2008 nightster till I got totaled last summer. It was fun!!
Who rides a motorcycle?
- Thread starter Neognosis
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- Thread starter
- #142
JayHawkMechanic... nice 51, I always liked those and the uber rare RC45...
thanks, I love the 51, its so much fun to ride, and I wish I could afford a rc45, would be sweet to have both in the garage
Chris
So for those of you who ride, how many accidents/close calls have you been involved in? And how badly were you hurt?
My buddy has a Honda Cruiser. Last year, he let me ride it on an old closed off 1\2 mile access road. I loved the feeling, but I'd be lying if I said the idea of riding a bike doesn't make me nervous. I feel like a few too many people are too stupid/too distracted to be on the roads. Do your experiences confirm my suspicion, or is it not quite as bad as I think it is?
The idea of a fun commute to work and 60 mpg on a CBR250 is pretty tempting. The idea of getting creamed because of someone else's stupidity is anything but
My buddy has a Honda Cruiser. Last year, he let me ride it on an old closed off 1\2 mile access road. I loved the feeling, but I'd be lying if I said the idea of riding a bike doesn't make me nervous. I feel like a few too many people are too stupid/too distracted to be on the roads. Do your experiences confirm my suspicion, or is it not quite as bad as I think it is?
The idea of a fun commute to work and 60 mpg on a CBR250 is pretty tempting. The idea of getting creamed because of someone else's stupidity is anything but
So for those of you who ride, how many accidents/close calls have you been involved in? And how badly were you hurt?
My buddy has a Honda Cruiser. Last year, he let me ride it on an old closed off 1\2 mile access road. I loved the feeling, but I'd be lying if I said the idea of riding a bike doesn't make me nervous. I feel like a few too many people are too stupid/too distracted to be on the roads. Do your experiences confirm my suspicion, or is it not quite as bad as I think it is?
The idea of a fun commute to work and 60 mpg on a CBR250 is pretty tempting. The idea of getting creamed because of someone else's stupidity is anything but
I've been riding since I was 8, and in that time alot of things have gone wrong. Most of which has been my fault. Now with that said, s#!t happens sometimes and cagers are crazy.
I do believe that with a somewhat aggresive riding style coupled with constand vigilance is the key to success while riding. Alot of people will disagree, but high visibility clothing is very helpfull as well.
Ask any cage driver that has hit a bike and they all give the same excuse. "I didnt see him". Some will say loud pipes save lives, but thats a lie too, awareness saves lives. never ride beside a car at the same speed, always expect them to do the absolute worst thing they can possibly do.
I personally will have to be killed or crippled to give up riding. Its good for the soul.
If you have to ask, then you probably already know the answer. Maybe riding isn't for you. Two kind of riders: ones who've been in an accident and ones who will be.
I had an old '79 Yamaha 750 Special as my first bike, and dumped it in '93 because I forgot to put up the kickstand... so after a bend the bike went straight and I followed it into a ditch. No big repercussions.
In '98 an old lady t-boned me on a side street, on my current bike. I was going about 20 mph but I likely contributed with fault. I had quickly passed around a car stopped at the previous intersection that was diddling on their cell phone. The old lady "didn't see me." Some bike repairs and TLC for me, and back to normal.
For me, riding is freedom in the moment and worth the risk. After I went down and made my way home, the wife asked what she could do to help. I replied with one thing - I told her to not ask me to give up riding. That being said, I'm not very interested in highway commuting. I treat it like my Sunday car and am super vigilant when riding. I prefer the canyons in the mountains.
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I have over 100,000 miles on the several bikes I've owned and I was involved in two accidents. One was a freak accident where a wheel fell off a car and bounced over the center divide and struck me as I was riding through an intersection.
The other accident happened when a cage quickly switched lanes and didn't see me. It was under 20 mph and I didn't even drop the bike. Just got a bent brake pedal. The entire side of her new Mercedes had a 3 foot long scratch across it.
I've had a few close calls. Most of those happened when I was in my 20s.
Oh yeah...I just completed my 5th Iron Butt ride last weekend. I rode from to Boise to Eugene to Portland and back in about 17 hours ~1,050 miles.
The other accident happened when a cage quickly switched lanes and didn't see me. It was under 20 mph and I didn't even drop the bike. Just got a bent brake pedal. The entire side of her new Mercedes had a 3 foot long scratch across it.
I've had a few close calls. Most of those happened when I was in my 20s.
Oh yeah...I just completed my 5th Iron Butt ride last weekend. I rode from to Boise to Eugene to Portland and back in about 17 hours ~1,050 miles.
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- Thread starter
- #150
I have been riding since 2007. I dropped my first bike in 2008, turning into a gravel parking lot. No injuries, bent clutch lever and shift pedal.
in 2010, I went down at 40+mph in the rain. I applied the brake a little too hard on a country road with fresh oil and gravel. 1500 dollars damage to the bike in the form of scraped exhaust, brake pedal, brake lever, rear turn signal.
I sustained a headache for two days. If not for my full face helmet, I would not be shaving with a DE today. I would be wearing a prosthetic face.
As for close calls, I have a minor one nearly every week, and 2 or 3 major ones a year. I ride around 10,000 miles a year.
You should absolutely take the MSF course. I will not ride with anyone without either a decade of riding experience, or the MSF course under their belt.
Every close call that I have had, I have avoided because I saw it happen before it happened.
As you gain experience, you will start to expect things to happen, and be ready to avoid them. For instance, when I am in the right hand lane, and a car is either passing me on my left, or in front of me, I EXPECT that they will realize that the exit that we are passing is the one they want, and I EXPECT them to cut across my lane and hit me. So I make sure I am not there WHEN it happens.
If I am going through an intersection, I EXPECT someone to run the red light and t-bone me. So, expecting it, I make sure I am watching so that WHEN that happens, I'm not there.
When traveling northbound, and a car is waiting to pull out from a westbound cross-street, I EXPECT them to fail to see me and to start pulling out after the car ahead of me slows to make their east-bound turn. So I am not there WHEN it happens.
That said, I EXPECT that I will be in another accident, whether my fault or not, and I dress appropriately as often as is practical and do all I can to minimize the risk.
For me, this means an armored leather jacket, a full face helmet, armored leather gloves, and armored pants (though I do often leave the pants at home, though I shouldn't.)
For someone else, that might mean nothing more than sunglasses. Which is fine, although that guy will end up peeled like a grape in a crash that I might walk away from with no injury at all.
Back in dirt trim getting ready for my summer trip to Nordkapp.
Please excuse my dirty driveway, gotta make a dump run.
Please excuse my dirty driveway, gotta make a dump run.
new toy just got home with her.
My 2005 FZ6. I crashed it Thanksgiving Day 2010, completely rebuilt it in my living room and had it up and running in May. I mothballed it when I left for Korea in December though. I really wish I had it here.
Before rebuild.
Before rebuild.
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Brother these are sick bikes!
Question: How do bike riders prepare for the new danger on the roads called 'texting drivers'. The last 4 MC accidents I have worked (with one death) have all involved texting drivers. One driver even tried to lie about it until I found her phone in the floor board of her SUV with the unfinished written message on it. Another, kept insisting he wasn't texting until I subpoenaed his phone records and found that he was 'reading' a text at the time. He still defended himself to the judge saying "he wasn't texting".
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Easy, you just assume every body else on the road intends to kill you. That way you're pleasantly surprised when half of them don't even try.
The subject of wrecks is one that every single person that knows I ride continually brings up. My mother in particular. And I'm 41.
If there weren't people like that, I guess we'd all be on a bike, eh?
If there weren't people like that, I guess we'd all be on a bike, eh?
