i love bikes but this scared me

a year ago my friend was riding and his kickstand went down and he went forward and unfortunatly died...i want a bike but this scares me so what should i do?

fuck dude, sorry to hear that... but you cant be scared of things because people die of it, fuck, you may as well lock yourself in your house if thats the case...I understand it might be hard but if your REALLY want to ride, dont let it stop you man. as you've learnt lifes too short, dont live it in fear and regret it on your deathbed :)

on a lighter note,

1: make sure the spring mechanism is tight, even find a stiffer spring to make sure it doesnt come down on its own

2: weld the fucker on or take it off completely

your rite ima go for it thank you

any websites were i can find a very small 50cc ninja looking bike for a cousin of mine?

no probs dude, have fun, be safe and live a long 2 wheeled life :D

Riding a cycle worried me just for mechanical reasons like that. So I just bought a brand new cycle and guess what? I was hit by a drunk driver so basically anything can happen. Just be smart and safe and you will enjoy it.

fuck man that sucks.. where you hurt bad?

wow that really sucks

a year ago my friend was riding and his kickstand went down and he went forward and unfortunatly died...i want a bike but this scares me so what should i do?

RIP.

but not to sound insensitive, but was he wearing gear? if you really want in, make sure you get and always wear helmets, jackets, and boots when you're hopping on the bike.

hey look. bottom line is that motorcycling IS dangerous. you can be wearing the right gear and doing everything you can to be safe and some dickhead like the drunk who hit Techx can clean you up. it's up to the rider to protect him/herself the best they can and that way the odds aren't as great.

always ride expecting to go down that way it won't be a surprise when you do.

A distant 'friend' died washing his bike. it started to fall so he tried to grab it and the handle bar hit his temple. freak accident but yet motorcycle related. (he was my wifes cousin's husbands cousin's husband)

If your scared of the machine or conditions when your riding, you won't be able to ride at 100% of your capacity but you should ALWAYS respect the machine and conditions for riding. they aint toys kiddies

that is a a freak accident. True ^ and sucks. got into a late accident scenario today. all I saw was a public bus being towed away and a pool of blood behind it being soaked by paper napkins.

awww shit, thats fucked up.. what i want to know is why bus' dont have seatbelts?? atleast in aus they dont

they dont in the US either, or none ive ridden in at least ever have.

also, not tryign to be rude, but how exactly did that happen. did he turn right, it fell down, then turning left it hit a divot in the road or something. or is it still unknown exactly how it happened?

if your talking about the kickstand he was just riding normal said the car behind him..the cops also said that its not the the first time it happens..that there was a case were a guy just got his bike that day and on his first ride it happened

........... hang on.. do these stands open up towards the front wheel? thats fucking stupid if they do, someone let me know... also if it didnt open up that way and folded down clockwise i guess, then how did it flip him off, wouldnt the stand have just dragged along the ground??

Sorry to hear about your friend. I've heard stories of people who rode off into the weeds or whatever b/c of a situation like that. It must have been an older bike. Most new bikes have a "kill switch" built in to the kickstand, so that you cannot be in gear when the kickstand is down.

Like was said before, RIDING IS DANGEROUS, but it won't stop me. I missed a fawn 2 days ago by about 3', but it won't keep me from riding through wooded areas. you just have to always keep your eyes peeled for stuff.

I am pretty sure my bikes stand went down clockwise, thats what I remember, geting off the left side and kicming it down and pivoting down then forwards, so if it did catch at low speeds at least it would probably kick back up, and it had a pretty beefy spring to it, and yes it had the kill switch so it died if the stand came down and you couldnt put it in gear with the kick down or it would die. I remember one time I ket staring it and id put it in gera to go and it kept on dying. I was thinking WTF is wromng with my bike, turned out when I kicked the stand up I didnt put it up high enough and it fell back down and I didnt know about it, finally I figured it out and felt retarded about it.

80's bikes and early 90's bikes had centre stands as well as side stands. this reduced ground clearance by (using the technical terms) shitloads. It may have been a bit dodgy and the kill switch bypassed. Older guys used to do this to work on their bikes instead of using paddock stands.

Hey Ghetto, had a though while riding yesterday. Do you guys have roundabouts over there. basically an intersection with a round island in the middle aimed at giving everyone a fair chance in the intersection.
if so, could the accident have occured on one. maybe his side stand clipped it on the way through.

we ride on the left side of the road, our side stands are on the left so we won't have a problem but my toe slider clips when i go just slightly too fast.

we have traffic circles, where you turn into it and circle and turn off on whatever street you wanna go down. sometimes like 5-6 streets, maybe more, and I was at a 6 way intersectionthe other day, 2 rights, one was an onramp, straight, anoither straight of to the left and a left, was crazy.

sounds like the same thing. we have two lane versions and single lane.
surburbia is full of them ans some are so tight that busses drive over them. they are the ones that i sometimes clip. do you guys have a problem with stands hitting them?

never hit one up on my bike, so I dont know. and dont have my bike anymore either. its a sad sad thing

well first of all...sorry, and i guess the second thing i would say is make sure to keep your bike in good shape, maybe replace that spring every couple of years, they cant cost too much...and well, that really opened my eyes, im going to the garage quick to check it out. the worst things that have happened to me:
1-chain came off rear sprocket and hooked on a bolt=rear tire doesnt move...you dont expect it and you stop fast (expecially for not expecting it, so keep your chain tuned)
2-helmet lifted up and i couldnt see where i was going, it was on my dirt bike and i was doing 60mph on gravle road (i know, i know) and it was 1 lane with a 6 foot drop on each side....yah, not cool. so, when you go to get the gear, make sure it fits right!!!!!