Testing tip over wings

Rubio

Rubio

Joined
May 26, 2025
Messages
72
Age
65
Location
Ontario, Canada
Bike
ST1100A
It was bound to happen. I was riding up on my motorcycle dolly and the back tire rode up on the edge throwing me off balance and over it went in the garage. I was standing there surrounded by the bike, the paint cabinet, the wall and the snowblower. I was concerned the dolly might slide when I upright it so I tried to phone my wife since I didn’t want to crawl over the bike to get out and cause more damage. I didn’t have mobile reception but had wifi so I texted her. Please check your messages, please check your messages…
She came running across the driveway in bare feet thinking I’m pinned and the neighbour saw her running (we don’t run much) and sensed an emergency so he came to the rescue too.
I remembered the videos and got down in the crouch position with my feet against the wall. Grabbed the lift handle and handlebar and asked my helpers to not lift on the plastic. I think they pulled on the rear Givi mount.
She stood up quite easily with a scuff on the pannier where it hit the snow blower and a crack in the windshield. No other damage and “I’m quite pleased with that”.
 

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I hate when that happens. Only thing hurt is your pride, I'm sure.

The same thing happened to me. My wife came out of the house after she heard the revving of the V4. She noticed me standing beside my tipped over ST1100 (at that time) with a look of disappointment on my face. I was trying to correct the kick-out of the dolly so kinda slow-mo tip over. There was a point at which you say, "Nooooo!" The fall did breakaway the one mirror but that's what it's supposed to do. No damage otherwise.

Happy to hear you are okay. One thing I always check is to ensure the bike is lined up with the dolly and both ramps are down (Ride-On-Off position). There's a little test I perform now because you can't see the rear tire position. With clutch feel ensure you have just enough roll-on momentum for the rear tire. If it isn't lined up the dolly will move.

Good luck.
Dave
 
I may have told this story in the past- the Mrs and I were on a ride many years ago before we got married and at one time we lived in townhomes in the same development so my house was literally 2 minutes from her house - I said goodnight, she told me to be careful to which I replied, ‘I’m just going down the street’, I was in the driveway, stood the bike up, my 1/2 shell helmet at that time went over the right side of the bike from the backrest, I panicked and went to put it down on the side stand, but…side stand was already kicked up so on it’s plastic protector it fell.

I stood there feeling like a fool, got the bike righted and rode the 2 minutes to my garage. I called the Mrs (then not Mrs) and told her what happened and made sure I tell her to NEVER tell me to be careful in the future…she tells me now ‘God be with you’ and I say, ‘well, he can be the co-pilot’.

Anyway, all of my bikes and cars have some minor cosmetic character flaws (like scratches and the like)- it’s the beauty of having old stuff as those character marks just don’t bother you as much as they would on a new vehicle. I try to keep my things as nice as possible, but I’ve always thought the only way to keep any vehicle pristine is not to use it, and if that’s the case, why own it?

Oh, and there was that one time (~ 5 years ago) I was trying to pull the 2000 ST on the center stand onto a rolling stand with inferior shoes (not a hard sole), next to the 300ZX and it fell right into the car- the handlebar dented my driver’s door but didn’t tear the metal…bike fine, car not so much- had a PDR guy come to the house and do the best he could to ‘pull to paint’, then had a shop paint down the driver’s side of the car so it didn’t look ‘checkerboard’- $1000 later car looked like nothing happened, but I can laugh about it now (and wasn’t then).
 
SMSW said:
Glad you were not hurt when the bike got away from you.
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Better in the privacy of my shop rather than at a group ride. I dropped my previous bike doing a slow locked handle bar turn in a gravel parking lot with some coworkers. The embarrassment wasn’t dropping the bike but having my foot pinned under it and not able to free myself until they came to my rescue. Reminds me of “The Motorcycle” episode of Modern Family when Phil reluctantly takes Jay’s motorcycle for a ride and gets pinned under it and dreads this is the end.
 
Friday I pulled up to the left at one of the pump islands at the Costco gas pumps on the GSA, where I always put it on the centerstand.
(Not all shoes are suitable for this lift, by the way.)
When finished, erroneously believing i had already swung up the sidestand, I rocked the big girl off the centerstand... the suspension compressed at the weight, bounced off the uncompressible sidestand (obviously on the left side), and tossed me to the right, and into the brick column (which did not yield) next to the pump.
I wasn't pinned, but before I had even got back on my feet, the pump attendant and the driver of the car at the pump behind me had run over asking "How can we help? What can we do?"
The three of us easily lifted it back onto the sidestand.
No damage, i wasn't even embarrassed, just felt dumb. Real dumb.
I've never dropped this bike - in just this way - ever before.
Because I know better.
And now I've confirmed what I knew all along.
 
Rubio said:
It was bound to happen
Click to expand...
If there are no objections... this seems like a perfect time to start the Tip Over Tales thread. Im glad you were not injured and are a good sport about it.

This photo is from a day I forgot two things, whatever got me to get back off the bike, and that the kickstand was already up.
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Rubio said:
Better in the privacy of my shop rather than at a group ride. I dropped my previous bike doing a slow locked handle bar turn in a gravel parking lot with some coworkers. The embarrassment wasn’t dropping the bike but having my foot pinned under it and not able to free myself until they came to my rescue. Reminds me of “The Motorcycle” episode of Modern Family when Phil reluctantly takes Jay’s motorcycle for a ride and gets pinned under it and dreads this is the end.
Click to expand...
You get used to it, it just takes a few. My ST liked to flip me sort of acting like a pinball machine flipper. I've noted this before, but gas stations, especially in rural areas seem to have greasy slippery concrete next to the pump and I never got used to it. Once, after being flipped, a cute young woman ran up and insisted on helping me right the bike. She was not married (I noticed). I was. End of story. Back in '69 I was riding my new Triumph TR6R up to Finland from London. I stopped at a customs booth, pulled off my gloves and reached to my back pocket for my wallet and passport. The gloves slipped, I grabbed for them and the bike started tipping over toward the (toll type) booth. I think the crash bar caught my pants leg, but I was pinned at an angle against the booth, looking up into the very blue eyes of a very pretty customs (young) woman. I could not move. You talk about embarrassing? Hah! She was laughing.
 
I slipped in the oil pit at a toll booth when I was in the Navy, in New York or Pennsylvania, don't recall which.
One of the handful of times the Norton Commando was actually running.
Coming back from the shipyard at Charleston, where our boat was in dry dock for a refit.
Couldn't fit the bike down the torpedo loading hatch, so I was riding it back to Connecticut, it had no luggage, so my fully loaded seabag and a couple of other bags were tied to the seat behind me.
Didn't have a tankbag (Did they even make a tankbag in 1978?), so had to stop, take off gloves, dig for a quarter in my jeans pocket... left foot slipped out in the grease mud, and caught me under the bike when we booth went down in a heap.
The ugly, fat lady in the toll booth just looked bored and disgusted, while impatient drivers behind me started blowing their horns.
They were so anxious to get moving again, no one got out of their cars to help get the bike off me.
It seemed like it took 10 minutes, but I'm sure it was much less, and I finally extricated myself from the pile of man, machine, and overstuffed seabag.
The harder part was trying to get the bike back on the sidestand, as my boots kept slipping in the antifreeze and oil goo left there by all the cars and trucks before me.
After struggling for a while, I got the wheels down again, but then had to re-tie everything because the entire load shifted while it lay horizontal.
The car horns continued to blare, like a 3rd grade music class trying to play ...well, anything at all, in the Key of F. And they all stayed in their cars.
Ah, good times.
And welcome back to New England!
Before I left the toll booth, I remembered to thank the attendant for all of her help.
 
After a ride one day many moons ago, I put the kickstand down, rolled the ST into the garage close to the wall and gently let her back down on the kickstand....which had caught slightly on the transition from the driveway to the garage and had folded away a bit. The bike just kept going and pinned me against the garage wall. Yelling brought the wife and we righted it. Only time that's happened. The owner of my new to me ST said it's been down in the garage in similar fashion.

My Blackbird has been down multiple times, but not due to a kickstand issue.
 
There are actually two stands on some bikes.
They do similar things, but they are not actually the same, and they don't necessarily have to be used simultaneously.
Either way, BOTH should be stowed away prior to riding anywhere.
If they both are out of the way, I can promise your ride will be better.
 
My second tip over tale on the previous bike was due to trying to avoid the neighbor's dog that ran out in front of me. Locked up the front wheel and found out it doesn't steer like a ski. Down I went and again pinned my foot. The neighbor was within view sitting on the patio scrolling on his phone. "A LITTLE HELP OVER HERE!" He finally got off his chair and came to lift the bike as gas was running out of the gas tank cap. I just filled up before coming home. I think he must have grabbed the clutch handle while it was horizontal because the clutch didn't work properly next time out and I had to bleed it.
I don't know why my foot was pinned both times. That bike had engine guards but didn't leave enough room for me to wiggle out. Made me a believer in solid footwear.
 
I had a really good tip-over years ago, more of a slow speed crash really. It has everything- motorcycle low-side slide, cars, almost falling in to a six foot deep pit, embarrassment in font of young ladies, the whole nine yards.

I had a 1984 V45 Magna when I worked at a GM dealership. Friday afternoons we finished at 14:30. Friday afternoons after the shop closed is when the janitor would wash the entire shop floor. This was before anyone realized how badly we were treating the environment and the janitor would douse the entire floor with Varasol, scrub it with a stiff broom, and then rinse everything down the drain. I stayed late one Friday afternoon to do some maintenance on my Magna. I had not seen the janitor for quite a while so I thought that he had already finished washing the floor and had left and that there was only water on it. It wasn't water. I rode in on my Magna and turned to go down the main alley. The bike didn't turn so well. The wheels slid out from under me tossing me off. While I sat soaking in Varasol on the floor my bike fell on its side and slide on the slick Varasol covered concrete floor heading straight for the alignment pit. Thankfully the alignment mechanic had left a vehicle on the machine that weekend. My Magna slid right under the rear bumper of that car and stopped only feet from the pit when it hit the rear tires of the car. This all happened directly in front of two young ladies with whom I worked. They saw this happen and came rushing over to see if I was hurt and, of course as they were wearing high heels, one of them slid and fell on to the floor soaking herself in Varasol. Needless to say she was not very impressed or happy.

Along with the Varasol that made the floor very slippery allowing the bike to slide with very little resistance, and the tires of the car on the alignment pit acting as cushioning rubber bumpers, the bike survived with nothing more than a few scratches and a slightly bent flasher arm.
 
Andrew Shadow said:
I had a really good tip-over years ago, more of a slow speed crash really. It has everything- motorcycle low-side slide, cars, almost falling in to a six foot deep pit, embarrassment in font of young ladies, the whole nine yards.

I had a 1984 V45 Magna when I worked at a GM dealership. Friday afternoons we finished at 14:30. Friday afternoons after the shop closed is when the janitor would wash the entire shop floor. This was before anyone realized how badly we were treating the environment and the janitor would douse the entire floor with Varasol, scrub it with a stiff broom, and then rinse everything down the drain. I stayed late one Friday afternoon to do some maintenance on my Magna. I had not seen the janitor for quite a while so I thought that he had already finished washing the floor and had left and that there was only water on it. It wasn't water. I rode in on my Magna and turned to go down the main alley. The bike didn't turn so well. The wheels slid out from under me tossing me off. While I sat soaking in Varasol on the floor my bike fell on its side and slide on the slick Varasol covered concrete floor heading straight for the alignment pit. Thankfully the alignment mechanic had left a vehicle on the machine that weekend. My Magna slid right under the rear bumper of that car and stopped only feet from the pit when it hit the rear tires of the car. This all happened directly in front of two young ladies with whom I worked. They saw this happen and came rushing over to see if I was hurt and, of course as they were wearing high heels, one of them slid and fell on to the floor soaking herself in Varasol. Needless to say she was not very impressed or happy.

Along with the Varasol that made the floor very slippery allowing the bike to slide with very little resistance, and the tires of the car on the alignment pit acting as cushioning rubber bumpers, the bike survived with nothing more than a few scratches and a slightly bent flasher arm.
Click to expand...
Wow. Nothing beats looking the fool in front of a couple of ladies.
 
you guys just dropped one bike in one day well when i got my 1500 Wing i still had my 1200 Wing. i dropped the 1200 in the backyard was too lazy to pick it up so i hopped on the 1500 and dropped it in front of the house
glad you are alright Rubio
 
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