finally dropped the 80G

[oldbiker648]

After three years of riding my most excellent '80 Standard model, the bike which is my absolute mechanical mate, I finally dropped her tonite for the first time. This unfortunate event did not occur earlier in the evening when I dusted a Dodge Hemi pickup on a 60 MPH roll-on which was being driven by a twenty year old who wanted to see what I had, but at the very end of my ride, when I was about 3 feet short of my garage door on very loose gravel (I live in a planned development and was forced to add gravel to my steep driveway in order to meet community standards). The front wheel just decided to plow as I made a slight course correction, not even under braking, and all of a sudden I had 600 pounds of XS-11 leaning hard to the right and my right foot was sliding in loose gravel. I held her up as long as I could and then gently let her go without any major injury to either of us. The driveway slopes downhill to the right, so getting my favorite ride back upright was no easy chore. The smell of fresh gas leaking out of the recently filled tank was my incentve, and I finally single-handed her back into the vertical position with some serious effort. I'm sure there are many of you out there that have had something similar happen at some point. I'm 6'-4 and 200#, in fairly good shape for being over 50, but I can tell you that picking that bike up from a downhill lie was all I wanted to do.
Shiny side up,
John

[mason79]

thanks for the discription, sorry to hear that gravel got another victim, yes surface evaluation, is one of my major concerns...

[prometheus578]

"90% of all accidents happen in the home."

Or close to home, or something like that.
Hope all the damage was cosmetic and slight.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey John,

Sorry to hear about your gravel slide! Glad you weren't going fast! Long Time no hear....have you been out of town working?!

I've gotten my SOFA's back into production finally! Haven't made much time for riding lately, and it's supposed to get very WARM=HOT this week! Hope you didn't pull anything trying to keep the bike from falling, or afterwards picking it back up!?

Yeah, I had to lift mine up from a drop a few years ago on the shoulder of I-95 near 295 on Friday AM Memorial Day weekend rush hour traffic. Helps not to stand on the sheepskin that's bungied to the bike when trying to lift it!
T.C.

[mro]

I'm 6'-4 and 200#, in fairly good shape for being over 50

I'm in good shape for being over 50, ......maybe, but only 175 lbs

have had to up-right my 80G a few times
I do it facing away from bike, one hand on bars, other on frame
much easier than facing it and "man handle" it up.


mro

[trbig]

I just grab mine up by the triple tree, and one hand back by the seat.... pick it up, curl it a few times for good measure, then carry it off to the side of the road before setting it down. Everybody is wearing those tall riding boots to protect your feet from the BS aren't you?!? LOL.

Tod

[skids]

Just be happy your ego was not damaged. When my bike was new (to me), I rode it to the auto parts store. I sat there for a minute and then went to set it onto the side stand -- which was NOT down. It went past the "point of no return," right in front of those big window panes, right in front of God and the world.

[underdog57]

Dropped bike

I just bought mine , still getting used to just pushing it around...
It feels awkward still ....sure to drop it it sounds like ....

Hope yours did not get scratched to much ...

Bob

[mason79]

Re: Dropped bike

Originally posted by underdog57
I just bought mine , still getting used to just pushing it around...
It feels awkward still ....sure to drop it it sounds like ....

Hope yours did not get scratched to much ...

Bob

i got around 1500 miles since i got mine and the fear has subsided, i'm only 5'7 ' 135lb

[oldbiker648]

Thanks for the concern, stories and advice, guys. Fortunately, no injuries of any significance to either me or "The Beast". I do have a pretty good bump on my left shin, but don't remember exactly how it happened. As far as getting the bike upright, I did end up "manhandling" it, grabbed the bars on the right side (downhill side) and rolling it up. The first time I tried, it was in neutral and I couldn't do it, but once I clicked her back into gear, it was much easier. Of course the fact that I was standing in loose gravel didn't help. Thank God for the crash bars. T thing that the only things that hit were the crash bars, the front brake lever and throttle, but I haven't looked at the rear turn indicator yet. I cut the engine off immediately and then smelled the gas draining out of the tank. Once I got her upright, I went inside for a beer and let the gas dry up before I re-started her and put her into the garage. I'll rake the excess gravel off that area and put it somewhre else on the driveway so hopefully I don't have that problem again.
MRO, yeah, I've done the "I thought I put the sidestand down" trick a couple of times , but have managed to catch the bike before that magic point of no return. I'm also bad about taking off with the sidestand down. Never wrecked doing that, but need to be more careful.

[underdog57]

I'm height challenged 5'6" But have weight "advantage"?? 185..

I see where they have a site where a woman hefts her big bike up . With her back to it and works for her !!!

Glad it was just a minor drop ...for you ...

Bob

[oldbiker648]

Skids, sorry for giving MRO credit for the "sidestand in play" scenario. I was at work and read all of the great replies and probably responded a bit too quickly. Hell, if there is any way an XS owner can have possibly screwed up, from wheelies, kickstand down, kickstand up, attempted third gear starts, etc., it's been done before. I'd like to see a thread on the most improbable screw ups that any of us has had. Make sense to you? Anyone out there with a reasonably sized ego and a good story, are you willing to share?

[fxrer]

Ouch! Glad to hear no real damage was done.

Many of us have had those surprise ‘mishaps’. A while back, when SWMBO was riding my SG, she (5’3”, 145) had to tiptoe in a parking lot, and it fell over, gently. That crunched a clutch lever and signal.

After that, I put on a set of big crash bars, and the next time it was laid over, there was no damage. They work! Plus, they make it easier to get the bike up to the ‘leverage point’.

If you’re not an Olympian strongman, like mro says, put your backside against it, get a grip, lean backwards into it and use your legs, mostly. That’s how weightlifters do it!

Once, when it fell over in the shop (before crash bars), I used a low, foreign car, scissors jack to get under a bottom frame rail, and was able to jack it up to a good “tip angle” that made it very easy to get upright. So, I guess we should all carry a scissors jack in our saddle bags!

[mro]

Not easy to do

oldbiker648

Skids, sorry for giving MRO credit for the "sidestand in play" scenario.

I'm the older, good looking guy


mro

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

I experienced the "Side Stand Playing Possum" scenario last winter. Found out that Highway bars really work. Fortunately, it was at the far end of the Walmart parking lot and only little old ladies saw me...