Drivers ----Think Bike !!!! ----- This Is Scary---- Lucky Guy

thereshopeyet
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Mon Sep 03, 2012 9:10 am



dtaylor
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Mon Sep 03, 2012 11:57 am

I know there are thousands of these dashcam videos from eastern Europe, but for those few who haven't seen one, this gives one an idea of how utterly terrifying it must be to drive in Russia with everyone either blind drunk on vodka or driving with a death wish... It beggars belief how reckless these people are.


thereshopeyet
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Mon Sep 03, 2012 4:26 pm

Thanks.


thereshopeyet
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Tue Sep 11, 2012 7:05 am



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Music Junkie
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Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:54 am

If you ride a motorcycle, it is not a question of if, but a question of when........ Especially these days with the amount of traffic on the road... :unsure:


ncsurfer
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Sat Sep 15, 2012 4:28 pm

Any other motorcycle riders out in TG land?

I ride nearly every day and traffic around me has been making me squeeze out diamonds for years. I ride with ATTGATT (all the gear all the time), head on a swivel, leave gaps, ride assertively but not aggressively...many close calls but no accidents yet, and I live in the chronically worst county for traffic accidents in the entire state, (attributed to the large university and tourist traffic). Now that I've said that I'll probably get plowed into tomorrow. I do the best I can and hope its enough.
Haven't found a good way to transport the guitar without feeling like a dinghy in a hurricane though. I don't even think about taking my surfboard though I have seen it done....some crazy people out there. Finally ditched the cruiser and got a useful bike, a long overdue change.

Below is an open letter from Carter Edman (from a rider blog I subscribe to), I thought it was humorous, at least to those who ride.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An open letter to every person I meet who finds out I ride a motorcycle

Let me stop you right there, mmmm-kay? I can tell by that little intake of breath what’s coming next. Thank you in advance, but I already know that motorcycles are “dangerous.” After nearly twenty years of riding on the streets, I am aware; telling me now will not be a revelation. It is not an insight into my lifestyle that has remained hidden from me until this, the moment of epiphany when you shine the light of outsider wisdom on my foolhardy choices.

There are ways I can minimize the risk — by riding defensively, riding sober, knowing my own and my machine’s capabilities, etc. — but I also know there are some risks that are simply beyond my control. But you know what? There a lots of risks that are within my control. We’ve become so pathologically risk-averse that for most people it is inconceivable to assume any additional risk no matter how much joy you might get back in return. *

You want to know what’s truly dangerous?*Not taking any risks. Hanging out with like-minded middle-of-the-roaders. Absorbing the same brain-ossifying s*** from media factories every day. Jogging. Putting helmets, flotation devices, and auto-deploy epi-pens on your kids every time they leave the house. Passivity. Not paying attention to where your car, or your life, or you country is going. *

If you don’t get that, that’s OK. I’m not trying to convert anybody, but here are a few tips to save us both a little aggravation:

You don’t need to tell me the horror story about your uncle’s buddy who wiped out his chopper while drag racing at some hooligan rally. That just makes me wish I were talking to your uncle’s buddy instead of you. He sounds pretty cool.

Do not — do NOT — tell me about the time you almost Sausage Creatured a biker because you “couldn’t see him” or he “came out of nowhere.” I have never known a bike to come out of nowhere, but I have seen plenty of cars pull a Crazy Ivan and turn into a lane occupied by a biker or make an impromptu unsignalled left turn in front of an oncoming me. If you’re expecting me to share your outrage at the temerity of bikers to be in the lane you want, you’re more deluded than a goldfish with a passport. I can’t make you see bikes.*I can’t make you hang up your phone. They won’t let me mount a .50-caliber machine gun to my bike. So really, there’s not much I can do to change the outcome of your anecdote, so save it for your coreligionists who also have stick-figure families and giant softball stickers with the name “Tailyr” or “Flynn” or “Shyly” on their rear windows.

I do wear a helmet, as a matter of fact, along with other protective gear. But, the fact that you “certainly hope” I wear a helmet is so condescending it makes me want to ride a tricycle completely naked doing doughnuts in your front yard screaming Beastie Boys lyrics at midnight. Trust me, you do not want that. My buttocks are extremely pale and unsightly, especially in moonlight.

Please, do not complain about bikes parking in car parking spaces. Where are we supposed to park? If they let us park up on the curb like in Europe, we would totally do that, and precious few parking lots have motorcycle parking areas. Most cops already have a hard-on for bikes, so parking anywhere but in a designated spot is asking to be impounded.

Yes, I know, some bikes have very loud exhaust. Maybe it’s obnoxious, but at least you knew they were there, didn’t you? They say loud pipes save lives. I don’t know if that’s true, because there hasn’t been a serious comprehensive study of motorcycle safety since 1981, the poetically named Hurt Report. And yes, I know, at one point you probably saw some kid riding his 600cc sport bike at 100mph doing a wheelie down the freeway. He’s a squid, and he’ll either grow up or just take care of himself. Some bikers do crazy things. Anti-social things. Unsanctioned things. I don’t represent him and he doesn’t represent me — that’s the great part of being a biker. *I could be a Lowbrow Weirdo or Antoine Predock or Lyle Lovett or just whatever I want to be.

If you’re really so all-fire concerned about my safety, don’t preach at me. Just do me this one favor: *pay attention when you’re driving. Keep your greasy fingers off your touch-screen, put down your phone, use your turn signals and lay off the booze before you get on the road with me. You take care of your part and I’ll take care of mine.

But hang-gliding, man, that s*** is crazy.

Carter Edman is an architect, writer, and rider in Cleveland, Ohio. He teaches “Motorcycles and American Culture” and other courses at Case Western Reserve University.


thereshopeyet
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Sat Sep 15, 2012 4:54 pm

Thanks.


thereshopeyet
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Tue Sep 18, 2012 5:18 pm

Not for the faint hearted!!



heyjoe
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Wed Sep 26, 2012 2:51 am

Hope you are ok after your coming together with the lorry.

I used to ride, many years ago, with a group of friends.
I enjoyed it a lot, other responsibilities curtailed my riding.
What I do remember vividly was the fun I had, and how invisible I was to other motorists.
You hear so often from other bikers how bad other road users are, that you watch out for it even more,
and there really is some bad road craft going on out there.

Love the letter, its exactly what bikers hear from non bikers all the time, its a brilliant response.

Joe


sws626
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Wed Sep 26, 2012 7:22 am

I ride often, but don't watch crash videos. The traffic in the UK has pushed me into riding mostly off road these days -- I fall off a lot more, but get hurt a lot less.

To get this thread vaguely back on the topic of guitars, some of you probably know Justin who has a guitar site and recently started riding a motorcycle (BMW 1200GS). He gets no end of grief from students and fans who fear he will hurt his hands.


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