finally OFFICIALLY INITIATED!!

[smakawhat]

Yup... second season... on 2nd bike (used just for the record).. yup finally initiated.

What am I getting at you say...???

finally dropped the bike...

yeah... shit.. dam... it.

I always knew that my alley would kick my ass at some point. Long story short, I was coming into my alley, had my mind on other things... wasn't paying attention (thinking of things of non importance than the task at hand).. lost my balance on the turn, and I don't know what the happened, all I remember was jumping off knowing I couldn't save it..

frig....

The damage wasn't that bad... I had a broken mirror but the turn signal popped back in, the scratching on the fairing is there in places (seems like most of the vinyl sticker took it), the pipe is fine.. .but oh well... lesson learned.

My alley is really bad, it has slopes and my driveway is friggin horrid. I always felt my driveway was going to come by and bite me in the ass someday and sure enough I was right...

After it happened I was cursing like a blue streak in my alley.. a neighbor came by and asked if I needed help and sure enough I was not going to turn it away. Got the bike up and brought her in..

sigh...

the damage isn't that bad ironically.. a broken mirror and some minor scratches. I bought the bike used so I don't feel that bad.. but it was quite pristine when I had her. Even my old ninja 500 I never dropped (but came close the odd occasion). maybe you have seen me talk about her in the past on here.

Never got hurt... just my pride but like dam... I knew this was gonna happen but after it did I sat there looking at my bike on its side saying to myself what the HELL are you doing down there?!?!?!?!??

A neighbor came up and helped me get it back up.. Seriously concerned if I was okay ( i was totally untouched).

I figured this was going to happen to me at some point... but after a season and a half of riding and MULTIPLE times of backing up and moving my bike into my garage I figured this would pass me by.

I was wrong..

I am going to tell all you NEW RIDERS right f'ing now... YOU WILL DROP YOUR BIKE... let it go... get over it... I don't care... IT WILL HAPPEN... and it won't necessarily be your fault.

Use that knowledge in your future riding career.

I am getting over it.. gonna figure out how to order a replacement mirror for my f4i.

In a way I am glad I got it over and done with.. now I feel like bashing the shit out my bike like crazy...

take care all.. ride safe... I am tempted to take pics of my driveway so I can explain what happened.

see you all on the road

[Freshgrease]

What a brave and awesome way to get over dropping your bike.

[smakawhat]

Originally Posted by Freshgrease

What a brave and awesome way to get over dropping your bike.

dude I am seriously thinking of posting pics of my driveway to tell you all what I have had to deal with for the past nearly 2 years... I think it's a miracle I went this long without dumping it...

[ThePhorest]

Yup...you'll end up tipping it over somehow. I did almost exactly the same thing. Turned onto an uphill street at low speed with lots of gravel and sand at the bottom. Plop, right over. Took some touch up paint to the scratched areas, and kept on riding. (that was my old POS 89 fzr)

You can't see the scratches when you're riding, and mirrors are cheap. No sweat!

[malik ross]

no you won't and tha mind set is what prevents newer riders from working on their skills to become better riders. the, "why bother, i'm going to drop it someday anyway" fatalist mentality runs rampant through our sport. its the reason why people buy bikes they are capable of controlling. "why start small, i'm going to crash anyway." some people think of it as some badge of honor and the first thing they do after calling the insurance company is post it up on SBN.

the poster couldn't even say how the accident occurred yet know he has been initiated into some club.

[smakawhat]

long story short, I wasn't paying attention... I figured I was doing what I always do, pull up and back my bike up into my driveway.. done it a zillion times.

I wasn't thinking about that, I had my mind on the friends coming over for dinner that night, what time I need to get the coals for the grill on, who I have to call, what needs to be cleaned in my house, how did that last job interview go... etc.. etc..

Then I can't even remember I think I might have stalled or lost my balance and couldn't get my feet on the ground to support the bike cause of where the bike stopped in the alley (my alley is slopped) think of the bike pictured on a top V.. and it got past the tipping point and well... I just quickly said oh shit here it comes.....

The whole thing about initiating just has to do with the fact that you are going to drop the bike. I was always.. uh uh it aint gonna happen to me, I didn't do it with my first bike which was brand new. I left my guard down and it's a message to all those who just think hey it ain't gonna happen to them.

There's a dude I know who rode for 14 years (doesn't ride anymore) never dropped anything never crashed. Is it possible you wont drop a bike.. well I suppose but I think the odds are against you cause of so many factors.

Now I just need to figure a place online to order a mirror. I'll be taking the bike out today to make sure there is nothing wrong with it and get some practice as well as always.

[RayOSV]

Agree that not paying full attention is what usually lands you on the ground. Does it happen to everyone? Not necessarily. Does it happen to most? Seems like it (including me).

Glad your damage is minor and that you'll be able to learn from this.

[ThePhorest]

Originally Posted by malik ross

no you won't and tha mind set is what prevents newer riders from working on their skills to become better riders. the, "why bother, i'm going to drop it someday anyway" fatalist mentality runs rampant through our sport. its the reason why people buy bikes they are capable of controlling. "why start small, i'm going to crash anyway." some people think of it as some badge of honor and the first thing they do after calling the insurance company is post it up on SBN.

the poster couldn't even say how the accident occurred yet know he has been initiated into some club.

To be fair, I don't think he or I were talking about crashing, but rather just tipping it over in your garage, driveway, on a hill, etc. Happens to the best of us I think, and having one bonehead kind of moment like that is pretty inevitable. Crashing is another story.

[big_slacker]

Actually I almost dropped my first bike because of a driveway that sloped way down and trying to turn too sharp. I'm sure lots of low speed drops are caused by this. If my deadlift wasn't right around what the bike weighed I'd have dropped it for sure. You need to powerlift, it would have saved the day.

[rat6666]

It's nearly inevitable that a new rider will drop his bike somehow, even if just moving it around in the driveway or what not. Crashing, though - yes, completely different story.

I had a couple times on my first bike where I let my lack of attention lead me to a situation where I dropped it. One time, I had a passenger and was slowing down to pull off a main road and into a parking lot. Well, I never downshifted from 5th or 6th gear, and I braked all the way into the turn. When I went to add throttle through the turn, the engine bogged down and I simply fell over because I was traveling so slowly and couldn't keep the momentum up in the turn. No damage that wasn't already there, and just a bruised ego for my efforts.

I can't think of any other memorable experiences off the top of my head, but after that, I always remembered to downshift.

[smakawhat]

ok so here's a graphic detail of what happened. It took me some time, but I understand now why this happened. Knowing has really put my mind at ease.

a normal alley for my situation would look like this for angles. The black line represents the alley, the red the driveway, and the blue my garage door.



now this is what it REALLY looks like in terms of angles



If you see it from that perspective it looks like this (sorry about the darkness in the shots my camera wasn't fully charged, or maybe it was getting late in the day...).



If you notice that patch closest to you, that's where it dropped (gas spilled a bit). Now what I do is pull up to that crown turn right and back the bike in backwards which is tricky cause its like being in a sugar bowl and I have to get enough momentum to dig it over the hump (when I first had bikes I was concerned my bottom would get scratched but it doesn't so when I am done it looks like this



As you can see my driveway is VERY uneven and chewed up... that's another fixer project if ever. That's my neighbor's car. And you are looking at the perspective of my bike from in my garage welcome to a dc driveway oh yeah this is the other thing I have to dodge



so In the end what killed it was I stopped on the crown, and I figured I'd put my feet down, but because I was on the crown my feet was farther from the ground when the bike started leaning. By the time my foot hit the ground the bike was over to far and there was no going back.

Lesson learned

[dm_gsxr]

No pics dude.

Carl

[smakawhat]

Originally Posted by dm_gsxr

No pics dude.

Carl

it could be that photobucket is blocked from where you are, I know it is at my location but at home I can see the pics.

I have this posted elsewhere and can see the pics from home, I'll check at home and see if this thread pops them up.. otherwise I'll have to think of something else..

[RxNinja]

none of the pics are showing...

[apor]

i don't think i read you mention if you had sliders or not. i know on the fz6 forum, when somebody gets a bike and posts there, the first thing we tell them is to get sliders. they probably would have prevented most of the damage you have.
apor