New Motorcycle Lift Day - Oh noooooooo

[knyte]

Yep, I've been there too - and went to great lengths to undo my beauty mark(s)...

Good luck with the new parts and rolling back the proverbial clock

[petshark]

Done! I fixed some other stuff at the same time and sourced some used parts to compensate and I'm really happy with the results. Hopefully the imperfect handlebars won't bug me or I may have to replace those as well. Or do the trick with the long pipe first to try and bend it back.. it's just a little off.

[peteinpa]

Good time to try new bars.

[vincep]

I guess I have been lucky.  I have been using a Kendon bike lift for about 7 years with four bikes.  Does the job but on and off does get my attention.

I have a 2004 Kendon trailer which has been stout, so I stuck with that company.

https://www.kendonusa.com/collections/stand-up-folding-motorcycle-lifts/products/folding-sport-bike-lift-folding-motorcycle-lifts

 

[Garz747]

This is unfortunate. You ve talked me out of a lift!  Im extremely careful even lifting my car with a jack and/or ramps and jack stands.  Years ago when Detroit iron had chrome bumpers, I as a young teen attempted to lift a 2 ton+ OLDS 88 with a tall oem jack that slipped into a notch on the bumper. Our driveway had a 30 degree slope and I didnt even chock the wheels.  The car rolled back and Im lucky it didnt land on me. Lesson s learned!

[2and3cylinders]

Lifts are much less hazardous than parking and putting it on the side stand or center stand under sketchy conditions

 In the 27 years I've used my lift, I only screwed up twice and that was a long time ago.  Knock on plastic

[betoney]

1 hour ago, Garz747 said:

This is unfortunate. You ve talked me out of a lift!

Don't let one incident deter you, just use these lessons learned and use caution when rolling it on and off of the ramp.  👍

[micah2074]

I absolutely love my lift. 

[PhotoAl]

I did dropped my new CBR600RR not once but twice in the driveway by messing up rear stands!  I always keep the side stand down when moving my bikes around.  Years ago I was on the other side and leaned my FZ6 over to the side stand, only it wasn't down and by the time I realized it I couldn't keep it up.  Good think was it didnt kit the floor. I had my car there to stop it!  My daughter drives the car now and it still has the 6" long dents in the side from the bike!

Good idea to keep it under the vehicle.  If I moved my scooters around could put one in my garage.  Wife's Smart car only takes up 1/2 a space 🙂  However it would be extremely bad to drop the bike onto her Smart car!  I might be sleeping in a tent in the back yard are a few weeks.

[peteinpa]

When I had my V65 Sabre I got a flat in the rear. I stopped on a downhill hyway ramp, put on the center stand, and proceeded to shove a plug in. You can guess the rest. No you can't catch a 610 lb. bike from the rear grab rail. I feel better since it was some 35 years ago.

[2and3cylinders]

1 hour ago, peteinpa said:

When I had my V65 Sabre I got a flat in the rear. I stopped on a downhill hyway ramp, put on the center stand, and proceeded to shove a plug in. You can guess the rest. No you can't catch a 610 lb. bike from the rear grab rail. I feel better since it was some 35 years ago.

Even if it was in your yute!  It still gets to you, and as your memory gets even worse you're afraid you'll do something equally stupid again!

[peteinpa]

Lucky so far, knock on wood. Last bike to fall was my Blackbird some where around 2000. So 22 years and some 100k miles.

[Warchild]

I keep going back and forth on getting a lift. I have managed without one for over 60 years now, and stories like this continue to give me pause. I don't think I would 'petshark' my Tracer putting in on a lift... but that damn BMW S1000XR is another story altogether. It is a seriously top-heavy oinker when pushing it around in the flat garage. Rolling it up an incline just doesn't sound terribly appealing.

IDK, there are good arguments for me to just forgo it at this juncture. I may be a bit crusty with age, but happily, I appear to still be quite limber and agile for a gent in his mid-60's, so I'll continue to sit crossed-legged a nice strip of thick carpet to work on the bike.  

And spend all the money saved on tires and chains. 

[peteinpa]

That's what I'll do also.  been lying on the floor all winter working on my QT50.  

[Wintersdark]

Hah yeah, dump drops happen to absolutely everyone.  It sucks, and feels deeply embarrassing at the time, but... *shrugs* It's inevitable.  

 

I mean, I dropped my Tenere yesterday getting gas.  Getting gas.  I always sit on the bike while fueling, and was looking at the pump, holding the nozzle as one normally would, fully in the tank, expecting it to shut off when the fuel level got to the nozzle (still a couple inches down, so then I'd pay closer attention finishing the fill slowly), filling with premium at the appalling price of $2/liter. 

The auto shutoff on the nozzle was broken.  Suddenly, it's fountaining gas up in the air out of the top of the tank, all over the bike (and dousing my crotch as well. yay.)  Worse, the latch (which usually doesn't exist anymore in Canadian gas stations) not only existed on this nozzle, but had unbeknownst to me latched on *and stuck*.  Pulled the nozzle out of the very much overfilled tank, hosing gas all over the ground.  Couldn't get it to stop pumping till it hit the spend limit so another liter of gas on the ground. 

Kickstand down, got off, grabbed paper towel and went to work trying to mop up as much of the gas on the bike as possible, then to try to get as much as I could out of my pants too (priorities here).  I'm not the "act out" type when I'm upset, but I wasn't in a very good place and was very distracted as well.  Took another look, mentally crossed fingers and started the bike up... I know that gas isn't particularly contact flammable in these cases, but there was a LOT spilled over the bike.  And the bike *and my crotch and legs* were still fairly soaked.  Bit of a stressful button push.  In retrospect, it probably would have been smarter to wheel it away from the pump and massive puddle of rapidly evaporating fuel as well first.

Once it was running, I hopped on.  But I was kind of close to the gas pump (pump on the left side of the bike) and getting on was a bit awkward, and I was stressed, wet, and fumbled.  Went over to the right, and just kept going, couldn't get footing on the wet ground in time, and then it's lying on it's side, and I'm doing the shame filled "look and see who saw that".... and of course as this is immediately following spilling gas everywhere, everyone is looking.

 

I had resolved to never tell this last part of the story and put it behind me, however, in the spirit of @petshark's share, I felt it was necessary.  I'm going to go hide now.

Edited March 25, 2022 by Wintersdark