Have you got a minute for a little moto-domino clip? “Moto-domino” now what kind of game is that? Well, it’s pretty self-explanatory if you watch the video. This short clip was posted by PEBHAS on YouTube, and it’s quite funny, and a reminder to keep things light when out on a ride.
I swear, these things happen to the best of us, and it’s great to see that there was no shame to be had or love lost between these two riders. Tall adventure bikes can be daunting to ride, after all, and not everyone has the absolute skill like Pol Tares or Chris Birch who both appear to fly wherever they go. We, mere mortals, can only do so much, right?
On the video, everything was fine until the BMW rider “attacked.” The video opens up with the pair of riders pulling up to a parking slot. The Triumph rider got in his slot with no problem, but the BMW rider had other plans. Pulling up to the slot standing and locked all the way to the left, the BMW rider entered the parking slot then sat down and lost his footing.
Now, we don’t know whether the GS wanted to prove that it was the better adventure bike or something, but what we can deduce is that some rear brake input could have helped keep the bike upright, or perhaps a little too much steering angle was engaged, causing the 500-pound machine to bend to the will of gravity, causing the rider to panic, keep the clutch pulled, and lose his balance right next to the Tiger which caused a literal domino effect.
It happens, right? It was actually quite nice to see that neither rider went up in arms about the whole ordeal. After a laugh, a bit of banter, and a high-five right after, everything was well and good. The bikes were stood up and ready to go on the rest of the adventure.
Key takeaways? Well, for starters, low-speed training is essential on a motorcycle. There is a reason why parking lot blunders are often the cause of bent levers, scratched fairings, and bent handlebars among a plethora of other minor damages. The first takeaway is proper training when doing the slow stuff!
Second, and this is riding on the notion of “it happens to the best of us,” invest in proper motorcycle and personal protection. I was relieved to see that both bikes had crash guards, and both riders were actually okay, even if the whole exchange didn’t involve a hard tumble on the asphalt. Without those crash guards on the BMW R 1250 GS, the story would have been a bit different given that the boxer engine’s head would have been the first to impact the ground. Oh boy is that going to be an expensive fix if the guards weren’t there.
