I don't get it. I have a CBR1000. Can't lift it back up once it has fallen. I tried the techniques I saw on Youtube. No go. It won't budge. I always need a second person to help me pick it back up. What do I do? Surely, there must some solution to this?

 

The 1st question is how often are you needing to do this? Unless you are a stunter or a track guy you probably should not need to do this on very rare occasion.

But the best way in my experience is to have the bike in gear and be on the down side of the bike with your back to the bike with one hand in the opposite bar grip and the other hand on as low on the frame as possible and do a reverse squat with your legs at a slight angle

 

I must be weak then because I tried that as people told me but could not budge the bike. It is really heavy.

 

Yea they are pretty heavy. I don't think it's an issue of strength as much as technique. Hopefully you want need to do it very often.

 

OK. I'll try again. But is there a tool that can work? I am seeing a tool called DustyRider. It is portable and supposedly works? Are there any other like that? I don't want to pay $300. Too much.

 

I honestly don't know. It might be worthwhile to look into a riding school and ask them if they teach that.

 

Being able to lift your bike is pretty important, even if you don't plan on ever doing it

For what it's worth, the first time I dropped a bike it was on my driveway and it tipped into a couple garbage bags. After watching me wrestle with 430 lbs of steel and hot garbage for a few minutes, the old biker dude across the street showed me how to do it. As Hamlin says, you'll want to crouch down, get a good grip on the frame (I found the passenger grab bar is usually about right) and the other hand on the handlebar. Get close to the bike and give it the heave ho. Can be done facing towards or away from the bike, but if you're facing towards the bike you'll be tempted to rely on your upper body, which isn't gonna be optimal. Legs and back should be doing most of the work, at least until the bike is mostly upright

Hurricanes are pretty heavy. I think some years were pushing 600lbs wet. I'm probably lucky that I haven't had to lift mine. That said, most people would opt for something smaller and lighter for a first bike, and this is one of the reasons why. No judgement, just an observation

If you're really stuck you could probably get an engine hoist on it, but that's a pretty ugly solution

Edit - Oh wait you mean a 1000rr. Ya those are pretty light, and I remember you saying that you were a brand new rider and were planning to take some new rider courses. I'm sorry but you have all the tools you need. Take the course.

Good luck

 

One of the greatest pieces of advice I ever heard a new rider get.... the store made my Mom pick the new bike she was buying up off the ground after they laid it down for her. It's all fun and games until you wreck and have to stand it back up. Laying down too long can actually be bad and may not start vs. if you picked it up immediately, you might be riding home even if your pride and biked are jacked up

I found the back to the bike awkward but it really works and allows a proper lift with legs and arms, and using the spine as structure vs. lifting all with your back which is really bad. I found grabbing both handle bars as if you were pushing it around and almost kneeling with the knee closest to the bike while the other knee was pointed more up.

From there I lift starting with legs using both with different leverage advantages and begin lifting with the arms a moment later. It happens really fast but I will say after wrecking 5 times, it is 2-5x easier to lift the bike when you're shot full of adrenaline then just bein pissed off you have to lift it

Here's my wreck and how I picked up the bike. You can see I pick it up with mainly my back and arms, but I do use my knees to support the bike and take the weight out so I can keep lifting. This is in the moment vs. practice.

P.S. Freshly painted white lines are no bueno especially in a tight J-hook corner and trying to pass someone.... And yes I am the idiot cuz the guy in front was doin the speed limit but I wanted to go around.

 

Here's example number two. The preview shows a broken link but it's really there.


Where'd I go wrong? I fixated on the guard rail after bein pumped and rockin some turns. I hesitated, slowed down, and tilted the bike up.
This is how you meet some rocks on twisties in the canyons

You can see I lifted the bike almost the same way but with less knee bracing. The difference I'd say between the two is I was more calm/less adrenaline in video 1 vs. video 2.

P.S. that's Fox Racing Titan Motorcross gear I wear. Both wrecks were at 35mph and you can see I wasn't hurtin too much

I hope this helps you and maybe others learn something

 

Truth. Many years ago I was coming up to a corner on an unfamiliar mountain road. For some reason, I fixated on the cliff to my left and it was like pure animal instinct guided me to hit the front brake mid-corner. Short slide later (and luckily not over the edge) and not much worse for the wear, except the bike was rashed up and I felt like an idiot for a while afterwards. I still wrestle with those instincts regularly. This sport is so freaking mental

I was gonna ask about the gear. I was thinking about making some upgrades to my commuter setup