speed + inexperience=

Hi everyone,been gone for a while. Here in Chicago,things have been going apesh*t. In the last 2 months,6-7 people have died on bike crashes around here. Most of them have been riding less than 1 year and riding in excess of 90 mph. Now the mayor of Chi. wants to enforce a helmet law in city limits. Some of you know my feelings on helmet laws, from "Why Harleys are slow" thread, but why is it that when a rider goes down at 100 +,hitting a wall of concrete or getting run over by a truck,that bucket didn't save his life. This is a wakeup to all of you new riders out there. There is a place for speed and stunts, but it's not on the damm roads. that helmet doesn't make you bulletproof,nor does full leathers. Don't get pissed off at me,I'm not knocking protective gear,nor trying to be devils advocate here. I just don't like to see anyone get hurt on their bike due to doing stupid sh*t like these 7 people were. I take that back, 2 that I remember were just riding and got hit. 1 was a 21 year old girl(passenger)without a lid but her boyfriend ,who was riding,had a helmet and made it. Maybe I'm getting off track, but for all of you newbies, please, watch out for them as they don't give a ratsass about us. The more accidents that are publicized, will put more pressure on us. If you have less than a year exp., take a MRSF course asap,you don't know as much as you think you do!

I've noticed lately that it applies to all newbies whether bikes or cars.
our statistics just released are that everyday 17 of our "P" platers (able to drive unsupervised with speed restrictions) have accidents. One dies every six days! These stats include bike accidents but we have an almost zero death rate on "L" or "P" platers for bikes. To get our licence we have to do courses at every stage and are limited to a power to weight ratio.

Attitude is a main consideration. My apprentice, who has only had his licence for 3 weeks, thinks he's the best driver and that I'm a shit driver. Funny because i have licences for pretty much anything with wheels and have advanced driving certificates and a motorsport licence. He crashed on his first day and has had 1 major and 2 minor accidents (none of them his fault?!!!!) and 1 blown motor all in 3 weeks!

I pick my moments for speed and stunting on the streets. you need to assess the roads and traffic before being a "dickhead" or "cool"

the faster you go the bigger the mess

blayne is absolutly right its all about attitude, a bad attitude on a bike or behind the wheel, and u stop driving a bike or car, it becomes a weapon.

i have seen the aftermath a a bad crash and it looks NOTHING like it does on the news.
there is more blood than u thougt possible and it is so dark its almost black, its not red.
ppl look different when they are in 15 pieces.

so kiddies look both ways before u cross the street

Aussie, fo once I agree with you, here in the states, there is no "progressive" licensing that I know of as in Oz land. I really wish there was, it would prevent a lot of people from buying a bike that is too big or fast for them, when they have no experience. I know, all bikes are fast, but they are faster when you have little or no saddle time and are riding out of control or in a panic. Pete, hope I never get the pleasure of what you have seen. Are you a emerg. worker or just happend across it. No details needed,this poor little h.d. rider doesn't want any bad dreams.

apeshit. never heard that one before

apeshit. never heard that one before
Ever been to the zoo when the chimps are winging poo? Sort of the same thing, crap is going everywhere. How about"When the sh*t hits the fan."? :silly:

apeshit. never heard that one before

sorry dude. what were you refering to?

I know you yanks can start on whatever size bike you like and that a 600 is usually the prefered option, but I'm glad i had to start on a 250. My FZR2500 (below left) and the same acceleration as a stock WRX. I stuffed up so many times while learning and I think I would have been a statistic had I have ridden a larger bike while learning.

You have to make mistakes to learn and that only comes with age and experience. No matter how many times I try to tell my apprentices to slow down and not drive like dickheads, they still think its cool to do dumb stuff behind the wheel. Then I remember I did dumb stuff and I shut up.

blayne im probably the same age as your apprentices, and even in a 1.9litre diesel gemini i do stupid shit..

but the thing that makes me different to the next P Plater is, i dont drop the clutch at a packed roundabout, set of lights, round a corner to which lies ahead a pedestrian crossing, carpark or anywhere there is other cars....

theres a time and a place for everything, if you can use your judgement wisely, you can have fun and never get caught, or more importantly, never kill someone...

A friend of mine (who is 51 or 52 and rides a 1990 CBR1000F like it's a rocket) said to look at the odometers of bikes that are trashed... most have about 2500-3500 miles on them, and the riders were "green" (to be kind). It's amazing how accurate that observation of his was.

But think about it... after 1-2000 miles, you're feelin confident... You think you're the shit... and so you start pushing yourself a little more, and a little more...

very true.... blaynes whiles 2000 miles in km's ?

tange, what do you mean by "green"?

lyndon. save this website as a favorite. it helps to translate yank-oz

www.sciencemadesimple.com/conversions

cheers :)

very true.... blaynes whiles 2000 miles in km's ?

tange, what do you mean by "green"?
Green = "wet behind the ears" = n00b

ahahhaha, your gonna have a fun time with this tange, but whats 'wet behind the ears', take into consideration that your sayings may be different to ours :)

wet behind the ears = n00b, like I stated.

Green is a metaphor that relates a new tree that still has a green trunk to a new person at anything.

Wet behind the ears relates a newborn mammal (that is still wet with birthing fluids) to a new person at anything.

n00b is another way of writing Newb which is short for Newbie which means a new person at anything.

ummm so what's a saturntangerine? is it an orange car?

ummm so what's a saturntangerine? is it an orange car?
Just because my parents bought an orange Saturn VUE 3 years AFTER I made up my name, does NOT mean that my name is in reference to their car. :mad:

Saturn is abbreviated from saturnine. Tangerine was the color of my iMac.