First Fall

[Dave Dark]

Well, it happened.

I'm new to riding but did the M2 course without any problems. Didn't fall over once even though tons of people were. I bought myself a new (2010) Suzuki GZ250 thinking, "Hey, I'll be able to keep this baby looking sparkling and clean for a long time to come!"

I was drove to pick up saddlebags and began to come home. I decided to take a circuitous route and enjoy the day. Bad idea. Halfway to home I start to get tired and just want to park and get out of the thick Toronto traffic. Instead of taking a break and grabbing a coffee, I stupidly push on. Coming up to a light the car in front of me gets on the brakes. I do an emergency stop and I use too much of the front brake (I think that's what I did wrong). The bike falls over and I'm under it!

A passing motorist asks if I'm okay. I say, "I think so." I manage to get my bike up and have a little trouble starting it but eventually it catches. The only damage I did to myself was a scrapped knee. Thank God I was wearing all my equipment! A scrapped knee stings! I wouldn't want any other injuries. I decided to head on home and survey the bike for damage when I get there.

I was cautious on the way home but I'm sure I was making countless errors and screwing up my shifting. When I got home I breathed a sigh of relief and checked the damage. It wasn't too bad. The front fender(?) has some of the paint chipped off and my muffler has a few minor scratches on the end. Other than that the bike is fine...and I'm fine too! Phew!

I'm would have like to keep my bike in pristine condition longer than two weeks but, oh well! It was bound to happen sooner or later. At least maybe this will mean my fall will be out of the way and from now on I will be more careful when I'm riding. I'll be more observant and keep myself out of situations where I might have to execute an emergency stop!

Take care all! And keep the rubber side down!

[Water Warrior 2]

Ouch !! Glad to hear you didn't get wounded too badly. We all learn from our mistakes and try not to do an encore. Now that you have worn the new off the bike you won't have to worry about that anymore. It only took me a week to drop my Vstrom in gravel and scratch it up.
Now you know it is not wise to keep going instead of taking a break. Riding is always going to be more fatiguing than driving even when you are having a good day. Driving a car is a more forgiving endeavor when you have a senior moment and loose your concentration momentarily. As a new rider you must be aware of the fatigue factor and make allowances for time and distance on the road. Maybe try for a little shorter rides and wait to build up your skills and road savvy. Yup, it may have been a one time thing going so far for bags but please do learn to stop and smell the flowers more often. You never know when you will make a new friend who also rides.

[waya]

Heh, my only drop so far is putting the bike down on the UN-EXTENDED kickstack and while it is going down my brain is going "???? why is the kickstand not hit the ground yet? ???" then it was all over, it pulled me down with it... and jarred up my knee pretty good.

Luckily this was after me putting the M/C crashbar on it. The bike suffered no scratches... and my leg had plenty of room... the crash bar did it's job.

[blaine]

Originally Posted by waya

Heh, my only drop so far is putting the bike down on the UN-EXTENDED kickstack and while it is going down my brain is going "???? why is the kickstand not hit the ground yet? ???" then it was all over, it pulled me down with it... and jarred up my knee pretty good.

Luckily this was after me putting the M/C crashbar on it. The bike suffered no scratches... and my leg had plenty of room... the crash bar did it's job.

Been there,done that,of course in front of a crowd. :blush: :oops:

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by blaine

Been there,done that,of course in front of a crowd. :blush: :oops:

Been there done that too. Thankfully I even had help picking up the bike so I could check for any damage. And yes, crash bars are a money saver and limb saver.

[BillInGA]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

Been there done that too. Thankfully I even had help picking up the bike so I could check for any damage. And yes, crash bars are a money saver and limb saver.

I, too, am a member of that prestigious club! I ended up pulling my shoulder trying to keep it from falling - was sore for a month.

To this day I ALWAYS visually verify that my side stand is down and locked. Lesson learned.

[mrlmd1]

Glad you and the bike are OK. What you have to try and do is analyze what happened, what you did wrong in causing the bike to go down. It's not applying too much front brake that did it, it was probably having the front wheel turned to the side that did it. Applying front brake, especially at low speed, will bring the bike down almost every time and should be avoided. If you jammed on the brakes with the wheel straight ahead, it probably wouldn't have tipped over. You may have turned it to avoid hitting the back of the car instead of doing a quick evasive maneuver,( maybe or not there was room to go around), but, again, the reason you went down is that the wheel was turned.

[alanmcorcoran]

Well you didn't hit the car and didn't permanently damage yourself, so this is probably a plus. Courses and books aside, I think there's nothing quite like an accident to instill some discipline into your riding. I haven't had the Geezer down yet, but I had barely 200 miles on my Kawasaki when I was nearly run over by a pickup, so, I can sympathize with the "damn! that was quick" feeling. I laid down the Strat twice at low to no speed and scratched it up, never fixed it and it doesn't bother me much anymore (although I was pissed when it happened.) You'll get over it. If there is bare metal, though, you might want to clean and paint it to avoid rust.

Don't be shy about the front brake - it's the real stopper on the bike - but pay attention to what mrlmd sez - you got to be going straight and upright when you hit it. Also, it's a good habit to practice applying BOTH brakes for panic stops, even thought the rear one doesn't do much. There are some advanced techniques that rely on using the rear brake to manage your centrifugal forces while applying throttle, but I think it's too soon for you to be worrying about that. Try to connect your hand squeeze with foot pressing though, so it's instinctive the next time it comes up (and it WILL!)