Dropped the bike! Lessons and a warning

[Methos1979]

Less than two months old and I dropped Monika today - WITH the wife on the back no less!!!

It was 65 degrees out today. In New Hampshire. On November 12th! That's unheard of!! The wife was off for Veteran's Day so we headed out for a ride - of course. We stop to get gas and I go to put the bike up on the EZ-Up center stand and over she goes to the left!

It wasn't really a drop - more of a slow lowering. As soon as I tried to rock her back and up I could feel her go and it was too late to stop it. I had good footing so I just kinda lowered her to the ground as easy as I could without dropping. There was no crashing sound or anything. In fact although it is a busy 8-pump gas station no one seemed to even notice.

Since I've dropped bikes before and I've owned big bikes (Gold Wings) I know you have to fight the urge to grab the bike quickly and stand it up. That's a sure fire way to hurt yourself. I also know how to use my legs and back as leverage to right a bike. But since I had the wife there we just took a few seconds to regroup and then slowly lifted her back up.

Once back up and on the center stand I looked for damage. Nothing. None. Nada. Sweet! I thought for sure the left bag or the exhaust would sustain something. Not a scratch, in fact not even any evidence anything made contact!

Now, what the heck happened? Did the EZ-Up stand come loose? I climbed under and checked it out - nope, still tight. Then I saw the reason: The area where the cement slabs came together had about an inch wide gap, about an inch deep. The left side EZ-Up foot must have been right over it. So when I tried to put it up, over she went.

Lessons learned:

1.) Visually check as best you can the area you are parking and look for any type of gap or depression that might cause uneven contact with the center stand. Also leave plenty of room between the pump and your bike, which fortunately I did. Had the bike been closer to the pump either the bike or, worse, one of us could have been hurt or damaged from making contact with the pump.

2.) Put the side-stand down anyway, just in case the bike goes to the left. Had I done that it would have caught the bike. Never hurts to have a backup although it won't help you if it goes to the right!

3.) Apply some pressure to the center stand and rock it a little to make sure you can feel contact on both center stand feet before completing the maneuver. I do this when I put it up on my dirt driveway and you can tell pretty quickly and easily whether or not the center stand feet are making even contact.

I learned that the bike is not as heavy as I thought it was. At least no where near the weight of the Gold Wing. The wife was also very good. She never panicked, stayed with the bike and caught her weight clear of the bike as it went down. Good to know. She's a vet. Also good to know that the bike will not sustain any damage in this type of drop. In fact, it seemed that the added inch of EZ-Up center stand attached to the bottom of the frame is what the bike rested on keeping the exhaust pipes and/or bag from having any contact.

So just a heads up to EZ-Up center stand users to exercise a little extra caution!!! This is in no way the fault of, or problem with, the EZ-Up stand and I still love this product. Just a friendly heads up to my fellow shark riders. I owned my BMW for 4 years and never dropped it once - although I did come close on a couple occasions. But it was also a much lighter bike. I've been a little worried about what would happen if I lost my footing with the RGC on some loose sand, gravel or leaves. Now I know and I'm not as worried about it, so I guess there is an up-side to the whole thing!

We gassed up and continued our ride down to the ocean to see what kind of damage was done from Sandy. It was a great ride and I'll post of picture of the unscathed bike and it's lucky owner later!

[08gezzer]

Glad no one was hurt


Sent from my iPhone using Motorcycle.com App

[shermanator]

yeah, I learned that the hard way to. I make sure its on both legs before I apply pressure.

[Methos1979]

A promised,a photo from today's great ride!

[hutmo]

Nice Pic. The smile says it all!


Once last lifting your bike tip. If you have had prior knee injuries be certain to get help. Don't ask me how I know this.

HUTMO

[Stray Mutt]

One tip (for those of us without the center stand) I picked up from someone on the forum here was to approach the pump from the left. Chances are it's gonna fall to the left in such a situation. You don't want to be caught with the bike leaning toward or on the pump, especially if you have to do the ol' squat and leg lift method. Glad to hear that Monika came out unscathed!

[GMAN SERGU]

Thank you for the information, I have been thinking on installing EZ up center stand. I had a CS with my BMW and like the conviniance. I am glad that nobody got hurt and that your bike is ok. Beutiful color on your bike

[Hullhorr]

I have had a couple occasions where the ground beneath me was not as level as appears and the bike would not go up on the center stand without feeling a little wobbly. After the first time I always rock the bike back and forth to be sure it's stable before dismounting.

[Dhambrick]

Originally Posted by Stray Mutt

One tip (for those of us without the center stand) I picked up from someone on the forum here was to approach the pump from the left. Chances are it's gonna fall to the left in such a situation. You don't want to be caught with the bike leaning toward or on the pump, especially if you have to do the ol' squat and leg lift method. Glad to hear that Monika came out unscathed!

QFT. Always better to have room. You never when it is going to go over, like a couple of weeks again when me daughter was climbing on...her weight shifted backwards and she pulled us over in a slo-mo fall to the left.

I sat it back up, no harm no foul.

[Cherry3m]

I did the exact same thing right after I put the EZ-up on my two week old RGU. Like you, had no damage at all, except my ego. Be very careful using the center stand.