I have been practicing my panic stops on curves. I am doing just fine getting it stood up and stopped in short distances however tonight I let it drop AFTER I had completed the stop. I did everything just right but lost my balance afterwards. It did not damage the bike, I was fully stopped and she just rested on the rider foot board. I could not however manage to pick her up. I have seen the DVD and have even practiced standing her up by myself but the slope was just enough that I couldn't do it this time. I am strong for 60 years old but still 60 none the less. My question is this, is it possible to turn her around by balancing her on the foot board and turning her until I am lifting her down hill? It seems possible but I thought I would ask before I put the work into trying (as in getting my neighbor over to help). I know, I am the only one that has ever dropped their cruiser but I don't mind admitting it.

 

Turning it around to lift it "downhill" can present other problems, like going past center and not being able to balance it and then it goes over on the other side. Yes, you can do it but it is just as hard to spin it around, and there is possibility of doing more damage.

Be careful, get help and ride safe.

 

Get help is the key. You will definitely do damage if you do what you describe.

 

What bike?

 

You can remove your bags by opening the lid and twisting the two retainers in the bags that hold them to the bike. That will remove some weight.
Mine went down on a slope and it was too close to the ground to get my legs 'under it' to lift with them also.
I came home and am still trying to devise some 'lever' that will serve more than one purpose and be practical to take along with. I don't think that the crash bars will stand up to the weight of my fat a$$, but that may be the best place to put a lever clip for this type situation. I'm only thinking so seriously cause when mine was down it was in the middle of the desert with nobody around to help, and I only had a little bit of water and was about to pass out from the heat and straining to get the beast up. Fortunately a couple of Mexicans, sounded like illegals, came along and helped lift it. I didn't care if they spoke english well or not at that point[sm=yeahsmile.gif] I got running and cooled down with the wind! BTW I had a little pump up mister that works well in dry climates for cooling off a bit. That probably helped me from overheating while sitting in the middle of the desert! Lessons learned.

 

If it's on the left side, lock the forks to the left, stand with your back to bike with right hand on the left grip, the left hand gripping the saddlebag guard. Press up with your legs. If on the right side, reverse the order. If on right, have the kickstand out so it'll catch the bike if it falls to the other side.

 

I have to disagree with you. I was shown a much easier way and that was to lock the forks to the opposite side of where it dropped and it works much easier since you are then rolling over the front wheel. I know because this happened to me over a year ago (a couple of weeks after I bought my RK) in a parking lot and I was trying to get my RK back up when a man came over and said "let me show you the easy way", he then locked the forks all the way to the right since the bike fell on the left side and the bike lifted back up way easier then with the forks to the left which is the side it fell onto. We didn't even have to stand with our back against the bike and push. It came right up off the ground and I thanked him for his help the valuable lesson on how to lift a dropped heavy bike.

 

You faced the bike? Isn't that taking a chance on hurting your back? With your back against the bike, you are using your legs to lift. And what would keep the bike from rolling away from you with wheel/bars in that position? Holding the brake lever when grabbing the bar? Just want to get all the info I can before I drop mine, cause I will, we all will.

 

I have successfully picked up my bike on flat ground. It is when I am on a slope that I poop out. It sounds like no one has "spun" a bike around on the rider foot board in order to lift it with the slope instead of against the slope. I am aware of the dangers of it going over. I guess I am going to have to have my neighbor come over and experiment on the driveway. I just thought someone would have tried this before.

 

get some help. no use taking a chance of messing it up.