RE:how to raise the R11RT after a harmless fall?

[Syro]

Dear friends all around the globe,

urban driving in Greece has many similarities to driving in India or Turkey or simply playing a video game (cab drivers making sudden rights to get an extra passenger,old people trying to cross the road , new drivers trying to win extra points in their WRC alike new real game etc).

So while returning home from work the cab in front of me hit on the brakes.I did do at 20Km/h and the bike stopped(thanks God) instantly....but while at 0Km/h it took a small right inclination(is that term right?) and although i tried to stop it from falling down i couldn't (i am not Arny but 6.1ft and 95Kgrs thought would count for mechanics!!!).So i left it slowly after shutting it down to touch the tarmac.

I tried to lift it using the handle bars but came across the same thing i experienced 10 years ago when my YAMAHA TDM fell.(My HONDA XRV 750 on the hand could be raised much easier though)

Is there a way , a technique perhaps to follow in order to be able to raise the RT when down?(without any help i mean)

 

Tx

[4wheeldog]

Different bike, but the same technique applies.

 

 

 

[Danny caddyshack Noonan]

If it falls on the right, push out the side stand first. Pull the right end of the right grip straight up initially. As the bike raises, change the direction of pull to be a bit away from you. Further motion of the bike calls for changing to pushing from pulling until it is upright. Lift with the legs.

Same thing on the left with the exception of the side stand until it is upright.

A variation on this is to face away from the bike. I've never done it that way but, some prefer it.

 

I've also seen it done by getting very low to the ground and pushing upwards intially instead of pulling.

 

τις καλύτερες ευχές μου

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Different bike, but the same technique applies.

 

Before lifting make sure the transmission is in gear so the bike doesn't begin to roll once it's on its wheels. Also, if the bike is laying on its right side, put the sidestand down before starting to lift.

[russell_bynum]

I find that I get the best results if I stand there stewing for a few minutes thinking about the damage and how expensive all of that plastic is.

 

After about 45 seconds of that, I'm so pissed that I have no problem picking the bike up.

 

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

I find that I get the best results if I stand there stewing for a few minutes thinking about the damage and how expensive all of that plastic is.

 

After about 45 seconds of that, I'm so pissed that I have no problem picking the bike up.

 

 

Re: time, I've gone both ways.

 

The first time I dropped my RT was in 1999, during an attempted 3rd gear U-turn. Stalled it, dropped it right there in the road(with about 100 miles on the odo ), and was so mortified and pissed that I quickly stepped off, righted it, and rode away. No damage, no injuries, but I wouldn't have known this until later, since I was in a such a hurry to flee the scene; I just got lucky.

 

Cut to 2005, the second time I dropped it. I was when trying to put it on the c-stand at a gas station. The foot lever snapped, and I threw the bike over on its right side. This time, with some experience, age, and maturation, I accepted the embarrassment of the scene, and took my sweet time to do everything right, making sure the bike was undamaged and that I didn't injure myself while picking it up.

 

Same outcome both times, but again, I think I got lucky in '99; there could easily have been damage that I wouldn't have known about until hitting highway speed, or I could have wrecked my back picking it up like a bicycle.

 

Bottom line: take your time, get over the adrenalin and embarrasment of a dropped bike, and make sure you do all the steps correctly: in gear, sidestand down, backwalk the bike to vertical, check for damage, and then take some more time after that to chill out.

[Phil50]

I have a weak right leg with no knee cap as the result of a car accident many years ago. As a result I have to be particularly careful when paddling my bike particularly on gravel and other slippery surfaces. Even though I take care I have, on occasion laid my bike down at zero MPH. A bit like a circus pony trainer getting a horse to lay on its side. Anyway as a result I have slightly more experience of this embarrassing situation than I should have.

 

I once neglected to put the side stand down before lifting the bike. You only do this once!

 

I'm not particularly strong and can attest to the fact that if you get your technique right lifting an RT is easy. Left hand on right handlebar, right hand on pillion handle, straight back, bent legs. Straighten your legs and up she comes to vertical, then carefully let her go over onto the side stand. Although the bike is almost 300 kgs you are not lifting that much, the levers involved reduce that to less than a third (guess) and even my weak main leg muscles are easily up to the job.

[David13]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'harmless' fall of the bike. On those occasions in the past when I have dropped my bike, which has not been recent, I was crying so loud that several people usually came over and lifted it up for me.

dc

[tallman]

Do it like this

[Powers77]

Ironic that this was posted today. Yesterday upon return from my six hour ride my GSA decided it was tired when I stopped to prepare to dismount to open the garage door. Still not exactly sure what the heck I did. First solid recollection is of it being well listed to the left and realizing that there was NO WAY I was going to save it. Fortunately it went down really slow. In fact it may have been on the guard and bag by the time I gave up.

Good news, I'm not seeing any damage at all.

I will say it did not take 45 seconds to get ticked enough to dismount and pick it up. Closer to 5.

Don't have a dedicated garage door opener and was too lazy to go back in and get it when I left. That won't happen again.

[bmwsit]

If it falls on the right, push out the side stand first. Pull the right end of the right grip straight up initially. As the bike raises, change the direction of pull to be a bit away from you. Further motion of the bike calls for changing to pushing from pulling until it is upright. Lift with the legs.

Same thing on the left with the exception of the side stand until it is upright.

A variation on this is to face away from the bike. I've never done it that way but, some prefer it.

 

I've also seen it done by getting very low to the ground and pushing upwards intially instead of pulling.

 

 

+1 have used this method on a GS on a hill with the tires facing up the hill with no issues. Again, grab the lower handle bar and pull it out so the front tire is pointed up. Cup your hands under the grip, squat by the bike with your hands in close to you. Then just stand up using your legs. I prefer this method because you are facing the bike and in my opinion can control it better once its up.

[jjg3]

I have to say, the 1... (cough, cough) or 2... times I dropped my RT, on a slight downhill slope the tried and true Goldwing lift technique did not work for me. I got my 6ft strapping teenage son to help when I dropped at the bottom of the driveway and a riding buddy helped when I dropped it on Cannon Beach.

 

The DR650 is a different story, more the bicycle lift method.

[DiggerJim]

The first time I dropped my RT was in 1999, during an attempted 3rd gear U-turn. Stalled it, dropped it right there in the road(with about 100 miles on the odo ), and was so mortified and pissed that I quickly stepped off, righted it, and rode away.

I always tell friends with new bikes to go home, park it in the garage, close the door & push it over. That gets them 2 things - over the first scratch, scrape, bend, nick, whatever that's gonna happen sooner or later anyway and by doing it day 1 they don't have to fret about it happening for very long....and it gives them real world experience on how to pick it up without anyone watching so they're not embarrassed - when it happens in real life they'll know how to pick it up so they'll spend less time trying to figure out how to pick it up and just do it instead.

[EddyQ]

I have to say, the 1... (cough, cough) or 2... times I dropped my RT, on a slight downhill slope the tried and true Goldwing lift technique did not work for me.

 

The one time I tried this method, the result was it falling a second time as my boot heals slipped out. It just did not work for me either. Now, my RT was on a slight slope in the bad direction. So, maybe that had something to do with it.

 

My second attempt was likely no where near as friendly to my back, but it worked without injury or pain. I simply turned my stomach towards the seat, wrapped myself around the bike with my hip/stomach pushing against the seat, lifted the bike. The load was mostly carried by my arms (and likely putting force on my spine), but a portion of the force was applied to hips/stomach.

[Peter Parts]

R1100S fell in my backyard with no other people around and way-over to the wheels-up position. I couldn't budge it.

 

So I dug out a little portable kit block-and-tackle made many years ago for getting cars out of ditches - about the size of two large bananas. With it, I was able to get bike up enough to do the rest myself.

 

Related is the task of raising the bike higher for maintenance but on the centerstand. I used a bunch of 3/4 inch blocks and put one under each foot of the centerstand by rocking one side after the other, till I have maybe 4 blocks under each foot.

 

Ben

beautiful weather in Toronto

[CoarsegoldKid]

Do it like this

that 15 thousand pound Wing is almost up already.

 

I always tell friends with new bikes to go home, park it in the garage, close the door & push it over.

I waited a few years and dropped it fully loaded and with wife on the snow covered ice section covering a NF backroad in Northern Cal. First remove the trunk, skyward luggage and the other side luggage if possible, sans tank bag and if lucky you have already ridden the tank down to just a couple of gallon of fuel. In my case I was lucky on the fuel but unlucky on the ice for a footing. My wife began collecting dirt in a littered plastic bottle and created a footing for me and traction for the tires in pushing to reach pavement. The torn rib muscles under my right arm caused some cursing in the lifting process. Ibuprofen helped during he next four hundred miles.

[tallman]

Perhaps, but I've seen Carol lift big bikes easily.

It works.

Ice will of course throw another variable in there.

 

Adrenalin can be a friend.

Despite having just been literally run over, then kicked over a 100 feet through the air and landing roughly, I was able to walk back to my R50 and deadlift it upright, pull it off the road, because the dump truck it ended up in front of was revving its motor and I thought was going over it.

 

Since then, I subscribe to Carol the Skirts methodolgy.

Not only is my goal to pick up my bike like a girl, I aspire to ride like one too.

 

Best wishes.