Stupid muddy sidestand.

Dropped the 1250FA yesterday near Jindabyne. Riding along and it looks like it's going to piss down bigtime so I decide to pull over and put on the wet weather gear. Pull up down a side road put the side stand down and start to dismount. Bike starts to lean over normally, then, wtf, it keeps on going! I do a very graceful jump/step off and it goes down onto its left side. *#%$^&F%^CK [email=C@#$NT]C@#$NT[/email] buggershitturdmongrelbarstardbigfatarsholes. So I took all the gear off the back, Bed roll, soft saddle bag on the right hand side and the tank bag, so I could lift the bike up. OK position the bars, make sure the bikes in 1st gear and lift like you see the girls do on YOU TUBE with Harley Davidson Sportsters. And........be buggered if I could get it to move! Anyway a ute comes past and then backs up and a young bloke asks if I need some help, christ I love the bush! My oath I do. So we both lift the bike. And we both say at the same time while we're lifting it "Bloody hell this things heavy".

So I thanked the young bloke and he goes on his way. Now comes damage inspection time. To my amazement and relief there was only some gravel marks on the alternator casing and the left front indicator rubber mount was pushed in a bit and that was it, no damage to the fairing, not even a scratch, no damage to the clutch lever or the bar ends. Why? The left side Moto Dry soft sport saddle bag that was full of all sorts of stuff and the big waterproof bed roll had absorbed the impact, and the bike had, almost, settled gently onto its side.

So the $115 saddle bags and the big bed roll saved me about $500 or more worth of repairs. A fuel tank full of fuel adds about 17kilos to the weight you have to lift.

I'm going to have to go to the gym and get leg strenghthening exersizes.

The sidestand was full of Snowy Mountains mud and needed a bit more of a kick to get it to go down properly, my fault.

After all that it didn't rain!

Bummer .......................at least damage was minimal

Lucky escape phill, good to hear all is not too bad. How long are you away travelling for?

very lucky escape there. had a similar thing happen to me except I found the only pothole to put my foot into. cost was about $700, $200 of which was towing as the clutch lever being snapped of meant not being able to start it or ride it. ended up with new mirrors (had to buy matching aftermarkets), new lever (after market), new indicators (again matching after markets) and new protection bars as the R&G knob snapped off.

Glad you got out ok. I guess there could be a lot of moisture still in the ground in the snowy area that may not be so obvious.to see
I saw a video of a lady picking up a bmw boxer twin and she locked the front brake and turned so her back was to the LH side bent her knees grabbed the LH handle bar and somewhere on the rear LH and straightened up .. easy peasy, at least it looked easy,

Only travelled a couple of days this time Kiwi. Went from Sydney to Adaminaby, stayed at the Snowy mountains Motel 1st night and then went over the top via the Link road then the Goat ridge road and the Elliot Way back to Khancoban then on to JIndabyne and a night at Horizens resort at Jindabyne (these two motels offer very good quiet comfortable rooms and breakfast icluded at very good rates compared other motels in the same towns, they are good value for money motels). Then back to Sydney.

Baz I did almost exactly what that woman did with the BMW and be buggered if I could lift the FA othe same way! The boxer twin probably allows you to use the cylinder head as a pivot point and doesn't let the bike go as 'flat' as the bandit, so she was cheating, and she had testicles, and muscles in her shit...I hate her. Thats it, I'm never going to drop the FA again.

Ahh Phill, I share you annoyance brother. That is, I was at my central Vic property when I parked the steed not knowing I was on a slight down hill slope. That is till the FA rolled forward a bit and I had to throw my leg underneath the beast to prevent more damage... a few scratches, but my leg was worth it!!!

Yep, had that same experience with the Bandit rolling forward off the sidestand on a rural dirt driveway when I got off to shut the gate. Broke the clutch lever and the front blinker. I now carry a spare set of cheap levers on trips (ie $18 from Hong Kong) to get me out of trouble, should it ever happen again.

PS: I didn't have any issues picking her up - maybe it was the adrenalin as I'm no Atlas.

I got a piece of 3/8" thick acryllic plastic, about 3" square and cut it to a sort of diamond shape and bolted that to the bottom of the stand.

I noticed yesterday when I threw down the side stand dismounting in the shed that the stand looked all the way down put when i checked it still had about 2-3 inches left to travel, I'm glad i double checked otherwise it could have ended up on the concrete , glad to hear that you suffered minimal damage , I use the centre stand as much as possible and really only use the side stand to get off, the centre stand is so easy to use

This is Mark 2 of my sidestand foot. I had been using an Oxford sidestand Puck. I got sick of bending down to collect it once the bike was off the stand.

Next time you snap a clutch leave from a drop, don't get it towed, you can roll jump start the bike with out the clutch handle. This is ok to ride a small way as you still need to shift with out the clutch, so don't grind the gears too much!