Moving your bike around

In my experience, it isn't the bike that is the problem, but what is under your foot and how much weight your foot is supporting.

Generally, if the bike has a slight lean on it and you put your foot down, your foot will slip on the gravel and the bike is no longer supported.

One answer - stay on the bike and keep the bike upright at all costs. Use bike power to move it forwards and use gravity to move it backwards - never try to push the bike forwards with your feet. They will slip, and down you go.

If you can't arrange to have gravity to help you to go backwards, then your partner can help. I find that asking partner to be a gravity substitute is not the best approach to enlisting an extra pair of hands ! They do the pushing, you focus on keeping the bike upright and feet firmly planted. Your feet cannot slip if they are just pushing straight down.

An alternative is to not use the engine at all, put the side stand down and enlist your partner to do the pushing from both ends. Lean the bike slightly to the left, so that if your foot does slip, the side stand will catch the fall.

If on a slope on gravel, then note that the front brake will not work to stop the bike sliding backwards. It just skates. Backward movement needs to be controlled by the back wheel. Have the engine running, the bike in gear with clutch pulled in to manoeuvre backwards. Release the clutch slightly to control the rate at which the bike moves back. This enables both feet to remain in contact with the ground.

I don't know if this is a solution, but a friend had a garage at the bottom of a very steep drive, with no room to manoeuvre the bike round. He had a turntable. Put the bike on the centre stand on the turntable, spin the bike round and drop it back onto the sidestand.

Some public car parks I have seen in the Yorkshire Dales seem to be grass or gravel and look horrendous on first approach. In fact, they have a ridged plastic honeycomb type structure. Hexagonal shaped walls of some rigid plastic like material which has been set half way into the ground and the soil/grass or gravel has filled in the top half. The top of the plastic wall is level with the surface of the ground. It keeps the gravel together and provides a firm footing. But you cannot see it until you are right on top of it. Something like this UK link

Highway STar said:

Especially if your girlfriend is anywhere in the vicinity.

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Well that's a given. LOL!

Highway STar said:

Nothing worse than having to pick it up twice, once on each side....

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That was my worry but considering the weight negative camber and my struggle an energetic lift turned out to be a figment of my imagination. Had there been a comely lass nearby momentum might have worked against me.

DavidR8 said:

Thanks for all your great advice, it's very helpful.
When I move my Tiger around one of the things that I do is lean it slightly against my right hip.
It seems like that's going to be a bad idea with an ST as I won't be able hold it up.
Fwiw I'm 5'9" and weigh about 170#.

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I'm the same height and weight as you, with a 32" inseam. I never move my ST more than a few inches forward or back unless I'm sitting on it. Whenever possible, it moves forward under power, and I "duck walk" it backwards. I move it this way for more control and less risk of dropping it, reduces the fear factor considerably for me. I know that if I'm sitting astride the bike I have a relatively good chance of avoiding a tip-over in either direction; if I'm walking the bike backwards while dismounted and leave the side stand extended, it can't fall towards me very far before the stand stand catches it - but, if it starts to fall away from from me, I'm helpless and can do nothing but step back and watch the crash.

I have no choice when backing it out of the garage, as there is no room on the bike's LH side to walk along side it. I park it on the centerstand 99% of the time to leave adequate room for my car to park to the bikes RH side, and room for me to squeeze past the bike and walk out of the garage.

I saw an ST the other day near where I live. I wonder if he's on the board as I'd like him to come over and see if he can move his bike easily in my driveway.
I probably seem like I'm obsessing over this...
To sum it up for each of the four bikes I'm considering there's one major factor. Each different.
ST: weight
RT: reliability
FJR: pillion comfort
KGT: slow speed handling

jfheath said:

never try to push the bike forwards with your feet. They will slip, and down you go

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First exercise on the bike at Basic Rider course, after learning where the buttons are. Walk your bike forward with the engine off. If you fail this, do not continue.

T_C said:

jfheath said:

never try to push the bike forwards with your feet. They will slip, and down you go.

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First exercise on the bike at Basic Rider course, after learning where the buttons are. Walk your bike forward with the engine off. If you fail this, do not continue.

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I invariably walk my bike around normally, either with me on the bike or standing by the left side - depending on the circumstances. But on gravel / shale ? Never. There isn't enough traction for feet to push such a heavy bike. Strictly bike power, pillion power or gravity.

Rdt1953 said:

I have a 30 " inseam and small feet. Moving the ST Backwards while in the saddle is difficult even on level concrete - nearly impossible on my crushed shale driveway . Driving forward under power is not that difficult but the bike would certainly be better with an electric reverse ala Goldwing. Plan your parking so you can power uphill - downhill when reversing. All is more difficult with a full tank so I only top it off when absolutely necessary.

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This is what prompted me to sell my behemoth and get a Vstrom 650. Immediate 250 pound weight loss, loves gravel and gets nearly 60mpg! Plus, goes everywhere my ST1300 went and more!

BoSTon said:

This is what prompted me to sell my behemoth and get a Vstrom 650. Immediate 250 pound weight loss, loves gravel and gets nearly 60mpg! Plus, goes everywhere my ST1300 went and more!

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And this is exactly what scares me about the ST. I can do a three-point turn on my Tiger which weighs over well 500 loaded up and with gas. No way do I think I can push the ST on gravel. Maybe I'm wrong.

Like most things in life there are trade offs - the ST is indeed difficult to wrangle in some situations but you learn to deal with it.

i am 64 yrs old - 5' 10" with a 30" inseam and weigh 150 lbs with size 6 1/2 feet and I have managed my ST for 10 years without dropping it ( came close the day I bought it though - see my post under "You Idiot " )

When weighing the pros and cons of your choices don't neglect the extremely important pro factor - The ST is an ABSOLUTE JOY when it is moving - the amount of time you spend in parking , maneuvering in your driveway etc is really minimal .

Rdt1953 said:

Like most things in life there are trade offs - the ST is indeed difficult to wrangle in some situations but you learn to deal with it.

i am 64 yrs old - 5' 10" with a 30" inseam and weigh 150 lbs with size 6 1/2 feet and I have managed my ST for 10 years without dropping it ( came close the day I bought it though - see my post under "You Idiot " )

When weighing the pros and cons of your choices don't neglect the extremely important pro factor - The ST is an ABSOLUTE JOY when it is moving - the amount of time you spend in parking , maneuvering in your driveway etc is really minimal .

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Thanks.
It's interesting to hear you say that because when I rode an 07 ST at my local dealer I got on it and was quite surprised at how much lighter it felt to stand it up from the side stand.
When my Tiger is full of gas (22 litres) and all packed up I have to give it a mighty heave to get it off the side stand.

And I completely agree that underway the weight disappeared. My lady and I spent the best part of two hours on it, some of it exploring local residential areas some on the highway, some on the twisties. I was really surprised by how nimble it was.

Rdt1953 said:

Like most things in life there are trade offs - the ST is indeed difficult to wrangle in some situations but you learn to deal with it.

i am 64 yrs old - 5' 10" with a 30" inseam and weigh 150 lbs with size 6 1/2 feet and I have managed my ST for 10 years without dropping it ( came close the day I bought it though - see my post under "You Idiot " )

When weighing the pros and cons of your choices don't neglect the extremely important pro factor - The ST is an ABSOLUTE JOY when it is moving - the amount of time you spend in parking , maneuvering in your driveway etc is really minimal .

Click to expand...

Thanks.
It's interesting to hear you say that because when I rode an 07 ST at my local dealer I got on it and was quite surprised at how much lighter it felt to stand it up from the side stand.
When my Tiger is full of gas (22 litres) and all packed up I have to give it a mighty heave to get it off the side stand.

And I completely agree that underway the weight disappeared. My lady and I spent the best part of two hours on it, some of it exploring local residential areas some on the highway, some on the twisties. I was really surprised by how nimble it was.

Have you considered using paving stones to make a pathway for both bike and pedestrian? In the effort to conserve money it might be a alternative regardless of bike and allow the kick stand to be able to deploy if you need to dismount


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