Big Harley (kinda scary looking but very nice I'm told) guy who works in the building across the alley from our office. I never met him but always saw him and his 100inch dresser in the moto parking spot area next to our stairs. Well this week I did not see him at all, hmm I thought he must be on vacation, because he is always right there......nope he's dead. A car pulled out from a parking lot and "never saw him" he avoided that car but went into incoming traffic and met a pickup truck, he made it as far as the hospital then flatlined. Not his fault....but on the street bikes always come up the loser......always. Be safe out there guys don't ever take for granted that cars see you even if they look right at you.
I trust no one. Folks just blindly fly through intersection here. Between the old folks, the college students, the tourists and yesterday, the drunken, eating, texting, slab leak truck driver, almost rear ended me after he already crossed a lane.... And bicycle riding is affected too... I just don't get using your vehicle as a weapon. Striped bike lane and 3 foot law, parked cars, etc...There is no reason for it, but it's rampant... http://laist.com/2016/04/28/justice_delivered_almost.php View: https://youtu.be/ln1MyKG2a_0
Bummer... that's exactly the reason I gave up street bikes years ago. I have an Aprilia SXV supermoto and a Triumph Bonneville sitting in my garage as dust collectors. The only street riding I do now is organized dual sport rides to connect the trails.
wow, i guess theres one good thing to living here.. still have to be on alert and heads up..but usually ok here if you keep your head on a swivel. i really hope the guy that ran the biker off the road paid a price..
That's why I stopped years ago.... the entitled generation don't give a crap and anything that happens is someone else fault.... and don't get in their way going to the "feel the Berne" rally
I don't know what the answer is. I drive for a living. A Freightliner, in a major metro area, for 50 hours a week. I used to ride road bicycles A LOT before taking this job. After seeing what most people are doing while they drive, I've since sold all of my road bicycles. No thanks. I T-boned a lady in an suv a while back. She didn't even slow down for a stop sign. I could see her phone leaving her hand (and flying forward into the windshield) as we made contact. The cops don't seem to care. Nobody is held accountable. I also see cyclists who intentionally disrupt the traffic flow. That is equally dumb. When riding street motorcycle - I am the one in charge. You can NEVER let your guard down! Even at that, it is just a matter of time...
In 1979 I had a Honda XL 500 Dual sport that I would ride to work. One day as I was going down the street with a CHP car behind me . A lady turn left right in front of me . Bam i hit her r ft fender. Knocked me out, messed me up and since that day I do not ride on the stree.t I did put that motor in a Horse Power Factory C&J Frame with Fox Shocks and Forks No one rode 4 strokes back then but this bike was so fast and handled so well it won a lot of races .Even won the 4 stroke nationals am class at Carlsbad. I do have a Husky TE 300 Dual Sport and do not ride it on street but it does have a plate. Owning a wrecking yard full of cars that people made a mistake in makes you really carful driver
Rob sad story. It's a risk we take for some enjoyment, I love road riding but for leisure I head WEST away from the city, the people, the cars, trucks and general idiots. Then if I come off over shooting a corner or locking up its just my fault, but to date knowing I am responsible for my safety I have been lucky, fingers crossed. John, that guy really really is a an asshole. He's the sort of guy that stops cohesion in society not just as an on the road wanker. "My opinion is correct, if you don't like it get out of my way. Me me me.". What a F**ktard
IMHO it's not just a matter of staying sharp; it's also a matter of helping drivers to respect us. I suggest that riders try to envise theirselves in the shoes of drivers, pedestrians, other riders, etc.. If, for instance, there are many cars queuing sowly, don't overtake them very fast: give them the time to realize that you are about to pass by. Don't think that, just because your vehicle is narrow, you have the right to suddenly pass through any tiny space between cars, in a traffic jam. And so forth. But, above all, if you like to go fast (who doesn't?), remember to keep your pace proportional to the safety of each situation. Do you have a supermoto, for example? Do you want to lean in that corner? Ok, then, what's beyond it? What's aside it, in case you lose control and end up out of the road? Is someone coming from the opposite direction? And so on... . Anyhow, I agree about the fact that road riding is dangerous and that sometimes, even if a rider has done everything he/she could to be safe, that person will be injured or killed because of undisciplined drivers.
I agree with Theo.... When we went to my home area of Escondido on Vacation... there were bikes and full dressers flying thru traffic drove me nuts.... half the time over double my speed... Ok LA has a ton of tourists(including me) and people flying by me some even startling me and I look for bikes.... The bad part is you can do Everything right but even a small mistake by any vehicle you lose even if your in the right.... any contact is going to suck for you and really not effect the car much.... watched a car pull out of a shopping center in San Bernardino right in front of me and my buddy barely had time to react and hit the driver in the door at 40 mph killing him and driver was yelling at kids in the back seat.... Risk Reward.... is the rish worth the reward.... in the dirt its up to me on the pavement I counting on betty the soccer mom who is doing her makeup, drinking a Starbucks, while talking to her BFF on the phone and yelling at her rugrats in the back of the van..... I'll pass
absolutely theo...of course people in cars can be very dangerous, but often the street bikers worst enemy is himself. i see riders do horrible stuff. i always do what you say, envision myself as the driver. make yourself visible..and watch out for left turn louie!! (well, i guess in europe its right turn ricardo? lol)
I sold my Super Tenere last fall and gave up on street riding after seeing a huge increase of distracted drivers. Sticking to street legal dirt bikes for a while or until our society realizes the destructive path we are on(not holding my breath). We either need society to realize that we must completely stop using cell phones or personal communication devices in moving vehicles or the problem will continue to worsen. Pretty sad we consider off road motorcycling a safer sport than riding on pavement, but IMHO, it is hands down. A torn ACL, broken rib or clavicle will heal but hitting a pickup truck head on while avoiding someone pulling into your lane is incurable. My 2 cents worth. God speed to Rob's co worker
Poor kids: they lost their father and saw his death... And I also feel sympathy for your buddy, because, even if he didn't mean to do that at all, he killed a person in front of his children. I guess that he's thought things like "what if I swerved?" "why didn't I brake harder?". It must've been tough for him, too. Was he injured? I live in Italy and here we haven't named that guy who's going to turn ahah, but I think that I've got the concept. Here we drive and ride in the right lane, so it should be something like "left turn Riccardo"
its kind of a joke we have about the guy who turns in front of opposing traffic...you know the feeling, you are cruising along and you see someone in the opposing traffic sitting there with their turn signal on..."does this person see me?" "is he going to turn in front of me?"... so being in italy, this traffic offender should be known to you as "right turn riccardo"... these guys are tough to defend against, as they move quickly from a set position..
I hadn't got the joke because another possible dangerous situation occured to me, when I read "left turn Louie/Riccardo": you're fast and you find a car in front of you. You immediately decide to overake it, without slowing down, so you're too fast to notice that its left turning signal is on and that it's slowing down to turn. Just when you are aside it, it turns and hits you.
First, that is a bummer Robert and thanks for the reminder. Here in LALA Land we have at least 2 and as many as 6+ motorcycle crashes in the morning commute and that's just the freeways. I don't ride in rush hour traffic, as stated too many distracted douche bags and baguettes for me. I've done it, but don't like it much. I am invisible at all times as far as I'm concerned and try to use my powers of stupidity prediction to keep me out of a jam. Most of the time it works and I wish I could pick lottery numbers like I can peg a dumbass ready to make their big break. But I've also been squeezed splitting lanes in really slow traffic by DB masters who intentionally try to cut off the hole because you're getting ahead of them. My honey got cut off by a probable drunken undocumented immigrant who then slammed on his brakes for no good reason at all. Luckily she was going slow and had a slow mo high side, and the bike was fixed workout too much damage. So yep, street riding to work is like grabbing a tiger by the tail, but there's no better way to see the beauty than on two wheels on a road trip or weekend ride through the twisties.
I need to add.....a lot of the bike riders I watch riding are statistics waiting to happen.....it aint all cagers doing the stupid...... the worst things I cringe at are splitting lanes fast in merging traffic zones..........dumb. splitting lanes when traffic is already doing freaking 50....them splitting at 75......dumb fact stated above bike riders right or wrong you lose...everytime if you get physically/mechanically involved with the fourwheel enclosed transports.
This is why I sold my beloved 950 sm. Miss the hell out of it. But I discovered theres a whole other side to me.almost getting run into concrete walls or near misses by clueless distracted drivers made me go completely homocidal . At least two three times I wanted started following people. I was ready to kill. Then one day had an epiphany. This NEVER happens to me in riding 20 years of offroad. So back to offroad I went and prefer to stay. Still miss riding street but won't do it u less I move to a mountain town after retirement.
If they can't see a 300lb guy in 4XXXXL bright colored shirts coming then they need my size 12 you know where. The biggest problem I see at night is when a rocket does wheelies the headline is in the air. They need lights on the lower fairing.
