Poll: Did you drop or crash in first year of riding?

[FrugalNinja250]

Just getting an idea of how many here crashed or otherwise dropped their bike in the first year of riding, licensed or otherwise. This would include zero-speed driveway drops. What make and model bike?

[csmith12]

Here maybe? http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25913

[rojoracing53]

If I had to take a stab at it I would say my rearsets went sliding accross the pavement 5-10 times in my first year.

[ninjamunky85]

A couple of drops, one while turning on gravel at less than 5mph so I don't consider it a crash. That one also took out a turn signal. Other than that no real crashes, on dirt is a different story.

[lgk]

totalled bike within a month

[Hunsy34]

Voted no. I had ridden dirt bike for a few years before I got my bike so I had an idea of what I was doing.

[FrugalNinja250]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Here maybe? http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25913

Bummer, forgot all about that. I can probably get what I need from that. However, make of bike and circumstances are good to know. And any drop, even just moving in the driveway would count.

[Gurk]

9 months and 4 days after starting riding (07 YZF-R6):

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Old Lemon]

i dropped it doing a u-turn 3 months after getting it and 7 months after that i layed er down

[csmith12]

Ok then, my first drop was 17 years ago. Dropped my kawi 440ltd at a stop sign because I didn't know how to set the idle. hahahaha

[toua70]

First drop: 4 way stop and car on the right didn't stop and decided to cut me off. Being a noob at the time, I slammed my front brakes and locked up front wheel which caused me the drop the bike on the side. I only had my permit at the time and was too anxious to wait for my frame sliders -___-
Bike: Gsx-R 750 K8

Crash was a year later - crashed my gixxer up in Big Bear due to stupidity. Decided to do some sight seeing rather than pay attention to the road and next thing you know.. sigh - too sad to talk about.

[checho323]

Iv'e been riding for about 4 years now and never dropped or had any accidents but than again never really been out on the twisties!

[Lil_Green_Demon]

Bought the bike on April 22nd, 2011.
Got hit by a car on May 7th, 2011. Hit-and-run FTL
Dropped the bike while parked and not realizing my kick stand wasn't down some time in Oct. 2011.


No other drops to report, and hopefully it'll stay that way.

[Jiggles]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Here maybe? http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25913

Here's a more recent one

http://www.ninjette.org/forums/showt...opped+ninjette

[dirty nasty]

I've dropped my first bike, a CB450 PLENTY of times moving it around the yard to be serviced. Never while on the road, or even while the engine was running or while I was on it. My problem was I would always back the bike up and turn the bars yet be standing on the outside of the way I was turning. I was also used to tall and light MX bikes, instead of a low and heavy street bike. Only damage ever caused was I would lose a $5/pair bar end mirror pending which side I dropped it on.

My Ninja has never hit the ground as long as I've owned it. There is plenty of evidence and the PO admitted to dropping it though. Don't know how badly, but the fairings have some minor scrapes, the bar ends do too and both front signals were busted off when I bought it.

Only bikes I've ever crashed were my MX bikes. I still crash them, quite violently to this day. Then again it is quite a different environment trying to go top speed over a track that most people would have trouble walking over while riding next to 39 other riders trying to win versus being on a public road.

[clum88]

Originally Posted by Gurk

9 months and 4 days after starting riding (07 YZF-R6):

Link to original page on YouTube.

ooh the sound of the grinding and sliding reminds me of mine

2am, pretty bald tires, blind turn, cold road and tires. I think I was so focused on not breaking/decelerating that I overcompensated by giving it too much throttle too quickly.

I was 1/4 way into a turn and gave it too much throttle IIRC and went down just like you. Any bumps or bruises? How much damage to the R?

[Aggrotech]

2012 250. Dropped itself when i was in the house (heard the bang) went back into the garage and it was laying on its side, no scratches..just a broken mirror. Crashed it at the 350ish mark i believe going through a realllly wide turn, the road was incredibly terrible and i took my eyes off teh road for a second to look at a cat coming into the road..next thing i new woopwoopwoop down i went..was goin about 23mph.

[Gurk]

Originally Posted by clum88

Any bumps or bruises? How much damage to the R?

None. I was on track with a full suit. Nothing broken.

I only twisted my back as I was tumbling (when bike hit the "curb" at the edge of track and the dirt, the frame sliders got caught and the bike flipped. when I hit the curb I was airbourne and started tumbling sideways). It was hard to breathe for a moment with the twisted back but I felt better shortly.

Bent frame, bent forks, bent/twisted subframe, broken clipons, lost insturment cluster, punctured/destroyed airbox and tank. Race fairings held up really well, surprisingly. I still use them as they don't require much of a repair. I also lost a few bits and pieces like some bolts and spools but no biggie.

I just bought replacement used OEM parts in good condition and swapped the broken / bent stuff. I've done 7 track days after my crash just fine. My frame is still bent but it's really minimal. I'll take it somewhere I know / trust that can fix it for me for $200-$250. Just waiting for track season to end in December.

[Jiggles]

...

[Firehorse]

Dropped it left side while doing a u turn that my 'instructor friend' asked me to do so he could see how comfy I was with hard turns....Funny that I was comfy with full lock turns before that but was freaked out by having to pull a U-y on a street with cars - something I would never do any other time..was so busy looking for cars to pull out of driveways or come around a corner that I turned wide and hit the brakes to avoid hitting the curb...
It was one of those slow motion drops..nnnnnoooooooooo,,ooooohhhhh ccrraaappppp
Bought the bike new in May 2011, that was July 2011? Popped the signal and bent the shifter.

Most recent drop was just about a month ago. Line of parking spots at a coffee shop. Picked one, changed my mind and full lock right turn into the next one....

sigh.

Next thing I knew, I was standing beside the bike laughing. It was over on it's right side??? Dude in the car told me a pop lid went flying out from my back tire and I sort of 'jumped off' as it started to go.??? I don't remember jumping off. Somewhere in my fuzzy mind I must have realized it was going over too fast for me to save it and hit the kill and let 'er go.
Popped the right turn signal to match the left. Apparently those things double as frame sliders for slow drops.

TWO others: Backed my bike up to turn it around on my gravel driveway, got too close to the lawn which is about 7 or 8 inches lower, foot found some air there and over I went with the bike - saved the bike because I was between it and the metal shed - dented the shed with my shoulder.

Another no-damage drop was when the kickstand sunk into the gravel as I was walking away to get the chain lube, lept over like a baseball player sliding into first and got between the gravel and the bike. That was my first solo lift - how cool!

I'm done dropping it. I hope. My bike deserves better.

[Jiggles]

This thread is all messed up. It keeps popping up in my unread section after its been read, it did it with gurks post like 5 times and now with firehorses. It says new post by firehorse at 8:06. Did you perhaps edit your post at that time and ninjette is just high and thot you reposted?

[Motofool]

Just voted no.

Bike: MZ ES 150

During my first years of riding, I followed the Japanese riders advice that "it is much better spend time fixing the rider rather than spend money fixing the bike".

It is true that only practice makes perfect, but it is often very easy to practice the wrong things so you end up with no improvement in your riding.

[TS250]

I had a friend ride with me with my first bike ( 550 susuki gs). I did not have a license then, 1988, I could not wait to ride by myself, took it around the block and drop it. So I had it less than one hour.

[Firehorse]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

This thread is all messed up. It keeps popping up in my unread section after its been read, it did it with gurks post like 5 times and now with firehorses. It says new post by firehorse at 8:06. Did you perhaps edit your post at that time and ninjette is just high and thot you reposted?

Nope. No edits, four drops are enough.

[Ytse Frobozz]

In my third year of riding and no drops or crashes! Almost rear ended someone yesterday, though. I was behind someone coming up to a yellow light in a left hand bend and I was all like, "Not only will they make the yellow light, I will make it too!" I now know why that is a bad thought process to have. At the last (and I mean last) second, they decided to stop for the light and slammed on the brakes. That was my first real live "panic stop" on a motorcycle and as I was bearing down on this guy's rear bumper I remember thinking, "Well, I'm probably going to hit this car, but I don't think I'll be going very fast when I do." Fortunately for me, I was able to brake just hard enough that the tires only slid the last couple of feet, and I stopped with about two feet to spare. I then rode the rest of the way home and changed my underwear.

[Willy]

I don't even remember the year, but it must have been close to 1975. I was riding a Kawasaki KZ400 twin (second bike, first was a Honda CT90) and found a patch of gravel in the intersection and lowsided it. I waited about 20 years for the next crash, gravel again, this time on a BMW R100rt and when the cylinder hit, it popped the bike back upright but in a tankslapper/highside which dislocated my left shoulder.

[staulkor]

Gravel took me out at ~35mph on a slight turn. Gravel is an evil SOB

[Bassman]

2am + twisty canyon road + tired + sand = first crash 6 months after I got my license.

[FrugalNinja250]

I'd been riding full time for about two months and was on my first long road trip. I pulled off the road onto a very narrow shoulder to adjust my gear, and decided due to the cars whizzing by to pull off onto the grass. I was still going about 10-15 mph and that's when I discovered grass has about the same co-efficient of friction as ice. Front slid out from under me and over the bars i went. No real new damage, though it took almost an hour to get it restarted.


A week later I fell over in the driveway when the kickstand found a soft spot in the gravel.

[mustang5.0]

i had dropped my ninja twice.. both time my busted ankle gave way and the bike just layed on me.. both times were at a stop and had almost no damage