Be careful riding

[Stringbender]

I have a shovel and a magna dry-rotting in the garage because I have officially pussed out on riding. I see far too many people distracted while I am in my cage, just cant get out there in the cell phone world anymore. That said, if I lived near a place (mountains) where the fun would be worth the risk, I might throw a leg over again.

 

[Smoothie]

I remember reading some statistics from the National Institute of Highway Safety years ago.
This is some of what I remember;

On a bike you're most likely to have an accident in the first 6 months, if you don't have an accident in the first 6 months, you're likely to have an accident in the first year. If you don't have an accident in that first year it's likely you can continue riding without ever having an accident.

Most bike accidents happen on Friday and Saturday night, if you don't ride on a Friday or Saturday night your chances of having a fatal accident drop to almost zero.

Not sure what you read that but your facts are way wrong. The highest fatality group is 40+ years old and half the accidents happen during the week!

Click the "crash facts" link, and page 3 shows fatality by and and day of crash.

http://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/motorcycles/

 

[SpeedyR]

I was going to mention that after talking to a few EMT friends that a lot of the crashes are older gentlemen on harleys/cruisers that are getting back into it. because they rode when they were younger they don't feel the need to take a riders class or get some training and end up in the side of the road in a ditch when they clearly would have been able to make the corner but instead hit the brakes (usually the rear) and stand the bike up and off they go. That's the majority of accidents I have come across when riding many thousands of miles in north GA. Two or maybe three sport bike accidents (two were folks I was riding with at the time, heh) but quite a few cruiser accidents.

but the performance of the current level of sport bike is pretty astounding. You really should take them to the track to get anywhere near their limits.

tried to get out today on the harley for a bit to take my daughter around the neighborhood but instead went to NC and picked up a TTR125e to fix up, and sell to finance a TTR50 for her..

Rode all day Saturday at Highland Park with some friends. who would have thought I'd be sweating and drinking my whole camelback the middle of December???

 

[AKguy]

Ferrari was a 97, technology has come a long way in 20 years!

Please say it was a 355. Please. That still is one of my favorite Ferraris to this day.

I haven't been back on my bike since Aug. 14th when I broke my right leg after hitting a wet spot on the road coming out of the gas station. Shattered the top of the tibia, split it down the center like firewood and cracked the front of it. Snapped the fibula right below the knee and broke the cartilage in the knee joint. I'm still doing physical therapy and I've come a long way but still using a cane to get around with and can't walk very far yet. Got me a nice L shaped steel plate & 7 big ole screws in the tibia to hold it back together. These nice days and seeing other bikers out makes me miss riding but after more than 45 years of riding and no SERIOUS crashes I'm really considering selling my bike. That's the strange part about breaking my leg this bad, I didn't crash when I broke it, I just grabbed my pants leg and put my foot back on the footboard and rode another mile and a half to where I was going. I didn't know my leg was broken when I did it, I thought I tore a ligament or tendon at the time. Not till the doctor showed me the x-rays did I even believe it was broken. I'm still having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that I may not ever be able to ride again, but I never want to feel that kind of pain again. It still hurts like hell.

Damn. Sorry to hear that. Hope you can get back to riding.

After reading this thread and the horror stories of others accidents, I decided to consider everyone's opinion that is advising to quit riding.






I thought about it for about 3 hours. So I went riding with some friends and enjoyed my day. And I will till I am no longer able. Every one dies someday. I would rather die doing what I love, then live without living life to the fullest.

The reason I thought about it that long was because it took me that long to replace a seal. LOL

100% agreed. I always tell my dad that if I get taken out by someone while I'm riding, know that I was doing what I love and enjoying every minute of it.

I wonder what the statistics show, but I would bet most of these fatal wrecks involve sport bikes and young(er) riders. I doubt that an 18 year old has the proper experience to ride with a passenger on (presumably) a sport bike. But sometimes even experience is no match for some of these idiots on the road today, so who knows if it was avoidable?

Very, very sad. This young girl should've never been on the back of that bike with an 18 year-old at the helm, though.

I was kinda thinking the same thing. Not to downplay the severity of it, but I look at every car like a 5,000 bullet and try to stay "ready" to go down if needed. It's also the reason I don't like passengers - 1) I feel super anxious knowing their safety depends on me, 2) Less control for evasive maneuvers, 3) They have a tiny ass piece of plastic to sit on, so an accident can be 10 fold worse for a passenger.

 

[Tazz]

Damn. Sorry to hear that. Hope you can get back to riding.

Thanks AKguy, I appreciate it.

 

[brad sweet]

I have a shovel and a magna dry-rotting in the garage because I have officially pussed out on riding. I see far too many people distracted while I am in my cage, just cant get out there in the cell phone world anymore. That said, if I lived near a place (mountains) where the fun would be worth the risk, I might throw a leg over again.

well since you pussed out you should feel better donating those to the Brad Sweet bikes in my garage fund..i will acually ride them..I promise and i have free pickup any day of the week

 

[insulinboy]

But a lot of drivers don't look for scooters in the summer months and the last thing they expect to see is someone on a scooter in cold weather.

Eh, I used to ride year round in NY.. I swear more people saw me when there was snow on the ground than any other time of the year

 

[brad sweet]

Eh, I used to ride year round in NY.. I swear more people saw me when there was snow on the ground than any other time of the year

well yeah duh whos that crazy azz whit boy riding his scooter in the snow..oh damn he just hit a snow drift LOL!

 

[Smoothie]

Please say it was a 355. Please. That still is one of my favorite Ferraris to this day.

Whatever this thing is.

 

[I.P. Freely]

I always tell my dad that if I get taken out by someone while I'm riding, know that I was doing what I love and enjoying every minute of it.

Agree.

I made a decision at one point to continue to do the stuff that I like, even if it is risky, as I feel that sets a better example to my daughter vs sheltering myself in the suburbs with the biggest thrill being what free samples they will be handing out at Kroger's this Saturday.

Besides, motorcycles is my stress relief. "You never see a motorcycle in front of a shrinks office"