What percentage of new riders do you think will drop their bikes?

Ok,my two-penn'orth. I've been riding 42 years,been hit,been knocked off,had a door opened into my path,been nicked for speeding,dropped it,had my knee down,had my crash-bars down,done 185 along the Autobahn,pulled wheelies by the dozen,toured Europe,ditto Australia,over-cornered,had my front slide away on oil,laughed out loud at 145 wiv my missus on the back,got wet,hot,cold,sweaty,-and I'm not repentant in the least. One life,one adventure. [ok,I'm done-thanks chaps]

I would say everyone at some point in their biking life come off their bike but as for dropping can't be sure, that is if by dropping, you mean falling off stationary or caught off balance stationary. I would never buy a new bike or car for that matter for the simple reason of price depreciation. I'm only a 125cc rider but have been for a year and half now, I've almost had one accident, flash rain caused road to be slippery and under braking wheel slipped and ended up going sideways towards a car but managed to stop bike safely. Dropped the bike once on a grass verge as my foot slipped and the weight of bike caught me off balance, no damage done though.

most of them will. every one of my friends that goes looking for or buys a used bike lately, they all have been dropped, laid over, fallen over in the Garage etc. 2 of them bought bikes that the previous owners had let fall over in the garage REPEATEDLY! and all these are cruiser not crotch rockets. there are many many people that buy new bikes. ride them a few hundred miles or so and sell them, because the fell over, laid them over. got scared on the highway etc. most of these people are the same idiots that drive down the road on cell phones not paying attention . now they are on bike snot paying attention.

there are only 2 kinds of riders, the ones that have been down , and the ones thet are going to go down, by your question, it seems that you are a bit scared of falling so id stay away from bikes all together and leave it to the big boys and girls, cause you will go down. tisk tisk, why so much anger , HEY EVERYONE LOOK AT WHAT HE SENT ME AFTER I ANSWERED HIM, LOL From: chicagodude420 Subject: bikes Message: ur an idiot, i got buddies riding 40 plus years who have never been down. im not scared of falling. my whole point was that everyone says every new rider will drop their bike in the first year, i totally disagree with that. someoene who doesnt ride like an idiot and who knows what their doing and rides within their abilities wont go down unless its the fault of another driver even in taht case a good rider may be able to avoid it. i dont think ur a very good rider(end) ISNT IT GREAT, LOL

80% within the first year, 90% within the first 2 years... I agree with conan, and your friends are lying to you... "My whole point in askin this question was that I think people who know what their doing and aren't idiots even being new riders won't go down nearly as much as many people say." kind of contradictive wouldn't you say? how does a newb know what they are doing? they are a newb... kinda like a "fast" harley, if it were fast it wouldn't be a harley, if it were a harley it wouldn't be fast...

I would say pretty much every biker will drop their bike at some stage. I dropped a bike because I was in traffic going at about 5 mph and it was raining and my back wheel skidded on a wet manhole cover. I was attaching a bag on the back of another bike while it was on centre stand and as I was attaching the bungee cords the bike rocked and fell over. Another time I was driving along and a car pulled out in front of me. I had to slam on the brakes and the bike went down. I should have used less front brake, but it was either that or hit the car. Another time I was driving home and was caught out by a sudden flurry of snow and I dropped it several times as the roads were extremely slippery. Bikers drop their bikes for a variety of reasons. You may look at the examples I have given here and decided I was careless, but I can tell you that no biker goes out and deliberately drops their bike. To say it is preventable is all right, but you can only say that in hindsight. I am more careful than I used to be, but I am sure I will drop a bike again.

When you say drop the bike to me, I think dropping it in the driveway, parking lot etc... Going down on a moving bike is a different situation. Drop a bike - EVERYONE does that. I have loads of friends who've dropped their bikes in the garage. I've done it myself, more than once. Whenever I get distracted or in a hurry, mean old Mr. Gravity comes up and bites me in the butt. Have an accident on a bike under power is an entirely different kind of situation. I know very few people that has happened to, and in all cases there was an inattentive automobile driver to blame. If your going to get a used bike because your scared you will drop a new one, get a used version of what ever bike you ultimately want to ride. Big difference between a used 500lb Honda Shadow and a new 800lb Honda VTX. What gets people, even those with years of experience is dumb things like not putting the side stand down before starting to get off. Stopping in a place where your footing is further down than you think and you can't stop the bike from going all the way down once it starts.

I think every one will drop there bike with in the first two years or hurt them self with or on it some how, and most drops happen when stopped. When I drooped my first bike It was not even ruining I ran out side to move it out of a rain Storm I was bare foot When I was moving it the bike stated to slip out of my hand and with out thinking I put my foot on the kick stand the kick stand stabbed me in the foot and the bike still drooped the bike. Bottom line is we all make mistakes at some Point we are just more like to do it when your new.

I like conan's answer. There are two types of riders, those who HAVE been down and those that WILL go down. Well said. It isn't a matter of IF you will fall, is is WHEN and HOW BAD it will be. Stupidity doesn't dictate a spill. An inconsiderate driver can cause the best of us to go down. The people that have ridden for "years" and never fallen aren't immune to falling, they just haven't done it yet. I took a spill riding a trail bike and dropped two street bikes. The trail bike hurt me a hell of a lot more than the street bikes because both were at low speeds and on loose gravel. I just got on the top of the bike when it went down and rode it on the crash bars until it stopped. Not even any damage. The trail bike almost tore my arm off. Yep, if you ride long enough, you WILL go down. A lucky man may never crash, but he is one of the very few. There is also a difference between dropping a bike and crashing one IMHO.