If you ride your bike at all, I guarantee that one day you will find yourself standing beside it, looking down as it lays helpless on the ground wondering – “How did that happen?” and “What do I do now?”
Hopefully this will happen somewhere where there are a bunch of other riders who will be happy to help you restore your bike to the vertical (and then give you a hard time for a week or two.) Unfortunately it is just as likely to happen in your own driveway, or in a parking lot or on a street where there aren’t too many people. The good news is almost anyone can pick up any size motorcycle if they just know how to do it.
DO NOT TRY TO LIFT THE BIKE WITH YOUR ARMS OR BACK unless you want spend the next week hobbling from the couch to the bathroom for more pain relievers and back again.
Instead, USE YOUR LEGS – the largest muscles in your body – to PUSH the bike up rather than LIFT it up. If it is laying over at more than a 45 degree angle you will have to lift it at first, but once you get it to about 45 degrees, your legs can take over and make the job a relative snap.
The smaller the angle of lean (relative to vertical), the easier it is to make that angle still smaller. In other words, the first inch or so of movement is the hardest. So, before you start lifting, try to get the lean angle to be as small as possible.
– If you are on an incline, twist the bike until its tires are facing downhill.
– Turn the front wheel as far as possible TOWARDS the ground. If possible, turn it to its stop and lock it in place. You may have to pull hard on the handlebar to get the wheel turned, but it’s important to do so because turning the wheel towards the ground lifts the bike’s frame off the ground, reducing the lean angle before you even begin to try to pick up the bike.
– If the bike is lying on its left side, check that the “jiffy stand” is up. If it’s lying on its right side, make sure the stand is down before you start picking up the bike.
– If possible, put the bike is in a first gear so that there is minimal chance of the bike rolling when you get it back on its wheels.
– Face away from the bike and lean against the seat such that the bottom half your backside is pressed against the seat.
– Spread your feet shoulder width apart and planted them FIRMLY on the ground away from the bike by about three feet. Your knees should be bent at about a 40 to 50 degree angle – anything more than that and you will probably not be able to straighten them. You want the smallest bend in your knees that you can manage while still getting the bike onto its wheels. The limitation here is the length of your legs.
– Grab then bike with your hands on both sides of your body. You should hold onto firm structures, like the crash bar or frame, but because you your hands are going to be mostly guiding what is happening, you can also grab your fairing, backrest, a or handlebar. What you hold is not very important except that it is firmly attached and is conveniently located.
– Now simply PUSH against the seat and walk backwards. If the bike has a lean angle of 45 degrees or more you must lift a little first, but the primary movement is walking backwards.
– As the bike approaches vertical the vast majority of its weight will be on the tires. Proceed slowly so as to prevent going too far and causing it to fall over on its other side. Once vertical, still facing away from the motorcycle, fish for the “jiffy stand” with your left foot and bring it down. Then just let the bike lean over onto the stand.
– If the bike had been on its right side when you started you already made sure that the “jiffy stand” was down. So, in this case you simply ease the bike past vertical and let it come to rest on the “jiffy stand.”
– If you are on an incline, and twisted the bike such that the wheels face down slope. In this case you need to be careful about how fast you let the bike go past vertical or you may find yourself picking it up again from the other side. If the hill is too steep I will be impossible for you to ease it past vertical without losing control of the bike again. Try to turn so you are facing forward and try to push the bike to a more level location.