Motorcycle Mania

[Outtahere]

LOL that's right Rich!!!

 

[Nords]

Telling motorcyclists that cycling is risky is like asking a early-retiree, "Whaddya DO all day?!?"

Good point. I should have a t-shirt made for that, too.

I saw "Will surf for beer" yesterday...

 

[frayne]

In my 54 years I have been a certified scuba diver, dove to 185' depth in the Bahamas, airborne (20 plus jumps) and ranger qualified with a year in Nam as an infantry platoon sgt. Worked 32 years in a petro chemical plant were we manufactured ammonium nitrate and hydrogen cyanide and had our fair share of fires and explosions. When I made the decision to ride a bike I read everything I could about motorcycle safety and took a MSF course. I have put over 10K safe miles on my bike. The best advice I ever heard about riding was to pretend that you are a fighter pilot and everybody is out to shoot your butt down. Riding has actually made me a better all around driver. With all that said I still know that you are 14 times more likely to have an accident on a bike as compared to a car. That is a risk I am willing to take.

 

[Martha]

I have a blaze orange helmet. It helps a lot with visibility.

www.aerostich.com makes great lime yellow high-viz clothes.

Never ride in someone's blind spot. Vary your speed. Keep you lights on bright during the day. Know your exit strategy. Take the courses.

It never will be safe, but I won't give it up.

 

[Michael Moore]

There's some interesting data at

http://www-fars.nhtsa.dot.gov/

on transportation fatalities.  It appears that the biggest thing you can do to be more safe is not to move, even by foot, after drinking.

I won't ride a motorcycle unless I"m wearing a helmet and other riding gear.  I've fallen off at less than walking speeds (I ride vintage trials bikes which involves negotiating a course with tight turns and obstacles without putting a foot down or going out of bounds, often at walking speed or less) and I have no illusions about "just this once".  Bicycles look to me like something that people ought to be wearing full protective gear when riding, and I'd probably want to do the same on a horse, skate board, snow skis, etc.  Protective gear usually makes crashing less unpleasant.

I feel a lot safer on the race track than I do on my infrequent street rides.  But then I've had a Ford Econoline van totaled when I was just a few blocks down the street from the house and a lady ran a stop sign in her Civic.  I've seen people in cars nearly run into (or be run over by) fire engines with their sirens going, so there doesn't seem to be anything you can do to ensure that people see you.

The UK motorcyclists call a common cause of car/two-wheeler accidents a SMIDSY - "sorry mate, I didn't see you".

cheers,
Michael

 

[Maximillion]

My Best Friend from High School First Year University , stopped at Stop Sign, car slid into his rear, knocked him into traffic.

Last time I was on a Bike, extremely competent rider, a car decided to pass coming towards us, could not get in, pulled into our lane knowing full well he could have killed us.

I was on my CB listening to Truckers as they deliberatly played dangerous games with some bikers, truckers thought it was a big hoot, boxing the bikes in, forcing them over.

Not for me.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

It never will be safe, but I won't give it up.

Years ago I owned a Gold Wing. My son, then age 20, wanted to ride it occasionally. I was in my mid 40s, paying about $400 a year for higher level of insurance. Just for fun, one year I asked the insurance company what my son would pay for the same coverage. The answer was something like $1700.

I have always felt that motorcycling and hypertestosteronemia didn't mix well.

My old-fart routine consists of ALWAYS wearing full Aerostich jacket and pants, boots, helmet and gloves. I ride a large and conspicuous bike with lots of lights. The tire pressure gets checked before every ride. Parking lot practice occurs every month or so (it's a very big bike, easy to drop if you are not careful).

For all that, the risk remains high. Almost as high as the enjoyment I get from it. But not quite.

 

[Michael Moore]

I had one conversation with my grandmother about bikes. She asked how I could do it, what with it being so dangerous and all. I told her I couldn't understand how she could ride horses for transportation when she was young as my limited experience with horses was pretty scary. She seemed to think that was an entirely different situation, and we pretty much called it a draw.

If I decide to start doing more street riding I'll definitely get an Aerostitch with all the armor/padding they can put in it, and it will be the one piece suit so there is none of this "I'll just wear the jacket today" stuff. Until then, I'll wear my full roadrace leathers/armor for my infrequent street ride.

There seems no shortage of interesting risk sports. The riskiest time is probably just after being a total newbie, when you start to get cocky without any expertise to back it up. Boating, skiing, parachuting, hang gliding, mountain biking, picking up random sexual partners at bars - they all seem pretty risky to me. I'll stick with the one sport that I've hopefully developed some expertise at, and not tempt fate by adding any others.

cheers,
Michael

 

[Non sequitur]

Rich_in_tampa, That is perfect!

Trials? A dab'l do ya.

 

[Non sequitur]

And how do you feel when you recall how Lawrence died?

I think bikes can be incredibly exciting. But I made my first spill my last, many years ago. Besides me, I have all those other idiots on the road to worry about.

Ha

I feel sorry that he died at all, but I would rather leave this world doing something I'm passionate about than the way another famous but historically less important motorcyclist did.  Steve McQueen

 

[samclem]

Here's a little attention-getter. Turn the sound on.


http://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/v3/roadsafe/motorcyclists/urbancom/media/howclose.mpeg

 

[Michael Moore]

Non sequitor, with the photos you've posted you should find a lot of the photos (1600+) on my website of interest: http://www.eurospares.com

take the middle link, and go down to the photo pages. You may like some of the technical articles too - I design and build my own race bikes.

cheers,
Michael

 

[Non sequitur]

Michael.  WOW!

That's awesome.  I guess there's nothing more for me to say.

 

[Non sequitur]

Here's a little attention-getter.  Turn the sound on.


http://www.devon-cornwall.police.uk/v3/roadsafe/motorcyclists/urbancom/media/howclose.mpeg

Thanks.

That's beautiful Sam. I had read about this ad campaign. I know that motorcycles are more important and mainstream in Europe. I guess it's good to see an official govt. attempt to promote safety by educating automobile drivers, but I still think the cyclist needs to assume all of the responsibility for safe operation.

 

[gtmeouttahere]

I had one conversation with my grandmother about bikes.  She asked how I could do it, what with it being so dangerous and all.  I told her I couldn't understand how she could ride horses for transportation when she was young as my limited experience with horses was pretty scary.  She seemed to think that was an entirely different situation, and we pretty much called it a draw. 
Michael

Never had that problem with my Grandma. She's a Gold Wing rider and actually bought me my first dirt bike at 14. My parents were PISSED!!! Oh well, been hooked ever since. How cool is it to have a biker grandma!!! 8)

 

[Nords]

... hypertestosteronemia ...

Best word I've learned all year!

Much more effective than "testosterone poisoning"! Even better than callipygian and dasypygal! Thanks, Rich!!

 

[Outtahere]

Michael

I owned and worked around horses for a good number of years when I was younger and I'd have to say the horses are a tad more dangerous than motorcycles. At least when I walk past my bike in the garage I know it's not going to try to bite or kick me and if a kid on a big wheel comes near the bike while I'm riding I know it won't throw a hissy and bolt in the other direction. I've had more close calls in the stables than I've had on the road, I think I'll stick with the iron horses.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Best word I've learned all year!
Much more effective than "testosterone poisoning"! Even better than callipygian and dasypygal! Thanks, Rich!!

Happy to serve as a medical resource to the board any time.

 

[Gonzo]

I have a Goldwing and I like to take road trips of 2000 to 6000 miles. I've ridden about 250,000 miles and was in my first accident last fall... an SUV didn't see me and pulled out in front of me. If I wouldn't have gotten on the brakes hard... I'm sure I would have been hit in the side. The Goldwing was totaled so I have gotten another one. I had some road rash and 3 fractured ribs... I was wearing helmet, gloves, leather jacket. Maybe if I had a jacket with armor my ribs would have not been injured!

I rode by myself last month from WI to Key West putting on 4600 miles and riding in 16 different States. My DW and I are leaving later this week for a ride to Page, AZ and then to Death Valley.

I just love to ride... but I very seldom ride just locally... I walk a lot.

Gonzo

 

[haha]

I feel sorry that he died at all, but I would rather leave this world doing something I'm passionate about than the way another famous but historically less important motorcyclist did.  Steve McQueen

Well, now I understand why you choose the screen name you did.

Ha

 

[yakers]

My Mom is 85 but on her 80th birthday my uncle took her for a ride on his 51 Harley. Quite a gal.


Happy Mothers Day to all the biker chicks out there