Motorcycle Question

[amwinkle]

I know some of the fellow elio owners here have a motorcycle.

I am currently looking at purchasing a 2014 Yamaha Star Bolt to hold me over until my elio comes in.... I just was curious... I havent riden since being a crazy college guy (I had a 2003 YZF 600r) and was a complete idiot on it. However, I am now into the cruisers and wanted to know if anyone has wiped out or near wipe out. My wife said its ok but I want her to know that its safe and it depends on my awareness and riding with my fellow friends (who have bikes). I just want to hear it from you veteran riders.

(this would be my fifth year riding, but my 9th if I didnt stop four years ago)

 

[Smitty901]

Let us be honest crash a bike walk away your are lucky and or God don't want you yet. August 31 2012 1 mile from home Deer 60 MPH.
Broke shoulder collar bone and ribs. Not the first time in 45 years of riding . Cell phones have made it even more dangerous.
But you can't live life on the porch.
If you have Children and or bills get good life insurance and disability coverage and enjoy the ride.
Last buy a bike as a short term deal you often lose your tail on the deal

 

[Critter]

Sold my 750 shadow to a close friend, 3 years later a lady pulled out from a stop sign, he smacked her really hard. Took exactly a year to recover and be back at work. I ride my bike as mostly a recreational vehicle. Use mostly for fun, when it is not too cold, not too hot , and not raining. In East Tennessee, that averages out to several days each month.

 

[Neal]

Concrete highway barrier at 45 MPH about a year ago. Not pleasant, but I'm still on this side of the dirt, so it's all good. Nothing that a few surguries, metal plates, and screws won't fix. I'm already back to playing Ice Hockey. Can't wait for my Elio!

But to be fair, if my wife would be okay with it, I would be riding again. Unfortunately, she isn't.

 

[Jeff Porter]

New rider here... I would recommend taking a safety course of some kind, even if you are an experienced rider. I took a Motorcycle Safety Foundation class, and I can see it helping someone like yourself that rode when young, a few yrs have passed, and you're ready to get on again. That might help momma feel better about things. Will be the best approximately $250 that you've ever spent. JMO.

 

[tazairforce]

Sold my 750 shadow to a close friend, 3 years later a lady pulled out from a stop sign, he smacked her really hard. Took exactly a year to recover and be back at work. I ride my bike as mostly a recreational vehicle. Use mostly for fun, when it is not too cold, not too hot , and not raining. In East Tennessee, that averages out to several days each month.

'Sold my 750 shadow to a close friend'


Since I started riding in Hi-School, about 1961, I have always made it a point to 'Never, Ever' sell a bike to a friend, close or other wise. You have no control over how they will ride that bike. If you should sell a bike to a friend and they have a wreck, Or worse, you will be Bombarded with comments like; 'If you hadn't sold that bike to (??), he/she would still be alive or unhurt, You know how (??) is, You should have known better'. They'll try to put you on a guilt trip, as the reason he/she got hurt.

I'm sure you were trying to help a friend enjoy the road as you did.


I don't know if I qualify as a 'Veteran Rider' but I've been 'Lucky/Fortunate or it hasn't been my time to go, Yet'. The only thing I have Broken, in these many years of riding is my Wallet, with purchasing/dressing them up/money lost on resell.


A line in an old James Dean song, 'Only The Good Die Young', may have helped me get to the the age I am now, Unhurt and Still Riding.

Ride Safe with the thought that, All the other drivers are 'Out to Kill You'. Just don't let them win.

 

[ks6c]

I have been licensed 45 years, took a 20 year break from motorcycles to raise kids. I've ridden 30k miles this year (this year's big trip was CO> AK by way of FL and ME. What can I say? GPS told me to turn right...) and it's only August. I have experience but that in no way is meant to imply I'm an expert.

But I have to say, your post confuses me - you want to hear from those who wiped out, or nearly so, to convince your wife riding is safe? If they lived, it's ok? Pardon my bluntness, but your life is a serious subject!

Awareness is a necessity, but it's only the first of many. Trailing a buddy by about 75 yards through the twisties in April, we had slowed down for a tight hairpin when a deer came from BEHIND him, caught up and pushed him over. That deer was never in his field of vision so awareness wouldn't have helped. What saved him was ATGATT - All The Gear, All The Time. The face shield on his full-face helmet looked like somebody had taken a grinder to it after he log-rolled under the bike while it slid forward for what seemed like an eternity - 4 broken ribs, sprained knee, but no road rash.

On the other hand, we almost lost a rider in our HOG chapter (Harley Owners Group) last year - swerved to avoid a red-light runner but lost control and low-sided at low speed. Hospital cleaned him up and sent him home, 2 days later he was back with severe sepsis likely caused by all the grit/grime/debris embedded in his skin because he was riding in jeans and a t-shirt. He spent more than a week in ICU and damn near died - just now riding again after a year and a half. Are you prepared to wear full protective gear in the FL heat, all of the time, or are you willing to risk asphalt burns that can kill you through infections? Many do, but you have to be willing to acknowledge and accept the risks. To compound the issue, this particular rider had never taken any rider safety training, so had never done any avoidance training. Would it have helped? Maybe...

You mention riding with friends as a good thing. OK, are they skilled, are they responsible, can everyone resist the temptation to show off? In SCUBA diving, we talk about "trust me" dives - letting someone lead you to a dive that is beyond your training/skill/ comfort level - will your friends pressure you to follow, or slow for the least skilled rider? If there's pressure, will you resist?

Let's face it - riding a motorcycle is FUN but it sure ain't safe! Since I personally subscribe to Smitty901's adage - "You can't live life on the porch!", what can you do?

You can make it safer by awareness coupled with skills (Mr. Porter mentions MSF which is fantastic!), ATGATT, practice/experience, and good judgment. You just can't eliminate the possibility of a mechanical failure, though (ie, flat tire at speed), or a damned deer sneaking up on you from behind, so you'll never take risk to zero.

The cold hard stats (from a 2009 Insurance Institute for Highway Safety report):
- Fatality accident rates per 100k miles are 5 times greater for m/c's than for cars.
- Slightly fewer than half of all motorcycle fatalities were single vehicle accidents - nobody else's fault.
- Roughly half of those involved speeding
- Roughly 40% of those involved alcohol
- Roughly half of the multi-vehicle motorcycle fatalities were the result of another vehicle turning left across the bike's path (failure to yield followed by inability to avoid)

Sorry for sounding like such a jerk, and I'll get down off my soap box now, but I really, really, really want you to enjoy riding - and live to tell the tales!

Dan

 

[Husker1]

I took out a deer @ 50 mph a few years ago with my Suzuki intruder 800. We slid down the highway a little and I got up but the deer didn't. Anything you ride or drive has a chance of being dangerous with Mother Nature around.

 

[skygazer6033]

Living in Texas with no helmets required by law I cringe at what I see people doing. Knuckleheads blasting down the freeway at 90 wearing nothing but cutoffs an flip flops. Ewwww. Anyway I learned early on to keep all parts of your body covered that you don't want to have rubbed off. Stay vigilant and have an escape route to get away from any vehicle you see. They WIll hurt you.

 

[Jeff Miller]

What Jeff Porter and dleffert said.

Even if yiu rode in the distant or near distant past a rider safety or advanced rider safety class will not only make riding safer it will also make it more enjoyable.

ATGATT is a great acronym and one that if you follow will mitigate damage from inevitable accidents.

There are some very lucky motorcyclists that have yet to have an accident but I fully believe there are only those that have gone down and those that will go down. Being trained to handle the situation and having the gear will ensure that you fair the best.

One last comment is that the same applies to other vehicles as well. Modern automobiles have a great deal of safety devices foisted upon us but if we get careless speeding, acting aggressive, playing with phones we will crash and if we cant be bothered to use simple device like safety belts the crash will statistically be more damaging.