• Welcome, Guest! We hope you enjoy the excellent technical knowledge, event information and discussions that the BMW MOA forum provides. Some forum content will be hidden from you if you remain logged out. If you want to view all content, please click the 'Log in' button above and enter your BMW MOA username and password.

    If you are not an MOA member, why not take the time to join the club, so you can enjoy posting on the forum, the BMW Owners News magazine, and all of the discounts and benefits the BMW MOA offers?

By accident I laid my 800GS down...couldn't pick it up!

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/v3R6N01nhTM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Hmmm, this is how I picked up my GS twice and is the way I was taught to pick up a bike in motor school.
 
The way to pick up any bike is to put it in gear, get your butt under the bike as much as possible and then walk it backwards, pushing the bike with your butt. Be careful not to let it get over center.

I stopped by a Honda shop one day that was owned by an 80 year old Gold Wing riding guy. I asked him about how hard it is to pick up a fallen GW. He took me outside, pushed his GW onto the grass, and laid it on its side.

He picked it up no problem using the technique you describe. 80 years old, 800 lb bike.
 
The 'problem' with 99% of the "How to Pick Up a Bike" videos and illustrations out there is that it always involves a motorcycle that has crash bars, engine guards or side cases that suspend the bike off the surface with enough clearance for you to get some leverage when walking it upright. As a Motor Officer, I used to do these demo's all the time as a public service.

Not always the case, should your bike lack these attachments.

Under those circumstances, best to follow two pieces of previous advice in this thread:

Either carry rope to rig some sort of mechanical advantage from a fixed object (tree, pole, etc.), or simply ask for some assistance. :thumb
 
I have never had to ask for assistance to pick up my RT. I'm usually in a situation with plenty of onlookers to witness my embarrassment and someone comes to my aid


The couple of times I've dropped it with no one around I was able to get it up myself
 
I thought I was doing that when I traded my FJR for the F800. I love the this bike! I really appreciate all the folks who have responded to this question. Great info. :clap

if you love your bike .. you need to know this info:

F8 has a 12:1 ratio engine which require premium fuel... no secret there. what's not commonly know is F8 motors don't have a knock sensor.

what that means is ... if/when you get a bad load of fuel. there is nothing to protect your F8 engine from destroying itself, except what's between your ears.

above scenario matters not if your F8 is remapped or not. if your bike starts to run funny with a loss of power. immediately after refueling.

STOP ... don't try to ride it out... take off your helmet/ear plugs, then carefully listen ... bad fuel is not the only thing that can cause loss of power. but if it happens immediately after refueling. a bad load of fuel is suspect.

easy to fix with no $$$... drain bad fuel, fill with fresh,.. then idle out remaining bad fuel in system. when engine no longer detonates with full throttle.... go on your way!

a bad load of fuel say with diesel mixed in can cause F8 engine to detonate. resulting in a destroyed engine very quickly. NO knock sensor, combined with full helmet and/or ear plug, could be very bad news.

lots of documented cases of folks destroying their almost new F800GS in remote locations with $2,500+ damages in short order.

unless something has changed... don't think BMW is advertising this scenario.

you might want to yank your almost new wheel bearings and repack with real grease. evidently lots of F800GS came with wheel bearing with very little to no grease inside sealed bearings. easy to fix with little to no $$$. pop off inside bearing seal, pack with grease... good to go.
 
if you love your bike .. you need to know this info:
what that means is ... if/when you get a bad load of fuel. there is nothing to protect your F8 engine from destroying itself, except what's between your ears.

Wow, then don't that bike up the Alaska Highway cause some of those lonely gas stations have only 87 octane for sale.
 
Wow, then don't that bike up the Alaska Highway cause some of those lonely gas stations have only 87 octane for sale.

no telling... if you know it's coming, octane boosters will help marginal fuel. one can get a bad load of fuel anywhere.

too many possible scenarios ... in known margin fuel areas like certain parts of SA. it's common for mama fuel vendors to operate out of 55 gal drums.

it's not possible to drain every last bit of fuel out of 55 gal with a barrel pump. say one time tank held diesel, then filled with gasoline. a gallon or so of diesel mixed in with gas will cause major problems with a high compression engine.

make sure you've got a big honking battery. Lots of cranking figuring out what's wrong and/or getting things going again.

easy to fix ... drain fuel, then idle out remaining fuel... when engine no longer knocks under load ... good to go.

can very difficult to hear engine detonation. especially with helmet and/or ear plug on. but the common giveaway is lost of power.

bad fuel is not the only thing that causes loss of power. but if loss of power happens immediately after refueling. a load of bad fuel is suspect!

STOP .. don't ride it out ... take your helmet off, then listen for engine knocks. once someone knows what to look for .. a major trip ending problem is avoided. broken rings, broken pistons, etc. $$$$ ... NO knock sensor to retard timing, so operator has to be the safety.

sure hope this info gets passed on ...
 
So folks, what do you do....is there a secret to pick it up?

Yup, you have to get plain mad.

Picking up a motorcycle on level ground is a no brainer. Try picking one up when both wheels are resting on ground that is higher than the rest of the motorcycle...as in a road with a 20% grade. A GSA with a full tank of gas gets even heavier then.
 
Lifting a 800gs from the ground...


It was twice as easy to lift my 2012 R1200GSA than my 2013 800GS from the ground ! The 800GS lies so flat down that you got to bend the knees a lot more.
Another problem that I am having is that when I use the technique of lifting from the handle bar, my handle bar gets crucked ! I have to find a tree to straight it out after every time!! Is it normal>>???
Cheers
 
Another problem that I am having is that when I use the technique of lifting from the handle bar, my handle bar gets crucked ! I have to find a tree to straight it out after every time!! Is it normal>>???
Cheers

Don't use your handlebars to lift your bike. Its outside their design criteria.
 
haven't dropped my F8GS all that many times, but have yet to see the bars go crooked (that was what you were trying to say, right?)... but maybe your bar clamps are not torqued properly?

or are the bars actually bending (which is the only thing i can think of that would likely need a tree to help sort out)?
 
Last edited:
If you get to see "Ride Like a Pro" from Jerry the "motorman" Pallidino, he shows how to pick up an 800lb Police Harley- no matter what size you are.
OM
 
I should have been more clear - I meant do not pick up your bike by the handlebars only.

:dunno I'm pretty sure I've seen a BMW video example of us the handlebar ONLY to lift a bike. Like this (although this is obviously not a BMW video).

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/kSgJ8O_atIs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Back
Top