How long before your first off?

[Guest]

I think I broke the record for the number of offs, but my first was during basic training drills offroad.

The course organisers were using a sewage farm site roads and it was liberally sprinkled with their raw material. A few of us had offs that stuff is not so grippy as you may have noticed.

After that the only way is up.

[funinacup]

Aside from stepping off the bike without the side stand being down (I kicked it down but it pinged back up!), I've never fallen off *touch wood*.

Had a few OH SH*T moments that have taught me plenty. Still get a fright every now and again but very infrequently, thankfully.

[Bandicota]

I think it all depends on you, your style of riding, how much you ride, where you ride, and your bike.

My current bike is my only bike, and I only use it for leisure purposes. I never ride in city centres if I can avoid it. I've had it for 18 months and in that time I've put 10000 miles on it and have fallen off it just once. This happened when doing a U-turn in the middle of a quiet suburban road. It cost me a new pair of mirrors and nothing more. This, however, was not my first 'off' on a bike. I would say, the moment you are relaxed and confident in your riding you'll probably have an 'off'.

If I were using it for commuting, it's probable that I may have had a few low-speed falls from it by now. The roads are heavily congested, there are inconsiderate drivers at rush hour, mistakes happen when filtering or when people jump out to cross the road, etc. If I used it in a typical very-low-miles way, i.e. just a couple of sunny weekends to a cafe somewhere, then it's highly unlikely I would have ever dropped it.

For the sports bike/overtake-everyone type of leisure riding, the risks of actually coming off at speed (i.e. a serious crash whether involving another vehicle or not) are much higher. I tend to avoid this approach most of the time, and chill out when riding, but only because the amount of concentration required puts my nerves on edge and tires me out, so it gets uncomfortable to sustain it over longer periods.

[learningtofly]

I bought my first bike about 35 years ago – the moment my parents dropped me off in Norwich, where I was going to be working for a few months. I’d never ridden before but bought a CG125; the dealer gave me a quick rundown in their car park, asked if I was good to go, and I managed to flip the bike upside down as I pulled away. He shook his head, straightened a couple of pegs in the workshop and wished me luck.

For that whole winter, I used to ride down the A11 to north London every weekend. It was full of roundabouts and usually icy, and it wasn’t at all unusual for me to come off once or twice on the way down (or up again). Mum used to cry when she opened the door to me (I usually had blood on my knees or somewhere), but those experiences did mean that I learnt the hard way and – luckily – I escaped any kind of major injury.

This time around, the first day of practice on the DAS bike was very embarrassing indeed. We were in the car park we used for Mod 1 practice, and my instructor told me to park up and take off my helmet for a quick break. For some reason I elected to U-turn towards an adjacent picket fence and quickly realised that I didn’t have enough room. Instead of stopping and backing the bike up to get some extra leeway, I decided that I had to make the turn, got myself on full lock doing almost no miles per hour and down I went. About 20 CBT trainees were staring at me, and I spent that whole night wide awake thinking about what a twat I was.

[emmajaneg]

Well, i have been riding for about a month and if it counts...i tipped off of my bike? I was riding in 50 mph winds, my bike stalled, shot forward and next thing i knew - i was on the floor.

[Via]

Forgot about this thread Well I almost got to 2 years

[ShouldKnowBetter]

Passed my CBT and decided to do an “improver day” with the bike school ahead of my DAS mod 1 training.

Got on the bike, did a couple of laps of the training centre and the instructor waved me over to him. As I approached him and slowed down to stop I overdid the front brake while turning slightly. The bike began to fall to my left, I decided “I can keep it upright!” But it turns out my macho strength is not enough for a CB650f that wants to lie down. I fell over and bent my wrist but nothing broken except my pride.

Pick up my new bike on Tuesday so my real learning starts this week. Hoping to stay safe. My mantra will be “try not to be a knob” as an off early in my biker career will no doubt cause marital issues!

[mikestrivens]

Get some drop protection on new bike.

[Marino]

Don’t really remember first one, probably wasn’t so bad or because I did fell so manny times. But will be at around age 13-14, from some 50 cc scooter of that time. I was born near by race track and spent many of my young days on it attempting to copy real racers. So kissing the tarmac was just ordinary thing.

[kingmunky]

My first one was on my very first day of my CBT!

Practising emergency stops on the yard, I grab the front brake without closing the throttle completely, rearwheel spins out from under me and I ditched it infront of about 10 people, including a couple of instructors! D'oh!

Never mind though, they just pushed that bike to the back of the yard and wheeled out the bright yellow one for me instead (so people would give me a wide berth lol!)

[rob m]

I passed my bike test in October 1996. My first off was in October 1998 on a Kawasaki ZX9R. Low sided on a roundabout after getting my knee down in front of my mates. Totally my fault as I was showing off and tipped it in too far on a damp road. You live and learn though, my next one wasn't until 2017 when I fell off my BMW K1200S at about 5 mph.

Broke 3 ribs

[AdLad96]

Embarrassingly, not long after I got my first geared bike! Yamaha WR125X....

My left shoe had a hole in the bottom, and my Yama had those MX Style pegs (spiky ones) and my foot stuck on the peg, I attempted to put my leg down after stopping...

So yeah, I keeled over, no damage to the bike but some nasty bruising to my leg!

Pedestrians ran over to help, I was red as a beet!

[learningtofly]

Then a bright spark had the idea that riders ought to receive training before they took to the road.

 

Health and safety gone mad!

 

Complete nonsense

[Guest Richzx6r]

6 days after I started riding....doing about 20mph car in front stopped I was far enough back but still grabbed a handful of front brake....locked the front and down I went

[Mack01]

First day of my CBT. It started raining heavily whilst we were riding round the car park doing u-turns etc. Our instructor asked if we wanted to cancel the second part which was out on the road. We voted to go out. 20 mins later I took a left corner too wide and hit the front brake. The bike slid into the kerb and I slid ungracefully alongside. Got straight back on and spent the next hour or so pootling around town with no problems. Later I realised I had taken a good amount of skin off my left knee and left elbow and my clothing had stuck to me. Obviously didn't feel it at the time due to the adrenaline rush.

My second off was on the first day of my DAS a couple of years later. Not my fault this time. Went round a corner and came across a bin lorry reversing backwards down towards me. Very narrow road with parked cars either side and on an incline so I had nowhere to go. Shouting and horn beeping had no effect so I had to roll my bike backwards downhill (my first day on a big bike too). I almost got to the bottom . Near the bottom the road cambered and the bike went down pinning me beneath it... and the lorry rolled down toward me the driver still oblivious. Luckily at this point the other rider came along and so prevented my squishy demise.

[SometimesSansEngine]

My second off was on the first day of my DAS a couple of years later. Not my fault this time. Went round a corner and came across a bin lorry reversing backwards down towards me. Very narrow road with parked cars either side and on an incline so I had nowhere to go. Shouting and horn beeping had no effect so I had to roll my bike backwards downhill (my first day on a big bike too). I almost got to the bottom . Near the bottom the road cambered and the bike went down pinning me beneath it... and the lorry rolled down toward me the driver still oblivious. Luckily at this point the other rider came along and so prevented my squishy demise.

 

I always knew Wiltshire was proper dangerous

[Mack01]

I always knew Wiltshire was proper dangerous

 

It is but I took my tests in Buckinghamshire where it is just as bad

[SometimesSansEngine]

Aaaah I see. You realised if you could survive that you could survive the hood that is the Shire

[elizabethf]

I almost fell off doing some MOD 1 practice (turned the bike when it was only doing like 2mph lol)... but i actually came off just before xmas! Bike slid on mud while coming to a stop, not really sure what happened but i know the panic part of my brain took over and I grabbed a fistfull of front! I suppose all the weight came to the front of the bike and dislodged me from the seat, then i mustve not reacted enough to put feet down in time and over it went. Fortunately I cam out with nothing but a bruise on my thigh. So not a bad off! Ive been lucky so far.

[workpeter]

Probably a year after my first CBT. Hit some road ice on a side road doing about 5mph.

I would say I ride more cautiously than most riders.

On my DAS only got 3 minors total, all for being too cautious lol.

In my 600cc i feel much safer than on 125cc due to thicker wheels and noticable stability.

However i still take corners and junctions slowly, and drive in the number 3 position when approaching junctions (going straight or right)

I did drop my 600cc a few times though but i was at a standstill lol.