Curious here: ever have a 'single vehicle' off while riding?

[Stig / Major Tom]

I remember someone telling me a story similar to this.  He pulled off the road onto the soft shoulder and his bike just sank into it.  He didn't fall but he was stuck and couldn't get out.  A cowboy came along and pulled him out with his horse!

I remember watching a short video of a young gal riding out 50 yards, and then back on a brand new Vespa .....locked the tire in small area of grit and down it went...clanging & sliding onto it's lovely metal side!
Stig

[aschrauth]

I have slid off my bike a couple of times, Once was when I hit an oil patch in the road and another was when the road was Icy. I learned the hard way not to apply tire shine to motorcycle tires; I ended up sliding off while going out to work, luckily for me no damage was done to my scooter and I escape unharmed other than a couple of scrapes on my riding gear.

[Mancashire]

One time I tried going into a parking garage. Took my ticket and waited for the gate to go up; started to enter the garage and saw the gate drop down too early. It caught me in the upper chest and I did a back flip off my scooter. Fortunately, rider and bike we fine. When I left the garage, I walked the scooter past the gate just to be safe.

[Neil955i]

Just posted on another group about one of my other emabarassing get offs: 

"Think the question asked and answered now. My only contribution being "We've all been there" whether we care to admit it or not! My own whoopsie in the work car park back in the 80's was trying to U turn a BMWK100RS with a cold engine. It stalled, the transmission locked solid and 220kgs of Bavarian engineering dropped on my leg. Much embarrassment 😬 as I waited for colleagues to come along and lift it off me."

[Stig / Major Tom]

A memorable 'off' involved the WidowMaker - that 1960's Kawasaki Mach III. 499cc's, 60 HP. No brakes and a flexi-frame -
I watched a fellow medic trainee at Ft Sam Houston drop the clutch and put his new III onto the hood of a car in a parking lot!
I recall that dealers were cautioned to give some instruction to new owners.

2 strokes of excitement!

Stig

[randyo]

I've had a couple,  in Roanoke VA, I had an oh sh!t moment, that's my turn, then a curve where the pavement had more asphalt than aggregate. Low side, grass stains on my gear, headlamp out of aim
my next, intersection in Barrington, NH, turning left in the rain, leaned to far for the amount of oil dripped from cars/trucks, I was sitting in road, bike at curb with broken shifter

[Stig / Major Tom]

A couple of years ago - my youngest son stopped by to pick up his Honda CB500X from my garage.
It was his first spring ride after a cold winter.
He was back in about 8 minutes....rear of his riding jeans and palm of one glove and leather elbow scoured. Some shifter stuff bent. Accessory pegs took the hit - not the bike.
"Sand in the intersection!"

Right.
Youth, actually - with too little imagination....trying to GP a turn.
Embarrassed - sitting in the middle of a large intersection, watching his bike slide down the road.

@ $35 for some new Honda parts - readily in stock (so unlike any brand of scooter!)

Stig


 

[Neil955i]

2 strokes of excitement!

Stig

A 500cc 2 stroke?  Puts me in mind of a neighbour where I lived in the 80's who bought a Yamaha YPVS RD500 LC which was a legendary, high-performance, two-stroke V4 motorcycle produced in the mid-1980s, designed as a street-legal replica of Yamaha's 500cc Grand Prix racing machines.  (This while I was riding a very pedestrian Honda CX500 based Silver Wing.)  Oh boy did the ear-splitting crackle from those exhaust pipes sound sweet!  Never actually saw him ride it...

[mrmike]

Two years ago, I was rolling slowly in a parking lot and sideswiped a drainage grate. I laid my X-Town 300 down easily on my leg. Luckily, I was able to get up with no damage. The problem was I was 80 years old and could not pick up the scooter. That's when I traded for the smaller and lighter People S 150 I now ride.

[Neil955i]

I can empathise Mike.  Those X-Towns weigh in at some 430 lbs / 195 kg dry and that's no mean lift at any age!  Fortunately I never laid mine down.  I've watched all the videos about how to lift a 500lbs motorcycle, but never had to employ those techniques so far and hope I never do.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Two years ago, I was rolling slowly in a parking lot and sideswiped a drainage grate. I laid my X-Town 300 down easily on my leg. Luckily, I was able to get up with no damage. The problem was I was 80 years old and could not pick up the scooter. That's when I traded for the smaller and lighter People S 150 I now ride.

I remember my reaction when my new Burgman was rolled off the trailer onto my driveway. I went to roll it into the shade....and, "man this thing is heavy!"
My Kymco is @250lbs - and a 'wet' Burgman is right at 500lbs!
I wondered how many of those 400cc's were needed just to haul itself around!
Stig

[randyo]

my AK550 is a few pounds heavier than my V-Strom 1000 dry, but V-Strom holds more fuel, wet the Vee is heavier 525 more or less