[Talcott]

I have never gone down, but I doubt that I have as many miles that many of the vets have. I also drive conservatively. When I first got into street riding(don't think the yamaha chappy at the age of 12 counts), my concerned freinds and family said there were two types of riders those who have gone done and those who would.

So who has not gone done, and those who have would you offer up some tidbits of wisdom to help any and all avoid it.:thumbup

Talcott

 

[IndyRXTC]

I prefer she goes down first!!!! :beer

I have went down 2 times on a bike........Its not "if", but when......so you best know how to crash!!!


Craig

 

[EddyR1]

IndyR1

you hit it!

just like you say

been down twice myself

thats why I wear the best gear

 

[PrizmP]

I went down twice too.

First time : Totally not my fault, some cager suddently changed lanes on me, his insurance paid everything. :iamwithst

Second time : Totally my fault, i was comming way too fast in a 180° curve... didn't make it. :bash On this one i never told my insurance company about it!!! I prefer paying 2000$ now than 1000$/year for the next 5 years! :fact

I've been riding for 8 yrs with 12~15 000 km every summer.

 

[DrEvil]

0

 

[chipset]

I too have never downed my bike (while on it).

My old YZF600R went down a couple times. The kid that owned it before me had it do a parking lot fallover. Then, I parked it on my driveway the wrong direction and turned to see it roll down then fall down.

And years ago, I was walking a friends bike, turned and it fell over...

I have had a couple close calls. A tankslapper with no gear on (hit some gravel while moving my bike). Another one was a minivan with a burned out right taillight. They tapped the breaks, making it look like a left turn signal, then sure enough turned right. I almost smacked that puppy.

Now, I don't doubt that one day my 2001 R1 may fall. However, I am not big into the tricks (haven't even popped a wheelie) and ride fairly conservatively.

Chipset

 

[trebs]

Riding for 5 years. Lots of miles. Until this morning, my count was 1 down. - hit by a car, not my fault.

Now it's 2. Dropped my bike @ 6:45 am this morning. Cold tires, cold pavement and the bike killer SAND.

Lots of scratches. Maybe a cracked fairing. We'll see what my buddy at the shop says.

Totally my fault. It's just riding the R1 gets me too damn excited for my own common sense.

**** YOU SAND.

And for the guys ranting about people racking up the insurance rates. This ones coming out of my 'future' childrens college fund.

 

[Brian0128]

Been down 1x, at Freddie Spencer's riding school!!!
At least it wasn't my bike!!!:finger
I actually low sided my gsxr750, but it doesn't really count...I was doing about 20 on cold tires on a slanted road and tried to pull the front wheel up by clutching it and it broke loose, but no damage except a clutch lever......had frame sliders

 

[Sparco]

3 years ago, went down with my cbr600 at 20km/h. Ground was frozen + some ice spots...
Front tire didn't want 2 go where i wanted to go

It was a nice lesson, before i was riding like nothing could happen to me. (Even if you "fly" only in perfect conditions)

 

[Dank]

Been down once, hit by a blind old lady. Spent 4days in the hosp. Still recovering.........

They can look right at you and not see you.
Buy the best possible Gear you can
Stay in Shape
Stay out of retirement areas (phoenix during the winter basically)
IF you see an old person driving, scare the **** out of them somehow, then maybe they'll notice bikers.

:crash

 

[ChampionR1]

Down once here. 60 mph lowside :crash

 

[solo]

knock on wood

I have had many close calls and saves ... I have been very lucky I might add:thumbup

although my bike went down 1 time when a [email protected]$$ hit my bike while parked .. if not for the police officer at the scene he would of ended up in the hospital:crash

 

[2002yzf_r1]

Been down 1 time two years ago on my CBR900RR. Victim of cold tires and too much throttle. I was making a simple left hand turn about 1/4 mile from the shop where I had just had it serviced in prep. for a trip down the west coast to CA. I failed to get the bike upright enough before I rolled on the throttle. Completely my fault, didn't make an insurance claim. Only real damage, amazingly, was a busted left mirror, scratched alternator cover and a couple of body plastic scratches. You can see some pics at http://www.dillardhome.org/RR

I broke my ankle in the fall and it still isn't as flexible as it should be, but it doesn't keep me from doing pretty much what I want.

 

[WetWork999]

2 times down seems to the general trend.

I was a test driver for Harley Davidson and never went tires up, thank god. Had a few close calls.

However, on my own scooters I have been down twice. First time was at a stop light and a hottie in a trcked out Rx7 did not see me and plowed me at like 20 mph while a cop watched the whole thing. I had a TLD painted lid and her insurance contested the charge so we sued, and can you say cha ching. She was on a suspended license. She hit me hard enough to buckle the rear swing-arm.

Second time was the almight sand that got me on long island. Was just tooling around at like 30mph and was on a sweeper and felt the front going away. Was always taught "If bike goes Down, legs go UP".

I really have no adive other than use the best gear you can afford and if you have a five dollar head buy a five dollar helmet but I get the Very best I can afford.

Other than that all I can add in my years of riding, 1987 till rpesent (wow I feel old) is if you have gone past the point of salvation and trust me you will know as the pucker factor on a scale of 1 to 10 is like a 32... Pull your legs up as high as possible.

While I was test riding for HD, we were testing Buells and one of my fellow riders did not follw that adage and his legs was torn off on the test track.

For what it is worth I hoep to hear from all of you at season's end, god speed to all.

~Andy:hellobye

 

[r1tadau]

2 years ago I was in an accident.. some lady decided that she she didn't want to stop at a stop sign so she hit me directly on the right side of the bike. :no If I had been watching her the entire time I might have been able to avoid the collision, but we can't watch everyone at all times so she put me into the hopital for a week. I had a shattered hand and received two skin graphs along with countless stiches and staples all on the right side of my body... The bike was totaled and I just recently received my settlement !:jump :jump :jump :jump

 

[Bjorn]

Never been down, dropped a few bikes though through stupid mistakes but never when riding, been riding for 5 years and no i do not ride conservatively. I know it's all a matter of time before i meet the asphalt.

 

[sawboy]

I've been riding 5 years and crashed 1 time. It was my first year riding on my Seca 600 ( ya I have been loyal to Yamaha from the start).
Some asshole driving an Ice cream truck who was too busy looking for kids to sell Ice cream to watch the road
made a left hand turn right in front of me. Hurt like Hell!!
Being a new rider of course I didn't have propler riding gear, a little road rash, some bump & bruises and a lesson learned. As much as the accident was his fault and he was charged I realize now that my inexperience had something to do with it too. That accident wouldn't happen today! By the way I have heard all the ice cream jokes. No it was not a Rocky Road!

 

[scud]

sometimes the shit hits the fan...

KNock wood I've never put 'er in riding on the street:

once I did something assinine and dropped my YZF while doing on oil change - I couldn't see the oil level sitting on it, and instead of throwing it on the swing arm stand (because my friend borrowed it) I decided I would wedge a section of 2x4 under the kick stand just to level it and check the oil level....goddamned thing was in slow motion - it stood up, I got off the bike and it stayed put...so i thought - like in a slow motion movie it seemed like it was moving EVER so slowly...thought maybe I was seeing things - a split second later she was tipping and I was under it low to the ground checking th oil level...adrenaline shot up so fucking fast I pushed against it, it STILL hit the gruond and I grabbed up the front brake and stodd it up no problem - I got extremely lucky that I was under it in a position to kind of hold it and still not get hurt. zero damage. word.

2) was riding the YZF out of a friends cul-de-sac in queens (74th street, like 5 blocks from GCP) down the walkway towards the street, a little friggin girl that lived there goes flying out on her scooter - luckily I was only going abou 2 or 3 mph...I turned onto the grass to avoid hitting the little bitch, and as I felt the wheel slide out I had the bright idea to try and throw a foot down dirtbike style- sadly (as we all seem to know) streetbike tires just don't hook sideways on grass- leg down or not...I did a prince-like split, FREAKED when I saw the bike laying on the grass stood it up and jumped back on...stopped on pavement brushed myself off and checked the damage - very lucky, only a very minor scuff on the stator cover and some dirt on the bar end... My bad, sort of.

3) did the grass thing on my virago many moons ago...actualy first incident ever. I used to store the bike in my dads backyard and to get it back there I had to carefully ride a short grass path which turned into the brick patio in the back. must have done it a thousand times - slow and careful, no drama. this time for whatever reason she slid QUICK and down i went. actualyl had to laugh - it was only my already beat up virago - felt stupid. picked it up and went. oh well.

been very luckyhowever - I've had plenty of close calls- some clearly my fault for over exuberance and stupidity or not paying enough attention...though mostly the fault of even more careless cagers who never give a **** - and regardless, the bike always loses

there is one bottom line here: KNOW YOUR LIMITS AND RIDE WITHIN THEM - that's theonly way to avoid alot of potential disasters.

 

[UT Longhorn]

Very fortunately, I've never been down on a bike. I've ridden approx. 30,000 miles over the last few years. I've had one of those dumb ass parking lot incidents on my old bike, where the bike fell over due to the stand going through the asphalt, but that's about it. I've been VERY lucky up to this point, and I would like to keep it that way. :thumbup

 

[PurePower_R1]

been down once lowside on that damn magic sand