oops. I dropped it...

[XJfan1]

So I'm lounging around the house today and the wife sends me to the store for trash bags. As im walking out to my I realize that its really nice outside and I should take the xj. Its getting dark so i open the garage door unplug the battery tender and she fires right up. The roads are a little wet as I mosey across town to get the stuff I need and head for home. I pull in the driveway and into the garage and back up to where I park her so I can plug her back in to the tender. I do my usual turn off the gas drop the kickstand and shut the bike off all the while juggling the crap picked up from the store.Being the miser I am I turned the lights off before I left so the garage is dark. Well i lean the bike over to set her on the kickstand and apparently I didnt have it down all the way it flipped back up and i dropped her slowly on the floor on her side. I didnt even turn the light back on to inspect the damage I just stood her up and closed the door. I'm hoping it didnt hurt anything. My ego was damaged bad enough. anybody ever do this sort of thing?

[Wildkat]

Soooooo... damage report?
Hoping it wasn't too bad...

About 20 years ago I was riding my husband's XS750. We lived in a house with a driveway that was just steep enough...
I, for whatever reason, had to stop in the dip where the driveway meets the street (Don't remember why I had to stop there.. but it wasn't by choice). I couldn't reach the ground and ended up going right over in a slow, controlled fall (when I could finally touch the ground).
John seeing that I was in trouble, jumps off his bike, puts his kickstand down and as he's running to help me get my bike up... his kickstand sinks in the soft ground and his bike goes over.
Luckily, no damage to either bike... but I was left a bit embarrassed since it was my oops that caused the chain of errors.

[LuckyEddie]

Oops

Check your battery water, it will dribble out the overflow amazingly quick.
I learned that the hard way.

[mack]

yep

Last year at the XS north rally. We'd just stopped for a gas and rest and I'd just pulled away from the pumps and pulled it out of the way on some gravel. When I stopped another bike pulled up close on my left so I couldn't get off on that side. Stepped off the right side and my heal slipped on an old piece of broken asphault, just as I got my leg half across the tank and my heel pulled the bike over on my side. With one leg still over the seat and the other on uneven ground I couldn't hold it. Slowly it just keep leaning over on top of me. All I could was say OH, OH Oh as it slowly lay down on it's side. Wasn't down long before I got both feet on one side and threw it back up on the rubber, but highly embarassing to be sure.

[CatatonicBug]

Yep, BTDT a few times... I did it once at a gas station, immediately after filling up. I had just gotten back on the bike and realized I had just melted through the bottom of the soft saddlebags I was using, and it melted a hole in a 2-liter soda bottle I was carrying. So I lost a good amount of the fuel I just paid for, AND my drink!

I also did that one time at a light, right next to a large cargo van. I always keep my right foot on the brake pedal, and only put my left foot on the ground at a light. This time, for some reason, my balance was playing tricks on me and I leaned just a tiny but too far to the right, and laid it over before I could get my right foot down. The guy in the van probably throught I was drunk! The hard saddlebags made it much easier to pick back up and continue on, albeit a bit more humble.

[TheDuck]

Oops

My father has quite the stable of bikes, Triumphs, Harleys, and at one point had some old Japanese bikes including an XS750. So when I bought my first XS11, he came by to take it around the block and check it out. I think he was remembering his old 750 when he came back from his ride and got off, not realizing how heavy these bikes are, and down he went with the bike.

I didn't mind too much since there wasn't any damage to the bike or the old man. But these bikes weigh a ton. I've owned a few of the 11's and its the only bike I won't let a novice or non-rider sit on, just because of the weight and inexperience of not knowing how to handle it if it started going down.

[IanDMacDonald]

Yup, on my 750, and I felt that bike was heavy until I first sat on this thing.

[Radioguylogs]

Uh huh

I have owned a '79 750SF since it was nearly new. 2 years ago I started to fix it up and I bought a parts bike for $200 to use for replacing the rusty parts.

When I went to pick up the 'parts' bike, it was nicer looking than the one I was fixing up. Well, you know what happens next. My wife is saying I'm nuts, but I fixed the bent exhaust valve, and the stuck brakes and the bugered IGN system and a billion other things. It was beautiful when it was done.

Immediately I went to the gas station. And even though I thought the kickstand was down, it was only partially down and the bike fell over on me as all the other people watched.

A nice guy ran over and helped me, but he couldn't fix my ego.

Let's hope lessons learned prevail with my newly acquired '79 XS1100SF that I bought two weeks ago. You guys are right- they are HEAVY.

BTW Thanks for the warm welcome from the administration when they opened my account for me.

[ViperRon]

Once when I was first riding I stopped at a busy intersection in town. Had a city cop right behind me. It was a little chilly in the evening and had a little mist of rain falling. I pulled to the right of the drip strip at the light and put my left foot down not paying too much attention I leaned to the side as the foot went down so I was already off balance. When tennis shoe hit the wet oil spot my foot shot out from under me and the bike went down. The officer did get out to help me get the bike up and decided to put some sand on the road there. Nope no ticket but felt like a fool.

[bikerphil]

Dropped mine at the toll station on the Mass Pike back in '90, sucks tryng to pick up your bike in a wet oily spot by yourself with cars beeping at you. Got it picked up myself before anyone had a chance to come and help.

[DGXSER]

My very first bike was a 78 XS750. The bleeders on both front calipers were completely rounded off, and the system has air in it. That was my first lesson in the physics of hot air taking up more volume. As you road the bike and used the front brakes the heat expanded the air until the front brakes locked up. I dropped that bike several times on busy city streets due to pulling in the clutch and the front end nose diving to a complete stop before I could react. Young and dumb, I should have known to fix the dang things instead of continuing to ride it like that.

[XJfan1]

Check your battery water, it will dribble out the overflow amazingly quick.
I learned that the hard way.

I have a sealed battery in my bike. That's a good thought though

[TheFrugalTech]

Caught the left cuff of my jeans on the foot peg twice in one season on the same bike and same pair of jeans.
Blown over in a windstorm once on the Vetter full dress (50-60MPH wind gusts) while waiting for the wife to open the garage.
One really close call in Nada tunnel in KY when I couldn't raise the sun shield on my helmet fast enough. Did an emergency stop not being able to see sh*t. raised the visor and I was literally inches from the rough cut right hand side of the tunnel.
Had plenty of close calls due to the sand and crap they use on the roads in the winters around here.

[xs11jack]

Many years ago, the wife and I went to visit relitives and on the way home after dark I had to wizz. I saw a small rest area with picknic tables and pulled in there. For some reason the wife stayed on the bike. I got the zipper down and heard her scream and a crashing sound. Turns out the little parking lot was freshly paved that afternoon and was as soft as a marshmellow. When I got the bike up, it wouldn't start. I almost ran the battery down when the little lady points at the emergency OFF switch and says"What's that for?" Oh well.
Ole Jack.

[mikubuilder]

I dumped mine a couple of times when I was trying to tame it...(inexperienced rider)
the only thing besides the battery leaking was motor oil in the air box, you might want to pull off bottom half and check, especially if you have expensive K&N, DAHIK