Tank Slap - Motorcycle Forum

OK Guys and Gals heres the deal...

This is a thread for you to share stories of the time you dropped you bike like an absolute tool. The funnier the better as the idea behind this thread is so we can all look back on it and laugh (and cry) together.
I dont mean like a 160mph highside on a track day I mean so pathetic its funny.

Mine was the time many moons a go when I rode over my new to me CBR6 to the inlaws for the 1st time and parked on their gravel drive. When leaving that night I went to pull away and dropped it almost in slow motion right infront of them. After struggling to pick it back up went to pull away again and it wouldnt move forward. Cue the realisation Ive left the disc lock on. after a good 10 minutes of mucking about I finally got away and skulked off feelin a rather big t**t.

So whats your most pathetic moment?

As mentioned on another thread I used own a Sprint RS 955i. A big bike.

I had the bike up on a paddock stand. I had cleaned it and done the chain. I stood back to admire my work and check it over. Everything was fine. I then went round to the left and made sure that the side stand was down. Round to the rear right, left hand on the paddock stand, right hand on the bike. I pulled the stand away so that the bike would come to rest on the side stand.

Which it did

Briefly.

This bike was so heavy it landed on the left on the side stand but the weight meant the side stand hit the ground and then bounced back up so the bike ended up toppling over on the right side.

It all happened in slow motion as well.

My current bike last year cleaning it on the paddock stand, then decided to lube the chain so thought it would be ok to have the engine running and the rear wheel rolling as to warm the chain up for me to lube
Turned around to fetch the lube and BANG bike on the floor.

In my first house my bike (daytona 600) was stored in a side passage. To get it out I had to go across the front garden and over the path.

As I was pushing it across the grass and over the path, due to the angle of the garden it suddenly started falling away from me. I tried in vain to keep it upright, and resided myself to knowing that all I could do was hang on to the clip on and try to let it fall as softly as possible. Everything was going as well as could be expected, until it got quite far over. All of a sudden the real weight of the bike was apparant and it through me over the bike. My head butting the large tree in the garden on the far side of the bike as it was laying down.

Fortunatly my injuries were worth it as the bike was unmarked.

Mine was quite recent, i had provisionally sold the RSV4 so i decided to give it a clean before he came to see it, walking it backwards out of the garage i tripped over the sidestamd of the trackbike which meant i lost control of the V4 i tried in vain to stop it and held on to make it as slow as possible but over it went, luckily landing against the spare tyres along the wall of the garage. Picking it back up and inspecting the damage i couldn't see any, then i noticed that the lacquer had gone like crazy paving roung the fixing bolt hole, gutted is an understatement...he understood when he saw it and he still bought it. Cost me £90 to have the whole panel re lacquered though.

I've got a dodgy right hip from a bike accident a few years back, when I've been riding for a long time, and am tired, my right leg has been known to get a bit wobbly...

Well, it chose to do that at a petrol station in the middle of Guildford. Imagine the scene, you've pulled up in a busy petrol station the weather is hot and the totty is scantily clad. Looking cool while sat on the bike filling it up and was good, put the bike down on the side stand and went off to pay. Got back to the bike, casually swung my leg over and went for the smooth transition of putting the right foot down to flick the side stand up in one move.

Well.. Lets just say it didn't go quite as planned. My right leg went wobbly just at the best time it could and I ended up lying in the middle of the forecourt with the bike on my leg. Any illusions of coolness where shattered at this point.

As you would expect from the Guildford locals I was offered loads of assistance getting myself and the bike back up again.

Just got my test, new CBR6F. Low speed pulled on break too sharply at factory gates, loads of DERV and bits of loose gravel. Dropped brand new bike......idiot. Couple of days later park bike up at work, a set of stabilisers appeared next to the bike.

I suppose my most inept and embarrassing incident happened at Lydden Hill racetrack, no high speed heroics though, all low speed stupidity.

I was doing the first trackday after having a new hip fitted, so decided to drop down to inters for obvious reasons, after getting stopped leaving the track after the first session to be told I was too fast and to move up a group, I was feeling a bit smug.

Next session was called and His Smugness was just pulling away from the parking spot and managed to forget the race lockstop was fitted, I could feel the bike going and tried to stop it but gravity wasn't having any of it and the bike went down, with me rolling away unhurt. Until that is I looked up and saw two fellow moderators from a certain 675 forum watching - one with a camera clicking. Fortunately neither the bike nor my kit was damaged, however the hiss of a punctured ego could be heard for miles.....

The pics have yet to see the light of day, but I think one of the witnesses suffered a rupture laughing.

I havent dropped the Daytona but I did drop a bike when I did my bike lessons.... woke up o the first day of my first ever bike lesson to find an inch of snow on the floor. Rang the training company to see if it was still on and as they'd only had 1/2" in Stafford, I made my way over from Wolverhampton.

We did the obligatory in and out of cones on the car park and because of my road awareness, they sent me out from a 125 on to a 500 on to the public highway

All went well but I was that cold when I got back to base, that I couldnt feel my hands or feet. Went to stop to park up and I just froze, slow motion, dropped the bike with me under it

Fortunately, the training bike had got bars on it to protect the engine but I broke the front indicator and bent the bar end.

I booked for my test and £30 later, sheepishly made my way home

All good stories

I have a couple.

Bike - Suzuki GZ125.
Parked up in town and tried to ride off with the disklock on, luckily it was a saturday and there was only a few hundred people around, bike went down and I got stuck under it, a middle aged woman had to come lift it off me, I didn't notice the lock until after the second time I tried to ride off.

Bike - Yamaha Diversion 600 (with panniers, tank bag and tail pack)
Pulled into a petrol station on my way down to bristol, it was baking hot and the bike was heavy and i'd ridden about 200 miles already.
i'm sat on the bike filling up when a car pulls up next to me, out steps a young lady in hot pants, knee high boots and a crop top, obviously on her way to work.
I finish filling up, shift my weight onto my right leg so I can put the sidestand down and slip on a small patch of gravel.
My leg slipped forward and I nearly knee'd myself in the face, bike goes down slowly, I pull a muscle in my crotch and my tank bag falls off the bike and empties the contents all over the forecourt, at the feet of the young lady.

I gather my shit together and hobble off to a parking space to regroup where I see a couple of bikers laughing at me, not sympathetic at all.

It's not over

I pack my stuff up, check the bike over, have a smoke to calm my nerves.
When I go to get back on the bike, i'm obviously a bit over zealous and go straight over the other side of the bike, my right leg and pulled muscle don't have the energy to hold the weight and the bike goes down on the right again.
I managed to get back on the bike and ride off before anyone saw me.

Hippy

I did a similar thing a few months ago on a motorway services. Got the panniers on and a heavy rucksack. Tried a high kick to get my leg over and my other leg went from under me. Ended up on my back with my head in one of those miniature privet hedges!

I know I shouldn't but those last to were hilarious

Me mate text me to say let's go for a ride. He got to my house and I needed fuel...went to the petrol station filled up paid for it...this is where it went tits up!

I felt a bit rushed and was chatting to my mate I parked next to the curb so it made it easier for me to prop up the bike while filling and I used this curb twhile getting on...I just forgot it was a big curb (where the petrol pumps sit on) and when swinging my leg over expecting to feel the floor I didn't...

It was too late to maneuver the weight of the Bike to the curb for my leg to take stabilize me....

I went tipping over the other side in front of my mate...

Even looking back makes me wonder how the hell I let it happen!!

Brilliant stories everyone! Keep em coming, the whole point is to show other people it happens to All of us and it may be infuriating at the time but its good to look back and laugh!

Christ, I could do one a day of these.

I too have done the full panniers, petrol station topple (in front of my mates)....

And the low speed tumble coming out of the work car park in front of everyone leaving site for the day....

I think the worst one though was falling off at zero mph on my first proper bike. I've passed my test and bought myself a beautiful Thunderbird 900. Get the train to Lincoln to pick it up and ride off. Couple of miles down the road I'm approaching a junction and trying to work out what gear I'm in as I'm used to a CG125 and 6 speed boxes are alien to me. I'm spending so much time working out I'm in first I lose too much speed and topple over into the verge! Bloke in the car following me picks bike up for me, checks I'm ok (which I am....you can't die of embarrassment more's the pity!) and drives off shaking his head!

Mine have all been embarrassing but thankfully not in full view of an audience
The only one which was seen was the one on my dommy when I rode at full throttle into the garage and hit the dustbin .
Next door neighbour had to get the bike off me , worst was he didn't like me or bikes . It was that or stay stuck for a number of hours until someone came home.


I did however get stuck on a bike and couldn't get off.

I decided that at my age I'd give the Harley route a go (face palm) 1200 Sportster with mid mounted pegs was the way to go for me

Picked it up from Harley dealer. Not sure how I got it home as it was evil, pure evil. Any way got home and found the side stand was so far back and spring loaded it wouldn't go down.

I had a choice of sitting on it until someone found me or just beeped the horn continuously.

Getting off wasn't an option as it was so heavy and on a slight incline I couldn't keep hold of the brake and dismantle

Upshot was I had it a month and rode it twice. That wasn't a bike it was the machine from hell

Mine was first ride out on my daytona, me and two mates went to world superbikes at silverstone, I ran at the back as it was my first proper ride on a 'big' bike, two mates pulled into the extremely busy bike park and stopped in a nice neat line, I pulled up next to them, put my right foot out to steady me and the bike and missed the floor completely! This was followed by a very slow topple over on to the right side of the bike with me under it, in full view of the countries largest accumulation of bikers I'd ever witnessed at the time! Three very amused but helpful fellow bikers helped me and the bike up, I thanked them profusely and skulked off keeping my lid on til I was well out of sight! Thankfully the only damage was my ego!

I don't remember dropping a bike, except when moving at damaging speeds.
Don't get me wrong, I will have done so as I was quite small when I started riding.

However fwiw I have been witness to an epic one.:

I was in a flash bike showroom, probably about 10 years ago. A couple of lads were looking round together & hyping each other up.
I was talking to a salesman (can't remember what about) when the aforementioned lads started sitting on some of the bikes.
After a couple of minutes there was a crash, followed by lots of scratching crunches....
One of them had sat on a Cagiva Mito. Apparently they have sprung side-stands that retract as soon as the weight is taken off it.
The lad in question was pinned down under the Cagiva, but worse is he had domino'd the whole line of bikes. Abouta dozen including Ducatis, Bimotos as well as the usual Fireblades etc.

My missus isn't on here, so i'll post her embarrassing one on her behalf.

Bike - Bandit 600 (Big bike for a small woman)
Her old rented flat didn't really have room for a bike and car on the driveway, her housemate owned a car so she had to squeeze her bike on the path next to the car.
One day on the way to go to work she squeezed past the car, got on the bike and put the sidestand up, then promptly fell towards the car.
The bike followed her and trapped her between car and bike for a good 20 mins until she managed to dig her phone out and call said housemate. Luckily no damage to car, bike or missus.