Posted on 06/16/2002 7:10:48 AM PDT by 2Trievers
"Look ma, a real one!"
Still miss the Commando.
It IS kind of difficult to kick start anything in tennies without injuring yourself.
I'm ever so slowly replacing the polished aluminuminumnum bits with chrome on my scooter. Got tired of losing knuckle skin rubbing in all the nooks & crannys, trying to keep the alum, alumum, er, non-chromey bits looking good.
Now I only lose knuckle skin when I drag them on the ground . . .
Bwahaha... Throw some JD in there and I'll be over directly, bud... ;)
That, FRiend, gives me hope of seeing my 30th birthday...
It must have been a challenge surviving on two wheels in Boston. The few times I've driven there (never ridden) was a real eye opener; aggressive drivers that would take no quarter from the likes found in NYC, LA or Chicago. Speed limit signs there are just so much wasted sheetmetal . . .
Chicago has some of the greasiest city streets I've had the pleasure of sliding on; beware if you get caught there in a light rain. I slid downhill right smack into the middle of an intersection on the south side, against the light. Both tires locked, 1/2 mph, feet on the pegs, sideways right into oncoming traffic. Luckily for me the intersection was a tee that pretty muched forced everyone to drive through slowly. Cagers were looking at me like WTF? A humbling and embarrassing experience, though thankfully not a painful one . . .
That was the day I learned I could do full lock powerslides, feet up, at less than one mph . . .
Interesting, this is exactly what ended my use of a motorcycle as daily transportation. It was an elderly lady who made that left turn out of a side street onto a busy highway right in front of me. I was always very attentive for this sort of thing but the street she came out of was hidden by trees and I couldn't see her till she pulled out. Needless to say I laid it down going about 50. I wasn't very hurt because it had rained the previous day and I bounced on the soft muddy spongey ground. The bike was totalled. While in the ER getting my leg stitched up the Doc said I was very lucky and that in the ER they referred to two wheel transportation as "killcycles" becase they often just bag up the victims who come in. Well, the experience greatly reduced my amount of bike riding and I eventually quit altogether after my first child was born. I have to admit, though, I do miss it.
Nobody on a cruiser would be caught dead in a real helmet, so how would you collect statistics?
Helmets save lives, the better the helmet the more likely you are to survive a crash. GP and superbike racers wear leather, kevlar and $600 full face helmets because they offer the best protection against injury, not because they give you more space for stickers. I'm not a helmet nazi though- I don't support helmet laws, despite the fact that crashing helmetless is often lethal. Ride however you're comfy.
dissing the Japanese sport bikes
Whatever. The build quality, power output, suspension and brakes on the average new sportbike far exceeds anything the US motorcycle industry can hope to produce, so keep on "dissin" since you won't be able to keep up.
Enjoy the ride.
Why won't the free-spirit individualists accept me into their club? Should I get a bandana and a black vest?
Ah...bella, bella... chrome side Eldo - as seen on TV! (or at least in that 1980's Roy Orbison music video)
Statistically, a car making a left-turn out of a side street in front of you is the most likely way you will die on a motorcycle. There are other ways, of course.
I miss motorcycling too, but I like not being a quadraplegic more.
As you get older and have more invested in your future survival, the enjoyment/risk ratio starts going down. That's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it.
Glad you survived your close encounter and learned from it. I gave it up just before I had mine, I figure.
holy cow.....
It's just a different world out there. That right there kinda sums up my stereotype of the modern Harley rider.
Seeing stuff like that, and all the wankers hanging out at 'Easy Riders Bar and Grill'--I gotta give my 'outlaw biker' props to the dopey kids drunk on kamikazes doing front wheel stands on their anime jap bikes in the crosswalk
By "cruiser",I assume you mean a actual motorcycle that people ride? It's easy to collect stastics. The NHTSA under Joan Claybrook mandated helmet laws for all 50 states in in the 70's,so the statistics ARE there to see. In fact,they were used as evidence to overturn the mandatory helmet laws in several states. Helmets save lives, the better the helmet the more likely you are to survive a crash.
Who told you this? Claybrook? Giddy Dolt? Your local Honda dealer who wants to sell you a big-buck helmet? The ONLY crashes a helmet MIGHT save you from are the ones where your head hits a glancing blow! If your melon smacks a telephone pole a solid blow at 60MPH,I don't give a damn what kind of cage you built around it,your brain is now jelly and your neck is broken. Ever seen the jelly inside one of these full-face helmets when it is pulled off the broken neck? I have. There is also the undisputable fact that you are more likely to HAVE a accident if you wear a helmet. They restrict your vision,impair your hearing,and are hot and cause fatigue. I know you might have a hard time believing this. So did I until I took a friend up on his dare and started to ride without one. Try it and see for yourself.
GP and superbike racers wear leather, kevlar and $600 full face helmets because they offer the best protection against injury, not because they give you more space for stickers.
They wear them because they DO make sense under those specialized conditions. Nobody is pulling out from a side street,there are no telephone poles or curbs,no horns blaring or other noises they need to hear,and in any accident they are likely to have they are usually able to "tuck and roll" so their head only hits a glancing blow. Their leathers are their real safety devices. What I wrote about smacking your melon at 60MPH is even truer when running at 120+ MPH. You ain't gonna survive a direct hit,and nobody is insane enough to even pretend you will.
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