dropping the bike
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Thread: dropping the bike

  1. #1
    Senior Member 2wheelsforme's Avatar
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    dropping the bike

    I'm not too proud to admit my bike has been over more than a couple of times. Twice while on the big trip out West. Granted the bike was top heavy with two bags of luggage on the seat and rack. Once it went over easy on kick stand side and don't even know how I did it. The other time on unlevel ground and not enough lean on stand I was tugging on the luggage with it starting rain and pulled the bike over on the right side. It went so hard it was all I could do to keep it from rolling up past the crash bars and doing some real damage. Top heavy sucks! But the crash bars are very effective in protecting the bike, all four are now scratched a little on the underside so sanding and painting anyway. Not damaged anywhere else. I have to give to Honda for providing so much protection with well designed front and rear guards. Practicing a lift alone is a good thing to be prepared for, the extra high weight made it very difficult by myself. Be ready it can happen at the blink of an eye.

  2. #2
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    S..T Happens. Always.

  3. #3
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    And when lifting from the right remember to deploy the kickstand.

  4. #4
    Senior Member 53driver's Avatar
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    +1 on the engineering for the crash guards and the protection they provide.
    Isleen has gone 'boink' a few times too.
    But as 2wheels wrote - some sanding & paint and it's all good.

    Cheers,
    Steve
    My girls:
    Isleen - 2014 F6BD
    Saorla - 1995 FLSTN Heritage Special


    "Politeness, n: The most acceptable hypocrisy."
    Ambrose Bierce

  5. #5
    Senior Member Az Wingrider's Avatar
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    Dropping the bike has happened to a lot of us. When you know the proper way to pick it up it usually more of an embarrassment than anything else. You just have to know to cycle the kill switch before it will restart. Once on a camping trip the bike was so heavily loaded with camping gear I had to unload it before I could pick it up. The only damage was scratching to the bottom of the crash bars. As 2wheelsforme said Honda did a great job of designing the crash bars.

  6. #6
    Senior Member Cali261's Avatar
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    I keep a Velcro strap in the cubby to put over the front brake lever for when that eventually happens to me. My thinking is it will keep it from rolling if I can’t access the shifter. My slow twitch muscles are more developed than my fast twitch muscles nowadays so it’s bound to happen...

  7. #7
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    Just stick it n the center stand. Easy enough and much more secure. I don’t understand why others have such difficulty. I am only 5’10” and 170 lbs and it comes up easy.

  8. #8
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    So far, so good on my F6B and I hope it never happens...Dropped my Victory Vision a couple of times, once in a gravel lot, and another on the side of rode while stopped..Victory was noted for its great tip-over protection crash bars that showed them actually pushing the bike over on purpose to show how it would land on angled stops to prevent damage...Never got a scratch from tipping mine over...As said above, the real damage was to my "ego" as on-lookers stared at me...Thankful for the video I saw a few years back that demonstrated how to use your back instead of your legs to lift up the bike and get in on the side stand....Worked with the help of some nice Mexican guys that happened by,(none of which spoke English) but could see I was in trouble...Easy for younger guys, but not so much when you are in your 70's....Regards and ride safe

  9. #9
    Member
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    Get a Motobike jack. The inventor is a Harley guy but it's as though he invented it for the f6b. Just place that hook on the rear tip over bar and in maybe ten cranks and she is up.

    I can easily lift the b on level ground, but I had an experience where she went down on an incline in soft dirt. Thanks to the Harley rider who saw me behind the trees on the roadside. Thanks again Phil!!

    Thanks to the Jap love of side opening cases I carry two, one in each case at all times.

    http://www.motobikejack.com/video.html

  10. #10
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    Glad to see I am not the only dropper! Had mine a week and dropped it in my driveway. Slight decline, facing down hill and out of gear...Learned not to do that again. The bike rolled off the side stand and I of course tried to keep it from going over! Well, it did what it wanted to do and trapped my leg under the bike with the passenger peg sticking through my heel. No one around so the only thing left to do was either lay there or pull like hell until I pulled my heel off and my leg out! Good news NO SCRATCHES on the bike but 47 stitched to reattach my foot!

    Lessons learned... 1. If it decides to go down, it will go down...get out of the way!
    2. Put the bike in 1st gear and roll it forward until the gear play is taken up.
    3. Never park facing down slop or a right handed lean.

    One other time this summer, when completing my 8,000 mile road trip, I pulled out of a parking lot, going too slow and was making a right hand turn when the front wheel just wanted to keep going right. Not enough forward motion to overcome the wheel from going too far and the bike laid down in the middle of the street!

    No leg to try to stop it this time but no scratches either! Outstanding design on the crash bars...both sides!

    Lesson learned...don't make slooow, 90 degree turns!

    I am acutely aware of where to park, the angles of the ground and if I can pull forward or have to back peddle it!

    I am getting off a VTX 1800 and never laid it down once while parking or turning after 80,000 miles.
    great bike! It must have a lower center of gravity. It does have a shorter side stand so the lean is probably 30 degrees. It is a little tougher to get up right if it is parked on a left handed slope...but it does not fall over!

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