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Dropped your R18 yet?

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Noelpolar said:
Ok didn't work for me today.

I pulled a lady over, got her to walk a straight line, got her then to place her hands on the roof of the car whilst I pattered her down. Didn't end well.

No more police motorcycle techniques for me.
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Just wear a mask and a shirt saying "police". Bonus points if you can find a secondhand bullet proof vest from your local army surplus store.

Also, make sure you refuse to identify yourself ;).

Mike
 
Petrus said:
A footnote with that is that the R18 front brake is linked to the rear. Using the front also applies rear braking.
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Didn't know that. Generally, at slow speeds I only use the rear break on the R18. Seems to provide far greater control.
 
Funny... I dumped my bike earlier this morning, taking it off of the KERN-STABI stand (in the dark, in my garage), so I'm not 100% sure what actually caused this to happened..

I suspect that the rear wheels were not engaged (meaning, the rear wheel of the bike was resting on the ground) when I was lowering the front dolly wheel set... It did feel a bit heavier than normal, and I'm not sure why I didn't stop and inspect the resistance - perhaps, I felt that the dolly wheels felt sluggish on the outdoor carpet on my garage floor..

Anyways... No damage to the bike, as the extended cross-member on the X-518 caught the carpet, where the bike's valve cover didn't make contact with the carpeted ground... Bent the cross member a bit..

I lifted my bike with no issues back over to the kickstand; I grabbed the lower handlebar throttle grip with my left hand lifting, and my right hand was pushing on the clutch side grip, while walking towards the bike with my legs doing most of the work and she stood straight up and onto the kickstand.

Weather this morning was 66° F and a high of 80° F predicted later this afternoon, was to be a nice easy day for me - I try and not let these things ruin my day. Got on the bike and enjoyed my ride into the City, admiring the two beams of light rising up from Lower Manhattan where the two towers once stood - got to work safe & sound.
 
Cheshire Cat said:
Hi all
Following a five hour test ride on the R18 I bit the bullet and ordered the R18 Classic. Collect it early September as having to wait on a slightly customised paint job.

My question:
Any of you folks had the misfortune to drop their R18? Over a period of years I suffered three low speed, stationary drops on my Harley Fat Bob and was amazed to suffer virtually no damage. This bike leaves me a little unsettled when carrying out low speed manoeuvres and I am hoping time in the saddle will help in this area. Just wondering if, should the worst happen, will I even be able to pick the thing up again never mind the cost of damage. I guess it will be encouraging if this post receives limited response.
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You have to think of dropping it like mistakenly driving off your local pier by mistake. Don't. Keep your legs out on those tight turns until you get used to the bike. The balance with those huge cylinders is very good on this bike. Impossible to fall over unless you are going VERY slow or motionless.
Meanwhile......if you drop it......you drop it. This is supposed to be fun. Can't worry about it...do the best you can......MOST people are on the couch....not out on a bike....
Cheerrs!!
 
Randy Kahn said:
Keep your legs out on those tight turns until you get used to the bike.
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As you say the balance of the R18is very good but it is counter productive to have the feet off the pegs while on the move.
You have léss control and it raÍses your cog:
With the feet on the pegs you can can vary the weight on them, thus balance the bike.
With the feet on the pegs you have part of your weight on the pegs. With them off the pegs, all your weight is on your bum i.e. higher.
 
Petrus said:
As you say the balance of the R18is very good but it is counter productive to have the feet off the pegs while on the move.
You have léss control and it raÍses your cog:
With the feet on the pegs you can can vary the weight on them, thus balance the bike.
With the feet on the pegs you have part of your weight on the pegs. With them off the pegs, all your weight is on your bum i.e. higher.
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He said he dropped his bike at very low speed on stationary turns. Put you LEGS OUT at that point so you don't drop the bike!!! WTF! I'm not talking about riding the bike on the freeway with your legs out...our touring the canyons. When the bike stops or loses all momentum and starts to lean over.....you can speed dial sister Clara the psychic and ask her what to do....OR......I'll go out on a limb here...put your legs out!!!!! Once you really get used to the bike you will take turns and your body will compensate, but you can still make a mistake. Experienced riders still make mistakes.
 
Having owned my bike for the past four years. I have great confidence during slow speed handling. Feels very balanced. You Tubers like MotoJitsu and others have been a great help in learning slow speed techniques.
 
I agree... I rest my foot on the rear brake, 1st gear and use the friction point on the clutch; plus, it helps for me to scoot up in the seat on my Model B - where I'm able to make a U-Turn within two parking spots width wise..
 
I guess we are getting lot in semantics:
During slow cornering do not get off the pegs. Keep your foot on the rear brake.
When about to stop/stall of course you do.
If the leaned over bike is starting to topple... well ... it probably will. Unless you are a trained weight lifer best take care you do not hurt yourself. It is ony a bike.

As to the experience; I dropped it. Did have the legs down but...better to lay it gently down and still pulled a musscle in my calf as I wanted to give the carming pilion ride time to bail.

@Star-Lord US size parking spaces 🫣 :ROFLMAO:

image_2025-09-12_222942991.png
 
Petrus said:
I guess we are getting lot in semantics:
During slow cornering do not get off the pegs. Keep your foot on the rear brake.
When about to stop/stall of course you do.
If the leaned over bike is starting to topple... well ... it probably will. Unless you are a trained weight lifer best take care you do not hurt yourself. It is ony a bike.

As to the experience; I dropped it. Did have the legs down but...better to lay it gently down and still pulled a musscle in my calf as I wanted to give the carming pilion ride time to bail.

@Star-Lord US size parking spaces 🫣 :ROFLMAO:

View attachment 18991
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Not sure, all things American do have a tendency to be bigger... Basically, a U-Turn on a single residential road; which surprisingly, folks struggle with on these big bikes..

The R18 took some practice and confidence building; what was easy on my GS Adventure, was difficult at first on the R18..
 
I don't find this bike very nimble in tight turns, and although I've had a number of bikes and ridden quite a few miles, I'm very cautious when I have to turn this damn thing around in a tight space. I have come close to dropping it, but simply refuse as I'm a clean freak and the thought of a single mark on the bike....we'll I'd need to be sedated and hospitalized.....
If I didn't already mention, I bought this bike for looks and build quality. That's what it does best, look good. Performance, handling, et.et OK but nothing stellar. Just my opinion. I also feel the bike is under powered for it's capability. They could have given us another 25-35 ft. lbs of torque easily and then you've got something.....
 
@Star-Lord about 4.5 meters vs 6 meter; a third wider.
I basically alway ride with pillion and that makes me avoid iffy manouvering. Also over here hardly anything is on the flat and true to Murphy´s law there will be undulations if/where I want to turn.
In Dutch there is a very old saying; beter blode Jan dan dode Jan. Which in this light translates as better to lóók silly than to bé silly.
When at a bikers party, the access was a loose sand track with some very tight bends. One, a T-junction, on an incline. AFter the party, the club put two strong bloke there. One direction onto the T being some 120 degrees, the other thus 60 and MUCH tighter. The blokes wavved all onto the easier side but that was the long way round. So I made a three point. and asked charming to get off before rolling down/back. Problem solved no risk.

@Randy Kahn the cylinders sticking out are like a crash bar. Mind, taking about toppling over at hardly any to no speed. The valve cover covers (bb) land on the ground and keep the bike from falling over any further. On mine I can NOT see where it rested on the concrete.
And even if that cover would scratch, I think rechroming is te be preferred over regrowing skin.
Concerning manouvring at slow, tight going, the Roll mode is easier even with the brake trailing. The bike certainly does not lack any torque for that.

As to the latter in géneral, removing the exhaust flap sensors and opening up the air intake will give you that extra punch. Mind, probably no extra max. hp but low/mid range grunt.
 
Petrus said:
@Star-Lord about 4.5 meters vs 6 meter; a third wider.
I basically alway ride with pillion and that makes me avoid iffy manouvering. Also over here hardly anything is on the flat and true to Murphy´s law there will be undulations if/where I want to turn.
In Dutch there is a very old saying; beter blode Jan dan dode Jan. Which in this light translates as better to lóók silly than to bé silly.
When at a bikers party, the access was a loose sand track with some very tight bends. One, a T-junction, on an incline. AFter the party, the club put two strong bloke there. One direction onto the T being some 120 degrees, the other thus 60 and MUCH tighter. The blokes wavved all onto the easier side but that was the long way round. So I made a three point. and asked charming to get off before rolling down/back. Problem solved no risk.

@Randy Kahn the cylinders sticking out are like a crash bar. Mind, taking about toppling over at hardly any to no speed. The valve cover covers (bb) land on the ground and keep the bike from falling over any further. On mine I can NOT see where it rested on the concrete.
And even if that cover would scratch, I think rechroming is te be preferred over regrowing skin.
Concerning manouvring at slow, tight going, the Roll mode is easier even with the brake trailing. The bike certainly does not lack any torque for that.

As to the latter in géneral, removing the exhaust flap sensors and opening up the air intake will give you that extra punch. Mind, probably no extra max. hp but low/mid range grunt.
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P,

I have the Roland Sands valve covers, I think if I dropped the bike the ground would touch the bottom edge of them......still not good....

Anyway.....how do you get to the exhaust flap sensors......the caps at the end of my pipes do not seem removable. I already have the Bren tune re map and hi performance air filter. I'm looking for more torque, more HP is not an issue.

Thanks,

RK
 
Randy Kahn said:
Anyway.....how do you get to the exhaust flap sensors......the caps at the end of my pipes do not seem removable. I

Thanks,

RK
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The flaps are situated under the pedals. The servos sit under the swingarm right in fornt of the tyre. Look únder the bike and you will see both the valve unit (black plastic cover with two bowden cables going in/out from the rear) in each exhaust pipe and the servo units. If you search on this forum for exhaust servo or such you will find various threads.
As you can read in my 10 cts. thread I agree with that it is the simplest to order a set of two Healtech servo eliminator plug ins and thén remove the twin servo unit (one bolt only) and lastly unhook the four actuator cables (two each side) from the flap units.
Once you begin it is self explanatory.
 
Randy Kahn said:
.....how do you get to the exhaust flap sensors......the caps at the end of my pipes do not seem removable. I already have the Bren tune re map and hi performance air filter. I'm looking for more torque, more HP is not an issue.
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The bren tune keeps the valves open.... so nothing to do....

And.... fwiw.... after I bren tuned my bike (dna airfilter stage 2).... with fish tales fitted.... I felt the bike was less for it. It had lost some of it's character that made it feel "more edgy"..... I added some free flowing exhaust tail pipes and it came back to edgy++.
 
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Phew; néarly dropped it today.

Arriving home stopped as alwasy to let charming off, engine running and then manouvre to roll/drive inside. To my total surprise the brakes were locked up and not expecting that at all while starting manhandling very nearly lost my balance.
Like picking up a milk cart you xpect to be full and it is empty but then reverse... :eek:
It was only then I saw the hill brake funcion activated on the dash. But, but, but....
I switched the thing off to recompose myself, restarted and HSC had disengaged.
The ham question is HOW does it ´accidentally´ engage?

Will now have a look in settings as I did NOT set it ON.

edit; indeed HSC was switched ON, now OFF. DWA was activated too, now OFF.
This makes crystal clear why I loath those systems for mé, myself and I. No critism on these aids persé although I do feel (and as an avid motorcyclist even more so) that those who rely on them or nééd them should not have a drivers license. That ship has sailed though.
 
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