How Many Have Dropped A 2 Wheeler?

[pwhoever]

My worst one was on Fri May 13th 2016. I spent the morning down at headquarters turning in all my paperwork to finalize my retirement. After that was done, I raced home and jumped on my 2007 GL1800 (still a bike at that time) for what was supposed to be a 1-1/2 week much needed vacation.

I was going to spend the weekend at a buddy's place along Black River down in Arkansas and then my (now ex) wife and my kids were going to drive down to Gulf Coast in Florida and I would meet up with them Sun evening.

The ride down to AR went great. No issues. But then as I was slow driving the last mile down gravel to my buddy's place, about 100 yards away, it happened. Suddenly it felt like I was driving on ice and front end got real loose. Next thing I remember was bike completely on its right side and on my right leg. I was able to drag my leg out but when I tried to stand, I couldn't put weight on that leg and sat back down. There were some neighbors close by who came over to help, I just asked them to grab my buddy. My buddy drove down in his pickup and I ride in the bed back to his place while others helped to right my bike and get it down to my buddy's.

I found out that the "gravel" road I was on was actually river rock. And since the river has a bad habit of overflowing often, any kind of clay or dirt that should help hold the rock has ling been washed away. River rock is not an easy thing to drive across especially if you are a city boy who never got any experience driving on even gravel.

So I ended up getting brought to hospital and was told I had a spiral fracture of my tibia and slight break in fibula towards top. They wanted to do surgery on Mon but I had a regular orthopedic guy back home who I trusted. They put a brace on leg, ace bandaged it on and released me. I proceeded to have a wonderful weekend after that and was treated like a king until my brother in law and nephew were able to make it down Sun and gave me a ride back home. Unfortunately my (now ex) wife and kids got to enjoy the Florida sunshine without me. Surgery happened a few days later and I now have a permanent rod in that tibia to always remind me of this adventure.

 

[mggf]

Many years back in the ‘80s I had a Honda Magna, would do 70mph in first gear. Got a high speed wobble at somewhere over 100mph, flipped the bike, slid down the road on my back and ended up against a wooden highway post. Helmet and my head split. I woke up in what the hospital refers to as the vegetable patch face down looking into a mirror. When I first spoke I heard a nurse say “God he can talk”. I spent months with diapers on my back in a water bed (also a dislocated shoulder). I now have three deep marks on my skull where it was lifted back into position by doctors. I now ride a Honda trike.

 

[My Turn]

Well let's see.
wrote off my brand new Ducati 900ss one night in 93 hit 2 deer.
3 decent wrecks in the 1 year I foolishly raced an rz350, that was 84 or 5
Dropped my gs750 at an uphill stop sign out in the country 1 afternoon.
Other than that, nothing except dirt bike wrecks.

 

[Swede]

Some time long ago and far away I made it home in an absolute frog strangler. It had been a long trip and I was tired of rain. Foolishly I didn't head for the garage, rather right up to the front door. Put the stand down and walked away. Yeah, it was muddy. Bike had a mud nap.

 

[Ol' Man Jeb]

Back in the 80's, I was running thru the Badlands of SD at about 70 mph, rubber neckin' the scenery and noticed a sign about 8 x 10 up ahead. It read "pavement ends", and it did. It was 3 inch or so, gravel. Needless to say, my passenger flew over my head as the bike laid on its side and left me unconscious. I don't know how long I was out, but an indian family picked the bike off me and directed us to a hospital on the rez which they said wasn't authorized to treat us caucasions. Fortunately, the only injury suffered was a cut on my passengers forearm.

 

[Jack Klarich]

Back in the 80's, I was running thru the Badlands of SD at about 70 mph, rubber neckin' the scenery and noticed a sign about 8 x 10 up ahead. It read "pavement ends", and it did. It was 3 inch or so, gravel. Needless to say, my passenger flew over my head as the bike laid on its side and left me unconscious. I don't know how long I was out, but an indian family picked the bike off me and directed us to a hospital on the rez which they said wasn't authorized to treat us caucasions. Fortunately, the only injury suffered was a cut on my passengers forearm.

What an experiance eh, glad you survived that one

 

[Old Road Dog]

Why soitanly! Mainly in my drinking days when putting my boot down at a stop and having it slide on that patch of ice...in July. But the most spectacular drop was a literal drop. We always raced to the top of the hill at a friend's junk yard. Round and round we'd hammer the berms all the way to the top where we would have keggers. This particular eveningI I was on my brothers Yankee Twin( look it up) a beast of a bike designed for events like this.Toward the top, a high berm was formed where you kicked through the turn at 50mph +- , and sorta kinda slingshot past who ever you were racing. In this case it was my brother riding my XLCH.

Mind you this road was lined with junkers all the way to the top. Screw up and your part of the junkyard. Not me. Not this time. Some how when I lost it the bike and I found a gap and ...out into space we sailed. Several things came to mind....how beautiful the twilight horizon looked, the sound of the party goers cheering and gasping and how cool I must have looked to the chicks. But most all the old steam shovel...a real one half buried 200 feet below me where it died years ago while excavating sand at the base of the hill. The Yankee and I inverted and parted company. I knew then that this was my pre arranged death. Written in the book of life somewhere to die at the hands of an ancient carcass of a steel beast.

The only calming thought was that at least my family and friends will be able to view my remains in an open casket because I had the forethought to buy a brand new Bell full face helmet a few days before. I landed on my butt in the soft alluvial sand a few feet from the shovel and the Yankee did the same. Stuck straight up buried to past handle bars all the way to the tank like some bizarre ornamental tree. It only suffered a busted headlamp. My arse bone still hurts to this day. My brother punched me in the head but hurt his hand on my new Bell. See- helmets do save lives!

 

[jjvw]

In my 20s, I was temporally assigned to a town 100 miles away. I took my bike as I was paid by the mile. They put me in apartment with 2 guys.
After a few beers they wanted some fried chicken and I drew the short straw. I didn't have bags so I balanced the bucket on the handle bars. It worked fine until I applied a little too much throttle while taking the alley behind the store where the AC was dripping. The chicken and I went flying. As I was falling back to earth, I was grabbing flying chicken and putting it back in the bucket. My cheering spectators where amazed that only one piece hit the ground.

 

[Panjs]

Curious to see how many have dropped a 2 wheel bike?

There are 3 categories

#1, those that have

#2, those that will

#3, those that will not admit it

I have dropped a 2 wheeler, it was 1987. I was drinking and forgot to put my feet down @ a stop sign. The plus to this, I didn't do it again and I quit drinking that day. I have been sober since

So how about y'all

Yes. A long time ago. Sober and thinking of something else.

 

[GrumpyVet]

Getting old, bad back and knees (thank you Uncle Sam) resulting in a couple of times over the past couple of years (sand, gravel, DW put on a few pounds, et al), that's why I bought a trike -to still ride.

 

[Jack Klarich]

Getting old, bad back and knees (thank you Uncle Sam) resulting in a couple of times over the past couple of years (sand, gravel, DW put on a few pounds, et al), that's why I bought a trike -to still ride.

Good on you for sticking with the culture

 

[GrumpyVet]

Good on you for sticking with the culture

I still have my [lowered and tricked out] 90 Springer on those days I can get away from the wife!

 

[Notgrownup]

It was in July of 2007, I had just bought my brand new Electra Glide Classic. Had it for 2 weeks par,Ed at the mall to go into LensCrafters and forgot to put the kickstand down and Ooooh! shiiiiiit! No harm rolled right on the guard bars…last time I dropped it was in Pennsylvania going to visit Flight 93 Memorial about 5 years ago. It’s the day I decided to get a trike.

 

[pwhoever]

First time for me was back when I was a student at Southern Illinois University. At the time, I couldn't afford a car but there was a girl that stayed in next dorm building over and I found out her brother was selling a 1983 Suzuki GS450L and was willing to take payments which I could do. I now had some kind of transportation.

After having the bike for a couple days, my roommate "Jr" said he wanted to go for a ride. Jr was not a small guy weighing in around 275. I had an extra helmet and gave it to him to wear and off we went. There was a nice lake in campus that had a cool curvy road going around it. I decided to show off a bit and was going a little faster than I should have. On one of the curves, there was gravel on the edge and you guessed it. I took curve too wide, got in the gravel, and we went down. Luckily we just both ended up with some minor scrapes and my bruised ego but "Jr" was pissed!

It took some convincing but he finally got back on and I took it easy for trip back to dorm parking lot. Luckily no real damage to bike other than the forks got tweaked and handlebars bent a bit. I got replacement handlebars and loosed the triple tree to get forks back aligned and all was good. "Jr" never asked me for another ride after that for some reason...

 

[Jack Klarich]

First time for me was back when I was a student at Southern Illinois University. At the time, I couldn't afford a car but there was a girl that stayed in next dorm building over and I found out her brother was selling a 1983 Suzuki GS450L and was willing to take payments which I could do. I now had some kind of transportation.

After having the bike for a couple days, my roommate "Jr" said he wanted to go for a ride. Jr was not a small guy weighing in around 275. I had an extra helmet and gave it to him to wear and off we went. There was a nice lake in campus that had a cool curvy road going around it. I decided to show off a bit and was going a little faster than I should have. On one of the curves, there was gravel on the edge and you guessed it. I took curve too wide, got in the gravel, and we went down. Luckily we just both ended up with some minor scrapes and my bruised ego but "Jr" was pissed!

It took some convincing but he finally got back on and I took it easy for trip back to dorm parking lot. Luckily no real damage to bike other than the forks got tweaked and handlebars bent a bit. I got replacement handlebars and loosed the triple tree to get forks back aligned and all was good. "Jr" never asked me for another ride after that for some reason...

Some are born to ride, others not so much

 

[Pegasus1300]

Having also ridden dirt bikes and trials bikes I have dropped many bikes in many different situations. I have also dropped 3 street bikes. My Norton when I came to a stop in my driveway and forgot to put my feet down. My RSTD in traffic when traffic stopped, and I didn't. And my Royal Star Venture when I blew a tire on a trip. Spent 9 days in the hospital for that one. And my wife was on the back.

 

[Burnerboy]

Yep! Many times (this is now why I TRIKED out my bike)

Ronnie
7/6/24

 

[Jack Klarich]

Yep! Many times (this is now why I TRIKED out my bike)

Ronnie
7/6/24

I learned after my first drop to always put my feet down at stop signs