What happened at the Homicide Victims Support Group ride in NSW

[bluehonda]

On Sunday I was part of the support ride (Ride for Justice) for the Homicide Victims Support Group.  I was riding with the Blue knights and there were over 100 bikes in the convoy.
We rode from Waterfall in NSW to the Domain in Sydney and after a break of about 10 minutes continued to the destination in North Sydney.
We parked at the Domain next to the Allan Macqueen Memorial (Allan was in my class and in 1989 was shot by a car thief, he died 11 days later).  A lot of the bikes were parked in a number of  rows across the road and facing down a slight grade.  We were all talking/mingling when a crunching sound was heard and I think everybody held their breath.

Here comes the domino effect.
A bike that was parked in the back row and fourth from the right toppled over to it's right (yes, against the sidestand) and went crunch as it fell to the ground and knocked another bike over.  That bike did the same and that bike did the same and then the last bike (we thought) was knocked to the ground.  The last in the row was a green bike.   4 bikes so far.  We thought it was over and breathed again but then 3 more bikes fell.

Here's what happened:-
The first bike to fall was parked on the slight slope, sidestand and not in gear, and as the bike edged forward the sidestand caused the bike to topple to the right and start the incident.  When the last of that row, the green bike, was stood up it rolled forward into another bike and knocked that one over.5 bikes now.
When the first bike edged forward it also nudged the rear of a shiny new ST1300 and caused it to fall to the left onto a blue
Harley 7 bikes now.
This entire incident would not have happened if the first bike was parked in gear.  The green bike was clearly not in gear as it rolled when stood upright.
My bike, and TC's, was parked on the footpath and not amongst the crowd.  At North Sydney it was obvious that many had parked with more space around their bikes. 
We need to always park our bikes in first gear, I know that some of our members don't but let this be a warning of what can happen.
If anybody's interested it's on Facebook but I don't know how to link the ride.  It think it's called the Ride for Justice.

Brad

[Biggles]

Oh dear!  The STs can be parked on quite a steep slope in first gear.  I was worried at first that there might not be enough compression to hold the bike, but there is.
Another big worry parking on slopes is when the bike is too close to vertical.  Ruby fell over from that position, all the way to hitting the mirror and breaking the glass.
In the other direction, they lay over so far you wonder whether you will be able to push it up to vertical.  For riders with short legs, such side slopes are a major pain.
Let's face it.  Bikes are basically unstable.  It's a good thing we enjoy riding them to offset the amount of inconvenience they entail.

[ST.George]

G'day Brad,


If not for Thirmere I would have considered attending that one on your recommendation.


So after the drama, how did the day go? Did u achieve what u set out to do? Did it get the public attention it deserved? Did u ride back to Taree on Sunday or stay over somewhere? Was the day meant to raise money for the bereaved?
Was the ride a sedate procession thru the streets or meet at the other end and talk about your lost comrades?


Tell us more about the day. I'm interested and I suspect others are as well.


As far as parking goes I often leave Wyvern in neutral unless on a steep situation. Sometimes I forget tho. From now on I will leave in gear as a habit. Got 2 b a good habit. 

[Brock]

I always park in gear, and if at all possible, with the rear down hill. The nose pointing up hill and to the right. That way, gravity pulls the bike backwards and onto the sidestand..

By the way, where is the video.....

To link the ride, just highlight and copy the address in the navigation bar, then paste it in to your post.  There are a lot of links and references to "Ride for Justice."