Constructive tribute

[Big Dog]

These forums are FULL of constructive advice. Some of it Uncle B's. If you want to do a constructive tribute, search the forums and make a compendium of every useful tidbit you can find and group it by contributor or subject in the Survival Tips forum. That way it doesn't get buried in the General Bike Ravings morass.

I am offended. A heartfelt personal tribute has been described as hollow and pointless. I've contributed tips over the years, and fundamentally it has been largely a hollow, pointless exercise. Nobody pays any attention to the good stuff lots of people contribute until something like last weekend happens and then the knee jerk reaction is to reinvent the wheel, pore over advice in a badly formatted thread destined for oblivion, and refuse to make hard lessons earned in the worst possible way a baseline for constructive, ongoing change in the process dissemination of vital information within the scope of these forums.

Moulding the advice dished out over the years on Kiwibiker into an accessible format is work, and we're all naturally work shy, but given that no one else will be interested, and Uncle B and I were going to build a semi-formal framework for mentoring over the Summer, with live experimental subjects, I guess I should get off my arse and get started then, shouldn't I?

I like your vision.
I am not work shy but lack your vision in this area. I have no Idea where to begin.
Perhaps, for now, with the riders reading this thread providing the quotes that have really made a difference to them?
It is really easy to offer advice hard to know what made a difference.

If I am not persona non grata in you your neck of the woods I would be keen to help.

[kensuem]

What a sad week this has been,with so many Bikers losing their lives.
I can only hope that some good could come out of this.
Could perhaps some experienced and senior member of the biking community analyse these accidents,tell us what really happened,and suggest ways of preventing this happening in the future?
I am not talking about apportioning blame,or saying who was at fault,just the cold hard facts as to why these much respected members lost their lives.
I must say that something I find disturbing about Kiwi biker forums,is the way accidents,spills ,bins,whatever you like to call them,are almost boasted about.It is almost as if a crash has become a badge of office!
In my early days of motorcycling,to admit to coming off ,was to admit to being an idiot,something to be ashamed of,not something to skyte about.
It is as if we have developed a "crash culture". Shouldnt we instead be telling how many years we have ridden without a crash,or how many klm we have travelled without incident?
I hope no one will be offended by these comments,I just dont want to be having to constantly read reports of members being killed. Those who have lost their lives no longer suffer,it is only those left behind who suffer and grieve.Dont we all owe it to our families and mates to do everything in our power to keep safe ,return home from our rides,and not put them through such suffering.

[James Deuce]

I like your vision.
I am not work shy but lack your vision in this area. I have no Idea where to begin.
Perhaps, for now, with the riders reading this thread providing the quotes that have really made a difference to them?
It is really easy to offer advice hard to know what made a difference.

If I am not persona non grata in you your neck of the woods I would be keen to help.

I've been talking to an old friend who hides in here and we're going to talk to Spank about a Wiki server so we can have a KB Wikipedia.

It will be edited by a team and the more the merrier. The end result won't actually be an end as such, but the first task will be to define the lumps and dish out the work of creating a cross referenced encyclopedia, and then managing the contributions.

There's some neat stuff in THIS thread, let alone the existing fora and sub-fora that have existed since the site began. The site search function is good, but imagine if you wanted to do a search on counter-steering. With a Wiki framework the editor publishes a cover article and then cross references the articles that pertain to counter-steering, everything from the actual physics to the optimum angle of bar to wrist relationship could be accessed without having to trawl through the stuff where a newbie gets flamed for not understanding that bikes don;t steer like cars.

You're not PNG btw Big Dog. I'm just in an emotard stage which will pass.

I apologise for being such an over-reacting dork.

[Big Dog]

Don't know much about search engines or web thingies (prolly about time I learn) but real good at not giving up until a task is done and know enough to know the difference between a good tip and a shady one.

Prolly can't tell from my frequent abuses of diction and punctuation I am a pretty good editor / fact checker.

[James Deuce]

What a sad week this has been,with so many Bikers losing their lives.
I can only hope that some good could come out of this.
Could perhaps some experienced and senior member of the biking community analyse these accidents,tell us what really happened,and suggest ways of preventing this happening in the future?
I am not talking about apportioning blame,or saying who was at fault,just the cold hard facts as to why these much respected members lost their lives.
I must say that something I find disturbing about Kiwi biker forums,is the way accidents,spills ,bins,whatever you like to call them,are almost boasted about.It is almost as if a crash has become a badge of office!
In my early days of motorcycling,to admit to coming off ,was to admit to being an idiot,something to be ashamed of,not something to skyte about.
It is as if we have developed a "crash culture". Shouldnt we instead be telling how many years we have ridden without a crash,or how many klm we have travelled without incident?
I hope no one will be offended by these comments,I just dont want to be having to constantly read reports of members being killed. Those who have lost their lives no longer suffer,it is only those left behind who suffer and grieve.Dont we all owe it to our families and mates to do everything in our power to keep safe ,return home from our rides,and not put them through such suffering.

Interesting thought, but the "crash culture" examination was implemented in an informal way to disseminate information about why crashes happen. Look closer and most thread starters attempt to identify what they did themselves to have the crash.

There are a few people on here who don't crash. Ever. My biggest failing is that I push myself much too hard physically speaking, and I have had two crashes in 4 years as a result of exhaustion.

Ashamed? Certainly, but hiding the crash carries all the hallmarks of a beaten wife hiding her bruises with a pair of sun glasses. No one knows what's going on, and no one knows to intervene and help. There's a couple of young uns who've had a right kicking from some senior members because they displayed the attitude you describe. They will continue to get a kicking in future as well as being dragged to funerals. There's a few of us who kick ourselves for not intervening earlier with another fallen comrade.

Don't mistake a flippant post about a crash for boasting. I'd rather hear about them so we can all learn and maybe help the crashee in the process.

[Quasievil]

I got one

Dont Race on the Road cause you might come around the corner and kill your mate.

[Al]

Ride to your own abilities and do not always try to impress others!

Al

[Blakamin]

dont let shit get out of hand

[Sparky Bills]

You never stop learning. No matter of age, skill level or bike.
Stay relaxed. The bikes shocks get a bad enough time as it is without having to take the extra weight of your upper body. Keep it all relaxed and you will find that you enjoy the ride and even increase your speed without even trying.

If you find yourself doing wrong lines and getting flusted, slow down, breath and regain your thoughts.
Dont push your luck! Who are you trying to kid?

BE SMOOTH AND BE AWAKE!
i cant stress that enough.

[blueblade]

BLIND CORNERS

I dont know what the statistics say, but I wouldnt mind betting that most serious bike accidents happen on blind corners. Whether that be a corner that was tighter than anticipated and the rider failed to negotiate it, or there was some unexpected obstruction round the corner or surface problem.

I'm 51 years old and have always loved speed. Rode bikes when I was young and got back into it 3 years ago. Have done many dumb things in cars and on bikes over the years, and if I am honest, I have survived more by good luck than good management.

About a year ago i was out with my mate on my beautiful new Fireblade. Had done a few track days by this stage and thought I was getting pretty good. We were heading down "22" and I was "in the zone".

Hadnt done 22 for a while but I knew every corner on that road like the back of my hand ........ yeah right !!!!!!!!

Short straight leading into a right hander, gas it to about 140, scrub off a bit of speed to tip it in ......... OH SHIT ...... its not that fast sweeper I thought it was, its the nasty 35 kph decreasing radius one !!!!!!!

Took out a row of battens in Farmer Browns fence and shifted two solid fence posts about 6 inches in the ground. A few feet either way and I would have been wrapped around one of those posts and would probably not be walking today.

I still ride fast on the road but I NEVER NEVER NEVER take blind corners for granted.

Have seen far too many unexpected...... Tractors, sheep, turkeys, 4 wheel drives, gravel patches.... yes and even bikes on the wrong side of the road coming round blind corners.

Its been said many times before but I think it bears repeating often... Better to go in slow and come out fast, than to go in fast and not come out at all.

Blind corners are a bad bet. If someone said to you "hey lets cut this pack of cards, high card you win and get to pat yourself on the back, low card you lose and I will have to kill you" ... would you do it ??????

Is that much different to racing into a blind corner ???????

[Beemer]

Don't take advice about riding from anyone you would not pillion with.

Excellent advice. I would trust my husband any day, and a few of his mates as well, but there are some people I don't even like parking near, let alone riding with. I tend to take more notice of the people who don't ride like idiots, don't crash, don't have oodles of speeding tickets (just about everyone gets them at some stage, but some people here seem to have bigger collections than others...) and whose actions speak louder than their words.

[sAsLEX]

I have had two crashes in 4 years as a result of exhaustion.

Another point.

If you ever feel tired, lacking concentration, nervous, intimidated by pace your at, or anything other than feeling like a box of bunnies then slow down. Stop. Pull over and have a nap under a tree. Have a drink. Have a piss. Let your mind relax for a bit as piloting a bike along a road is a sensory overload that can compound your rapidly failing attention and lead to mistakes.

Better to arrive late than not at all.

[RiderInBlack]

Sorry if these are a repeat of anything posted before but here is my two pence:

• When on the road always ride/drive with the idea that the idiots that share the road with you is going ta do something really stupid and life threating.
• Always remember the most dangerous idiot ya share the road with is YOU.
• Don't let the above panic you as this will lock you up when ya most need to stay loose and sharp.
• Aways keep ya bike well maintained. Badly maintained bikes are deadly.
• Aways wear adequate protective clothing and helmets. Keep these maintained too and replace when not longer protective.
• Remember ta make sure ya pillion has adequate protective gear too. Don't let them ride behind ya in gear you would not feel safe to use.

[KATWYN]

I would never pillion with someone whos back tyre has an
inch of unused (unridden??) rubber either side (exclusive of a new tyre of course)

As a pillion, I would be nervous that the rider may not be confident
cornering....

[scracha]

I would never pillion with someone whos back tyre has an
inch of unused (unridden??) rubber either side (exclusive of a new tyre of course)

As a pillion, I would be nervous that the rider may not be confident
cornering....

I would never ride pillion with someone who's back tyre has $hitloads of bobbles at the edges.

As a pillion, I would be nervous that the rider may be over confident cornering.