arrrghhahahhsh cagers...

[gamgee]

nearly got knocked off three times on my way home today, first one, cruising along a street near uni, asian dude in a red prelude decides to pull out without looking, I didn't bother breaking as there was nothing on the other side of the road and just went round him, second one at an intersection, was turning right, heavy traffic, so i moved forward a bit so i'd be ready to swing round as soon as a gap opened, none did so i got ready to go round after the last car had gone through on the orange light, just about to go through and mr dickhead in the subaru hesitates then decides he will be a prick and run the red light, i slam on the brakes, give him a nice wave :motu: then carry on with turning the corner, getting a little pissed and driving a little faster than i should have been, coming up another street behind a taxi, and out of no where he obviously sees his fare and decides to slam on the brakes with no indication or even attempt to move off the road, oh the joys of driving in dunedin

[Marmoot]

Come to Auckland, mate.
It's peaceful and quiet here.
Better than being stuck out in the cold down there.

[Waylander]

Teach you to follow a taxi driver aye. Lousy bastards. They park out in front of the casino on Victoria street here completely blocking the road and just sit there yapping at each other. One day I'm gonna buy myself a tank and just mow them all down.

[gamgee]

Teach you to follow a taxi driver aye. Lousy bastards. They park out in front of the casino on Victoria street here completely blocking the road and just sit there yapping at each other. One day I'm gonna buy myself a tank and just mow them all down.
see thats where i think it could be fun to test drive a hummer, although i might need to get a car loan just to pay for the petrol

[gamgee]

i'm regretting rising to that subaru guy, i don't usually, it's just when i was about to cross over and he kept going he sort of looked at me like i was the one running a red light, which pissed me off quite a bit and i let my emotions get the better of me and out comes the finger and the clearly mouthed "fuuuck yoooou" ahhh well at least i didn't take a swing at his wing mirror or something silly like that

[esspro]

See, this kind of stuff makes me uncertain whether or not I want to get into bikes... I'm still a bit hesitant now after hearing so many horror stories of riders coming off bikes getting injured and at worst killed.
Every family member/relly of mine that has owned a bike has been injured on one... My dad came off his 400 on an open road in aussie when the back tyre blew and the bikes exhaust landed on the girl riding pillion's leg burning a hole right through her calf... My aunty came off her bike and busted up her hand a while back and her hands still plays up to this day... needless to say they both ditched their bikes...
Now I'm looking at getting into bikes but it makes me think would i be better off just sticking to my car and avoid getting injured pre-emptively... I mean I know you are all passionate bikers so you will say no dont let it stop you.. but I'm just weighing it up... If bikes were as safe for the driver/rider as cars then I'd have no hesitation.

Thought?

[Ixion]

See, this kind of stuff makes me uncertain whether or not I want to get into bikes... I'm still a bit hesitant now after hearing so many horror stories of riders coming off bikes getting injured and at worst killed.
Every family member/relly of mine that has owned a bike has been injured on one... My dad came off his 400 on an open road in aussie when the back tyre blew and the bikes exhaust landed on the girl riding pillion's leg burning a hole right through her calf... My aunty came off her bike and busted up her hand a while back and her hands still plays up to this day... needless to say they both ditched their bikes...
Now I'm looking at getting into bikes but it makes me think would i be better off just sticking to my car and avoid getting injured pre-emptively... I mean I know you are all passionate bikers so you will say no dont let it stop you.. but I'm just weighing it up... If bikes were as safe for the driver/rider as cars then I'd have no hesitation.

Thought?


If in doubt - don't

[Marmoot]

If bikes were as safe for the driver/rider as cars then I'd have no hesitation.

Thought?

Much fear I sense....Do, or Do Not...there is no try... :nono:

[kerryg]

If in doubt - don't


There's troof in that.

Also, (IMHO) a motorbike is not a substitute for a car. A car's got way more practicality (transporting passengers, staying dry, etc etc etc)...and safer, no doubt at all. I don't care what statistics anyone comes up with to the contrary, I'll never believe that you're as safe on 2 wheels as you are on 4, all things being equal. So, if safety is your primary consideration you're better off in a car.

I ride for pleasure, not for my daily transport like many others do, so to me it's my recreation, and the slight additional hazards compared to travelling in a car are (although this seems pretty weird even as I type it) part of its appeal. It's about getting outside my comfort zone or something.

[Waylander]

See, this kind of stuff makes me uncertain whether or not I want to get into bikes... I'm still a bit hesitant now after hearing so many horror stories of riders coming off bikes getting injured and at worst killed.
Every family member/relly of mine that has owned a bike has been injured on one... My dad came off his 400 on an open road in aussie when the back tyre blew and the bikes exhaust landed on the girl riding pillion's leg burning a hole right through her calf... My aunty came off her bike and busted up her hand a while back and her hands still plays up to this day... needless to say they both ditched their bikes...
Now I'm looking at getting into bikes but it makes me think would i be better off just sticking to my car and avoid getting injured pre-emptively... I mean I know you are all passionate bikers so you will say no dont let it stop you.. but I'm just weighing it up... If bikes were as safe for the driver/rider as cars then I'd have no hesitation.

Thought?
Riding is a disease that the majority of us here have caught. There is no fighting it you either do it or you don't. It doesn't let you see all the dangers so you can more readily ignore it.

If you really want to get into riding then by all means do so. Very few things are more pleasurable than submitting yourself to the disease. But if you worry about every little thing that may happen to you, you will never enjoy it as much as it should be. The decision is yours.

[cowboyz]

Come to Auckland, mate.
It's peaceful and quiet here.
Better than being stuck out in the cold down there.


Only because traffic moves at 2.5km/hr between the hours of 4 and 7.

[Marmoot]

Only because traffic moves at 2.5km/hr between the hours of 4 and 7.

yea...can't help but admire the scenery.
B'sides, the sun shine and the weather is warm. :devil2:

[vfrboy]

See, this kind of stuff makes me uncertain whether or not I want to get into bikes... I'm still a bit hesitant now after hearing so many horror stories of riders coming off bikes getting injured and at worst killed.
Every family member/relly of mine that has owned a bike has been injured on one... My dad came off his 400 on an open road in aussie when the back tyre blew and the bikes exhaust landed on the girl riding pillion's leg burning a hole right through her calf... My aunty came off her bike and busted up her hand a while back and her hands still plays up to this day... needless to say they both ditched their bikes...
Now I'm looking at getting into bikes but it makes me think would i be better off just sticking to my car and avoid getting injured pre-emptively... I mean I know you are all passionate bikers so you will say no dont let it stop you.. but I'm just weighing it up... If bikes were as safe for the driver/rider as cars then I'd have no hesitation.

Thought?

Like Wayalnder put it, riding is a disease, a compulsive obssesive one at that, once you get started theres no going back. SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much fun. And why worry about what might/might not happen in the future you only live once so enjoy life to the fullest you possibly can.

[vfrboy]

Whoops sorry fu-ked that up, how do you put a quote in a reply??

[gamgee]

if i'd been in the cage i probably would have been more relaxed and not been prepared for him to run it, so in short if i'd been in my car i'd have crashed

[Gremlin]

Whoops sorry fu-ked that up, how do you put a quote in a reply??
Far right icon. you need quote tags.

[] around QUOTE=username and at end [] around /QUOTE

Or when posting a reply, hit "quote" instead of "post reply".

[esspro]

Riding is a disease that the majority of us here have caught. There is no fighting it you either do it or you don't. It doesn't let you see all the dangers so you can more readily ignore it.

If you really want to get into riding then by all means do so. Very few things are more pleasurable than submitting yourself to the disease. But if you worry about every little thing that may happen to you, you will never enjoy it as much as it should be. The decision is yours.

Nice, reminds me of a cross between a speech that Morpheus or Agent Smith would give haha! It's like Agent Smith talking about humans as a plague and yet its encouraging but open ended like a Morpheus speech. :D I can appreciate the good grammar and spelling as well!

Anyway, still undecided and I really am 50/50 whether or not to goto a bike... I'm definitely changing my car for fuel economy (from a benz thats doing 400kms to a 60 litre tank down to a Corolla or something)... And a bike would be good for that too but that isnt the main reason I want to get into biking... It does seem intriguing and it looks like it could be a lot of fun too... Just having second thoughts about the safety of it all... I mean I wouldn't be riding on the open road or at night or in the rain thats what ive got the "cage" for but on a sunny clear day I think it would be a pretty cool thing to do...

What are the conditions under which most bike accidents happen? Driver inexperience? Other drivers not seeing the bike? Open road or city streets?

cheers

[gamgee]

theres a few things:
Pushing to hard for conditions, although if your only going to be riding in good weather, this shouldn't be a problem
Inexperience, ie dropping down to many gears when going round a corner and causing a lockup while still cornering, thing like that, basically if you take it slow and don't push it to hard until you've been riding for a while and know the bike, you should be fine
and of course cagers, pretty self explanatory, most of them are blind

[Ixion]

Nice, reminds me of a cross between a speech that Morpheus or Agent Smith would give haha! It's like Agent Smith talking about humans as a plague and yet its encouraging but open ended like a Morpheus speech. :D I can appreciate the good grammar and spelling as well!

Anyway, still undecided and I really am 50/50 whether or not to goto a bike... I'm definitely changing my car for fuel economy (from a benz thats doing 400kms to a 60 litre tank down to a Corolla or something)... And a bike would be good for that too but that isnt the main reason I want to get into biking... It does seem intriguing and it looks like it could be a lot of fun too... Just having second thoughts about the safety of it all... I mean I wouldn't be riding on the open road or at night or in the rain thats what ive got the "cage" for but on a sunny clear day I think it would be a pretty cool thing to do...

What are the conditions under which most bike accidents happen? Driver inexperience? Other drivers not seeing the bike? Open road or city streets?

cheers


May I (in all seriousness and good faith) suggest a scooter.

Buying a bike that you're not going to ride on the open road, at night, or in the rain, is really rather pointless.

Not to mention that sooner or later, you want to go somewhere that does involve the open road, get held up and end up coming home at midnight , into the teeth of a gale , through torrential rain. It all goes with the territory. All good fun.

Bikes aren't just for "looking cool".

[Gremlin]

I mean I wouldn't be riding on the open road or at night or in the rain thats what ive got the "cage" for but on a sunny clear day I think it would be a pretty cool thing to do...
Blasphemy. How can you say that?!? Thats what you dooooo with bikes, you ride them on the open road, and in traffic to get pass all the suckers :devil2:

Accidents: Only had two so far, both in the country, just couldn't seem to leave the corner behind and ran wide either exiting or in the middle. But some practice panicking in corners (to override the automatic response) has fixed that a little bit.

Fact is bikes are not as safe as a car, or as practical, but you ride bikes because you sacrifice a little practicality for the pure joy of riding. And when you have a beautiful set of corners and get it right on a sunny day, there is nothing better in all the world... :woohoo:

Walking around uni in a heavy jacket and accompanied by a helmet isn't easy, but its a sacrifice I will always make. :ride:

[Aaron]

...but if your number's up, it's up.

I don't know, but I'd say accidents, (serious ones at least), probably happen in good conditions, when the rider pushes things a bit far. I know that in the wet, (even just a little), I really take it carefully, watching for all sorts of things that might bugger up my vertical riding experience. Mind you, my first and only bin to date was in the wet.

Personally I think everyone should ride at night, in the rain, it makes you a better overall rider.

If you want to ride, get a bike and have a bit of a blat. You'll know soon enough whether you like it or not.

(hehe, once you've got it you'll not want to give it up :devil2: )

[Gremlin]

If you want to ride, get a bike and have a bit of a blat. You'll know soon enough whether you like it or not.

(hehe, once you've got it you'll not want to give it up :devil2: )
I told him that and he reckons he's a little scared of that happening...

but thats what we're here for... to get him in :devil2: