Almost a drop

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DavidR8

DavidR8

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Joined
May 31, 2017
Messages
1,220
Location
Vancouver Island, British Columbia
Bike
2013 BMW R1200RT
STOC #
8968
My tips on avoiding situations like this are:

1) Don't stop unless dead straight and balanced, Front wheel straight. Braking with the wheel turned can throw you over to the side.
2) If riding with a passenger consider stopping and letting them off before tight low speed maneuvers.
3) At low speeds ALWAYS keep it in gear. I have put it in neutral at low speed causing a drop when I needed a little power.
4) Work with the Bike and it's weight, working against them can get you injured or at the very least embarrassed.

5) GRAVITY WORKS EVERY TIME Count on it.
Completely agree with all of these. Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 12, 2017
Messages
28
Location
SW USA
Bike
2014 CTX1300D
At low speeds ALWAYS keep it in gear. I have put it in neutral at low speed causing a drop when I needed a little power.
Yes sir!

My slow-speed skills are not the worst but they are also not the best. Keeping the bike in gear is a key item.
 
Joined
Jun 3, 2009
Messages
248
Location
Surrey, BC, Canada
Bike
2008 Goldwing GL1800
DavidR8, I am the last person to give advice on picking up the ST. Years ago, I bought 2 DVD from Jerry Motorman Palladino. I learned slow and city riding and picking up bike from those DVDs. https://www.ridelikeapro.com/. They now have an updated version.
For one riding season, once a week, I practiced standing the ST on its centre stand and picking it up from an intended drop. This was done on my drive. Early each season, I would go out to an empty parking lot to practice slow maneuvers a few times. Still, that doesn't stop me from accidental drops. I am really hoping riding in the city with only half of a tank of gas will help me to last one season without dropping the ST. The cause of the drop is simply - careless. I just don't pay enough attention to my surroundings.
There is a riding skill improvement course in town, called Road Craft. I think I will celebrate my 10 year ST ownership by taking it.
Kenny
 
Joined
Feb 3, 2017
Messages
833
Location
Schroon Lake, NY
Bike
2010 ST-1300
The MSF BRC-2 is a good course to take to practice your slow speed maneuvers. If you want something a little more advanced I took this class last July in Dallas TX. http://www.proridermc.com/home.php. It was a really good course and had a lot of slow speed work as well as emergency stopping at higher speeds than the BRC-2 . Also some emergency swerving exercises and lots of other good stuff.
 
Joined
Jul 9, 2013
Messages
28
Location
Roseville, CA
Bike
2009 ST 1300
Jim, you can google motorcycle inflatable vests and I believe there are 3 manufacturers out there. Mine is a Helite hi viz turtle shell that can be viewed at helitemoto.com. There's another called Hit Air vest and I believe Ikon also makes one. Youtube has videos of how they work and I regularly have other riders asking me about the vest. They sell in the range of $350 to $650 and the newer ones are built into a jacket while mine is a vest I wear over my regular jacket. I am fairly certain that I escaped serious injury thanks to the vest, but I also did not hit anything, just bounced on the pavement a few times and got a little left arm road rash through my jacket. Never thought I would need the vest but glad I had it on the day I hit gravel.
 
Joined
Sep 19, 2017
Messages
136
Location
Nebraska
Bike
2007 STinkerbell
Ok, glad to see I'm not the only one almost dropping a newly purchased ST. First ride, with my son, coming to a stop, a gust of wind almost took me down.
Then later on, parking in a tight garage, forgot to put the kickstand down. It tilted against the garage wall, no damage.
 
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