Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech i dropped my bike!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel like an idoit, I was sitting still went to take of turned the bars started her up let out the clutch, gave it some gas popped the clutch killed the engine hit the front brake and crash down we go. It did no real damage cracked the left rear turn signal scuffed the left mirror and bent the clutch leaver. I know i have made a major sin, i feel so assamed. please forgive me.

It happens more than you could imagine.

Two types of motorcycle riders. Those who have been down and those about to go down. At least you still have your limbs, the bike is fixable.

I have also discovered gravity, actually more than once lol.

Best solution is to fix the bike up, immediately hop back on the saddle and keep going. Don't sit around moping about it, get back on and ride. I've gone down three times on my Speedmaster, and every time I've shaken my head, thanked the Almighty, and kept going.

Yep, I dropped mine once in the driveway. I felt pretty stupid, but looking back it wasn't a big deal.

I dropped mine in some soft sand when I first got it 2 years ago. Who cares. YUUUUT!!!! BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN

Shoot, I spent time today trying to straighten my shift lever with a sledge as a result of dropping my bike last year thinking my kickstand was down...and it wasn't! I did take the lever off before I hammered away.

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Shoot, I spent time today trying to straighten my shift lever with a sledge as a result of dropping my bike last year thinking my kickstand was down...and it wasn't! I did take the lever off before I hammered away.

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Did it two weeks ago at a gas station only thing hurt was my pride

The main thing is, did anyone see you? I came close yesterday. Rolled it forward in my garage, sidestand hung on a piece of carpet and went up about halfway. If it had leaned 1 more degree, I would have dropped it.

It's kind of like when you're in Vegas. You can be pissed off about the money you just lost or you can belly up to the black jack table again, get some free drinks, and play again. Playing again is more fun:)

My granny used to say, "Sonny, if yeh don't crash once in a while, yer not ridin' fast enough."

Dropped my '77 Bonny back in 1978 (now I'm showing my age) while looking in the mailbox for mail. Managed to lay her down softly and did no damage. Looked around and saw no witnesses, picked her up kicked the engine over and took off before I got noticed. The Bonnevilles only weighed 390 pounds back then.

It must be maddening in the moment though ...dropping it cause the sidestand is not down.

Oh....the humanity of it all.

I try to visualize my bike as an airplane that needs its landing gear down before the final approach to the runway/parking spot begins.

The only problem with that is ....it still happens. You would be surprised how many belly landings have occured when pilots quite simply neglected to put the gear down.

You would think that would be impossible with redundant warning systems.

But it do happen.

Dudes, First reply. I had a little mishap myself sat. I was riding below the speed limit entering intersection with flagmen and contruction cones and was watching all the lane changers and the redlight came up too quickly. I must have paniced on the rear pedal too hard and the rear went right out from under, I slid with her for 20-30 feet to avoid going thru the red light. I was heavily equiped with leather/armor/ and helmet so not much harm,just pissed-brand new 05 green TBA 500 miles, lucky again just a fender srcatch and footpeg and a few small diddy's. Got some xrays in case, screwed up my day,could be a lot worse. Gotta get back on before I think too much about what may have happened. JH

Man, as soon as the back locks up, get your foot off of it. The front brake will stop you in anything but greasy wet. Even wet the front will take care of you unless you really honk on it or the tire's bald. Americas are pretty soft on the front brakes. I think you'd have a hard time locking it up on dry pavement.

Nice color.

And Hey! Welcome to the neighborhood!

Depends how far around your wheel has come already. If the bike is still going straight, you can get off the rear and be fine (I've done it by accident...) but yeah, gotta be carefull because if the rear wheel is sideways signifficantly, and it suddenly regains traction, it's going to stop going sideways, by the momentun of you and the bike won't stop, and over you go.

It all sounds fine on paper, but it all went down within a 1/4 of a second, been riding for a while and never got into the rear brake that quick before. Wish I had time to plan the use and intensity of each brake and maybe use engine braking but I had to make the choice of entering a red lighted intersection and pray or try for a quick shut down, my bad that my choices were so limited but I eecked it out, just hope others can maybe benefit from my late view of the red light and unplanned shut down. thanks

I have a steep drive way and extreme caution(this was found out the hard way ) is needed when I get to the point were the drive meets the street.Well the ony thing done was the brake lever was bent and has a slight curve.Looks better than the clutch on the other side but the only way to match them is to let the bike fall the other way! I don't think so!

Not to sound too harsh here but these insidents are simply you not paying attention to the task at hand. If your going to survive riding one of these machines you have to have 100* total concentration going ALL the time. Thinking back at all the bonehead things I've done it was because I wasn't doing my job as a bike driver.
Learn from these lapses in concentration and become a better driver. I'm still trying.
ModelMaker

True that! I am not shrugging any blame, I was watching one dangerous situation and failed to watch them all and took away my own ability to shut it down correctly. Hope all who read these theads know that it was my bad. We have all been distracted but this one bit me.

I was at the gun show last week & put a wheel lock on my front rotor. Well.......forgot to remove before I tried to move. Slammed me to the ground faster than a blink. I hope never to repeat that "brain fart"