We all have done it at some stage of our riding life

Well my youngest daughter did it, she been riding MC since she was 9 years old, she now owns and rides a Triumph 660 triple for a few years and she finally done it, she just pulled up at work, dismounted her bike and it happened, forgot to put the side stand down and dropped her bike, she was so embarrassed about telling me about it and said its a learners mistake, I just had a bit of a giggle and said we all have done it in our riding life and told her about when I did it.
It wasn't long after buying my New Commando back in 76 one day I pulled up outside of our local hang out, jumped off the Norton and got about 3 steps away from the bike when I heard that big dreaded noise from the Norton falling over and crashing on the pavement, so embarrassing but lucky was only one other mate there, have never done that again in the past 47 years after that day, made her day when I said we all do it and you only do it once.
Lucky no damage to my bike or hers except for our pride, so who else has suffered the dreaded forget to put the stand down.

Ashley

Not quite that but I once with the bike on a rise and fall platform undid the tie downs before remembering that for once there was no wheel chock. Fortunately it was a tight space and the bike only ended up leaning against a tool chest. Yes there was an amused witness.

Mine falls over with the side stand down because I'm an old man who grows older every day. :-(

Not exactly the same as the walk away crash but I was riding with friends up in Arkansas on the Talimena parkway. It is a very scenic road that runs along a mountain ridge and it has a series of turn outs to admire the view. I was riding my 2000 Honda VFR and when we started up a mild grade to get back on the road my engine coughed and died. I put my foot down but I was also rolling backward. The resulting motion caused me to fall in a slow controlled crash on my left side. I laid there, hand still on the grips, fully embarrassed when a group of other riders ran up to me. Because I laid there so long they thought I had some sort of medical emergency. Many helping hands righted the bike as I made assurances that I was fine. I was fine just mortally embarrassed.

I did once nearly drop one of my bikes trying to start it, it has (semi) rearsets such that the RH footrest folds up for kickstarter clearance. While trying to start it, the bottom of my trousers got caught on the upturned footrest, 'capturing' my leg so I couldnt put my foot down. Managed to hold it upright while I lifted my leg, but it was a close thing.

Parked my Bonneville on a slight slope, put the kickstand down, started walking away and heard a scraping sound. Turned around to watch it sliding back, too late to catch it, and it tipped over. The foot peg bore the brunt of the fall. Can’t remember all the circumstance, but it might have been wet out.

Then there was the time when I was a kid, with my Suzuki X6, sitting there talking in the parking lot with the engine running. Totally forgot to put the kickstand up. Took off and immediately went into a left hand sweeping turn, and boy that scraping sound sure caught my attention.

many yrs ago on a cx500 i had been drinking n smoking and decided i was going home (yes i know very naughty) i got 90% of the way home with no issue but when i got on the side streets i suddenly developed an inability to put my feet down at junctions. i dropped the bike twice within 5 mins.
i got away with it and never drunk n rode again
Lesson learned dont ride a CX500 LOL

Never walked away with the stand still up but did once arrive at a red light with the kickstart up my right pant leg.

My mate was the first Australian soldier killed in Vietnam. I have wondered if he ever forgave me for dropping his new Suzuki Hustler. I had been used to riding British bikes. I rode his bike around the block and as I returned and approached the kerb in front of him, touched the front brake. The bike immediately dropped to the road. When we picked it up, there was not a mark on it. I felt really sick.

On a recent ride I pulled into a parking spot adjacent to a busy road. The cars were stopped at a light and I noticed a nice looking lady looking my way. Looking back at her like a cool guy I flipped the side stand down and heard the usual clunk and started to get off the bike. Unfortunately that clunk was the side stand banging back into the up position. After scrambling to catch the bike and muscle it back to vertical she was gone and I am still a dork.

Saber said:

On a recent ride I pulled into a parking spot adjacent to a busy road. The cars were stopped at a light and I noticed a nice looking lady looking my way. Looking back at her like a cool guy I flipped the side stand down and heard the usual clunk and started to get off the bike. Unfortunately that clunk was the side stand banging back into the up position. After scrambling to catch the bike and muscle it back to vertical she was gone and I am still a dork.

Click to expand...

....but you caught it

Never done the stand embarrassment thing properly but came close - kicked it out thinking it was actually out and as I leapt off I realised my error, a close call !

My father did a better job with the stand.
He put my old BMW R100S onto its centre stand without considering the camber to kerb, the bike slid then toppled over straight onto a lamp post which smashed my S fairing and we didn’t speak for a while !

At the time a new fairing shell was NLA and I had to suffer an ugly repair for quite some time

We did learn to speak again - eventually !

After once getting my sneaker lace looped around the shifter lever, I’ve been tucking them into my shoes.

Dry leaves in a corner have gotten me.
I once ended up in someone's front yard with my 650 Lightning on top of me.
I always used the center stand because I didn't trust the side stand. Seems some folks at a party i was attending were sitting on my bike unbeknownst to me. After too many beers and a couple of hits on a doobie I rolled down off the center stand and took off. Began a LH turn into sharp curb and got flung off the opposite direction with the bike chasing me close behind.
I bounced off a tree and that same tree then stopped the bike.
Trees don't move much, especially big ones.
My buddies girlfriend had put the SS down and left it there...I should have checked.

I did the opposite sort of . Bought my Honda ST 1300 new , all 700 plus pounds of it .Picked it up at the dealer who had it on the center stand. The bike has a fold out handle on the left by the seat to help put it on the center stand . In stead of straddling the bike and rolling it off the stand I stood along side and foolishly tried to roll it off using the handle . Of course it got away from me by leaning to the right . I did not want set down my brand new bike on it’s side but I could not get it back upright so I was stuck for a few minutes. Fortunately a mechanic came out of the shop and helped me . I bet they all had a chuckle at my expense.

With my '74 Shovelhead, 16yo, very cold fall morning in New England. Castrol GP70 in the oil bag, a couple squirts from the Bendix primitive mixer, stood on the kicker AND fingered the e-start, got it lit up. After a minute of warmup, clutched it, heel stomped it into gear.... chug-chug-chug into the side of the tin storage shed. Clutch was stuck.

Xmas day the wife and myself jumped on the Thruxton to drop in on my youngest daughter and partner, my wife is only 5' tall and needs to stand on the foot peg to get the other leg over, she been on my bikes ever since we first started to go out together 33 years now and never had a problem, me on the bike and hold it straight for her to mount and dismount, well we arrived at the daughter's place and I hold the bike steady the drive way is on a slight angle but should be no problems, well not sure what happened but as the wife was getting off and before we knew it she is on her back on the concrete driveway, lucky she still had he helmet on as it would have knocked herself out if she wasn't and before we knew it her shin on her left leg had opened right up, blood everywhere, what a mess, then the daughter came out the front door and myself wondering what the fu ck just happened.
My wife is a bit of a drama queen when it comes to injuries but this was a bad one, we got her inside and sat her straight down and the old paper towel trick wiping the blood and holding it over the 2 gashes on the front of her leg and to make things worst the daughter didn't have a first aid kit but lucky they had a friend there who had one in her car and took a bit to patch her up, still have no idea what had happened whether she got her pants caught on the foot peg or what as it happened so quick.
20 days later she still suffering those 2 gashes to her leg, shin injuries take so long to scab up and heal, I know as I have done so many to my shins over my 65 years and we still have no idea what or how it happened.

Ashley

I only ever left the side stand down once on a road bike. The bike was parked backwards into the kerb. As I rode it away and turned into the traffic , the side stand lifted the bike and then snapped back into place. I was just lucky I was not thrown into the path of the traffic.

The Commando side stands were so long that they didn't snapped back and stuck out towards the front of the bike, very dangerous indeed if forgotten to put up before riding off, you will only forget once.