Down she went
Grand HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 4,998
Likes: 875
From: Iowa
Was getting used to the clutch on my Sportster the day after I got it by riding up and down the alley behind my house. My house is at one end with my nice, flat, 2 car wide driveway to turn around on. The other end the alley goes fairly steep downhill and the driveways next to it go uphill. So at the far end of the alley I need to turn around and figure I'll be clever and do it like my car, turn 90 degrees and go up the driveway, then back out of the driveway while turning the other 90 degrees to get all of the way turned around. I learned the same thing you did, hills and gravel do not mix but I was dumb enough to try and go backwards, down the hill, on gravel, and turn at the same time. I dumped it almost right after I turned the handlebars to the outside of my turn. Newbie move.
Tourer
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 316
Likes: 54
From: North Alabama
Knock on wood (knocking on my desk now) I haven't dropped my Harley all the way to the ground. As of yet. Had some close calls though. Gravel parking lots and driveways, oil/anti freeze spots at intersections, wet garage floor etc. One evening, I pulled into the driveway and was going to wash it after riding pretty much all day. When I pulled up and stopped, I shut the engine off and then messed with the switch (I was having an intermittent problem with the switch losing power at the time and it did it earlier that day) anyway, I messed with the switch for a few seconds then just went to lay it over on the stand... which I thought was down. Just like I ALWAYS do. It was not. And down it was going. In a big hurry. I held onto the bars and just as the floorboard touched the driveway and I managed to stop it there, held it there for a few seconds (felt like minutes) and regained my senses then pulled it back up. Shanked it up, got off and inspected the pipe burn on my right calf and stretched out my back! LOL
Cruiser
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 220
Likes: 21
From: lv
Just brought my bike home from getting 18 inch ape hangers installed. Was out side on the driveway admiring how cool they were And how good they felt when sat on the bike. My head was in la-la land and I forgot to put the side stand down as I got off the bike. Bike Wentover With the brand new ape hangers smacking into my brother-in-law's freshly painted car! Luckily the Bars were okay just messed up the grip a little bit. Put a small ding in my brother-in-law's fender Had to cough up a few hundred bucks to put it right.
Stellar HDF Member
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,086
Likes: 154
From: Buffalo, NY
I never dropped by bike once
Twice...............well.............once in deep sand. Once in my freshly paved driveway, stretching my foot out to get a board for under the sidestand, maybe if I just tip the bike a little more...............THUD
Twice...............well.............once in deep sand. Once in my freshly paved driveway, stretching my foot out to get a board for under the sidestand, maybe if I just tip the bike a little more...............THUD
Cruiser
Joined: Jul 2015
Posts: 208
Likes: 17
From: Romeoville, IL
Should never have read this post earlier today. Was messing around in a parking lot and got into a dead-end. Stopped the bike with the front wheel turned all the way and over it went. Stopped the momentum about halfway down but couldn't get enough footing to pull it up, so set it down super slow. Barely even a mark on the engine guard. 
Got lucky, but learned an important lesson. Always plan where I am going and don't just stop. Rode a while to make sure everything was OK on the bike and then got home and practiced u-turns for about twenty minutes. Definitely need more practice on that.
Got lucky, but learned an important lesson. Always plan where I am going and don't just stop. Rode a while to make sure everything was OK on the bike and then got home and practiced u-turns for about twenty minutes. Definitely need more practice on that.
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Road Warrior
Joined: May 2015
Posts: 1,323
Likes: 57
From: Central Florida