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Well I finally dropped it

glw22041

Member
We my wife and I were on a ride through the mountains in West Virginia and decided to ride Sky Line Drive home. I came to a stop sign uphill making a left turn uphill. There was a center curb with the stop sign. I was positioned on the left tire track to the inside of the turn. When I started to move I wasn't paying attention and didn't have enough throttle on, the engine started to clunk. I disengaged the cluth planning on getting some RPM's rev and keep moving. As soon as I pulled the clutch we started to roll backwards - towards the center curb. I grabbed the brake and went to put my left foot down - no ground there. I held the brake, we went over to the left, my wife doing a perfect left rear parachute landing fall (head over heels down the curb). Everything was fine, we were not hurt, the Ultra CLassic has a small scratch in the chrome on the bag guard.

Lesson learned - position yourself to the outside of the lane opposite of the turn to stay on the high side of crowned roads and away from center curbs.
 
Another embarrasing biker moment,glad your ok.
I bet if you look at the bag below the guard real close you will find a small scratch there too.
 
Two kinds of bikers: those that have, and those that will!! As long as it is as innocuous as yours was, and you learned from it, it is NBD.

Somewhere else here there was a post on riding on a sandy road. There is some good advise in some of those posts. The MAIN point in all of these is that it is better to be safe than sorry. Ride WELL within your abilities particularly when responsible for a passenger.

TQ
 
AW MAN! I hate it when that happens!!.....And it does happen. Sooner or later, no matter how careful you are.
Glad no one was hurt, that's the important thing. A little sctatch on the chrome will serve as a reminder.
 
Yep, it happens to everybody sooner or later. Sometimes more than once! I seem to have a problem with parking lots. The first time I dropped a bike, a 1975 Moto Guzzi El Dorado, was in a dark parking lot when I was put-putting along slowly in too high a gear, lugging the motor. I didn't see the speed bump until too late. That bump was just enough to stall the motor and before I could put my feet down we were over. The bike had guards so there was no damage other than to my ego.

Then there were the times I dropped my EG. The first was when I was again moving at slow speed in a grocery store parking lot and a car backed suddenly out of a parking space right in front of me. I started to swerve and at the same time hit the brakes. Down we went. Again, no real damage. I was just glad the idiot cage driver didn't wait until I was right behind him before zipping out of the parking space. The second time on the EG was just plain my own dumb fault. My wife and I were leaving a restaurant and I stopped at the edge of the road before pulling out. There was a drainage channel about 4" deep and I managed to stop directly over it. I put my foot down and didn't find pavement until the bike was leaned far enough that there was no holding it up. I'll bet that Glide has the same scratch as yours.

It almost happened yesterday. Almost. We took a ride and on the way home I decided to stop in at a restaurant that has a really bike-unfriendly parking lot. I mean, what ain't steeply sloped up is steeply sloped down or to the side. Some spots you would swear it is all three at once. Still, they make some of the best hamburgers in Texas so I stopped in. I knew that the upper parking lot was the only one that had any even vaguely level spots so I rode directly there. Right up a steep slope in first gear but didn't maintain enough speed. Motor stalls. I grab a handful of front brake to keep from rolling backward. Thankfully the front tire was pointed straight ahead. I had a moment when I thought we were going over but the soreness of the muscles in my left leg this morning are a testimony to how we managed to stay upright.

Ride safe and have fun,
John
 
I dropped mine on both sides in the year I have had it. Both times at a stop. First time on a hill attempting to pull out, not enough gas, stalled it, kerplunk on the right side. 4 months later pulled up to a stop light, put my foot down perfectly on a little round stick, foot went out from underneath me, kerplunk on the left side. Wife was on the back both times. No one hurt, a few scratches on the lowers, gotta lay on the floor to see em. Just glad both times were stopped. Like they say, there are those that have, and those that will, and those that lie about it.
 
Dropped my Wing a couple of times while learning to ride it. Thought I had everything figured out until the first time my wife was a passenger. We were going up a slopping driveway and made a slow left turn into a parking space. I didn't get the wheel straightened out as we came to a stop and down we went. No one injured and no damage. However, lesson learned. Haven't dropped the Road Glide yet, but have come close a few times. There will always be that unanticipated situation or circumstance. The key is to keep riding and learning.
 
I dropped mine at parking lot practice going about 2 MPH. Pretty embarasing. Put my right foot down and grabbed the front brake. Just like they say. It pulled me to the ground like a magnet. Now when I practice or do a U in a tight spot, I concentrate on not taking my right hand off the throttle.

You have to stand on your head or use a mirror to see the scratches on the engine guard. No harm, no foul.

One of the old timers said everyone drops their bike sooner or later. You just have to hope no one sees it happen! One of the guys that's been riding over 30 years dropped his at the gas station the other day. A couple of us walked over and lifted it back up and just pretended we didn't see it happen.

I noticed that it is a little tough to hold upright at left turn stops when the road is graded for the left turn. I guess my left leg isn't long enough... There's one of those steep graded curve stops by my house and I almost dropped it a couple of times. Now I stay way right, and lean right near the stop sign and it seems easier to hold upright while waiting for traffic to go by.
 
Glad to hear no one was hurt bad, I dropped My EGC a few times when I had it, I only Hurt My Pride, the Bike was fine, just minor scratches on chrome, it happens sooner or later when you least expect it!
 
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