Announcing the Amiga.org Motorcycle Club.

[motorollin]

Wayne wrote:
it's all the other idiots around you who are literally driving blind and deaf to motorcycles

StormLord wrote:
1) all other drivers are mad and blinds and the only thing they want is to get you down

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:

[motorollin]

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. They seem to be aggressive, impatient and without regard for their own safety, let alone that of other drivers. And I certainly would not say that this is a minority, certainly not where I live anyway. I also have personal experience of how dangerous these idiots can be - my parents were almost killed by a motorcyclists who was driving towards them on the wrong side of the road, overtaking on a blind corner. The car was a write-off, and the assessors said that had the wheel struck one inch either side of where it did, it most likely would have driven up the bonnet and through the windscreen.

[motorollin]

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 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.

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")...

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.

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.

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

[motorollin]

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").

...

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.

I'm from England. While I agree that different levels of training for each type of bike would be wise, that wouldn't stop people choosing to ignore that training. I doubt anybody is taught to drive recklessly, but they still do it.

The problems you see are more a problem of regulation, training, and lack of police action

But also of some people being idiots, and choosing to behave in ways which are dangerous to others. No amount of regulation, training or police action will stop people being idiots, or make them start caring about other people's safety.

[motorollin]

Again, motorcycling isn't for everyone.  All I can ask is that you accept that not all motorcyclists are insane, dangerous, and rude.

Of course, and I meant no disrespect to those motorcyclists who don't fall in to one of those categories. You just don't see many of them where I live...

Spend some time around the local GoldWing chapter and you'd be literally bored to death.

:lol: If I wanted to be bored to death I'd stay at home and do the literature review for my dissertation. Oh wait, that's what I *am* doing