“You’ll kill yoself!”
 

What a downer of a convo...

I just asked some buddies what kind of bikes they rode back in the day. They both told me stories of buddies they either had die on the back of a bike or in one case, my buddy was riding with someone on the back, they wrecked, and the passenger he was carrying died. Both situations involved, in my opinion, waaay too much bike (1000-1100cc crotch rocket in both cases), and the usual case of waaay too much speed.

I’m curious, (1) how many people have tried and regularly try to talk you out of riding? (2) What horror stories do you have riding your Chondas on the road?

Biting my nails,

Dusman

No one has ever tried to talk me out of riding. I get the occasional comments of those things are dangerous and yada yada. I ride my motorcycle like everyone is trying to kill me. I don't intentionally take it to congested areas. I LOVE riding in the country. And with a cell phone in everyones hands now days riding a bike is even more dangerous. I had a guy in a car pass me in the same lane I was in. He never saw me until he was right beside me.

Same here, Haven't had anybody say anything to me. But then a again I've been riding over 45 years and I ain't dead yet. lol. I don't ride in town and stick to country roads and off road. I'll hit the interstate every once I a while but its usually to get to another twisty back road. :D

It never fails, especially when I rode the big bikes.

You have no idea how many times I've heard, "My cousin's, brother in laws, nephews, girlfriends, sister was killed on one of those!"

I just chuckle and say "How'd you get here? Far more people die in cars."

It gets old.

As far as injuries, a good friend of mine got in a HORRIFIC accident a lady pulled out in front of him in North Charleston and he hit her at 60mph on his Harley Super Glide. I went and visited him at MUSC with the other guys at work who also rode, and it was a very shocking moment for all of us. He was in ICU for a very long time. Of course he was riding without a Helmet and in shorts and a T shirt. The biggest part of his injuries were Head Trauma. 2 of the guys were so affected by it that they sold their bikes never to ride again. We thought we were going to lose him, but he pulled through and he is back riding an Indian today. Maybe its because he doesn't remember a thing about the accident. It didn't really make me want to stop riding, I know the dangers but it is who I am and I love riding motorcycles, I've been doing it since I was 4. A few broken bones and scrapes and scratches but I always get back on that horse. Ya'll stay safe.

As I’ve already read, the research shows mostly two major factors causing fatalities: (1) alcohol, and (2) excessive speed.

I don’t drink, and I don’t think a TT 250 is going to be able to get to 160mph. ��

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moto...ates_and_risks

https://youtu.be/X1GvbOhwyCM

Yeah, those two will kill you eventually. I learned respect for my bike young. I put my first bike under a car and I flew over the car for about 30 yards or so. Brush burns and cracked helmet but no broke bones. Woke up the next morning and felt like I had a full body sprain from head to toe. for about a week. Didn't take me long to figure it out not to act like a dumb azz. lol

-I won't go into details but will say i have been significantly injured twice on a motorcycle, both times were 100% my own fault ,so there is no one to blame but me ,

i attribute both to having been " young , dumb,and "invincible " at the time .


That said, I find myself after having ridden more than 40 years actively avoiding freeways and congested higher speed city traffic, i can not recall more Drivers doing more outright stupid things ever , from watching movies on their dash TVs to talking on the cellphone despite that being illegal here, while smoking , and eating a hamburger ,etc.It's like piloting that 2 ton missile at 55- 70 mph is at the very bottom of their priority list ,it's just stupefying - the sad part is pedestrians are doing it too, i actually witnessed a woman get hit by a car she stepped in front of while staring at her phone and texting.,she never even looked up as she stepped into the street, the Driver was in no way at fault .Luckily she sustained a broke leg but was otherwise alright , she could easily have been killed.

Dusman, are you new to riding? I am guessing, but I didn't want to assume. I am relatively new too. If you are, I would consider taking a motorcycle safety class. MSF and Harley offer them. They are a little pricey, at about $200-300, but I think it was well worth the money. One thing I learned was already mentioned. Treat every car like it’s on a mission to kill you.

Where are you planning on doing most of your riding?

I understand your thoughts on being nervous about the drivers out there. I live in rural Nebraska, and when I ride my road bike, I ride it to work. But, it’s pretty rural...more cows than people rural. There are some days when I don’t encounter any cars on my way to work. If I lived in a busy suburb, I’m not sure I’d feel as confident.

One other thing. I was a member on a forum dedicated to the type of road bike I had 2 years ago. I expressed a similar concern with the guys on that forum. I was really new then and had been riding for only a few months. One guy on the forum said something to me that has stuck with me. He said he avoided doing things his whole life, like ride a motorcycle, out of fear. He didn’t want to get hurt. Then, one day he thought about his age, how life is short and how he felt like he missed out on some opportunities out of fear.. He said that one day he just decided that he didn’t want to live in a fear bubble for the rest of his life. I identified with that guy, and what he said stuck with me. I dedcided the same thing. There are many things that are not safe. Skiing and snowboarding are not safe, but I do those sports. People die skiing, but I love doing it. I’m not going to jump out of a helicopter onto the 90 degree face of a mountain...but I will ski within my means and abilities.

But, be safe and Ride defensively.

I have never had anybody outright tell me I am going to kill myself on a bike. Of course, my mother would rather I didn't ride, but she also knows her own child well enough to understand that I am a risk taker by nature, but not a stupid one.

Have I had close calls? Sure. If you ride a bike, you will eventually be in a scenario that will scare you a bit. You would be amazed at the number of people that tried to ride, but gave up after their first close call.

Now, I have had some conversations with non-riders about how dangerous bikes are. The funny thing is, if you eliminate all factors that are well within the control of the person on the bike, then the risk is only slightly higher vs. that of a person driving a car.

If all else fails, bring up the fact that 47% of all motorcycle fatalities involve a car/truck, while 34% involve "speed."

Have I done irresponsible things on a bike on a public road. Sure I have. Do I do it very often? No. The real issue with big fast bikes, like my VFR, is that it is very difficult to not go fast. If I hammer on the throttle of my VFR for a few seconds I am well past 100mph, and since the bike is so stable at that speed, it doesn't feel dangerous at all. In fact, my Hawk at 70mph is more scary than my VFR at 140.

a study i read the other day had some surprising conclusions! 30% of the accidents the control group had were rear end collisions....speed plus not paying attention or looking far enough ahead of you past the cars directly in front of you. most death related crash over 30 mph the helmet didnt save the riders life. intersections either controlled or uncontrolled were 70% of the wrecks. i ride 4 or 5 times a day and every day someone either pulls out in front of me or over into my lane with me there. lot of folks get mad but it doesnt help anything i just go with the flow and know they are going to do it. folks are in there own little world today. case in point i was in a parking lot parked in my truck and a car was backing out of a parking spot and another driver was coming down the lane. driver backing out was cautious cause he couldnt see till he got out a certain distance. the driver coming down the was in his own little world like he was the only person that existed and didnt even see the drivers rear end coming out. came within a foot of hitting him and he still didnt realize it just looking around oblivious...had other things on his mind. i see them in walmart taking up the entire lane while looking at the bread... no one exist but them! being prepared for the idiots takes some of the fun out of riding but no enough to quit!

It was a rainy night in 1975 on a night in January... It was about 10 and I just felt like I wanted to get out and take a ride... so I went out to my buddy's house and he went to bed early... so I decided to go back home... on the way home a plumber's truck ran a stop sign and T-boned me .. No broken bones just a few scrapes... I was lucky...



I have also been run off the road a few times... people pulling in front of me... I have always looked and I pay attention.. closely...



Today... My wife doesn't allow me to tag it for the street... but I am ok with that.. .. I enjoy the trails so much better... don't have to worry about someone banging in to me and tearing up my bike...

I was on my 2013 TMEC 200 Enduro, with the 17/17 street tire setup. I was 2 1/2 blocks from my home, in the outer lane of a dual left turn lane waiting for the arrow. My street was the second one on the right which is why I chose the outer lane. A large Yukon pulled up in the inner lane. A woman was driving, who I swear looked at me. The arrow turned green, I started my turn, and next thing I know, Yukon is in MY lane forcing me into curb (there is no room for parking and very little room for a bike, so the curb is 'right there'). A firetruck was pulling up to the red light going the opposite direction of the street I was turning into. Three of the firefighters told me they saw me fly in the air doing a flip--I don't recall how I flew. I just remember big, dark blue wall of vehicle forcing me to the curb, me taking my left hand off the handlebars to bang on said, blue wall, but curb came up, and I do recall flying and landing hard on my right side. When I realized what had happened, right shoulder had a very familiar pain from back in '83 when I was 13 and broke my left collarbone--twice in 4 weeks (once on my bicycle, and when I was pretty much healed, 4 weeks later to the day, I rebroke it on my skateboard--both times were hairline fractures, but they hurt like heck). I was wearing a helmet even though it was a nice day and I debated not wearing it, which was good because one of the firefighter witnesses said I landed on my head! They treated and stabilized me for a possible neck injury, and an ambulance took me to the hospital which was exactly a mile away. My ribs were hurting at this point, but they only took xrays on the shoulder which confirmed a right clavicle hairline fracture. It is hard to describe clavicle fractures, at least hairline ones, but it is weird. I equate it to that weird 'gross' feeling you get when someone runs their nails down a chalkboard, but manifested as a pain localized in the shoulder. My right arm was painful and swollen, too, which became more pronounced as the week wore on, and my ribs still hurt. A week later, when I finally got to an orthopedic doctor who took x-rays, it was confirmed that I had a break on the end of my elbow, which was missed by the emergency room doctor, and the orthopedic doctor said my rib or ribs were probably broken, but since they don't do anything for ribs, it couldn't be confirmed, and he didn't think it was worth the cost of x-rays (which put a few hundred more in my pocket when it came time for the settlement, lol).


I went back to work a month later as I worked as a civilian worker at the state prison complex, and they didn't allow injured employees to work directly with inmates. I ended up eating up all my sick and vacation time, although I was paid for them in the settlement. Bills came to about $10k in total, and insurance gave me $24k, plus my own policy through Geico gave me a free and clear $2k which was unexpected. I never got a new bike, and rode the damaged one with things bent back straight, for the next 11 months when it was finally too dangerous to be commuting at 55 to 65 on the heap, lol, and I bought myself a used (in perfect shape with 1100 original miles) 2004 TGB 151cc scooter which I commuted on for the next 2 years. If I sleep on the arm in a weird position, my right arm/shoulder hurts for the next 2 or 3 days. It hurts as I type this... :lmao:

These stories remind me of the best advice I was ever given when it comes to riding on the road. Always ride like you are invisible and nobody knows how to drive.

I guess I'm in the clear. I only excessively speed on my way to get alcohol.