how to pick up a dropped bike?

bike; 2000 R1100RT
me 70 yrs. old 6' 1", 165 lbs
Recently I went for a short ride to a nearby town. Just poking around some areas I had not been to before. Got to a dead end street, but had plenty of room to execute a U turn.About half way around at very slow speed I managed to let the bike get leaned over past the critical point and realized it was going down. I managed to ease it to the ground resting on the cylinder head and side case. No damage done except to my ego. I am a fairly experienced rider{57 yrs.}, and practice slow speed maneuvers often, but that is not the point of this post.
I could not pick the bike up. I am very fit for my age. I work daily lifting heavy loads but a 600+ pound bike is to much, as I soon discovered. I have seen articles saying to pick the bike up facing away from the bike using the lift handle and the handlebars. No way, couldn't get it 1" off ground.
After a period of time a fellow showed up and helped me out, but this incident got me to thinking. I usually ride alone and often in remote areas. If this happened under different circumstances I would really have a problem.
Short of getting a smaller lighter bike and being more careful, does anybody have any suggestions? Are there any products available for this situation?

This might help...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndRF64N-PmQ

Here's "Skert"...she can show you to pick up a dropped bike!

http://www.pinkribbonrides.com/dropped.html

And another way:

https://youtu.be/45iv6pdogLo




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It may happen, especially if offroad, that none of these methods will work. I've seen getoffs that resulted in the bike resting with the bars significantly lower than the rest of the bike and it's either impossible to turn it around, or to do so would cause expensive damage.

Here's a tool that may help.

https://www.advmotorrad.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=531

And here's another.

http://www.motobikejack.com/video.html

dropped bike

Well, I'm 70 years old, 5 feet 6 and 150 pounds and have had a couple of times where my k1600 decided to lay down in the gravel. I did manage to get it up by myself by putting my glove on the front brake to keep it from rolling and then, with my butt facing the bike, pull up on the handle bar and rear bar. The toughest part is getting turned around to get the side stand down. But it's really a leg lift and you kind of have to grab on, pull up and walk back with little steps until the bike is vertical. No fun, but doable.

FELAW said:

Well, I'm 70 years old, 5 feet 6 and 150 pounds and have had a couple of times where my k1600 decided to lay down in the gravel. I did manage to get it up by myself by putting my glove on the front brake to keep it from rolling and then, with my butt facing the bike, pull up on the handle bar and rear bar. The toughest part is getting turned around to get the side stand down. But it's really a leg lift and you kind of have to grab on, pull up and walk back with little steps until the bike is vertical. No fun, but doable.

Click to expand...

FELAW said:

Well, I'm 70 years old, 5 feet 6 and 150 pounds and have had a couple of times where my k1600 decided to lay down in the gravel. I did manage to get it up by myself by putting my glove on the front brake to keep it from rolling and then, with my butt facing the bike, pull up on the handle bar and rear bar. The toughest part is getting turned around to get the side stand down. But it's really a leg lift and you kind of have to grab on, pull up and walk back with little steps until the bike is vertical. No fun, but doable.

Click to expand...

Yep! Good for you.

FELAW said:

Well, I'm 70 years old, 5 feet 6 and 150 pounds and have had a couple of times where my k1600 decided to lay down in the gravel. I did manage to get it up by myself by putting my glove on the front brake to keep it from rolling and then, with my butt facing the bike, pull up on the handle bar and rear bar. The toughest part is getting turned around to get the side stand down. But it's really a leg lift and you kind of have to grab on, pull up and walk back with little steps until the bike is vertical. No fun, but doable.

Click to expand...

Instead of turning around maybe you can lift your right foot and deploy the side stand. Not sure on a 1600 if you would use your left or right foot. Not hard to stand on one foot with the bike almost vertical so not much weight to work with at that point.

I "dropped" my R1200R last year on a county road with broken up asphalt and loose stuff on top. I had stopped to check out the Wabash Cannonball bridge ahead and when I went to get going the bike could not get traction in the loose stuff. (Michelin Pilot Road 2's). The rear end just wanted to slide from side to side, getting lower all the time until it was over on its side. I tried to pick it up (I'm 68 @ 5'-5" and 130 pounds) and could not get footing in the loose stuff. I flagged down a young guy in an SUV and he helped my pick it up.

I'm an advocate of getting a smaller bike, one you can handle and pick up without an issue. Yes, you will need to give up some power, but the trade-off seems reasonable.

Having been through a couple of training events for this situation, and a couple of real events, I think it takes: 1) some practice, and then 2) visualization of success when it happens. I know riders are thinking they'd have to lift 600 or more pounds, but the reality is that the initial lift is the hard part. Once the RT/GS/K-bike starts to rise, the weight transfers to the wheels, and it gets to be very easy. The key element is making your legs do all the work.

My buddy dropped his Hardly about a week ago and called me to come help him. My first thought was to go help. I'm immature that way. My second though was to call him and ask him where the closest bar was. It just happens he dropped it in the parking lot of a bar.

I told him to walk up to the bar and announce that he would buy a round for anybody that helped him pick up his bike. Turned out to be expensive as he had about 6 volunteers.

After a career of putting my back at risk for recurrent injury I got to age 62 w/ no significant back issues until I dropped a 500lb moto and tried to get it upright by following what I saw the the gal in the video did when she lifted up an HD by putting her butt against the seat and walking it up backwards as it were. My problem is I am 6'4" tall, and getting myself in the same position against the seat of the F800GT I had dropped was not possible--the bike was very flat over compared to a loaded HD or even RT w/ its boxer heads. Since the bike would not budge, would not start pivoting upwards as the tire was really being pushed harder INTO the garage floor, I began lifting w/ both arms while trying to 'walk it up' w/ my legs that were way too bent to get sufficient traction on the garage floor. As I strained to get it started I heard the big pop and my low back has been hosed ever since. Though it's tolerable mind you. I'm very tempted to pick up the bike hoist mentioned above. I guess I have been figuring I'll call for help as needed, even if it AAA or folks from inside the bar or elsewhere.

I have found that it’s good to think about why the bike “napped”. Most techniques require good footing so “scuffing” or brushing away sand or gravel is real helpful.
OM

Two years ago I dropped an Ultra in a parking space. I sat the bike down slowly and it was lying on the kick stand side along with the kick stand in the up right position. I thought about my back to the bike and walking it up as showed in the videos but then I thought.....ok I get it upright what if it falls over on the back side. To make a long story short a young guy was heading into the restaurant with a date and in a minute we had the bike up and on its side stand. Moral to the story was that I determined I didn't need a 900 lb. bike anymore and went strictly with a GS

Yes, Omegaman. I was thinking that a folding camp shovel would have been handy in my dropped R1200R scenario.

At 67, 5'11" and over 200 Lbs, I like to think I can still wrestle my R1200R out of any situation. I do, however notice that I really appreciate the lighter weight and general handiness of the airhead R80 and KTM 390 Duke. I suspect I could get the Duke up off the ground with only one hand, but since always makes me feel like I am riding a pedal bicycle, situations that would have the R1200R diving for the ground are non events.

beemerdood said:

It may happen, especially if offroad, that none of these methods will work. I've seen getoffs that resulted in the bike resting with the bars significantly lower than the rest of the bike and it's either impossible to turn it around, or to do so would cause expensive damage.

Here's a tool that may help.

https://www.advmotorrad.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=531

And here's another.

http://www.motobikejack.com/video.html

Click to expand...

Anyone have any experience with either of these? My back issues radiate down into my legs and prevents me from using any of the regular methods.

Sometimes you just can't do it alone

Sometimes you cannot do it alone (despite all those videos of lightweight women lifting big bikes in ideal conditions--that you may not have.) I built a jack similar to the one in this website <https://www.eastbound.org/english-menu/motowinch-info-1/> and carry it with me. However, after fabricating it, I think it would be easier to just buy one, if I had to do it again. There is one other that sells these sorts of things. I cannot remember URL for the other one, but you could search on YouTube. Ironically, since I built the device I have been able to lift my bike by myself, but now I know that I have the jack, which is reassuring.