Topic: Laying it down (on purpose!)

[eigenvector]

Certain things are tough to search for on Google - this is one of them.

One of the things I promised myself to practice was picking up the bike after a drop.
Some bikes don't worry about it - but my 1200GS is 570 lbs and TALL, you don't just grab the bars and pick it up!

So the question has come to me - how on earth would you lay the bike down without damaging something (turn signals, mirrors, fairing parts, etc...)  I'm doing this to practice - not trash the bike.

I have a chain hoist, but I'd like some other practical options so that I can practice in the yard.
Heck - maybe just dropping it won't damage it and I'm overthinking this (wouldn't be the first time!)

[Ridem32]

Go to YouTube and search picking up a Goldwing


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[Ridem32]

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[eigenvector]

Quite a lot of videos on that actually.

Alright, guess it's time to just let it fall then.

[madmtnmotors]

Alright, guess it's time to just let it fall then.

LOL... I might consider laying it down gently in the grass, maybe even lay down some foam mats too! 

[eigenvector]

Hey I paid good money for those engine guards - time they earned their keep!

[Ridem32]

That's how to change a tire on a Goldwing just lay it over and the rear wheel will come off without removing saddlebags etc. One of the easiest wheel to remove on any motorcycle.


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[eigenvector]

Seems like one of those skills that you have to learn in the moment it happens.  Again - for relatively light bikes it's not a big deal, unless you have back problems.  It's the big boys that give people issues and I would imagine very few have actually tried to pick their bike up off the ground.

To me it's something I'd like to have confidence in doing before I have to do it in front of 10 angry drivers in the middle of an intersection.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

A GS should have pretty robust crash bars. 

I have engine guards/frame sliders on my modern bikes, but nothing I'd lean the bike on its side with to practice picking up.

[BomberMann650]

+1 for blankets or mats.

Of course, depending on your gym squat technique, you could lower the bike down and lift it back up the same way.  Do 5 sets of 10 reps for warm up, drink your protein shake, then go for 8 sets of 20 reps.

Afterwards - go get some siiick tribal tattoos to accentuate your new physique!

[Terry in Australia]

Piece o pie.

[Duke McDukiedook]

Like it shows in Terry's video that is the best way to do a heavy bike. You don't need to practice it just make sure you keep your back straight and lift with your legs. Or get help like cal said.

[evinrude7]

as a new rider i've laid the bike down several times.  thankfully not while moving.  generally it was the bike stalled and i was trying to get it started on an uneven piece of pavement and it fell over.  it's a 500 pound bike, a lot less than a goldwing but still a biatch to upright.  it's embarrassing for sure.  glad it has happened in my hood with little traffic.  i think it's a great idea to practice.   

i could almost hear the neighbors each time the bike went over.  "there's that guy again with that ugly motorcycle.  maybe he should start with a bicycle first."

[ekpent]

  The last time I laid my bike down quite sometime ago I had been drinking whiskey fairly heavily and pulled up in a friends driveway who was outside to visit for awhile and stepped off the bike without putting the kickstand down--  oops--        Light fall as I went down also try to catch it 

[Bankerdanny]

I have had to pick up a large heavy bike a couple times.

The first time was my FJ1200 when the rear tire lost traction on a reflective "stop here" line when making a low speed turn. Another was when my GL1000 fell over when it was on the side stand and (I assume) a parallel parker using the touch method hit it and again when a slow speed turn onto a soft shoulder turned into a drop.

In all 3 cases the technique I had seen in videos about facing away from the bike and effectively dead lifting allowed me to get it upright. It's actually pretty straight forward.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

To me, at least, there's a significant difference between laying down a bike (a low-side crash) and dropping a bike (when stopped or when moving it around under human power).

One should never intentionally lay it down.  As for dropping a bike, it has likely happened to every bike owner.  That's when knowing how to properly lift it can save you from injury.

[eigenvector]

Absolutely.

I don't know how many of you have back injuries - but I can tell you that it makes you REALLY gun shy about using it on heavy objects.

Looks like I have myself an activity for Saturday   

I appreciate all the comments.

Laying the bike down while moving - not a smart idea.
Dropping the bike - Shtuff happens.

[Terry in Australia]

Yep, I broke my back jumping out of perfectly good airplanes back in the 90's, so I try to avoid heavy lifting, but to assume that there's always gonna be an onlooker available to help out is just silly, most of my riding is done (on purpose) on quiet country roads, and if I lay my bike down mid corner on some sloppy cow sh1t, the only onlookers will probably be the guilty culprits who caused me to crash, so if I'm still alive, I'll probably have to pick the bike up eventually. While I'm too lazy to practise picking my bike up, I've had to do it before, and I dare say I'll still be able to. Cheers, Terry.

[BomberMann650]

Don't blame the cows for you dropping your beemer Terry 

[scunny]

That guy on the beemer has the kick stand on the wrong side, or are they like that on the other side of earth ?

[Terry in Australia]

That guy on the beemer has the kick stand on the wrong side, or are they like that on the other side of earth ?

That's the optional BMW RHS side stand Scunny, I wish I had one on my R1100GS, if I had a dollar for the amount of times I have to turn my bike around so the stand is pointing down hill, I'd probably have at least 2 dollars!

[eigenvector]

Hey!  That works.

Nothing to it really.  The trick is to lock your knees and with a twisting jerking motion lift with your back 

Actually there is some skill to it, but once you understand what it is you're doing the mechanics are pretty simple and it doesn't take too much effort.

"Nurse!!!!  Demerol please!"

[754]

Dont try to pick it up by the handgrip on the bars..on a 750 it will bend them.

[eigenvector]

I'll have remember that

[Dunk]

I wouldn't intentionally law my bike down to practice. I've picked up a CB750 once. My buddy was rolling one of my bikes out of the garage and dropped it, fairly gently. i forget the technique but I probably just grabbed by the bars and grab rail. The time I was in the street and hit by a car I couldn't use one of my legs so some bystanders picked it up and rolled it into a parking lot. That was easy!

As for practicing dropping it or going down... I don't think anyone was talking about that but yeah, obviously a bad idea. If you really want to try that get a dirt bike (lightweight) and you'll go down plenty of times, on nice soft sand or mud. I been down a fair number or times on an XR200 and a CR250 Elsinore, mostly lowside, never did any damage to the bike or myself. None of that helped me either of the times I was down on the street. One was real fast in a tankslapper and the other was high side at low speed when hit by a car. Totally different than a lowside or a rough landing on dirt.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

I think that the easiest bikes to "practice" picking up a bike are Goldwings and BMW R1200GS bikes since they have so much protection from crash bars that you can actually put it over on its side without causing damage.

[Terry in Australia]

Yeah, not sure about Gold Wings, they're covered in plastic panels that make it hard to find something to grab hold of, and break really easily. Any of the GS series BMW's are good as they have heaps of sticky out thingies to grab hold of.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

My friend's dad changed his rear tire by gently laying the bike on its crash bars.  I suppose it depends on what equipment you have on a particular bike.

[eigenvector]

It does matter what you've put on it.

People say the 1200GS has great crash bars - but that's only if you buy them.  The stock vehicle looks like an expensive and disabling repair waiting to happen.

First item I bought after purchasing the 1200GS - engine crash bars.  I don't know if I'll need anything else - maybe updated skid pan.

[Terry in Australia]

My R1100GS was dropped by the PO's son, so the left crash bar has some pretty good gouging and the plastic rocker cover protector was damaged, but the crash bars aren't bent and apart from some scraping on the little fairing and a busted blinker, it came off pretty well. I wouldn't ride it without the crash bars.

[SOHC4 Cafe Racer Fan]

For a true adventure bike like the GS, they should probably come stock. But that would cut into the dealer's profit in accessories.