[Lollingthunder]

Take it from my wife. Don't feel too bad, it isn't a big deal.

http://youtu.be/Y9kj_bygHu4

Sorry for the bad license plate blur job, didn't want to spend too much time making this vid. And don't worry, she's never been injured. Yet.

 

[pattonme]

what a trooper. but some things that should help immediately.

stop looking down when braking and make sure the bars are straight! When stopping both feet down. When pulling away, paddle walk 3 or 4 steps. It's perfectly ok. She doesn't have balance and she's got one leg up on the peg. She's also trying to pull away at an angle (turn and start). First get rolling in a straight line, then add steering inputs.

We don't have engine audio but I expect she needs a clinic in clutch and throttle coordination. Add some gas, hold the RPMs up and feed in some clutch to get rolling.

several of those are on streets where she could easily have gotten nailed. Go find a nice, empty parking lot with some islands, or the cul-de-sac in your community and practice starts and stops till she does better than 9 out of 10 correctly. One lesson I do is have the coach pull backwards on the rear grab rail and the student has to fight you with throttle and clutch to keep the bike from going forward or reverse.

Can she reach the ground comfortably with both feet? Doesn't need to touch the heels but shouldn't be high on the balls of her feet. No good shots in the video to tell. I would also have her practice putting some mojo into those legs when coming to a stop. I don't think she's actually prepared to stand hard to arrest early-onset tipping motion. You can help by having her sit upright and pushing sideways on the bike and make her react and catch it. You control a bike with your inner thighs. Once she stands up and out of the saddle she has disconnected and lost control of the vehicle. Stay in the saddle and use those leg muscles.

Does she pick the bike up when it falls over or do you?

 

[abvc]

how could you drop, do you have frame slider?

 

[Vince]

from what I see as a novice rider, noticed that she slowed down way too abruptly to cause the drop. I taught my girl to slow and roll before red light/stop sign even driving a car for smoother, safer, and comfy driving(especially with passenger).

we all learn from dropping/falling which I agree(I had like 3 drops so far in 3weeks ownership). As a health professional standpoint is that get her textile/leather pants(hip protection). I saw she's wearing boots so helped out a lot on ankle protection. Breaking ankle sucks(I don't think I recovered from playing soccer when I was a kid)
She lucked out from not hurting her hip from those video shots that she fell
Dealing traumas by ankle/hip are just not fun and very difficult to recover. They are not like an arm you could be on a sling for weeks and not use it. It heals very slow unless you don't plan on walking at all which is impossible to lay in bed for weeks, or scars formed and never recovered from repeated trauma after injury

 

[jthomas1310]

what a trooper. but some things that should help immediately.

stop looking down when braking and make sure the bars are straight! When stopping both feet down. When pulling away, paddle walk 3 or 4 steps. It's perfectly ok. She doesn't have balance and she's got one leg up on the peg. She's also trying to pull away at an angle (turn and start). First get rolling in a straight line, then add steering inputs.

We don't have engine audio but I expect she needs a clinic in clutch and throttle coordination. Add some gas, hold the RPMs up and feed in some clutch to get rolling.

several of those are on streets where she could easily have gotten nailed. Go find a nice, empty parking lot with some islands, or the cul-de-sac in your community and practice starts and stops till she does better than 9 out of 10 correctly. One lesson I do is have the coach pull backwards on the rear grab rail and the student has to fight you with throttle and clutch to keep the bike from going forward or reverse.

Can she reach the ground comfortably with both feet? Doesn't need to touch the heels but shouldn't be high on the balls of her feet. No good shots in the video to tell. I would also have her practice putting some mojo into those legs when coming to a stop. I don't think she's actually prepared to stand hard to arrest early-onset tipping motion. You can help by having her sit upright and pushing sideways on the bike and make her react and catch it. You control a bike with your inner thighs. Once she stands up and out of the saddle she has disconnected and lost control of the vehicle. Stay in the saddle and use those leg muscles.

Does she pick the bike up when it falls over or do you?

I agree, some practice is in need in some safe places, I was waiting to see a car come skidding round at her. Luckily only pride would have been hurt from the looks of the vid.

 

[Yamamama]

Two words: MSF course.

It's a tough time of year to get in on a course in most states, I know. But try. I need to do the ERC on the R3 pretty soon myself - haven't done a course in about five years -

 

[Stirz]

The music is perfect -

 

[Lollingthunder]

Alright, in no particular order:

She took and passed the MSF beginner course. The instructor was obviously lenient. She has over 700 miles riding time. I believe some people have no business riding a motorcycle, and my wife is one of those people, but that doesn't seem to dissuade her seeing as she wanted to own a motorcycle since she was a teenager. She seems almost not bothered every time she drops the bike which I find very odd. At this point I would say her skill level is still quite behind the level where I was right after I finished my MSF beginner course. And I'm not saying that to be funny.

She has hip and knee armor in both her textile pants and kevlar jeans.

To be fair there is somewhat a time discrepancy in those drops. Four of those happened early on after she got her bike, she learned to not use the front brake hard on slow turns or stops (it took a long time for her to learn this), then 3 months of no drops- generally she is pretty good now with start and stopping but the fifth drop happened 2 days ago after she locked her back brake (from a bad last-second decision to stop on the yellow instead of going through it) which freaked her out and there was a camber in the road which gave her bad footing when she came to the stop. At least she experienced the sensation of locking up her tire for the first time, hopefully she doesn't forget it.

I picked up her bike twice, the third time, the one where she hops off cleanly, she immediately picked up her bike by the time I put the kickstand down and dismounted to help her. And then the two other times she was riding on her own (the ones in her POV). The one thing she seemed to learn quickly is how to pick up her bike herself using her hips.

She can nearly flat foot both feet on the ground but I agree, Patton, she doesn't put enough grunt in her leg to stop her from falling but I don't know what I can do about that. That's one of her issues and even if she can flat foot securely, its what happens when the bike tilts on either side that is the problem for her.

I would like to do an advanced msf course with her but where I live they don't seem to have it unless you wrangle up 4 people on your own and then they will schedule a class, but also not sure if it will help her since she's one of those types that need A LOT of repetition to learn something.

 

[pattonme]

I commend you for your patience. The ART is for people who can handle their bikes comfortably. She's not remotely ready.

this drill might work on the tipping issue. she sitting on bike facing forward, in neutral on flat ground, and mirrors angled away so she can't watch you. you push ('soft' shove) on the rear bodywork or passenger rail to tip it over. when she counters, let it start to come back, then push again harder. You can also mix in steadily increasing pressure and have her flex the muscles but throughout, insist she keep her butt in the seat. If she stands up it's gone. We're only talking say 10-15deg off-center at most.

She doesn't know that yes she can stop it before it gets out of hand and how much effort it takes. She feels it start to go and just gets out of the way, is my read.

Next have her paddle walk a few steps (let's say 6 or 7) so she's rolling at a reasonable rate and on that final step she squeezes the brakes to stop, and you bump her at the same time. Next have her paddle in an arc and do the same stop+bump. Have her compare/contrast the levels of effort to save the fall when stopping in a curve with the bars turned vs straight. The light bulb should go on.

 

[R3-D3]

This bit made me giggle

 

[Bird]

Thankfully all the replacement parts especially the cosmetics are low cost, and come ready to bolt on.

Just keep the levers and pedals on it and give it a freshening up every half dozen boo boos like getting her nails done.

 

[Emphase]

wow she is definitely a trooper!! Did she drop the MSF bike at all during the course?

 

[dmo]

dropped mine two days after installing frame sliders. I was cut off in a parking lot when it happened =(

 

[Jen]

She's doing this on a new bike???

I'm worried about her safety. This isn't normal. Get her another hobby before she gets hurt.

At least get her off of the road.

 

[stampde]

my girl did that once , but never again , knock on wood

 

[t-rav_12]

That's friggin awesome, Lollingthunder!! Loved the soundtrack! Thanx for sharing your personal footage with us, and tell your wife that we're all cheering for her to keep the bike up!

 

[bladewarp]

Practice makes perfect!

As others have said, what at trooper! Gotta admire the spirit

 

[mobadger72]

NOT to sound like a jerk, but it is ONLY a matter of time, before she gets SERIOUSLY HURT or KILLED !!!
You both need to reconsider her riding on the street !!!
Get her a dirt bike !!!

The other thing, I hear her laughing when she drops it each time...
She is NOT taking this seriously and if she does NOT get hurt or killed, she WILL hurt or kill someone else !!!
Maybe another rider, maybe a kid ???

 

[YamahaR3]

That's hilarious. I ain't gonna lie. This video is why I will NEVER buy a used motorcycle.

 

[csewell]

My wife has dropped hers 3 times so far.

First time was her first time on the bike, braked too hard and lost balance when it stopped.
Second time was when she put the kickstand down, but not all the way. I was about 50 feet away in the parking lot and watched as she got two steps from the bike as it started to topple. Couldn't help but laugh.
Third was coming to an abrupt stop while down hill and in a (slow, 2mph) turn. Lesson learned and hasn't made that mistake again.

So far the only damage to the bike has been:
Minor scuffs on the bar ends (both sides)
Even smaller scuff on the exhaust (from the first drop)
Two broken clutch levers. One bent, one snapped the tip off. (second and third drops)
Bent shifter (second and third drops, still kinda bent but bent out enough to be ridable. New one has been ordered, just waiting for it to come in).

The bike drops like a trooper in my experience. I keep thinking of ordering Vagabond frame sliders, maybe soon. She hasn't dropped it in quite some time, and all of those drops were when she was just starting out.