Ipurchased a brand new C90 back in MArch of '08. three weeks later I pushed the bike out of the garage and parked in my driveway in a relatively level area. The bike was in 1st gear and put on the sidestand. I went inside for lunch and came out later to find it leaning against my car. the side stand was up and the bike was still in gear. I thought this to be strange as no one was around. There was no damage so i did not think to much further of this event.
Over the months until last Sunday the 17th of August there were nofurther mishaps. On Sunday I pulled into a service station for gas, I was in 1st gear and pulled up close to the pump. I shut the engine off with the kill switch, the ignition was still on and there was no indication of a neutral light. I putthe side stand outand balance the bike for about a minute while I got my gloves off etc. I then tilted the bike over to the left and proceeded to dismount the bike, in doing so thefront wheel turns to the left. At this time the bike rolled off the stand, pinning me underneath it. There was as a result damage to the left front signal and driving lamps and damage to theleft of the front fender. My personal injuries involved bruising to the left rib and chest area.
The next day I performed some tests at home and discovered that the side stand only has a 15 degree sweep from the perpendicular to the bike frame position to the forward resting position, this equates to about 1 and 1/2 inches of travel. With the side stand out and the bike in 1st gear I then moved the bike back and forth with in the backlash of the gears while in the first gear position and found that the bike can roll 3 inches, this 3 inches equates to about a 30 degree sweep. Given that the backlash in the gears is allowing 3 inches of roll and the stand only needs 1 and 1/2 inches of movement before it collapses I am of the opinion that the stand is inappropriatly designed for the amount of free movement of the bike.
I have checked other Boulevard C90's here at the dealership and found that all of them are capable of rolling off the stand in the manner discribed above. Even the dealer is surprised as to the problem that I have presented.
The short solution as I see it is to put the bike in gear, let out the clutch and roll it forward to take the backlash out of the gear you are in before resting the bike on the sidestand. But I would also suggest to you that this should not have to be done. In my opinion the side stand assembly needs to redesigned so that it is more forward in the down/rested position and that the entire sweep be more than the 1st gear backlash travel of the bike.

My questions to the readers are as follows:

Has anyone out there experienced similar situations with respect to thier bikes haveing experienced a near fall or in fact falling over in a similar fashion. I certainly would appreciate a response.

If thisis a Suzuki problem thenthey need to fix it.The more incidents that can be documented the better it is for an amicable solution.

If anyone is wanting pictures of what I have tried to describe above please advise and I will try to post or send them.

 

I am a newbie here as well as to any forums. I have a 2005 C90 that I purchased new in '06. My first 6 months were full of heart breaks. And I must stress they were all avoidable if I had read a post like yours first. The main thing I want to say is as with all vehicles their is always a manufacturer flaw. They dont ride them, they design them and have someone else do the testing. So you have to learn the vehicle and experience unpleasant things as we have.
I hadn't been on a bike in 11 years when I bought mine and the last bike I had was a KZ750E. So the size difference was a big thing for me to get accustomed to. I had the dream of never getting a ding or dent and I would never let it fall over. HA! First time was at a gas station. I always leave my bike in gear when I stop. I put the stand down and proceeded to stand up to get my wallet. The bike fell over, had I been farther away from the pump it would have fell on me. Thankfully the pump took the brunt of it for me. However, my first scratch and almost a tear.
My second time was at the bank. I had stopped to get money from the ATM and was in a hurry so when I put the stand down I made sure it was fully engaged. Got the money, got back on the bike and grabbed the clutch. I had set the stand in a small gutter against the curb and damn if it diddn't fall over on me. It hurt a little but again, a dent in the front fender and tweaked the mirror.
The last time it happened was over a year ago. I was leaving for work and got off the bike to close the gate. This is the only time I leave the bike running and of course in neutral. I turned around just in time to see it hit the ground. Well stupid me, I know my driveway has a slope and I knew the chance I took doing this, but I got in a hurry and didn't think of the consequnces before hand. I put a big dent in the left side cover. Fortunately for the C90 this is not the tank and I was able to bang the dent out.
I love this bike but I have just learned that I have to take that extra second to make sure it is stable before I dismount. On top of the heart ache this bike is fairly heavy and although it has a very low center of gravity it is a bitch to pick up. I am 6'2" and a little over 200 lbs. and I struggle with it.

These are a few of the times it has fell over on me and I will not let it happen again.