QuestionI have expreienced tipping over 4 times in 3 years. Are there any rules about how to avoid tipping over? I ride a HD Road King Classic w/wife as a passenger.
For example; Should you always come to a stop with your handlebars straight? Should you always take of in a straight line first?
I can't seem to find any information in general about what causes a bike to tip over except when sliding on its side.
AnswerMike, I wish I had a concise answer for this. Since I don't, I'm going to give you a few things to think about.
Rule #1: Don't put yourself into a position in which you have to stop while leaning. This may seem overly simple, but if you always make it a point to be straight up and down with the handlebars square when you bring the bike to a complete stop, you should be able to keep the bike from tipping over. Doing this is not quite so simple. You have to plan ahead, not unlike how you have to plan ahead when you're driving a big truck or pulling a trailer.
Rule #2: Heavier bikes tip over more easily than lighter ones. This is also overly simple, but you might consider getting a smaller bike (or borrowing one) to practice on: do low speed turning and stopping maneuvers to help you get a feel for the timing of the straightening/braking but if you goof up, the bike is light enough for you to hold up. Try it by yourself for awhile, then get the wife on back, and try it with the extra weight (which, by the way, makes balancing at low speed and stops even tougher.
There are probably lots of other rules I could think up, but those should keep you busy for now. What's left below is from my new book, "How to Ride a Motorcycle," which explains why bikes tip over. While I wrote it in kind of a humorous way, I think the perspective may help you in your quest for always-uprightness:
The Point of Lowest Potential
Motorcycles have an innate, engineered desire to be tipped over when they’re not moving, or moving very slowly. I call this “lowest potential,” a mysterious force permeating the universe, and motorcyclists especially are stuck with it. Like every object, the bike is constantly seeking a place to “rest” where it will have no desire to move again.
Example of lowest potential: a boulder that has fallen off a mountaintop and come to rest in the bottom of an empty valley. Only an earthquake or a flood is going to make that boulder move. And it’s not going to cause any more trouble. It’s done. Example of highest potential: the same boulder teetering on the mountaintop, ready to fall onto a pile of nuclear weapons set on “hairtrigger.” The boulder wants to fall off, and the bombs want to explode. (Another example of high potential is the fertilized egg cell that eventually developed into Thomas Edison.)
Think about it: a motorcycle, if it’s lucky, spends its life balanced on two wheels. When unattended, it’s up to the sidestand or centerstand to keep it balanced. A strong wind, a brain-dead motorist backing up, or soft asphalt can give the motorcycle what it most wants—to reach its point of lowest potential, the point at which it can no longer move on its own. On its side. When you buy it, you become a lowest-potential babysitter.
When you adopt a motorcycle, you take on the responsibility to never let that thing reach its lowest potential. Your entire relationship with that bike will always have an undertone of effort, of watchfulness, of stewardship––when it’s not moving or moving slowly, you’re charged with keeping it from doing what it really wants to do (fall down), and instead keeping it in an “unnatural” upright state (fun and adventure balanced perfectly on two little patches of rubber).
When an ordinary motorist catches a glimpse of a motorcyclist, out riding around in the big, scary world, they might think: “Wow, that looks like a lot of fun.” It is fun, but what they don’t see is that awesome responsibility, hidden beneath the surface, of having to constantly be on guard and working against gravity just to keep the “shiny side up.” Fortunately, a moving motorcycle has a very strong desire to keep moving and doesn’t fall over easily. So what’s the best way to keep a motorcycle from falling over? Ride it!
Cheers,
Pat
