Dropping/Laying your bike on its side

Have been thinking about this, and thought it would be good to generate the debate. I'll start off first by saying that yes I don't know poo from clay in regards to riding compared to the vast vast majority of you and am just throwing this out there. Many people have told me i'm stupid for buying a brand new bike as my first foray into the two wheel life. The main reason being that at some stage I will drop it, or have to lay it on its side and damage it. My point of discussion is this, why do we as law abiding, tax paying, safety conscious road users expect or accept it as reasonable to have to drop or lay a bike down at some stage? Shouldn't we be thinking the opposite that our roads are safe for our vehicles, and other road users are trained sufficiently to treat us with the respect and concern for our safety as we are for theirs, and as such no road or other user has the right or cause for us to have to take such extreme measures causing us injury and damaging our property.

Its simple two wheeled things fall over.You dont even have to be there,sometimes the just have a little lay down.

As for the term "I deliberately had to lay it down" that's a term used by non motorcyclists who think its going to get them out of trouble.It wont.

Don't touch ANY alcohol or dope when you ride and your odds are a lot better.
Don't get sucked into racing your mates,someone will eventually crash make sure its not you.

I carnt see any reason not to buy a new bike if you could afford it,enjoy it, its probably one of your best friends.

But like all best friends it will have a little lay down every now and then.

Mine tries to lay down during U-turns.Just carnt get confident with that .

I've been riding bikes(mainly trailies) for about 25 years(bugger that makes me sound old!) and have only laid a bike down on the tar twice. Once was years ago on an old XL600 trailbike going around a roundabout just after a bit of drizzle. Knobbies dont like damp tar! It hurt and scratched a bit of plastic but that was all. The second time was earlier this year when my wife was getting off the back of the Bandit outside a pub and we over balanced and I couldn't stop the thing from touching down Again just a small scratch but again on a bike without fairing. Would probably be a different story otherwise.
Now what was the point I was trying to make?.........
I dunno.... maybe you dont need to be going very fast to drop the bike? More likely to drop it at low speeds?
Maybe I just ramble on without getting to the point?
Sorry

Jay,, Tell those "many people" to shove thier opinion where the sun don't shine. And then go for an enjoyable ride on your beautiful NEW motorcycle, leaving them to their small opinionated lives. &^%&*EM I say.

IMO ride what you feel you must. Old, New, doesn't matter as long as you are happy and smiling.
ride to your skill level and comfort zone not anyone else's and try not to be suckered into riding out of your comfort zone. If you feel 'out of control', pull over and stop, regain your composure/thoughts and carry on.

As for laying a bike down when your learning. During this stint on bikes I haven't layed mine down yet, i've come close but not seen sleepy bobo time yet. Well except for one or 2 occasions where I have deliberately layed the bike over in the back yard to practice picking the beast back up.
Having said that I am expecting it to happen one day but I will do my best to avoid it if I can

The mrs on the other hand has fallen off, tipped over, what ever, every one of our bikes so far. Thankfully without significant damage to the bikes and more importantly without damage to her except for her pride.

IMO there are 2 situations when bikes are at their most unstable. The first is when stopped and the stand isn't down, the other is when we are on them trying to enforce our will on the machine (ever seen what happens when a bike is traveling down the road riderless)

Shit happens, bikes fall over. Pick em back up, dust em off and ride on.

Ride whatever bike you can afford that gives you wood! Have insurance and good protective gear. Ride as if you're invisible & ride to your ability. Tick all these and your chances of not crying improve markedly.

I can assure you the gutted feeling is the same when seeing a 10 yr old bike in bits as it is for a new/newish bike.

My ex put mine down in our garage! Bikes get backed into. Our skill and concentration varies from day to day as does road condition and weather.

Generally by western standards our roads are crap! They're designed for cars not bikes. Our driving standards are not good. Centerlines are for decorations. the list goes on. Sorry for the rant. I hope you don't join "the club" but it's not always up to you.

The only place my bikes have had a little rest has been on my own property, usually in the driveway, and always because of my own stupidity.
Gave the Ducati a rest by tryin to walk it on to a trailer when I didn't have any shoes on and slipped on some wet concrete. (tried to thow myself under it while it was falling to reduce the damage bill)
Have given the new Bandit a quiet rest when I decide to move it so that a stray blade of grass wouldn't hit it while cutting the grass. In my haste forget to put the side stand down and then fought it all way to a gentle lie down.
I love buying new bikes and if you can afford it get one if not get a used one - it doesn't matter either way just get what you want/need/like.

If you do happen to lay down you bike, one of two things will happen.
1) You drop it, damage is surprisinly minimal and at most, you replace a clutch lever (Dropped my GSX650FU 6 days after purchase, didn't check to see if the stand was in full lock, oops)
2) You drop it and you crack the fairing, fluids leak into places they should be and you wait months for repair (friend of mine, bike on centrestand, laid down in back yard after a bit of rain)

Yes, people will say buy a clunker while learning. Probably because they couldn't afford to buy a new bike or have more sense than I do

You can get crash knobs for the 650 and they don't stick out that badly. I think I paid $150 from ebay for mine.

Now the 1250FA will take a slide down the road, not crack any fairing and start first time. Not that I wanted to find that bit of information out first hand

2wheelsagain wrote:Ride whatever bike you can afford that gives you wood! Have insurance and good protective gear. Ride as if you're invisible & ride to your ability. Tick all these and your chances of not crying improve markedly.


Generally by western standards our roads are crap! They're designed for cars not bikes. Our driving standards are not good. Centerlines are for decorations. the list goes on. Sorry for the rant. I hope you don't join "the club" but it's not always up to you.

Not a rant 2wa, think you've covered several of the points about what causes the events. Apart from everyone's driveway blues Most of these other events are what would be called abnormal behaviours, so why have we normalised them by accepting them?

Some very good comment here Aussiejay. IMHO, I normalise “them” for a few basic reasons, your mount, the law of physics, attitude and the situation your found in. There’s a reason some of us choose 2 wheels, (then a cage as a matter of necessity), we (I) enjoy the balance, freedom, isolation and challenge that a two wheel mechanical device can and will put you in. Remembering of course we travel on a public road! Don’t let common sense (too often) be overtaken by the “what if”. You never know when a roo (or sheep…) or the like will test your ability to think without warning, relying on your reactions / actions. Stay upright!

Some times you don't know when to give up and step off and your determined you can save it!
Ive had a couple of those but those drive way ones, the rush of emotion fright, fear, anger, followed by the quick embarrassed look to see if any one saw you do it!

My u-turns are never performed outside the pub.

gus wrote:My u-turns are never performed outside the pub.

I know what you mean!

For a time I felt like an expert at laying my bike down - did it seven times, although I needed the co-operation of other road users and/or the weather to achieve the laid-down-and-scratched/beat-up results. Most memorable occassion (with two other more dramatic drops I decided to be unconscious at the most exciting moments), required me to stupidly get myself into the middle of a tram-line on a wet afternoon in Melbourne, and then to follow a large Semi with a load too high for the railway bridge we both needed to go under. He hit the bridge; I hit the brakes; the bike hit the ground. It was a new Suzuki 185.
Bike ended up with a few scratches and a bent clutch lever.
I ended up with a bruise in the middle of my forehead from hitting myself for being such a dolt!
My Bandit was purchased last April; has done over 3000 kms. and been to Melbourne and back - and I still haven't ridden in the rain. Maybe I was too pessimistic when I installed the Oggy Knobs?! Maybe I WILL NEVER FALL OFF OR DROP MY BANDIT.
I am now officially cursed

1952 wrote: Maybe I WILL NEVER FALL OFF OR DROP MY BANDIT.

Looks like "Famous Last Words"