did you drop your bike in the 1st year of riding?

[Mojoe]

due to some debate and opinions I do not agree with, I wish to satisfy my curiousity.

Everyone has dropped a bike at one time or another...myself included. And maybe some of you never have. I just want to get an idea how and when so I can satisfy my curiousity.

Edit: if more than one option applies....such as you knocked the bike over several times and crashed while rolling, choose the most severe.

[Sky]

Didn't drop it yet ... but I have only 1000 km under my belt but it's a start

[Mojoe]

so then vote already...lol. I believe #4 is the one you want

[suzukisportrider2004]

mine rolled off the kicktand while i was taking off my gloves to open the garge door to put it away for the nite

[WildKat]

First time I ever dropped a bike, it took me a couple years before I actually "dropped it" in the driveway. I came very close a few times, but managed to save it as it was leaning over ready to tip. Wasnt hard though to save it at the time since it was a Honda Rebel.

Now my Kat, 2 days after I got it I was riding down the road, just left the house and it was hotter than hell that day and had been for a while, and that freekin tar/crack filler was slick as all get out and I just lost the rear end and then high sided when the rear gripped the road again. fortunately I was only going about 10 mph though. Very minimal damage, all cosmetic.

[Wingspan]

I had both a parking lot drop and a low speed (~30mph) crash my first season, so I voted for the crash.

The parking lot drop was my fault, I had help with the crash. It was either run wide in the turn or eat the grill of a pick-up truck that had crossed the center line. I had ~7000 miles experience at the time.

[Yellow2002Kat]

Mine was a parking lot fall. I was heading to a Wendy's in a shopping center with lots of twists and turns and I was going very slowly and coasting. I was going so slow that I went to make a somewhat tight turn and I just dropped the bike. To demonstrate how slow I was going I didn't even fall down - the bike just dropped I just picked it up, embarrassed as hell and got back on like nothing happened 8) Hey, I still had to get my Wendy's!

That was about 10 years ago and I had only been riding for about two months I guess - hard to remember. That was my first bike (the Kat is my 4th) and I haven't dropped a bike since 'knock wood'. I think the MSF beginner course and the few ERC courses I've taken since help keep me fairly sharp since I'm pretty much a weekend only rider. I just took the ERC course again about a month ago and I know it gave my skills a nice little refresher.

Great poll - glad you started it.

[harrye]

I fell on my 80cc Yamaha as a teenager 39 years ago while trying to corner fast, and tumbled part way down a steep ravine. I really felt bad about the scratches I put on that bike, and the experience was probably a major influence in my remaining years of riding.

In the past 20 years, I've fallen at least a dozen times with my 175cc dual sport, but that bike is meant to survive low speed drops on dirt.

My 1981 Yamaha XS400 has fallen off the stand twice, but never while being ridden.

My Katana will begin its 2nd year on the road within a week, and it has never fallen.

For me, the big expensive bikes that were never meant to fall have not fallen while being ridden. I hope my luck continues.

[paradoxmd]

i dropped mine at a very low speed (less than 5mph, i might as well have been stopped). i'd only been riding a few months and wanted to ride downtown to the ROT rally with my new girlfriend. i started feeling kind of sick, but i still really wanted to go. we passed some moto parking on a semi-steep hill. instead of telling my girl to get off while i turn around, i opted to do a slow speed u-turn on that hill and it just fell over. i hurt my pride more than the bike, myself, or my girlfriend. it's a wonder she still gets on the back with me. that was almost a year ago and haven't had a drop since.

[Negster]

My first lay down was at about 30-40 mph on a 1998 Yamaha V-Star Classic. I thought I was getting onto an on-ramp to an interstate so I began to speed up. Just as I did, I saw a guy pass me on a 90 degree vertical wheelie. I looked at him for about 3 seconds in awe. When I looked forward again, I realized that I was not on the on-ramp. It was actually a hairpin turn. All I saw was a row of black arrow on yellow backgound signs... Just beyond the signs (about 5 feet) was a chainlinked fence surrounding a pond. My two options, since I could not stop in time, were to go through the fence into the pond or lay the bike on its side. I chose the latter since it's easier to fix road rash than to tow it out of the pond. The only damage was rash on the bottom muffler and on the bar end.

I then traded that bike shortly after for a 2004 Kawasaki 500R. I was in a parking lot with the engine running to warm it up. I put my left foot on the peg as I was putting on my gloves. I accidently pushed the shift lever down into first gear and the bike jumped out from under me and fell to the ground... Luckily nobody was around to see it happen

[gsxr150]

I've had tons of bikes and never crashed or tipped. I did crash twice as passenger. Once on a scooter, and once on a dirt bike...go figure.

[DreKat]

I smashed my bike in the first 36 hours of owning it. I missed a turn doing 70mph. Had to rebuild the whole bike. All new fairings, headlight, signal lights, foot pegs, grab bar, windshield, tail light lost the chain guard and lost my visor on my helmet. Broke my callor bone and had some rash. My gear paid for it's self that day. very imbarsing I was with a pack of 25 other bikes and I was watching them being stupid as they were a head of me and I guess I was not paying attention to what I should be doing and went off the road (well the bike went off the road and I rolled down the road). One guy got sick just looking at me and the bike. I learned my lesson.

[Mojoe]

well it is good to see that it isn't 80% of you that dumped in the fisrt year, but I have to honestly say that 51% (at the time of this reply) is still pretty disturbing. It just seems like an awful lot to me. I really don't know what else to say about it except that I am glad most are just just bike damages and no real injuries involved.

[WildKat]

At this point in time of the thread..

during the 1st year I crashed my bike at significant speed. 23%

.. is the Second highest percentage.

Just take care everyone and remember to take it safe and easy out there. There's alot of factors working against you when your new..mainly the experience factor so lets make sure to be careful

[Black_peter]

I dropped mine twice,
once I "parked" it forgetting to
put out the side stand..

Second time I slipped on an oily patch
putting it up on the center stand.