where should I start?

RealMiniDriver wrote:

foxtrapper wrote: A top heavy bike is darn hard to lift. If you can't pick the bike up when it's fallen down, you're stuck. Unfortunately, most owners won't let you test this, and it's not always obvious. Oh, and when you are doing the he-man routine picking up said fallen motorcycle, don't flip it over onto the other side. Btdt, can cause tears.

Don't do the He-Man, and grab the bars and hoist it up like your 10-speed. Stop, take a breath, and focus, so you don't hurt yourself lifting it that way. I did that the first time I dropped my 690 pound Super Glide, and hurt for two weeks after that, because I didn't know the proper way to lift a motorcycle. Yeah, it was filmed at a ladies' event, but Mrs RMD can and has picked up her 820 pound Street Glide using this method.

Thanks for the link!

RealMiniDriver wrote: Did you notice it was laying almost flat on the ground, just like a UJM would. You just have to drop your butt lower.

Look again. This video is very Harley specific, and specific to bikes with a front engine guard. She rolled it back over the engine guard to nearly a 45% angle before she started to lift.

That's the hard part with a UJM. There is no engine guard to do the initial lifting for you.

Go ahead, try to pick up a little trash can with your butt down on the ground. You've not no lift strength with your butt down on the ground. Shoving backwards with the seat that far down just scoots the bike along the ground on its side.

Lifting a bike once it's half way up is relatively easy (hence the police technique of crossed hands pushing). It's that lower portion lift that is so hard.

The more typical lower half of a UJM lift uses a weight lifter dead lift technique. Which if you're not strong enough to do, defeats you. Or if you do it wrong, hurts you.

UJM without an engine guard And still lifted by a girl. The initial tip, to get the wheels on the ground, isn't the heavy part.

I'm not trying to argue, foxy, just trying to help a guy (any of you) to not hurt himself.

At last I think it's a UJM. Hard to tell, looking at it on my phone, but I believe it's a Kawasaki.

Grin, neither an I. Any chance of using your butt against the seat, do it. Anything to make it easier and more successful to actually pick the bike up is great.

I've had two bikes in my life that were almost impossible for me to pick up if they fell over. That's just not fun to own. Especially if you fall over out in the sticks, alone, and you're already tired.

Makes me glad my current bike is under 400 lbs

carbon wrote: Get a dual sport and learn to ride in the dirt, then once you can ride it, mix in the street. If you end up liking the street, get some supermoto wheels. If you really like the pavement, sell it and get a streetbike or keep the dual sport and ride both.

This is how I have been learning. I have been at it for about a year and am on my second dual sport (ok, lightly veiled Enduro racer) and just put on some supermoto wheels. Dirt riding teaches you ALL SORTS of ways to avoid hurting yourself. You will still crash but falling in mud doesn't hurt that much. For example, I was out on the supermoto the other day and went around a corner with more sand than it looked like. Front tire started to skid and tried to low side. My time riding dirt gave me the instant muscle memory to correct and drive out. Puckered but no wreck.