Motorcycle Summer

the GOPNation ^ | June 14, 2005 | Steve Pudlo

[The Louiswu]

Love my Yamaha!

[Smokin' Joe]

Sorry, but the husband's bike is so loud it sets off every car alarm it passes!! I love it loud!!

LOL! I remember the first time I set off a car alarm with 'Baby'. Startled the bejeebers out of me...! I had never seen a car alarm before...(Yep I've been riding for a long time).

[babyface00]

LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES

I love motorcyles and have no problems with bikers.

However, if annoying everyone in a 1/4 mile radius of your journey is justifiable on the basis of safety, than surely, wearing a helmet, is equally justifiable.

When I hear the loud pipes, but don't see the helmet, than I know safety isn't the reason for the pipes.

[camle]

ya see? if the pipes are loud enough, then folks will hear 'em, and they won't be running all over them - no need fer the helmet;-)

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy knowing some yuppie (who looks down on bikers) has to run out of the house and turn off the car alarm.

[babyface00]

In my neighborhood, the people most likely to run over a motorcycle couldn't hear it if it was in the back seat.

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

Helmets are, in some states, and should be a choice. I wear a half helmet when in NJ and when I cross to PA, it comes off and it is my choice there. Most accidents are caused by cars not paying attention to the bikers. The loud pipes get their attention unless it is a bunch of kids with the stereo louder than the pipes!!

[Disambiguator]

It's funny how people don't see a 750 pound bike or the 200 pound biker riding it. They may not even hear the straight pipes on the bike. But if you strap a 45 on the bikers side they'll see that and give the biker the right of way every time!

That's been my experience as well! The chrome plated monster is invisible, yet a 35 oz. piece of steel on the rider's hip is glaringly obvious. That's why I always assert that motorists who run over motorcyles and then say "I didn't see him (or her)" are liars.

[blackie]

Time to ride ~ Bump!

[MarkL]

One of the coolest ways to give to charity on a motorcycle can be had at Reg Pridmore's CLASS riding school (and I think at his son, Jason Pridmore's STAR school, as well). For a donation (I believe it was $25.00) to the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation, you get on a bike with Reg or Jason, and go for a few laps around the track. Now mind you, you're already at the track, on your own bike. But Reg is a former AMA Champion (as is Jason, although he's out right now, recovering from a ruptured spleen suffererd at a recent race crash). And you go around the track FAST! I mean REALLY FAST!

Frankly I didn't have the nerve to try it, but it looks like a series E-Ticket ride! I know that at Heartland Park, on the straight, I had been clocked at 125MPH, and that was as fast as I cared to go... Reg and a passenger passed me as if I was standing still!

Mark

[Oberon]

Loud valves save lives!

[Eric in the Ozarks]

These monster boats are the curse of the Lake of the Ozarks.

[jjones9853]

A helmet is just as likely to break your neck as it is to save you from a head injury. As for me, I would rather ride safely than crash safely.

[camle]

the motorcycle safety foundation found that large bikes are "underrepresented" in crashes. i gots me a big'un.

they're more comfy on long trips too.

[babyface00]

I agree it should be a choice, and I applaud you for wearing it.

However, freedom and responsibility go hand in hand.

I live in a residential area frequented by motorcylists. They are so loud I can't hear my television with the windows closed. Just on my street there are probably a couple hundred people inconvenienced regularly by having their conversations interrupted.

If infringing on hundreds of other people is worth it in the name of safety (and I believe it is), then I believe riders should be expected to bear the limited inconvenience of wearing a helmet, in the name of safety.

Also, since the public bears most of the burden of scraping the riders' brains off the road, whether or not another vehicle is involved, there's a financial aspect to it as well.

I'm not arguing for helmet laws, I just think society should expect more from those who would disrupt the quiet of our neighborhoods - infringing on the freedom of others, but aren't willing to accept a little responsibility.

My street "T"s into another and there is a building at the end. More than a few motorcyles unfamiliar with the area (and speeding in a residential area) have hit the end of the street and plowed into that building - no other cars involved. You can guess which ones live to ride another day.

[Smokin' Joe]

Yeah....The funny part was that they were standing on the other side of the car--and jumped as high (or higher) than I felt like. Our end of the State has really low crime, and I noticed it was not long before they no longer turned the alarm on..(8^D)

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

That makes it fun. The look on their face is priceless!!

[Smokin' Joe]

When I hear the loud pipes, but don't see the helmet, than I know safety isn't the reason for the pipes.

I hope your knowledge is more valid in other areas. A cager screwed my neck up in '79. I can't look around with a helmet on. I'd rather be able to see and avoid a developing accident than trust a brain bucket to keep my corpse pretty.

[JoeSixPack1]

Time to ride ~ Bump!

Yep,,, talk later, sun is shining, roads' are dry and I got a few hours to kill. Ciao....... Vrrooooommmmmmmm

[Blue Jays]

Hi Babyface00-

You are 100% correct. The whole absurd idea of "Loud Pipes Save Lives" has been promoted by sophomoric motorcyclists for decades. In addition to not wearing a full-face helmet, you'll see these same L.P.S.L. riders still have their anemic and tinny stock horn installed.

If they were "all about safety" they would have upgraded their electrical systems to handle a thunderous dual-tone Fiamme horn. Unlike exhaust pipes, a horn faces in the PROPER DIRECTION and is universally recognized as a warning in traffic. The other thing to do is upgrade the headlamp so that it is much brighter than other cars around you.

My motorcycle is outrageously fast, but I can slip quietly in and out of my neighborhood at all hours of the day or night. By contrast, my horn is so loud that it easily overpowers any stereo systems, air-conditioning, or drivers on cellular phones, etc. When the headlight is switched to highbeam, it looks like a 747 coming in for a landing. There are all sorts of simple steps that serious motorcyclists (I'm at nearly 150,000 miles on various bikes) can take to boost safety without angering folks trying to sleep or relax.

I'm ready for the flames from people talking about "how a helmet killed a guy they know" and how "revving their motor at a stoplight alerted traffic behind them" and all that rubbish that doesn't stand the test of scientific scrutiny.

~ Blue Jays ~