Side effects of laying the bike on its side

[natesilas]

I got myself into a bit of a bind the other day.  There's a local seasonal road that turns into a bog-on-a-hill, which I usually visit every year to see if I can make it through.  It's a little different every year and I've only made it through once on my old BMW f650GS, after several failed attempts over the course of a few seasons.  Usually it just becomes impassable and I turn around.  Enter the Tiger.  I figured with more ground clearance (the beemer was a lowered model, hence my decision to sell) I'd be a lot more capable, and have generally been more adventurous with the Tiger, despite the significantly heavier, and higher, weight. 

After splashing through many very deep/wide puddles in the road I got to the "lake", which is really just a much deeper (I think) and far longer puddle, followed by another roughly the same size... there is a very mucky workaround.  I walked it and planned my line, leaving a few guideposts to help me remember... and at one point I ended up in the left rut and needed to get over the crown and through the right rut up onto the berm/"shoulder".  I was a little too slow/careful and ended up with the front tire in a puddle in the right rut and the back tire in a puddle in the left rut, with the muddy crown of the road about 1 inch under my bash plate.  After much effort I couldn't get any traction and was fully stuck in place.

OK I'm getting long winded here... long story short I had to lay the bike down because I couldn't get the side stand down and there were no sticks or anything to wedge under the bash plate to hold the bike upright. 

Laid her down, gathered sticks, tried to alter the terrain a bit to help get unstuck, smelled gas and pulled the bike back upright.  From then on the engine would start and run but wanted to stall.  Clearly the gas got into the air filter or some other place that it shouldn't have. 

I ended up calling a friend who brought a rope and we got her out of there, thankfully.  The problem did right itself after a mile or so, and she seems strong as ever. 

My question is, is it not ok to lay it on it's side??  Was there a better option? 

I'm curious what the Tiger Masters and Jedis will say!

[K1W1]

Originally Posted by natesilas

Laid her down, gathered sticks, tried to alter the terrain a bit to help get unstuck, smelled gas and pulled the bike back upright.  From then on the engine would start and run but wanted to stall.  Clearly the gas got into the air filter or some other place that it shouldn't have. 

Fuel does not flow out of the tank these days when the engine is shut off except via the tank vent or the top opening. It is not like the old days when fuel was a gravity feed through an open tap into a carburettor float bowl. I doubt whether fuel got into the air filter.
Are you sure that your stepper motor is clean and functioning properly?

[natesilas]

Thanks for the reply - Yes I was surprised that gas leaked out, since there are no carbs and the gas cap was secure. 

I am not sure about the stepper motor.  In fact I've read so much about the stepper motors going bad on these bikes, but I have no idea where the stepper motor is or what it's function is. 

I could not find any evidence on the bike of gas escaping.  Just what I smelled and then saw in the puddles.  FWIW I do have a Guglatech fuel filter in the tank... but I can't imagine how that would cause any leakage in any case. 

[chuckxc]

The fuel tank is not completely sealed. It has an overflow pipe which lets fuel out and onto the ground  if you top it up too far. It also needs to vent to replace fuel with air as it empties. That is a passage for fuel if the bike is tipped over.