Young People and Fast Motorcycles-Advice from an Old Cop.

[Cooter Brown]

When I see the behavior described by others in this thread my thought are "First bike that kid's had...and maybe the last."

Just last week I had a group of seven or eight blow right by on a four lane highway, 3 of them between me and the car in the right lane who I was in the process of passing.

Sold my street bike long ago. It was a lot of fun, until a few experiences convinced me to find other ways to have fun.

 

[jag312]

I'm not exactly a young man, and I have been riding for years. I started on a Honda CX500, and that was all the bike that was needed for riding on city streets. I graduated up to a Triumph Legend TT; a 900cc triple. The Triumph can go faster than I can. I ride carefully because I don't want to damage the paint job. No problem riding in Douglas County, Nevada. It is mainly country roads. If I still lived in San Jose, and judging from the current traffic in the San Francisco Bay Area, I would not ride. Too dangerous.

 

[Robspeire]

Have rode for 50yrs + & quit riding on the road 40 years ago. Been riding dirt bikes since then. Would take more than2 hands to count the number of friends who have bit the dust.
Most due to cars pulling out in front of them.
One thing about I don't have to worry about is a tree pulling out in front of me.
Sold my XR650R 3 years ago as I was able to get in titled & registered. Sold it because I was tempted to ride it on the road.
All bikes have been Hondas' .
Currently have a CRF 250X.
Did race Hare Scrambles.

 

[.455_Hunter]

I have ridden a dirt bike a couple of times over my life, and I have zero interest in extending that experience into road biking. I have never understood people who debate every minutiae of armed defense, home security, carry guns and ammo choices will intentionally get on a motorcycle and ride in the midst of traffic.

 

[LVSteve]

I rode bikes from 15 until my first son was born when I was 32. Sold the one I had then and never looked back. Childish things and all that……

I worked many horrific bike crashes over the years. I had one where a nice old Navajo lady pulled out in front of a guy at night. Never saw him. He hit her square on the passenger side and one of his legs went sailing down the road without him. He was dead on impact. I went for a look-see and laying exactly on the yellow stripe about 75 feet from the car was a 4 inch piece of shinbone. No blood on it at all - just a shiny white section of bone oriented perfectly with the yellow line, on this pitch black stretch of lonely reservation road. It was like something out of a David Lynch movie.

I found his boot with foot in it in the ditch. She got a ticket for failure to yield from the tribal cops.

When I was a late teenager in England there were lots of folk riding 250 cc sport bikes on a provisional license. That gave you as much, if not more, straight line performance as 95% of the cars on the road with no training required. Looking back now it was nuts.

As for "bits in the road", two stand out for me. One lad who had been ahead of me at high school got creamed large on a road not far from our school oddly enough. It was quite a mess, and one of the constables was sent to retrieve the guy's helmet that was about 20 yards away from the impact. Guess what was inside.... Another one was a lad on a rural two-lane where he was passing and a vehicle came the other way riding the white line leading to a scissor effect on the rider and his bike. After extensive searching LE decided that an opportunist fox or badger had made off with the missing arm.

 

[Pisgah]

The reality is that for every dumbass squid on a crotch rocket flouting basic safety who gets himself killed, there are probably 10x as many safe riders who are killed by dumbass car drivers who "didn't see him" because they weren't paying attention. The Hurt Report (great name, btw) demonstrated that the majority of motorcycle fatalities are caused by someone in a car making a left turn in front of them.

As a rider with 52 years experience and zero serious accidents, I can say that the REAL biggest killer is NOT drivers turning left in front of us; it is motorcycle riders who fail to keep in mind that EVERY CAR THAT CAN IS GOING TO TURN LEFT IN FRONT OF YOU. Always assume that and you'll never hit one...

 

[JohnHL]

Ride like you are invisible, because the accident report will quote the car driver as saying, "I didn't see him..."

John

 

[jeffrefrig]

My wife had a cousin die in a bike wreck. His body parts literally went through or stuck in a cyclone fence. As fate would have it the Allegheny Cemetery in Pittsburgh was on the other side of the fence.

 

[Rustyt1953]

In 1942 my dad had a terrible accident on a motorcycle. He was going too fast on a poorly surfaced downgrade and lost control. It took him almost a year to regain his ability to walk unaided.

He rarely rode after that and later in life forbade my brother and me from driving or riding on one as long as we lived under his roof.

Dad was a scrappy, hardscrabble man and wasn't afraid to get back on one but he was convinced that he would live longer if he didn't.

 

[bigwheelzip]

... these high powered "crouch rockets" in my opinion are very dangerous when driven at high speeds by young likely inexperienced or over confident riders.

There is an interesting graduated licensing system in Switzerland, that attempts to temper this high-powered exuberance. It requires a substantial number of expensive intermediate steps over the course of two years riding lower powered bikes, before being licensed to ride a motorcycle over 48 HP. Never witnessed there the crazy riding seen in the USA.

How much does a Swiss motorcycle license cost? The Swiss currency (CHF) converts slightly higher than the US dollar.

The cost of obtaining a license depends on the school, requirements, and where you live. However, to be on the safe side, you should assume a minimum budget of just under CHF 1,500 ($1,640) – not including lessons. The costs are broken down as follows:

An eyesight test costs between CHF 10 and CHF 20.
The first aid course will be between CHF 100 and CHF 150.
The provisional driving license and theory test cost around CHF 150-200.
The traffic awareness theory course will be between CHF 250 and CHF 300.
The basic motorcycle course costs from CHF 200 to CHF 600.
Motorbike lessons cost around CHF 80 each (not compulsory).
The practical test costs around CHF 130.
Expect to pay CHF 50 to have the license issued and sent to you.
Additional training (to convert your probationary license) costs between CHF 300 and CHF 350.

We extensively rode a Goldwing through Europe's Alps, and did a lot of "Passing".

The St. Bernard Pass:

The Klaussen Pass (last bike in the parked row):

The St. Gottard Pass:

 

[ron 57]

Worked many fatal motorcycle accidents, the details about most have blurred with time but one I remember well.
I was on patrol when a crotch rocket with two eighteen year olds , without helmets, ran a stop sign and gunned it onto a state highway. I knew the driver had a suspended license so I turned around and as soon as they saw me behind them he went wide open. I called in the pursuit and the cycle was already a quarter mile ahead and pulling away. We headed out of town and all I could do was keep him in sight. About six miles out a fuse blew and I lost my overhead revolving lights so I terminated the chase and headed back to town. I thought that when he realized I wasn't behind him he would slow down and find a back road but just as I reached the city limits I heard an EMS dispatch for a motorcycle injury accident about five miles north of where I stopped. They had went off the road at 115+mph into a field. The passenger was dead at the scene, the driver survived but was paralyzed from the waist down.
A few years afterwards at the county fair, I saw him in his wheelchair. I wasn't sure what to expect, but he shook my hand and told me the accident was his fault alone and he bore no grudges.
He's lived the life of a paraplegic for forty one years as well as living with the knowledge that his actions cost the life of his friend.

 

[meaneyedcatz]

Most videos of sport bikes on YouTube are of the bikers acting like idiots. And they themselves post them.
Once in a blue moon it shows them doing something good.

 

[GaryS]

I had one of those back in the mid 1980s, only he went under the rear wheels head first. Not very pretty.

Here, just day before yesterday, a young man on a motor cycle crashed
head on into a garbage truck. He lost his life.

 

[Hair Trigger]

I've seen the aftermath of a few high-speed motorcycle wrecks. Yet to see any beautiful corpses lying around. I have nothing against fast motorcycles. The current crop of insanely fast motorcycles is another matter.

In 37 years as an O.R. Nurse, I've seen road rash that looked like the rider had gone through a cheese grater; I've seen long bone fractures that resembled a huge toothpick smashed with a sledgehammer, head injuries like a smashed pumpkin (and some of those were wearing helmets at the time). Yeah, there aren't very many beautiful corpses.

What amazes me about the current crop of insanely fast motorcycles is that even the 600cc bikes are quicker and faster than the literbikes of my riding days. Of course they handle better because they are lighter, but in a straight line they can blow past what I rode, which at the time were the fastest bikes on the street. My last two motorcycles were both 900 cc Kawasaki's, a 1974 Z1B and after that a 1985 Ninja 900.

 

[BigBill]

I noticed it's the crazy riders who are good stay alive.

I rode dirtbikes first learning how to use body English, which carried over into motorcycles. I did 100 mph in the woods on a husky dirtbike. I'm a older rider, I returned a retuned 1200 gsxr bandit engine. As I rode the interstate to work one day it's 70 mph, another day the cars are going 80; mph. I try to stay out of there way. But one close call I dial it to warp drive till my exit, I found myself going faster and faster as I become one with a machine. With no one on the highway I took it to 155 mph. At that speed the cars going slower are coming at you. If your zig zagging your in big trouble. If we go slower in a pack of cars we become a target, I gave up riding the speed didn't stop me. I had no fear,

These young punks with their rockets I'd slap them take them up to 100 mph most were scared and back off. Don't let the grey hair fool you. I had 25 k miles on the bandit in one year, these kids are fresh out of the dealer.

We needed a throttle body injection for my sons bike. That night in the local bargain paper there was four totaled new bikes with the parts we needed, that's four dead riders, I talked with my dealer and there's no training for these kids, they get the bike, with no riding experience not even dirtbikes. It's sad.

I preach when you do a wheelie in the dark on a city street your headline is looking up at the stars. A car pulling out doesn't see you. Your riding blind. Don't wheelie in the city streets.

I was offered to teach riding I turned it down, health reasons I'm old.

 

[kfields]

I'm extra careful while driving a car around MC's. I've even reduced speed or pulled off to the side and waited a few minutes just so I'm not following to close to them.
I've attempted to categorize what I consider to be types of dangerous MC riders as follows:
- There are the superfast MC riders who appear to think everything moving around them is really stationary as they scream down the road;
- Then there are what I consider hobbyist weekend MC riders who appear to ride (with their buddies) from bar to bar;
- Then there are the group MC riders who almost seem to ride a mere 10 feet from the buddy in front of them, or worse, side-by-side so they can chat I guess. All I can think of is if rider number 1 goes down because he hits a dead raccoon in the road, the rest go down too, just like bowling pins;
- Then there are the groupie MC riders who travel in bunches of 50 or more bikes. If the traffic light turns red, one or two of the MC riders pulls to either side with their hands up, I guess they hope traffic stops so all the bikers make it through as a group regardless as to what color the traffic light is. It kinda reminds me of a funeral procession;
- Then of course there is the MC riders who ride oblivious to everything and everyone else around them, with their radio blaring at 800 decibels. Why do they do that?
I'm sure there are some careful and considerate MC riders, but it sure doesn't seem like its a lot to me.

 

[Ματθιας]

My dad pounded in my head not to ride motorcycles. A friend of mine had a minibike and taught me how to ride. I got to ride a crotch rocket - that was the drug, the rush I was looking for.

That was until an older buddy crashed and ended up under a car. He survived, but was messed up - bad. When we visited him at the hospital, his head was swollen to the size of a basketball. He died a few days later.

No more bikes for me. That was almost 30 years ago. As beautiful as New Mexico is, there's no way I ride a bike - not with all the drunk, distracted or just plain bad drivers.

A couple of years ago, a long time friend who'd been riding for 50+ years got in to a wreck that nearly killed him. A car stopped and did a U-turn in front of him.

I live close to the interstate and late at night one can hear cars, and bike redlining it all way up 9 Mile Hill. One of those fools speeding, and drunk went under a Semi and burst in to flames. The rider got hit by numerous vehicles. Bridge has to be inspected for heat damage.

It's bad enough in a car, much less a motorcycle.

 

[charlie sherrill]

I always referred to the speeding crotch rocket drivers as "future organ donors". I hate driving in New Orleans, especially on the Interstates, and it seems like every time I'm down there's one or more crotch rockets zipping in and out of heavy traffic at high rates of speed. All it would take would be one open car door at one of the many bottlenecks on the highway.

 

[steelslaver]

Many years ago, I live in a small farm town about 30 miles from the town I worked out of fixing photo copiers. One fine summer morning when I was going about 75 a bike shot by me like I was standing still on some rolling hills, A couple dips later I came over the top and he had plowed into the back of a big disc harrow being pulled by a tractor. Absolutely nothing I could do for him.

 

[Onomea]

I had a cousin, Stevie, the only child of my mother's brother. He died on a motorcycle when he was 21, before I ever had the chance to meet him. He'd come up in conversations as a child, a cautionary tale for the rest of us.