Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bikers Playing Fast and Loose
LA Times ^ | 11.29.06 | Ralph Vartabedian

Posted on 11/30/2006 10:29:41 AM PST by absolootezer0

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 261-262 next last
To: taxed2death

"There are very very few (Sport) bikes on the road today that can be used to their full potential by anyone"

Try telling that to they guys who race down Mulholland drive from the 'Rock' store.

The first time I ever went up there, there must have been 10 police cars and two ambulances for the idiots that went over the cliff. Literally.


101 posted on 11/30/2006 11:35:45 AM PST by Bigh4u2 (Denial is the first requirement to be a liberal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: FNG
"Say "countersteer" to a group of Harley riders and one may know what it means."

That is the truth. I *was* an AMA Motorcycle safety instructor for a few years (after I grew up and obtained a much needed dose of mortality / humility. Braking and counter steering were two things I stressed while teaching. If you didn't grasp those concepts you didn't pass my class.
102 posted on 11/30/2006 11:35:48 AM PST by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 92 | View Replies]

To: advertising guy
It ain't the power of the bullet, it's the brains of the shooter.
Good one!

I think this case is one of (paraphrasing Tom Clancy) too much power under the tank and not enough brains behind the handlebars.

103 posted on 11/30/2006 11:35:51 AM PST by RebelBanker (It is, however somewhat fuzzier on the subject of kneecaps.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: WideGlide

"I'm no physicist but how much worse could the impact of a 500lb Suzuki GSX be than that of this 680lb "oversized" harley??"

500/680 = About 7%


104 posted on 11/30/2006 11:37:16 AM PST by Bigh4u2 (Denial is the first requirement to be a liberal)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]

To: absolootezer0
On average, motorcyclists are 34 times more likely to die per mile traveled than occupants of cars, and it's getting worse. Over the last decade, the fatality rate per motorcycle mile has jumped 76%. That reflects an emerging motorcycle culture that embraces every possible danger factor: extreme speed, reckless behavior, alcohol impairment and many older riders past their prime, says Champagne.

As always, the fatality rate is compared to the low, just like oil prices.

Not one peep about other major changes out there...little things like cell phone use while driving cars (two out of three motorcyclists who die in collisions with other vehicles are nailed or cut off by a 4 wheeled vehicle which fails to yield or left-turns in front of them), like the shape shift of the frontal impact area of vehicles, especially with the SUV, removing the bumper as a protruding object, and replacing it with a more monolithic impact area.

When I started riding, cars were built so that no vehicle short of a Semi would ever push the passenger door past the centerline of the vehicle.

The biases of the authors are blatant. The fact remains, that if she was pulling out of a parking lot and he hit the passenger door, he was on her right, on the main thoroughfare, and likely had the right-of-way. If they were both on the main roadway, she left-turned or tried to cross in front of him.

Now, whose fault would that be?

105 posted on 11/30/2006 11:39:27 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: advertising guy
Mitch reminded that while test riding the bike and marveling her power to speed he said " hell an old Honda Hurricane is still more bike than 98% of all riders can handle."

that's why i ride small displacement, vintage bikes- i'll use all of it.
106 posted on 11/30/2006 11:40:56 AM PST by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 95 | View Replies]

To: taxed2death
"Not trying to flame anyone here, but personally I have never understood the attraction of having my testicles slapped with a ping pong paddle repeatedly. At least it appears that riding a crotch rocket would feel that way."

I've put over 100,000 miles on Sport bikes (crotch rockets) and never felt that. What am I missing?

You shouldn't oughta give away straight lines like that. You'll get somebody banned.

107 posted on 11/30/2006 11:41:31 AM PST by LexBaird (98% satisfaction guaranteed. There's just no pleasing some people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: taxed2death

Counter-steer, is that like turning into the direction of the skid in a car to get straightened out?


108 posted on 11/30/2006 11:41:56 AM PST by RexBeach ("In war there is no substitute for victory." Douglas MacArthur)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: faloi
Beware of those who would divide the motorcycling community in order to restrict it.

Those who own 'eeevil assault weapons' have had to deal with the same from not only the gun control folks, but some of their hunting bretheren as well.

Divide and conquer is an old, but effective tactic.

109 posted on 11/30/2006 11:42:11 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: taxed2death
Yea, we should ban Corvettes, Mustangs, anything that will go over 56 miles an hour.

Drat, there goes my minivan. :)

110 posted on 11/30/2006 11:42:48 AM PST by SeƱor Zorro ("The ability to speak does not make you intelligent"--Qui-Gon Jinn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Manfred the Wonder Dawg
You don't say how old you were when you pulled this stunt

My age at the time was an invincible 26 years in the summer of 1988. It was just too easy and very entertaining. 3 lanes of open expressway and the police would sit in the median at 7:30 pm, just north of the Syracuse Airport. A group of bikes approximately equal in speed, and ability. Kawi Ninja, Suzy GSXR1100, Honda Hurricane.

but such action is simply arrogant and stupid... in your opinion. Good for you that you have only had one speeding ticket in 1969. This is relevant how?

Most traffic laws are intended to protect the public from ignorant people generate revenue. No law can protect the public from idiots. nor are they intended to.

For you I have a single word.....KILLJOY

111 posted on 11/30/2006 11:43:08 AM PST by Ouderkirk (America won't win another war until the 1960's flower children are pushing up petunias.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: absolootezer0

Why is this important?
ANSWER:

Lautenberg is now chair of the transportation committee and he is anti-states rights on this issue.

This is a fluff anecdote story with no real facts.

The rider was listed as 21 and was in a mandatory helmet state. Did he have a motorcycle license? Not just an auto license, an full motorcycle endorsement.

How long was this 21 year old riding? Per some of my personal injury attorney colegues, motorcycle cause accidents generally if not always involve a less than 6 month experience rider AND/OR no license. The less than 6 month survival rate increases IF the rider has taken a safety class.

The cold fact of life is that 70% of all car / motorcycle accidents are the auto drivers fault. This is why Personal Injury attorney's like motorcycle cases. Also motorcycles are generall NOT part of the no fault insurance systems.

Ironic this comes from the LA Times since more motorcycles on the road mean a friendlier environmental impact.


112 posted on 11/30/2006 11:43:28 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RexBeach

On a bike it is : Push right to turn right. Push left to turn left. This does not apply when "walking" a bike through a parking lot....sitting on the bike doing the duck waddle at 2 mph.


113 posted on 11/30/2006 11:46:45 AM PST by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 108 | View Replies]

To: AppyPappy; kempo
I live in a subdivision where we pull out into a 35mph feeder road that has a small hill and a curve about 200' away.

A lot of cars run the road at 50mph +. You think it's clear and pull out. Next thing you know there is a car on your bumper with a driver laying on the horn.

Not worth it, just keep on driving.
114 posted on 11/30/2006 11:46:50 AM PST by PeteB570 (Guns, what real men want for Christmas)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: Crawdad
It's why we in the insurance claims business call them donorcycles.Really? And here all this time we thought it was because we donate to 'Toys for Tots", MDA, and a raft of other local and national charities.

Go figure.

BTW, Bury me with all the parts. I don't want some gung-ho scavenger jumping the gun and yanking out essential parts because some nitwit failed to yield the right-of way.

115 posted on 11/30/2006 11:47:31 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Smokin' Joe
The fact remains, that if she was pulling out of a parking lot and he hit the passenger door, he was on her right, on the main thoroughfare, and likely had the right-of-way. If they were both on the main roadway, she left-turned or tried to cross in front of him.

Read the eyewitness account in #78.

"LBPD Public Information Officer Nancy Pratt tells LBReport.com that the motorcycle driver (aboard a GSXR-style high-performance motorcycle) was near the LBCC entrance/pedestrian crossing on Carson St., facing west between two cars (straddling two lanes of traffic) when -- the new witness indicates -- the motorcycle driver revved his motor, then took off "like a rocket."

116 posted on 11/30/2006 11:47:57 AM PST by Bubba Ho-Tep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: WideGlide

gsxr weighs in around 400lbs wet. so 280lbs difference at 100mph.


117 posted on 11/30/2006 11:48:53 AM PST by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 99 | View Replies]

To: bagadonutz

Where does it say she pulled out in front of the biker? It's just unfortunate the punk took somebody with him.


118 posted on 11/30/2006 11:49:07 AM PST by ozzymandus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Bigh4u2

if they went off the cliff they weren't living up to their full potential.


119 posted on 11/30/2006 11:50:08 AM PST by absolootezer0 ("My God, why have you forsaken us.. no wait, its the liberals that have forsaken you... my bad")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 101 | View Replies]

To: Bubba Ho-Tep

Thank you for reiterating that part of the eye-witness account. Failure to yield? Please. *rolling eyes*


120 posted on 11/30/2006 11:51:41 AM PST by dontposttome
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 261-262 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson