FJR first bike out of 6 I ever dropped!!

Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum

Help Support Yamaha FJR Motorcycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I dang near joined the club the end of April parking at Scotty's Castle in Death Valley. I lazily slid my left boot off the left footpeg while tipping the bike on the side stand. The tread of my boot got caught on the treads of the footpeg and I JUST managed to save it before it reached The Point of Know Return (for you fans of the great 1970's band Kansas). Francisco would have fallen right on a concrete parking bump in the gas tank area - ouch!

It certainly got the adrenaline going.

biknflyfisher

 
BTDT!

Stop & go on the Interstate, rush hour, rain, uphill merge ramp.

I was "catapulted" off as well.

Oh well, live, learn, & ride another day.

 
FIrst tip-over in 6 bikes? I've tipped EVERY bike I've had over at least once. The FJR had 700 miles on it, I was at the end of my driveway, just starting out on a trip up to Lake George...and over I went... :dribble:

Tip-overs don't count as crashes, though..."Oh, no, the shoulder don't count!" -- Babe Herman, Brooklyn Dodgers, sometime in the 30's or early 40's when asked if he'd been hit in the head by a dropped fly ball in the outfield and responded that he's hang up his cleats if that happened and then asked what about being hit in the shoulder.....

 
Me too...was trying to do a textbook lock-to-lock clutch-out u-turn in a driveway (before I kicked the idle up to 1100rpm), it stalled, and went down so fast it catapulted me off the thing. Man that is a crappy feeling!

Add my name to the list. Imagine every possible thing that would cause failure in a tight turn. Despite knowing the theory, I did every single one of them as I turned into the lot of a biker bar. I was seen by an large audience of leather and grunge clad HD riders who I'm sure chuckled into their 7am beers. That's what happens when the Power Rangers use OUR bar for breakfast on their rides. My face is still red, to this day.

 
My father-in-law tells a story about riding by his highschool and everyone was outside. He was looking at the group making sure they were watching as he cut through the playground. Didn't see that the tennis net had been put up. He said; yes it was embarrassing

 
Came to a Stop sign with a lot of people around and forgot to put my feet down (with a Harley). I was a touch inebriated at the time, but nonetheless, embarrassed.

 
Came to a Stop sign with a lot of people around and forgot to put my feet down (with a Harley). I was a touch inebriated at the time, but nonetheless, embarrassed.


A friend of mine did that years ago with his SO on the back.

We still laugh about it.

He looked like the guy on "Laugh In" on the tricycle.

Gravity sucks!

 
I droped her 2 times and from all the droped post i have read ( I bet there are many that would not want to hurt there ego and post up a drop ) It might be in the 60 % range . I watched i guy with plenty of track time pull into parking lot and drop a new frj .

 
mine has been down on both sides twice. first was in mother in laws driveway in front of a crowd. stepped into a slight hole with soft sand in it, toe slid and away she went. i just rolled away to get clear. second time was in driveway of SO's friend and whole family who we were visiting after about 12 years. had the bike loaded to the gills two up waving to leave and bike lurches in heavy gravel driveway. foot landed on big rock and there we go again. third time wasn't on the bike it was parked on uneven ground idling while i pulled my helmet on and slam first time over onto right side. last time was last weekend me and greg e. where leaving my uncles house in pa and my uncle decided to try sitting on my bike. it is lowered and i haven't cut down the side stand yet so he stands the bike up and slings his leg over but when he sits down the side stand hits first and launches him over onto the right side again, breaking the mirror.

 
I prefer not to think of them as "drops" but instead think of them as the ground rushing up quickly to get a look at our beautiful bikes.

 
Are you peeps there over da water small or short? hie hie.

I was reading all the previuos threads about tipping over before I bought my FJR. And at first I thought I will have my turn then one day, cause it seems like this is a common problem with the FJR, or its riders.

But after 6mnths and many miles, not once did I have a near tip over or anything.

 
But after 6mnths and many miles, not once did I have a near tip over or anything.

Uh-oh Pierre! Know what's going to happen to you now that you've posted that? :rolleyes:

Heard the old saying; 'There's only two kinds of motorcycle riders - the ones who've already dropped a bike and the ones who are GOING to drop a bike'. Hope your luck holds out.

 
T/a pierre I hope that you did not just jinx yourself. So far I have not dropped the FJR but I have dropped 5 of 7 in parking lot situations. It always happens when you least expect it. LOL.

 
LOL! I can proudly say that I've owned two bikes, with 25K miles between them that I never dropped. Apart from those two, every other bike I've owned has hit the ground at one time or another. My BMW had less than 200 miles when a friend suggested we go explore what was on the other side of a four foot berm! I stalled the bike midway up, by not giving it enough gas. Couldn't reach the ground on either side so I fell off. Got over OK second time around. Now the deed is done, I don't have to bother dropping that bike again. Got it over and done with early!

 
Speaking of embarrassing.. Back in high school, I had just bought my ZX-6 and while driving through the school parking lot, I wiped out in front of EVERYBODY!!!

It wasn't serious and the only injury was my ego.

 
Shit, I've dropped every bike I've ever owned and I've owned several more than I have listed in my sig.

Maybe I'm just clumsy, accident prone or just an idiot.

Could be all of the above.

I just eased the FJR down on it's side a week ago yesterday because of some loose gravel.

Luckily it was such an ease down there was no damge at all. (no saddlebags on w/sliders)

Shit happens...sometimes even good shit happens! Life goes on right?

Yes, I looked around to see who was looking.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Here is my story from June of last year. I bought the bike in April. Laugh all you want, because I still do.... :rolleyes:

I dropped the bike today.

Well, it didn't drop like it had been shot so I guess you could say I laid it over in a simi-controlled drop.

The scene: In that Mecca of uber cool biker hangouts, the parking garage at Nordstrom's Galleria. (I broke the handle on my purse and had to go buy a new purse instead of getting my purse fixed.)

Up hill in the garage and pulled into a slot to the right. Stopped, engine off with stand down and both feet on the ground, but I had not leaned the bike over onto the stand yet. Taking off my gloves. Left side is up hill, right side is downhill. There is a pretty new Lexus in the space to the right. Next? I have no idea what happened. I am thinking that I looked up and saw the sloped concrete barrier in front of me or something, but next thing I know the bike is going over to the right. I grab the right bar and pull it in and I am able to slow the progress of the fall tremendously. I am hopping to the right on my right foot trying to keep my leg out from under it and I am envisioning how many points of impact there are going to be on the side of the Lexus. It's down and stopped. I am against left front fender of the car, but the bike is not touching the car at all. It is down on the slider and front bottom corner of the bag. It takes me a second to get out of the tight jam I'm in though by kind of crawling over the hood of the Lexus.

Now what? There are only inches between the bike and the side of the car, and it is the downhill side. I can't get between it and the car facing away from the bike so I worked my way back in facing the bike and I am so close that the seat is touching the front of my legs. There is no way to get any leverage on it so I just squat down for a hand hold on the bottom side and just do a dead lift with my legs. (I still have bicycling legs under there somewhere.) I finally get it up and leaned over onto the stand and take stock of things.

I immediately realize that the watch band on my Breitling is broken. Dang. (I have to send it to Houston to be fixed.) There is a little bitty scrape mark on the front bottom corner of the right bag and a little scrape on the slider. The bar ends or brake lever did not touch.

My back is killing me and it is more out of whack than it usually is. Both of my separated shoulders are screaming and I pulled a muscle or something on the outside part of my lower right leg. I'll live after a few trips to the chiropractor Monday, but it is going a very long Friday, Saturday and Sunday at work.

I limped my way into Nordstrom and bought myself a rather expensive new purse and felt much better. After a nice ride home and sitting down for a bit, I think I feel a sick day coming on tomorrow.

It just takes a second of not paying attention to what you are doing to screw a lot of stuff up. I am very glad I didn't hit the Lexus, but I sure wiped some of the dust off the fender.

In just a hair over 4 years and 43,000 miles on the Road Star, I only dropped it once, and I dropped a Honda Aspencade in 1982 or so. That is the extent of my drops in 35 or so years of riding. I hope this is the one time for the FJR.

 
Top