How To Pick Up A Motorcycle, Even A Heavy One

Well, you buffed it. You dropped your bike. It's okay, it happens to the best of us — and also to me, a woman who drops her bikes during such complex maneuvers as "getting cut off by a bicycle" or "turning from a stop." In fact, I dropped my old 500-pound BMW GS with its 10.5 inches of ground clearance enough times to really nail down the technique of picking it back up without grievously injuring my back. Today, you get to heed the wisdom of all my attempts. 

I mention my old GS's ground clearance because, contrary to what you might expect, that matters more than the weight of your motorcycle when you go to pick it up. Think about it like a lever — the bike's weight is acting on a distance from the point around which you're trying to roll it. A taller bike is harder to pick up than a lower one, and a tall heavy bike — like an ADV — is just about the worst thing to pick up. So if all 137 pounds of me can lift a 500-pound GS, you can too. Here's how. 

Crouch down with your back against the seat of your bike. Tilt your handlebars all the way inward — to the left if you're on the left side or to the right if you're on the right — and grab the bars with one hand. With the other, find some purchase on the rear of the bike. Luggage racks are great for this, but bodywork can do the job in a pinch. You'll end up positioned like the picture above, crouched next to your bike.

Keep your back as upright as possible and lift with your legs until you feel the bike's weight shift from its side to its wheels. This will happen when the rear wheel meets ground, since the front will almost always have touched down when you turned the bars. That's just a little tilt, though, compared to the next step: Standing up and stepping backwards to push the bike up using your thigh muscles. 

It's easier to lift a bike than to hold one up, so your motion once the bike's weight is resting on its wheels should be a single, fluid one. Don't try to throw the bike up in an instant but don't tire yourself out by making the process last longer than it needs to. Back to the bike, turn the bars, grab hold, lift to the wheels, then one fell swoop to get the bike upright. 

If you're lucky enough to have dropped the bike on its right side, opposite the kickstand, dropping that before lifting the bike can help make sure you don't overshoot. If not, don't worry — you'll feel the bike getting lighter as more of its weight settles onto its wheels, and you can start to taper off your effort, so you don't go too far. I've used this method to pick up that old GS immediately after running myself ragged at the climbing gym, and I can confirm that it spares you the worst of the soreness that you'd get from other lifting methods. Getting your back into the scoop of the seat, as close to the bike's center of mass as possible, is like doing deadlifts with a hex bar. It shifts effort from your lower back muscles to your quads. 

Proper technique makes all the difference in the world when lifting a bike, and a technique that works on tall, heavy ADVs should work on anything. Just keep your body close to the center of the bike, your back straight, and your movements smooth. You'll be back on your ride before you know it.