Dropped Bike for the 1st time

[YaT7boi]

Heya guys,

 

Just got the t7 a couple weeks ago and already had the honour of dropping it, oh well, guess that's what it's meant for! - and supposedly many more to come.

 

Everything is still factory and nothing changed out. 

 

Thankfully nothing serious happened, dropped it on the left side and the handlebar stopped the plastics from getting beat up too bad.

 

After driving off though I could definitely feel that something wasn't aligned. Need to do the good ol' tire to the wall trick I reckon to re-align the wheel and forks as it doesn't look like the handlebar is bent.

 

Does anyone know if I put on the OEM engine guard from Yamaha that it would stop the handlebar/steering from getting all jammed up everytime I drop it?

 

 

[Lewie]

grrr no - that’s bad news
Did you drop it, it fell over or you came off it ?

mine fell over and I scratched the panel, wrecked the clutch cable and scuffed the hand guard but rode fine after - could it be in your mind ?

Edited July 9, 2022 by Lewie

[YaT7boi]

Yeah, dropped it from practically a stand still. Had to do a U-turn on some gravel with not so much space. Handlebar took all the brunt of it.

 

Tiny tiny scratches on the plastics on the left side but you almost have to look with a microscope to see them so that doesn't bother me.

Mirror got pretty beat up on the backside and so did the handguard and pillion footrest.

 

 

Heard other people complain about this factor on the t7 on this forum as well (the handlebar, clamps or mounts having to be slightly re adjusted after every fall)

Edited July 9, 2022 by YaT7boi
Add info

[Lewie]

Gave me an excuse for something more substantial on the handguards

 

[YaT7boi]

True that Lewie! Already got it on my to-buy list!

Does it actually protect anything substantial though? 

[Tigerjohn]

Welcome to the club! The T7 is a tall beast with a fairly high centre of gravity. Once it goes beyond the point of no return there's not a lot you can do except try to cushion the inevitable impact. When mine went down in a similar situation to yours, it was almost in slow motion. I couldn't keep it upright but I did manage to drop it gently!

[sshat]

To answer one of the the OP's original questions. No, engine guards will not stop the handlebars from digging in when the bike is dropped. I've had the pleasure of bending a couple styles of engine guards back into alignment on my T7 so far. They did the job of protecting the plastics and engine, but the handlebars still get beat up. Mine has been on the ground more times than I'd like to admit, straightening things back out has become regular maintenance.

[YaT7boi]

Darn it, seems pretty annoying! Or maybe you just get used to that after a while having your bike off road, whether it's a t7 or any other offroad capable bike.

[suppa_scoopa]

Dropped mine off road a couple weeks back.  Similar thing.  Wheel points one way, bars slightly another. Tried the tutorial below on fork alignment and it did the trick.  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tI3GIDYFI_w&ab_channel=EverythingTenere

[katana]

I popped my cherry too, but it doesn't count.  I was still digging out my boot when my mate lifted the bike.