Announcing the Amiga.org Motorcycle Club.

[Wayne]

Hi ladies and gents,

Just wanted to offer you participation in the Amiga.org Motorcycle Club (A Social Group).

http://www.amiga.org/forums/group.php?groupid=29

Wayne

[Wayne]

great idea! ..was wondering how to post pics in the group? it'd be great to see pics of all of our bikes

Upload the pictures to your own personal gallery, then on the Group page, you'll see a line below the members that says "Add Pictures" where you can add group photos from your own album.

[Wayne]

It was fun until I had a moment of indicision and went flying across an intersection and landed in the ditch.

I came out of it with only a few scratches and a really badly bruised ego ... and a 900$ bill in parts.

That's the extent of my motorcycling. :-)

Very glad to hear that you're ok.

I am the first to say to anyone that motorcycling isn't for everyone.  First thing first, riding requires both respect, fear, confidence, and a little bit of talent and sheer blind luck.

Rule #1, Unless you have been blessed by St. Christopher, everyone goes down at some point.

Before you ever get on a bike, you need to fully understand and accept that -- because of many factors, the worst of which are other drivers -- motorcycling is more dangerous mode of travel than a car, or even a convertible.   You COULD die.   Accept rule #1, and you can move towards riding.

In short: Motorcycling is not about taking risks, it's about weighing, and accepting the associated risks while working to minimize them at every single moment.

Rule #2, you are NEVER a master of a motorcycle

Evil Knievel taught us that 35% of the time he jumped.  If he can't be perfect, who can?

Rule #3, a little bit of fear is a good thing.  Be respectful of what you're doing.  

When you're climbing on a motorcycle, whether a 75cc moped, a GSXR1100, or an 1800cc GoldWing touring motorcycle, you are putting your faith in yourself that you have the ability -- if not the training -- to handle everything the road can throw at you.  

That sometimes includes "flying" turkeys trying to get across the road quickly.  

Motorcycles are not the place for you if your mind is on where you want to go rather than watching where you are (and everyone else is) going.

Too much fear on the other hand doubles your risks at any given moment.  Everyone has scary moments on bikes.  If you have a quick scare, pull over, figure out what happened, ask yourself if you could have done anything better, calm down and breathe, then start again.

Rule #4, confidence.

Bikes are psychic to their riders.  If you look / think left, you'll go left.  If you look / think right,  you'll go right.  If you think you're going to crash, guess what.  YOU will find some way to do it.  

While you need to pay attention to what you're doing, it's not you that you need to worry about, it's all the other idiots around you who are literally driving blind and deaf to motorcycles.

I always tell people it's not my job to ride the bike, it's my job to make sure all the other idiots out there see me.

Rule #5, if you're in a hurry, don't ride.

When you leave the house 15 minutes late for work, you're never going to make up that 15 minutes in the 15 miles to work.  

"Hurry" kills.

Either accept that you're late, then take your time getting to work, even if that makes you 30 minutes late, or take another vehicle.

[Wayne]

It's funny you guys should say that, because most sensible car drivers think motorcyclists, who often drive way to fast, weave in and out of traffic, overtake on corners and are generally intimidating to other drivers, are the ones who are "idiots" or "mad and blind" :rolleyes:

It's, uh.. yeah..  There's no arguing that a small percentage of riders act like smegheads and make the rest of us look bad.  Just like 1% of bad cops make people distrust all cops.

In regards to "weaving in and out of traffic", I've been known to do so, but ONLY when my own safety is at risk.  For example, if I -- doing the speed limit -- end up perilously close to the back of a car that seems like it's going to stop, OR, if I find myself riding in someone's blind spot, I'll do whatever it takes to get the hell out of that situation.

That's why I don't own a sport bike.  Just too tempting.  I've got an 800 pound 6-cylinder with enough power to pull me, plus a trailer for 300 miles between stops.  It's also agile enough to use to run to the corner store or make the 6 mile run to work with and has both iPod, and on it to boot.

Why anyone would want a smaller bike capable of 200mph without much effort mystifies me, as the danger factor of those bikes is, I would guess, about 10-fold.

Wayne

[Wayne]

Maybe motorcyclists where you live place more value on the lives of others (and, presumably, themselves). I don't think I have ever seen a motorcyclists who wasn't driving recklessly, whether by speeding, driving between lanes of traffic and then forcing their way in, undertaking, overtaking on bends, or driving way too close to the vehicles in front, presumably to attempt to intimidate them in to pulling over.

Again, I am sorry to hear that you've had such negative experiences, but like getting Redrumloa to accept the President of the US isn't the Anti-Christ, a lot of what you see is based on your own slightly skewed perspective.  Your parents were in a wreck with one, so naturally you're prone to see all motorcyclists as evil and anything they do as "aggresive".  It goes without saying, and that's ok.

I can only assure you that your perspective isn't 100% correct.  The only people I've ever seen acting that way were specifically sport bike riders, and when you get that much power between your legs, it's sometimes hard to remember rule #1.  ("You COULD die")...

As for myself, I know I'm not a perfect rider, and I'm sure that there have been times I've caused cagers to think twice, but;

1) I've NEVER done anything which places either their, or my safety in jeopardy.

2) The worst I've ever done is get the f****** cager idiot to get off his damned cell phone and pay attention.

This morning for example, on the 6 mile to work, I rode "serpentine" meaning that while I never crossed or got close to the line, I slowly rotated my position in the lane from left to right.  

Why?  Because it got the cagers in front, behind, and to the sides of me to wake up and realize I was there.  Did it annoy them?  Don't know.  Don't care.  It's my life in jeopardy if they don't see me, and it's my job to be seen without placing anyone's safety in jeopardy.

Wayne

[Wayne]

Out here in Southern California I see riders doing wheelees and power stop on the freeway. On misshap and it not the fall that kills you, its the 10 vehicles running you down while your on the pavement.. Talk about brains.

That's what I'm talking about.  The 1% that make everyone look bad.  You've never seen a cruiser or touring bike doing those things, it's always the 20-somethings riding 150 horsepower sport-bike kiddies out there still thinking they're immortal.

At 43, I've realized riding a motorcycle really is a Zen experience.  You and the motorcycle act as one.  No motorcycle, even a moped, is a toy and if you don't respect it, it's not going to respect you.  Don't believe me?  Get on a jet ski and act stupid.  See where that gets you.

[Wayne]

can we have a Corvette club also?

Sure.  Note the "create a group" link on the groups page under "Community / Social Groups".

Knock yourself out, and feel free to announce it in this forum, as I did.  I really don't think a lot of you even know the social groups exist, but you can create any group you want as long as it's not NSFW..

Wayne

[Wayne]

I respectfully disagree. Driving on the motorway, I regularly see motorcyclists weaving in between lanes of traffic at up to and beyond 100mph, forcing their way through the traffic making drivers slam their brakes on, and overtaking on blind bends. This is not a case of skewed perspective - it's a case of observing what people are actually doing. Perhaps people don't ride like that where you live. If so, you're lucky.


I don't know anything about motorbikes, but I'm assuming a sport bike would be something like this, as opposed to the armchair-on-wheels type cruiser. If so, you very, very rarely see the latter here in England, with the vast majority of motorcyclists riding the former, sporty type. Clearly, they choose this type of vehicle because it is very, very fast - and they use that speed with no respect for other motorists.


I certainly don't mean to imply that car users (I'm assuming that's a 'cager') all drive perfectly - far from it. All I'm saying is that I see a much larger proportion of motorcyclists driving recklessly that I do car drivers.

I don't mean to hijack your thread with negativity, I'm just offering a different perspective. I'll go away now

Don't go away, it's a valid conversation, and kind of important actually.

I don't know where you're from, but here in the states, yes, a majority of bikes are sports bikes (the one you linked is a good example of what we call a "crotch rocket").  The other notable purchases are Cruisers (Harley Davidson and others) -- what you call wheelchair bikes, followed by touring bikes which are usually the larger bikes with the bags.

Each bike, like it's owner, has a personality of its own, and tends to amplify those tendencies in their respective owner.  

Sport bikes are owned (primarily) by younger people who still feel that they're invulnerable and immortal.  As such, putting 150 hp at their disposal in a 400 pound package capable of 200mph has never been a good idea, but until the authorities REQUIRE people to have certain levels of training for each type bike, there ya go.

The problems you see are more a problem of regulation, training, and lack of police action.  If the police cared enough to crack down (as they do here in my area of the States), then you'd see a lot less of that type crap.

Cruisers (generalizing) are owned by older, middle aged people who just want to enjoy getting from place to place with a bit of style.  They don't particularly do 300 - 400 mile days, but they might, on occasion, get on the bike and go bar hopping.

Touring Bikes (again, generalizing) tend to be owned by middle aged or older riders who enjoy being able to -- on a whim -- pack up a suitcase, then ride in any given direction, usually long distance, with or without their significant other.   Think of them as the Winnebego of bikes.

I fall into the latter category, though I use my bike for everything (weather permitting).  I love being able to get off of work on a Thursday for a three day weekend (as I'm doing today), having 3 days clothes in the bike, and heading off on a "loop" which encompasses 4 states, and about 1000 miles, on a whim.  

The only uncertainty being the hotel room for the night's stay, but even if everything's sold out, I have my tent packed as well.  All this while getting 42 miles per gallon, and rocking out to my iPod.

[Wayne]

@motorollin

Again, motorcycling isn't for everyone.  All I can ask is that you accept that not all motorcyclists are insane, dangerous, and rude.  Spend some time around the local GoldWing chapter and you'd be literally bored to death.

Wayne

[Wayne]

hey..what about us enduro riders :-)

Ah, Enduro.. the Hybrid of motorcyclists.   The ones who can't really figure out where they fit in, so try to do a bit of everything when they can.  Schizophrenics we used to call them back when I was a youngun...



Seriously, Enduro riders barely even factor into on-the-road driving around here, so I simply forgot.  I cannot remember ever seeing one driving down the roads here as a matter of fact.

Wayne

[Wayne]

My younger brother recently bought a new GSXR-750. The bike is insane - it's much faster than my 1200 Bandit, you could easily get yourself in mortal trouble before you have time to think. While the bike is fantastic to ride (for short bursts anyway), the fact that _anyone_ can roll into a showroom and buy one of these, without even having a valid license, is simply ridiculous.

I totally agree.  Been watching some show on SPEED Network about motorcycles when they point out that the GSXR 1100 that people can go out and buy is only a "de-tuned" version of the race track record holding bikes.

Why would anyone need something like that?

Wayne