtreme. Get well soon.

Many, many years ago while I was called out to work overnight, my dear wife was on her way out the door in the early morning, and passed through our open garage heading to work. She walked through the space between our parked car and my previous BMW. Her sweater caught the end of the BMW handle bar pulling the bike over and off it's center stand. The bike fell over pinning her between the parked car and the bike. She didn't have the strength to get out from under. After 15 minutes of calling for help a passerby walking his dog was able to free her.

You just never know when shit can happen.

[Bryster]

OUCH!

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

[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

[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.