Don't feel bad brother, I dropped my Sportster years ago in front of a bar, I did the kickstand DAH....needless to say my brothers helped me lift the bike back up and after a few cold ones and some choice words I started laughingabout my brain fart.....never did that again.

Bone

 

Dropping your bike is like death, its going to happen sooner or later to all of us.

 

I was at a memorial ride for VA Tech shooting victims yesterday, while waiting to depart, a lady in our group knocked her bike over, no one was hurt and her bike was only slightly scratched thanks to highway bars..but she was soooo lucky she didn't "domino" the other 100 bikes lined up next to her. Plus she had LOTS of help getting it back up.
I asked her if she was OK and she said yes, just embarrassed, then we all chimed in our "dropped" stories to ease her mind...sht happens.

 

So far (knock on wood) I'm in the "haven't dropped it yet" club but I don't attribute that in any way to my superior skills. If anything it's because of the great lessons I learn everytime someone starts an "I dropped my bike" thread. Biggest lessons I've picked up:

1) Look down and visually confirm the stand is down anytime you're thinking about swinging a leg off your bike.
2) Approaching every stop, do a quick assessment of the stopping zone for slope, oil, gravel, etc. Probably 99% of the time it's no big deal but that other 1%, it pays to be prepared!

Keep those tips coming everyone!

 

I was trying to find a wise crack about everybody dropping their bikes. But I felt so humiliated when I dropped mine that I just as soon forget about it. Ahh, to ride a bike is great ! Everytime I get a big head, you know what I mean, Yeah I'm bad I'm bad, I just think of when I dropped mine and reality comes back real quick. All right mister bad ***, remember when..... oh yeah.

[IMG]local://upfiles/21505/565A06F7C92F45B3A806E983C38D01E3.jpg[/IMG]

 

Sitting here with a cast on my leg, three broken bones, after dropping my heritage on it. We had just finished 600 miles from Key West to Chiefland, FL, I was moving my bike to give my partner room to back out and was going to drag my feet, leaned to the left, my foot caught on the asphalt, went under the passenger floorboard mount on my achilles tendon, I went on top of the tank and fell to the left. The weight of the bike and baggage landed on my ankle. A homeless man ran out and picked up the bike, while doing this, it caught on my ankle and he let down a little then heaved it up. Hurt like heck, but couldn't get mad at him, he was trying to help. Bought him a couple of beers, he was happy as can be. Had my son come and get me. But----what hurt the most was my pride, still the brunt of all the jokes in the family and at work. I will be back on it as soon as I can. And, I am laughing with them as it was my stupid mistake.

 

My old bike hit the ground a couple times. The main problem was not having a garage, and building a 12 foot long wood ramp to ride it up on3 foot highscreened in porch.....it worked great most of the time....... The worst was one time the back tire was wet, *** end went right, I stayed on the gas and the left grip caught the edge of the doorway. I ended up taking out the table and sliding into my toolbox. I just made my custom apes too....really sucked.I also realized how bad it must hurt hitting the pavement at speed.

I was at a rally once watching the hotdog contest where the chick stands up and grabs it with her teeth. The guy was on a newer Harley, tried to show off a bit after going through and went down. Of coure a bunch of guys ran over and picked it up, but the chick got up and kicked the living crap out of the guy while he was still on his hands and knees.Talk about adding insult to injury.

The most valuable leasonI've learned besides double checking the kickstandis to always keep the bars straight whenyou stop. It's real easy tothrow yourselfoff balance, especially if the pavement is slick.

 

Hey Sandcrab, hate to hear that and I feel your pain.

 

It happens to all of us[&:]and it always sucks[:@]

 

Harleys aren't broken in unless they are dropped at least once!!!! The three Harleys that I've had have been on the ground a total of 9 times,I got a set of shoulders on me like a bull from picking them up so much!!!!!!!! sh*t happens! You'll be ok.