The official 'I just dropped my bike in the driveway' thread

I did a little worse with a Telephonica 600. We were a Suzuki dealer at the time, sold one to my brother in law. He lives in Jersey so a few days before he was coming to pick it up I took it out for a test ride on a cool morning. Bike had been sitting in a unheated storage building. Pulled out of the yard, leaned left and wham I was on my side in the middle of the road. I hadn't got on the throttle at all, just cold enough on new cold tires I guess.

First I was worried they wouldn't have plastic for it since it was so new and limited but they did. I think it cost me around $800 to fix it buying parts at dealer cost.

 

Mid 90's I was a sales manager at the local Kaw/Suz dealer. I used to take bikes to lunch sometimes. It was summer and like 3000 degrees so I wore shorts to work that day. The only bike available with gas already in it was a 600 katana so I grab the keys and ride it right off the showroom to go grab a burger. Come back and ride it right back to the tile floor showroom. Being a cocky smartass, I decide to roll up and do the ride up/throw sidestand down/stop/let bike fall on sidestand move. Sidestand does not go all the way down and the bike falls between my legs on its side. I started smelling something funny and realized the exhaust was "resting" on my right calf. 3rd degree burns. it was so freaking hot that I smelled it before I could feel it

 

One time when I was at a friends house I got on the bike cause we were headed out for a ride and then he proceeded to take a while so I figured I would go and take a leak real quick. Well I swung my leg over the bike to get off and started walking into the house. I got about 5 steps away when I heard it. I had totally forgotten to put the stand down at all. Luckily it fell to the side that had grass so no real damage at all other than my pride.

 

Well not the driveway but ...
After 5+ years of doing track days with no side stand and never dropping the bike in the pits, I went to put the R1 onto my rear stand and missed the spool on the far side. Down we went as I lost that battle trying to hold it up. The bike ended up on the frame slider, foot peg and bar end. I ended up on the ground. The bike had already been down on that side in a low side crash, so just a little more cosmetic damage to already cosmetically damaged parts. I was perfectly fine physically but seriously embarrassed.

 

A few years ago a good friend of mine put a new tire on his bike.

He rode it to the end of his driveway to check it out. While turning around at the bottom of the driveway he somehow whiskey throttled it, and the new tire instantly dumped him on his head.

No helmet.

Emergency surgery to relieve brain swelling, a hole in his skull and fifty staples in his scalp later and he was all set.

 

All of THEM

well except the Grom...so far.

They've fallen because I left the kick stand down, because I tried to roll it around on the the rear stands and it didn't like uneven conerete...and off some motorcycle jack from Harbor Freight....and probably a few other ways too.

 

5 day old panigale. In the garage. I won't tell how.

The world would kill me by stoning me.

 

I finished getting the fzr400 teched back in the day, they always said motors off while on the tech stand. Got the sticker and started rolling it down the ramp from the stand, and since I had deleted the starter, that was my little help to bump it off and head back to my garage spot. Rode it side saddle till just before garage, pull clutch and click off the kill switch and coast all cool like into my stall, then promptly rolled over the high side sprawled over the bike. Racers are a mighty helpfull bunch, and since i was pitted amongst all my buddies, the roar of laughter was far worse than the sound of bodywork snapping and engine cases smacking the concrete.

A day that lives on in Infamy. I have no recollection of my races that day........