Not even 4 days -- Dropped it..

[vasteve]

I bought my son a used SV650 in great shape. Left the dealership to a school parking lot to let him ride. He didn't go two feet and dropped it. Even scatched his brand new helmet. I thought your mom was right you don't need a motorcycle. He took the safty course and now is doing fine. Was able to fix everything so all is fine. I told him if you ever get cocky I can always remind you of this, so he is still pretty humble. We'll all dropped them.

 

[dragonchef]

colorite + painting (or makeup) sponges will cover most scuffs nicely without drawing much attention...

I have sent a couple of mirrors to Girauld tho...

I like the sharpie idea for the 08 &09 crowd....almost enough to think about gettin one.

 

[palerider]

I bought my son a used SV650 in great shape. Left the dealership to a school parking lot to let him ride. He didn't go two feet and dropped it. Even scatched his brand new helmet. I thought your mom was right you don't need a motorcycle. He took the safty course and now is doing fine. Was able to fix everything so all is fine. I told him if you ever get cocky I can always remind you of this, so he is still pretty humble. We'll all dropped them.

The funniest drop I ever saw was when I was teaching my 18-year-old sister to ride my Honda 400F on back-country roads. She was doing great and grinning ear-to-ear. I was riding behind her when we pulled up to a stop sign. She stopped and she went over onto her side. She was so happy and excited, and it had never occurred to me to tell her that at a stop she had to put her feet down.

 

[MsLilly]

I love that story! We taught our daughter to ride. Got her a Ninja 500 but she is short and even that bike was difficult for her to reach the ground. She threw that thing down so many times we lost count! But we knew it would happen and bought a used bike just for that reason!

 

[BrettB]

So glad others have already posted that have me beat. I felt pretty stupid when I dropped mine the morning after I bought it. Rode home fine, left the driveway the next morning fine, stalled it turning left at the first stop sign and wheel already pointed left. I've since managed to drop it twice more. Only fix was one of the drops broke the mirror glass, so it got replaced. All other scratches remain intact (both side bags, engine/stator cover since I got the sliders after the first drop, and fairing under the mirror).

 

[SouthFlaFJR]

I put sliders on. Two days later, after washing the girl, my foot slipped on the wet pavers.

Bike dropped.... landed on sliders and tail pipe... no scratches on the fairings.

Sliders were the best investment ever!!

 

[redbanks2]

I joined the drop club about 1.5 years ago in a parking lot. Low speed turn off camber with a full tank. Started the lean and I wenched the back letting her down gently onto the frame slider and left saddle bag. The wife and I picked her back up. Ruined my whole day. Did some Duplicolor NG GM 521 paint for the Cherry Red. Pretty close match.

The second time was two weeks ago on a remote road maybe not in the middle but damn close to no-where. Went to lean it onto the kick stand...facing slightly down hill...in neutral. The stand folded and down she went. Again.

The second time was easier! The scratches were already there. Even missed the mirror this time! But there's nobody around but me. I tried a good 15 minutes to pick it up using different ways, but the rear tire would slide on the loose road surface.

After an eternity, a fine gentleman, going to his get a way house, drove up and helped me. Lesson learned is to put the tranny in first, turn the bike off, then do the side stand if there's any thing but level ground.

I can hardly wait for the third time...

 

[nik.hisham]

I joined the drop club about 1.5 years ago in a parking lot. Low speed turn off camber with a full tank. Started the lean and I wenched the back letting her down gently onto the frame slider and left saddle bag. The wife and I picked her back up. Ruined my whole day. Did some Duplicolor NG GM 521 paint for the Cherry Red. Pretty close match.
The second time was two weeks ago on a remote road maybe not in the middle but damn close to no-where. Went to lean it onto the kick stand...facing slightly down hill...in neutral. The stand folded and down she went. Again.

The second time was easier! The scratches were already there. Even missed the mirror this time! But there's nobody around but me. I tried a good 15 minutes to pick it up using different ways, but the rear tire would slide on the loose road surface.

After an eternity, a fine gentleman, going to his get a way house, drove up and helped me. Lesson learned is to put the tranny in first, turn the bike off, then do the side stand if there's any thing but level ground.

I can hardly wait for the third time...

Redbanks2,

Sorry to hear of your drops. I should say to be careful what you ask for.

After dropping my bike twice (I only got the bike on Jan 16 this year), I dropped her again yesterday. Pulled up to the front of the house and got off the bike. Down she went, into a pillar on the left side. Left a huge and deep scratch on the topside of my left pannier where it made contact with the cement pillar. I forgot to put down the kick stand. How dumb is that?

*sigh* This time, I'm going to fix up the bike. The gash is too unsightly to leave as is...

 

[RatoneMuerto]

Dont feel bad.My first drop was in the driveway after stepping on a couple of rocks.I not only ended up with a dented tank but on the fall I smashed a big dent into the door of my new truck too!

 

[El Toro]

Bought a DL 1000 V-strom last summer. End of the first week - bang! down on the right side - my first bike-drop in 18 years. Loaned the Strom to my brother-in-law a couple of weeks later - bang! - down (whew!) on the RIGHT side again!.

I had a DL-1000 too, and I thought that it was drop prone due to a poorly designed kick stand geometry. I kicked the stand down and hopped off in a rain storm once, and as I ran to the door of the building, I could see the V-Strom dropping in slow motion. The kick stand had gotten caught on a bump and had not fully extended. My fault I suppose, but its never happened on any other bike. It cost me $43 at MRCycle to buy the parts to make it new again. A few months later, I had the V-Strom parked in an outbuilding next to my ST1100, both near a garage door. I drove the lawnmower past them, and barely touched the V-Strom. Down it went, domino like, into the ST1100. The ST1100's kick stand was stable, and it caught the V-Strom without going down itself. My fault again.... but again, its never happened to any other of my bikes.

When I first entered the modern, fully faired, heavy bike age, with my 2002 ST1100, I bought it at salvage and fixed the title. It took some getting used to after having ridden old time naked bikes of much lighter stature. The ST did go down twice while I was learning about maneuvering these behemoths, and before my muscles and thought processes were up to the tasks. Both times it cost less than $100 to make things right. When the ST went down, it was pretty well protected by its engine protector (stock with bike) and its break away mirror system. That was probably one of the best thought out bikes of all time.