I see alot of people in here trying to justifying their fear of riding motorcycles as 'smart' instead of them being too afraid
nothing wrong with being afraid, just admit it instead of trying to posture it as being 'smarter' than the rest of us
We are smarter. Take a look at the drivers out there currently. How many are looking down at the phone. Go out Saturday night or Sunday morning and count the drunks on the road. Now does the smart man make the choice of having a vehicle with crumple zones, airbags, 4 wheels, etc. or a motorcycle on two wheels that offers no protection to it's rider?
The chances that I would suffer a life altering injury went down dramatically the day I stopped riding.
Also try adding personal injury protection on your motorcycle policy. If you haven't done it before you will be shocked at the cost. Do you have any idea why the premium is so outrageous?
Do I fear riding a motorcycle? no
do I fear a crippling injury or death that leaves my family in hardship? yes
If you think we are posturing as being smarter, stop trying to make it sound like you riders are all "yolo" and with a little defensive riding and leathers it's relatively safe :rollseyes:
anyone can find stats at anytime to back their argument. nothing new there. I simply commented on what was posted. We get it, you are a bad@ss you ride a bike. You are fearless.
Riding for 20 years.
Wife and kids
Big old life insurance policy
Last set of statistics I looked at, it painted a picture of older guys returning to the sport and crashing their cruisers all over the place. It was followed closely by teens and early twenty somethings crashing their sportbikes all over the place.
It has been awhile since I checked the data.
Most of the cruiser guys around here, typically late 30's to mid 60's seemed a little too concerned with formation riding obnoxious Harley's from one bar\restaurant\coffee stop to the next.
The common phrase amongst these guys to explain their accidents is "I had to lay it down!!"
Sure...you had a choice in that whole lowsiding\highsiding after you locked up the rear\front tire.
I don't ride with sportbike riders because most of them are young and ride to late in the day for my taste. There is always that douchebag in the group who insists on wheelies in traffic or general douchebaggery.
The common phrase amongst these guys to explain their accidents "Brah.. THEY blah blah blah blah"
Always have to pin responsibility of the crash on someone else. It was the little old ladies fault for misjudging your speed when she pulled out. You were only doing 75 in a 40. Someones cat jumped out of you causing you to take a corner to hot because they clawed at the throttle. It was the street sweepers fault for leaving dirt on the road and you wiped out.
There is a Goldwing\Sport tourer group that seems to meet up every sunday but having a wife and kids at home, I'm not too interested on 400 miles of riding on highways just to grab a crabcakes 4 states away.
The common phrase amongst these guys to explain their accidents "Had a heart attack\Stroke and then tree fell on the road during a snow storm in the mountains causing a boulder to crash into a the ambulance that was responding to plane crash caused by aliens"
Then you have the dual sport guys. I rarely see them ride in groups but the common phrase amongst these guys to explain their accidents
"Was half way across the stream bed when they started opening up the dam. A trout ended up caught in the front wheel as I was riding over a large submerged rock and I washed out. My bike washed up 3 miles down river
I like the "I use-ta ride one of dem things" folks.
Nice elaborate story of amazing speeds on superbikes or chromed out super cruisers that would outrun any sportbike made ever.
If the reason for no longer riding doesn't end with crash and surgery its some elaborate story that conceals the fact that "Marriage" happened and the wife said it had to go.
I don't want to ignore the folks who quit riding because "their friends quit riding"...the guys who only ride because everyone else was doing it.
Those guys are usually the quickest to toss out the " I had to quit or else I would have killed myself" excuse.
Salesmen see these guys all the time.
A pack of bro's walk in and they all buy bikes together.
About 5 years later they all sell the bikes together and buy something else as a group.
Each one pulls out the " I had to quit or else I would have killed myself" excuse.
That's code for "One of us sold it to pay for engagement ring, the other sold his to pay off his credit cards and the rest of us sold our after the custom vest we had made up started looking unfashionable because of the font use "
holy crap...sorry for the long rambling.
All I wanted to say was life "insurance policy" is a must for those of us with family.
Riding for 20 years.
Wife and kids
Big old life insurance policy
Last set of statistics I looked at, it painted a picture of older guys returning to the sport and crashing their cruisers all over the place. It was followed closely by teens and early twenty somethings crashing their sportbikes all over the place.
It has been awhile since I checked the data.
Most of the cruiser guys around here, typically late 30's to mid 60's seemed a little too concerned with formation riding obnoxious Harley's from one bar\restaurant\coffee stop to the next.
The common phrase amongst these guys to explain their accidents is "I had to lay it down!!"
Sure...you had a choice in that whole lowsiding\highsiding after you locked up the rear\front tire.
I don't ride with sportbike riders because most of them are young and ride to late in the day for my taste. There is always that douchebag in the group who insists on wheelies in traffic or general douchebaggery.
The common phrase amongst these guys to explain their accidents "Brah.. THEY blah blah blah blah"
Always have to pin responsibility of the crash on someone else. It was the little old ladies fault for misjudging your speed when she pulled out. You were only doing 75 in a 40. Someones cat jumped out of you causing you to take a corner to hot because they clawed at the throttle. It was the street sweepers fault for leaving dirt on the road and you wiped out.
There is a Goldwing\Sport tourer group that seems to meet up every sunday but having a wife and kids at home, I'm not too interested on 400 miles of riding on highways just to grab a crabcakes 4 states away.
The common phrase amongst these guys to explain their accidents "Had a heart attack\Stroke and then tree fell on the road during a snow storm in the mountains causing a boulder to crash into a the ambulance that was responding to plane crash caused by aliens"
Then you have the dual sport guys. I rarely see them ride in groups but the common phrase amongst these guys to explain their accidents
"Was half way across the stream bed when they started opening up the dam. A trout ended up caught in the front wheel as I was riding over a large submerged rock and I washed out. My bike washed up 3 miles down river
I like the "I use-ta ride one of dem things" folks.
Nice elaborate story of amazing speeds on superbikes or chromed out super cruisers that would outrun any sportbike made ever.
If the reason for no longer riding doesn't end with crash and surgery its some elaborate story that conceals the fact that "Marriage" happened and the wife said it had to go.
I don't want to ignore the folks who quit riding because "their friends quit riding"...the guys who only ride because everyone else was doing it.
Those guys are usually the quickest to toss out the " I had to quit or else I would have killed myself" excuse.
Salesmen see these guys all the time.
A pack of bro's walk in and they all buy bikes together.
About 5 years later they all sell the bikes together and buy something else as a group.
Each one pulls out the " I had to quit or else I would have killed myself" excuse.
That's code for "One of us sold it to pay for engagement ring, the other sold his to pay off his credit cards and the rest of us sold our after the custom vest we had made up started looking unfashionable because of the font use "
holy crap...sorry for the long rambling.
All I wanted to say was life "insurance policy" is a must for those of us with family.
edit: I handle the risk of idiots on the road by riding during the the hours where smart people are doing things like "sleeping"
Saturdays and Sundays, I leave before sunrise and I'm back by 10AM. Once the roads fill with traffic I'm back home making breakfast. I don't ride during the week unless I'm off of work and then its between 10AM and 11:59AM or between 8PM and 11PM
pretty much find those type all the time. With enough rideing you find every type eventually.
it's the kids with sportsbikes (600+cc and modded to hell. oh btw first bike they have owned) that annoy the fuck out of me. They then attempt stupid shit and wreck the bike.
the old guys on goldwings don't annoy me anymore. a good portion are good riders if they aren't well nature takes care of it.
the only issue i have with your rambling is your bs for people who quite. while yes i agree the idiots that buy a bike because a buddy has one tend to either end up in the hospital or selling it a year latter. Not everyone quits for the listed reasons.
hell i been rideing longer then you. i stopped because it just seems more idiots on the road and my health getting worse its just not fun anymore.
though on nice days i do miss it. that cam-am looks great. it would solve hte health issue (bad hips. need both replaced). those nice sunny summer days just call for being on a bike..heh
with a little defensive riding and leathers it's relatively safe :rollseyes:
These motorcycle posts remind me of posts in P&N - there are die hard people that will defend there position on both sides of the argument and if you post up anything that contradicts their belief they'll just ignore it.
But it makes me wonder why someone who has no interest in motorcycles at all come into a motorcycle related thread in the first place....
We are smarter. Take a look at the drivers out there currently. How many are looking down at the phone. Go out Saturday night or Sunday morning and count the drunks on the road. Now does the smart man make the choice of having a vehicle with crumple zones, airbags, 4 wheels, etc. or a motorcycle on two wheels that offers no protection to it's rider?
The chances that I would suffer a life altering injury went down dramatically the day I stopped riding.
Also try adding personal injury protection on your motorcycle policy. If you haven't done it before you will be shocked at the cost. Do you have any idea why the premium is so outrageous?
Ha. This thread was troll bait from the get go. Lmao at anyone that came in here expecting an intelligent conversation debating the topic. Saw it four days ago and knew it would turn into the flame fest it has. It is fun to watch an artist work though. Another masterpiece.
because he has nothing useful to couteract what has been posted I'd imagine.
ZV posted some great stats as well that he will continue to ignore
I don't think you understand what the term "relatively" means...
ZV
relative to a car.... somehow putting on leathers and being defensive on your bike and somehow you are magically as safe as being in a rolling cage with all sorts of technology built into it to save your life
relative to a car.... somehow putting on leathers and being defensive on your bike and somehow you are magically as safe as being in a rolling cage with all sorts of technology built into it to save your life
Considering that no-one in this thread has ever come even close to saying that a motorcycle was as safe as a car, let alone safer, I'm unsure why you're insisting on continuing with this ridiculous straw-man argument. Perhaps you might consider addressing the points other people are actually making instead of the points you wish they were?
When you remove the young men on sportbikes and the riders with no formal training, the accident rate for motorcycles drops significantly. That's simply a fact. While the rate will always exceed that of automobiles, the accident rate for trained motorcyclists is actually better than the accident rate is for private planes (aircraft used for personal enjoyment, not for public transport). In terms of injury rate, motorcycling is actually safer than horseback riding too. But for some reason, there aren't may people saying that men with families shouldn't fly or that you'd have to be crazy to let a child ride a horse.
ZV