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Dropped my VFR


yellowvfrider

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Hello all,

I thought you all might want a good laugh at my expense or an opportunity share your experience if this happened to you. I dropped my 5th gen on the asphalt while trying to park it at work.

It was last Thursday and the weather was clear and cool so I decided to ride in to work. Well, I did have a nice ride in to work, that is, traffic was light and I was shifting well and my accelerations from the intersections were quick. I made my usual turn into the motorcycle parking area, came to a stop, and then turned off my motor. I then proceeded to guide the bike backwards into the motorcycle parking slot ( as I have done many times) when I turn my wheel too sharp, and then down the veefer went like a rock. I bent my brake level very badly and scratched a little of my faring, motor, and throttle handlebar. Man I felt so bad and stupid.:blush:

I needed a reason to bring my bike in to put the gold levers on, so now they are going on.

I am wonder if anyone else had this happen to them.

Mark

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The line starts here. I have dropped mine twice and thank you dear Jesus, BOTH times were in my garage and BOTH times, the bars hit my cabinets and stopped any damage. Just bars dings in the drawer faces.

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I have came EXTREMELY close to dropping my bike, in my garage as well. The combination of dirt and dust on my garage floor allowed this. :pissed: I was fortunate to get it back up with only a pulled muscle in my lower back. It's crazy how it can happen so fast.

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Been there about 3 times in a decade on two VFR's. BUT on the last one the bike fell on its crash bungs!. People have said this frame setup doesn't accept crash bungs easily.

Well mine are installed with a brace between the factory engine mounts. No drilling anywhere. The actual bolts go in the middle of the brace, which, IMO, adds to the effectiveness since the multiple-point bracing dissipates impact forces better than a single one. -(however that's dynamically explained my brain is on weekend mode lol)

I have came EXTREMELY close to dropping my bike, in my garage as well. The combination of dirt and dust on my garage floor allowed this. :pissed: I was fortunate to get it back up with only a pulled muscle in my lower back. It's crazy how it can happen so fast.

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Went to go out one morning and go for a ride and blow off work. Rolled it out of the garage, got off it, checked to see the kickstand was down, and BAM!!! The next thing I know the bike is lying on my boots.

To this day, I still don't know how it happened. The sickening feeling will fade....

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Anybody that's ever done this tries to forget about it, BUT since you asked! I had my former VFR ('86 750) out on the driveway and had just cleaned it up, washed it, etc. I cranked it up while on the centerstand to dry everything off and let it run a few minutes before taking a trip down the road to blow all the water off. Anyway, my driveway has a slight lean to it but it's barely noticeable. At my height, I'm barely touching while on the centerstand and just rock it forward USUALLY with no problem. But in this case, when I rocked it forward the bike was already off center but I really didn't know it and when I went forward, OVER to the right hand side I went. Bike was still running, I was still on it with my hands on the grips. It happened so fast, i couldn't believe I was laying on the ground. The fall made my right hand give it throttle, so it was revving like mad. I hit the kill switch, got up, picked the bike up and naturally embarassed, looked around to see how many neighbors witnessed my stupidity. Fortunately, I had the fairings off since I was doing some work, so the only damage was some scratches to my exhaust can. It happens. :biggrin:

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I am wonder if anyone else had this happen to them.

On my '04, I was sitting on the bike, on the side of a highway, waiting to chat with a trooper, when a semi passed at full speed, right next to where I'd pulled off. The accompanying wind blast blew the bike off the kickstand, and then right over. Go figure. :mad:

I looked back at the trooper, who came up, helped me right the bike, and I was on my way. :beer:

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its just a matter of time

My first bike was an 03 VFR which I dropped on my first outing. I rode over to my buddies house on my new bike..decked out in all new gear. I came to a stop sign in a residential street and applied the brakes. I came to stop without getting my left foot out in time and down i went. Scratched left and upper fairings, bent clutch lever and mirror.

:pissed:

As long as youre not inured it's no big deal

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I have dropped my 01 viffer too many times to count (owned for five years). It was not a good choice for learning. It started with a bad omen. I dropped it (actually it high-sided me) while I was test driving it. I was returning to the parking lot where the owner was waiting. I tried to stop directly on top of a painted turning arrow on the road. I was not aware of how touchy the front brake can be. When the front tire locked up I slid across the arrow, and was flipped off when the tire reached the unpainted surface. Needless to say my face was as red as the blood running down my leg. I felt morally obliged to buy the scratched machine and I did. I think after nearly 90,000 miles I am finally getting the hang of it. And I owe a large part of my riding knowledge to following Ezilla & Bent on a rainy group ride while at the TexMAC rally. Those tow can RIDE. Thank you both.

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its just a matter of time

My first bike was an 03 VFR which I dropped on my first outing. I rode over to my buddies house on my new bike..decked out in all new gear. I came to a stop sign in a residential street and applied the brakes. I came to stop without getting my left foot out in time and down i went. Scratched left and upper fairings, bent clutch lever and mirror.

:pissed:

As long as youre not inured it's no big deal

From my bicycling days I believe that is called a "Monty Python Stop". Look ma, no feet down.

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Welcome to the club!!! Did that a couple-three times with different bikes. Don't worry about it, focus on riding. That's where the fun is.

C

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Guest ampgoesto11

Hello all,

I thought you all might want a good laugh at my expense or an opportunity share your experience if this happened to you. I dropped my 5th gen on the asphalt while trying to park it at work.

It was last Thursday and the weather was clear and cool so I decided to ride in to work. Well, I did have a nice ride in to work, that is, traffic was light and I was shifting well and my accelerations from the intersections were quick. I made my usual turn into the motorcycle parking area, came to a stop, and then turned off my motor. I then proceeded to guide the bike backwards into the motorcycle parking slot ( as I have done many times) when I turn my wheel too sharp, and then down the veefer went like a rock. I bent my brake level very badly and scratched a little of my faring, motor, and throttle handlebar. Man I felt so bad and stupid.:blush:

I needed a reason to bring my bike in to put the gold levers on, so now they are going on.

I am wonder if anyone else had this happen to them.

Mark

That is bad and stupid. Welcome to the club, stupid.

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About a month ago I was on a trip down to Santa Monica. I'd pulled off at a rest stop just north of Santa Barbara to remove my jacket liner and sweater. Backed the bike into a parking spot, started to lean it over, realized after it was too late the side stand wasn't down. Thump. The left bag is scratched, the clutch lever was bent, and a bit of scratching on the nose just above the left turn signal. I felt like such an idiot laying there.

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  • 1 month later...
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Probably had the bike for three months and was debating on changing the shifter position, it just didn't feel right. One day taking off from a pit stop, stalled it and the wheel is turned and for the life of me could not get my foot out of the shifter in time, finally got it out but it was to late, once it gets going it's hard to stop. Lucky really if my foot was still in there when it went down, ouch!! The thing is those scratches seem to call and say, hey look here!!!! It happens, welcome to the club. Hope you never do it again. Take Care.

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  • 2 years later...
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Dropped mine today, after 20,000 miles through 3 states I drop it 200 feet from my front door.

In the morning on the way to work. In a hurry I come to the stop sign on my culdesac and decide to rev it through and not stop completely. Thinking back now it's possible I was in second so the bike stalls and I'm all ready have a slight lean to go right. Bike flops over and I'm unable to catch it. I just stand up and catch my self but I'm unable to keep her upright.

I let the bike rest a bit and finally jerk her up right. She's still in gear so I lean over and using my hand get her back to nuetral and survey the damage.

Small crack near front turn signal and bigger scratch and crack to the edge of the front fairing near the dash.

It was stupid to think I was going to ride for ever with out an incident so it happened and its not bad so at least I'm over it now. Ill get it repaired its just talking the wife into getting a triumph tiger so I can ride that while I fix this. : )

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Only time I ever dropped a bike was when I was parking my Hawk GT on a grass lot....same exact mistake....got the bike rolling with the handlebar turned against the steering stop and pulled the front brake and down she went. What happens is the rolling momentum of the bike is instantly transformed to a hard pivoting force around the front axle that the leans the bike over instantly. So, after that I was more careful that I do not turn my handlebars to the stops and grab the front brake when paddling around parking lots and spaces.....

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I dropped mine on the damn test drive... minor scratch that wasnt seen till i washed all the road grime off when i got back to the owner my first word was Sold! lol

That's a first never heard that one before. Had a friend I rode to the bank with to pay his bike off. Got back on it after paying it off and forgot to unlock the front forks and went about 30 feet and crashed .

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Rode roughly 1250 miles to Seb's Fall Ride in New York with my BFF and Son...rode the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Skyline (at extra-legal speeds) forded several flooded areas during the trip up and logged less than 70 miles on interstate after clearing the Atlanta area to check into the event hotel, place my helmet on the right mirror during check in, grab the room key and head back to the room.

Fell flat on face within 18" of moving forward....couldn't figure out why!

Timmy ran over and took a picture of a strawberry candy or peppermint candy on the pavement and blamed it on that...rode the 150 feet to the room and started to execute a left U-Turn when it almost happened again.

The helmet was locking the front brake lever...so ignorant!

Pay Attention out there guys and gals...

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Just last week a sudden burst of wind as I had just starting rolling forward hit me hard enough to drop the bike on the front fender of a Goldwing parked right next to me shattering my zero gravity windshield and cracking the Goldwing's fender. Needless to say I was shocked, dismayed, and pissed off all in the same moment.

Fortunately I have R&G frame sliders and Givi racks that kept the fairings from touching the ground and the original windshield to replace my double bubble for now. That and I was able to slow down the drop. It's still costing me $219 to replaced the Goldwing's fender right now though.

Needless to say it's not a matter of if but when. At least I don't live in a house with a steep driveway any more. It seemed I was dropping the VFR at least once a month when living there.

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk

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Goes without saying, hit the ground after a LOOOOOONG highway run and tired legs. Boom, what the hell just happened. Then you rush to work up that super hero strength and right the bike alone. OK, done, now who saw what a butt hole I am for wrecking my bike.

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