Posted on 10/30/2007 9:13:57 AM PDT by Incorrigible
‘Hinds, the newly minted easy rider, says he was well aware of the risks when he bought his 650-cc motorcycle. He took a three-day course on motorcycle safety and approached his first riding experiences with caution. ‘
Smart choice as it relates to engine size. A 650 has enough power to keep up easily with normal traffic flow, but doesn’t have the sudden power in the middle gears that usually poses problems for new riders.
Also, a 650 bike doesn’t have the weight a 1500 cc bike does. Its much easier to control, or as the case may be, regain control of.
The comment about new bikers losing control on turns really struck home to me when I read it. About a year ago, my wife and I came upon a bike accident on SR 68 between Mt Orab Ohio and our home just outside Georgetown. As we approached the scene - ambulance hadn’t arrived yet - I noted a gash in the asphalt and recognized it immediately as coming from a bike footpeg. It was midway through a ‘S’ turn at the end of a mile long straight away. The biker, riding a Harley, took the S curves way to fast, leaned over way too far, caught his peg and BAM! Into the guardrail, and virtually decapitated himself. My wife worries now when I ride as a result (accident was on her side of our vehicle, a large SUV so she ‘saw it all’) even though she knows I’m a defensive rider to the extreme.
The other thing I’ll point out to my fellow bikers that will read this thread....don’t whine about ‘boomers’ buying motorcycles, especially the wildly overpriced Harley’s. Without them, Harley Davidson would have gone out of business in 1995 or so.
>>>>>he’s the proud new owner of a black Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic.<<<<<<<
Hey, I dated a chick that had a bike just like that. LOL!!!
They are also buying sports cars as they retire, and of course killing people with them.
Yep.
The fact is REGARDLESS OF AGE, the highest accident rates for motorcyclists are those that have only been riding for six months and have NOT taken a safety course.
Yep.
actually more than a few PI lawyers have had studies done which which show the 6 month new rider corelation. It is primarily used by PI insurance defense lawyers to argue the bikers inexperience caused the accident.
Them's fightin' words!
EVER see a biker take off between 2 semi’s? yikes!
Yeah, I have seen that....scary.
I checked out a guy's new Gold Wing conversion last summer-- the passenger seat had full size armrests, one with a swing-out cupholder. :)
No, Universal Health care should do the trick. Then they can import all those socialist immigrants to pay the taxes that boomers paid. Utopia!
It's not too smart to drive over 50 on a back road unless you know the lay of it like the back of your hand.
I ride a Trike.... sure it was expensive but Its more fuel efficient than my truck, it looks nice, and its way more visible that 2 wheels.
Five years ago my boss took the afternoon off to ride his new bike. In the lot he joked that he’d have to quit smoking because smoking AND riding a motorcycle was too dangerous. I woke up the next morning to see on TV that he had died when a kid in a pickup reached for a burger on his seat and swerved head-on into my boss. Very sad time.
Bahhhh! They sell enough tshirts, dewrags, chaps, coffee mugs, board games, cappuccino makers, and useless convenience store trinkets labeled as “Officially licensed and endorsed” and disguised as “nostalgia” to the herd of Church-of-HarleyDavidson worshipers. They could stay in business for years on accessories alone.
I have pulled out in front of motorcycles before and I think it’s more a ‘brain training’ issue than anything.
Our minds are accustomed to seeing cars and when we casually ‘see’ a motorcycle (lights or not), our brains ‘push’ it into the background so that we think it is the same distance as a car would appear at that size. I know that’s how it happened to me.
I try to look *and* think now because I will do the same thing again otherwise.
Still not enough “wrap around” on a trike.
We’re driving late model LexSUV & Toyota. Safe.
I’ll get my thrills raising great kids. Change in priorities.
I did most of my riding in "Home Territory". My wife used to tease me: "He rides 55. If it's a dirt road, he rides 55. If it's a highway, he ridess 55."
This was not always true. I was young and immortal once, and remembering some things makes me tingly...
Same experience - often - also on I-40.
If I’m doing 75 and they pass me and quickly disappear in the distance, you know they’re haulin’.
I see no reason why there shouldn't be more bikes on the road, saves on gas and is cheaper.
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