The GS ADV Looks Pretty Bad On The Ground :(

[BobFV1]

So I arrived here in the DC area last Sunday, washed my bike, and stuck it in my business partner's garage over in McLean, VA. I am living in a temporary apartment in Tyson's Corner and don't want to leave my bike out.

Well, this being Friday and all, I drove over there this morning and dropped off my car and picked up the bike. It was great riding it the back way out of McLean on Kirby road, through Tyson's to my corporate HQ here in Vienna, VA. I got off the bike in the parking lot right below my office window. I put my foot on the center stand, pulled the bike back, and as if in slow motion my slick boot sole (I am wearing the gay-ass harness boots I described in the other thread) slid right off the center stand and the bike just gently tipped over on to it's right side.

Poor beast, lying there with a little trickle of gasoline leaking out of the cap gasket, as I have seen in most of my other tipovers going back some 30 years. Damn it - that bike just looks unnatural on its side!

Well, I could have gone into my office and gotten a few employees to help me right the bike - after all, I am the CEO - nobody would "mind" helping me. Could not bring myself to do it. The bike was actually pretty easy to pick up by myself - must be all the practice I got picking up bikes teaching quite a few MSF courses last month! I usually have to pick up bikes once or twice a class.

Damage? A little asphalt dimpling on the right cylinder protector, a little gravel on the crash guard which completely brushed off, a little gravel on the right passenger peg, and a very minor scratch on the plastic right hand guard. That's it! I didn't have the bags mounted, or they would have absorbed the part the pax peg absorbed. Contrast this to the time my R1 tipped over off the versa-hauler and it did 500.00 worth of damage, snapped a clip-on handlebar and broke all my switchgear!

Okay - so I got it over with. 4500 miles on the new bike - as I always say, good to get it over with early!

Ride safe.

[Tipstall]

:icon_cry:

[Gord]

Bummer Bob. Thankfully the damage is not significant. And fortunately it was not emotionally crippling to you.

I recall the first week of owning my RR in May, 2004. I dumped the clutch in my driveway, stalled it out, and my foot slid on the gravel and down she came. In slow mo. But still enough to scratch the underside of the left cylinder head. Can't see it today unless you get down on your hands and knees to look for it. But I was embarassed. Pretty amazing the adrenaline that embarassment gives you to get the bike back up!!!!

[arkline]

Thank god I'm not the onliest one here who's had a couple of no-speed drops lately. Adds character to the mix...

Sorry about that, Bob. No blood, no foul.

[ofrogg]

I am insanely paranoid about this... Ugh. I've been riding the ST in the rain the last couple days and each time I get home, I park outside my "garage" (while it's raining...) get the hose, spray 'er down, push it into the "garage" and then wipe it down with a chamoix. i've done that twice now... might be time to throw out the chamoix...

[socalrob]

Good going Bob. I don't think anyone should own a GSA without having it on its side at least once in a while. Isn't that what they are made for?

Now you can ride it out in the dirt & have some fun.

[Wild Will]

You skated past the barely hidden, drooling phantoms that lurk near all stationary motorcycles. Good thing you have an Adventure! The bike was built for this unwieldy world we dwell in. Goood on ya for picking it up solo, too. No self respecting CEO needs the minions to retrieve his mount! You Da Man.
Now about those boots...

[geechie]

Effing gravity!

G

[vintagemxr]

Happens to the best of us, Bob! A year or so back I stepped away from my Aprilia Caponord to snap a picture of a quaint, roadside chapel down by the US/Mexico border. As I fiddled with the camera I heard a "thud" and looked up:

http://www.corgifan.com/blogger/justresting2.JPG

The ground LOOKED firm enough when I parked... Got the bike picked up using the old "turn around backwards" method. The bike had some scratches on the saddlebag and fairing but not enough to get me too upset as the previous owner had dropped it a gas station and scratched stuff already. For him the difference was that he was astride the bike, it fell against a gas pump pinning him down until another customer came and rescued him. :icon_redface:

Over at Apriliaforum.com the Capo is known for having a propensity to tip over (very top heavy bike when not rolling) so there's a whole message thread entitled "Capos in compromising positions." Pictures are required and it's become sort of a right of passage for Caponord owners to document their folly when they inevitably drop the bike.

[BobFV1]

vintagemxr -

Thank you for commiserating with me! I feel better, at least my bike is designed with "going down" in mind, unlike your beautiful piece of Italian iron!

Take care.

[DJ Down Under]

Bob..what a bugger!

This is mine last week...if your bike's going to go down..make sure the ground is very soft.. and nice and grassy..and goes over real slow causing no damage.

Sometime you can be very lucky..:003:

DJ

http://members.optusnet.com.au/~djp1/mypic2362.JPG

[Deans BMW]

DJ's bike is taking a nap.

[Bones]

Bob,
SOOOOO glad that the way it went down is as you described. No real damage and no injury.

A really good friend of mine (the one who really instigated my formally getting into motorcycling as an adult) told me years ago:

"All new motorcycles have a need to demonstrate intense ground seeking behavior. They need to get it out of their system at least just once. So I help 'em."

He then told me of the ritual he has performed with any new bike he buys. He gets some help, takes it outside in the parking lot before riding it away and gently lays it down on one side, then picks it up, then repeats for the other. Then he rides away.

No kidding. So I adopted that ritual for all the bikes I have purchased new over the past years. It got a chuckle from the sales rep or shop tech when I did my check outs to take a bike home.

So when I got my GS last year, I told the Head Mechanic at the dealer about this. His exact words to me were "There is no fucking way I am helping you do that." OK. So I recruited one of the other shop guys who thought I was a bit off. As it turns out, I lifted it back up on my own withouth his help. But they are top heavy.

So now, you have let Odysseus get that out of its system and you are good to go.

What happened to Estimated Prophet?


Jeff

[BobFV1]

Odysseus came to me in a dream as I was rolling cross counrty. Jerry said it would be okay to forgo the Dead Head reference. Thanks for the encouragement - going out riding in VA/MD now! Taking the camera along!