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View Full Version : Dropped my bike for the 2nd time


Yohan
07-29-2003, 07:33 PM
Argh! My aunt just got back from Hawaii, so she had a gift for me she wanted me to pick up. Being the tool I was, I jumped on my bike and ran to get my... (Get this) hawaiian shorts. Yeah... So, I put that behind my bike and I went back to the house. Except there were a few cars in the garage since we had some visitors. So, I parked by the curb. But the thing I failed to notice, was that the street sinks towards the curb. Naturally, I dismounted, and felt the bike begin to fall. The curb broke the fall, along with my ego, especially since there was a big group gathered around the car. What are the lessons I learned?

1. THANK GOD IT WAS A USED BIKE! I can't stress this factor enough- I mean yeah, it still sucks that now my bike will have scratches all over the fairing, but what can I do? At least my ego will grow back, and no harm done. If this had been a new bike, I would have been hella-pissed. I had my ritualistic first bike fall already, and it took me my surprise- so what the hell did I do wrong?

- First of all, I encountered a new situation and assumed that everything would be normal. I could have looked at the curb and determined it to be dangerous, but instead, I assumed that the bike would hold- Had I turned around, everything would be fine, but I made the mistake of overlooking a factor, and I paid the price.
-Secondly, I allowed myself to get into a routine. Rather than adjusting to the way the situation called for, I just hopped off the bike as I normally did- big mistake. This rang true for me whenever I had an unfriendly encouter with my neighbor in the cul-de-sac. From now on, I will be even more cautious when in a familized area.

All in all, the damage done to the bike was minimal and I can't thank you guys enough for telling me to get a used bike. Yeah, I feel like an idiot for dropping the bike, but I have learned some brand new lessons and I will never make the same mistakes again. Experience is one hell of a teacher. Cheers!

Vtec44
07-29-2003, 08:43 PM
Originally posted by Yohan:
All in all, the damage done to the bike was minimal and I can't thank you guys enough for telling me to get a used bike. Yeah, I feel like an idiot for dropping the bike, but I have learned some brand new lessons and I will never make the same mistakes again. Experience is one hell of a teacher. Cheers! You're welcome, and sorry about your spill man (especially in front of people). Yeah, shorter people like us have to be a bit more cautious than others.

Some guy on another board bought a brand new 600RR for $8500, dropped it at about 5mph, then sold the bike for $7300. He lost $1200, got a couple of road rashes for not wearing proper gears, and will probably never gain the experience that you did. Oh well, glad we can help. A couple of fairing pieces for a new bike would probably cost you close to a $1000.

tR1stan
07-29-2003, 10:08 PM
the street in front of my house does that too, as do alot of streets in front of a curb. thats why u see bikes parked perpendicular to the curb. putting ur rear tire against the curb also makes it very hard to tip over. ive learned to always look for the slope of a road before i park it. oh well, just chalk it up to experience. graemlins/banana.gif

Ninja750R
04-18-2005, 06:07 PM
:rolleyes

I now know that even with (too damn many) years of experience - little "dumb" tip-overs get us all.

:nono