oscarnz
23rd November 2007, 07:15
An interesting article that I found today. Thought I would share it.
I'm scarred but i'm not scared
Hawkes Bay Today, Napier | Nov 22 2007 8:18AM
National — Having ridden motorcycles for 36 years I've got used to hearing the comment "motorcycles are dangerous".
It would usually transpire that the issuer of such statements knew someone who knew someone who got hammered in a bike crash, or worse, knew someone who had been killed while riding a motorcycle.
I used to defend motorcycling in a table-thumping way and still do, but not with the same amount of intensity because the "bikes are dangerous" perception is too ingrained in the national psyche to fight.
All I usually say now is "well I ain't hanging my boots up".
For me, riding a motorcycle is highly enjoyable.
Are they really dangerous?
No, they are not. They sit quietly in the shed at night and when they do go out they will only do what they are told.
In a well-maintained state they have good brakes, vision is excellent, response and manoeuverability is superb.
They won't bite.
But are they susceptible to danger, vulnerable in certain situations?
Oh yes, no doubt about that.
A simple rain shower ups the danger ante nicely, but then it comes back to the point about bikes doing what they are told.
Riding in the rain comes back to the operator.
But all the caution in the world won't prevent disaster from an unseen slick of diesel laid through the centre of a bend.
A car would get a little shimmy on - a motorcycle would end up in the ditch.
I unloaded once in the rain, but it was my fault. I was going too quickly into a corner. But that was in the early 1970s and it hasn't happened since. A few slides here and there, but lesson learned.
The thing about motorcycles is, they do look dangerous.
Anything of a sporting nature with an engine of 600cc or above will happily send its pilot up to 240km/h.
A couple of months ago I spent four days on a piece of Italian one-litre exotica which has a top speed not far short of 300km/h.
I didn't do that of course, but I did experience the sensation of nudging the open road speed limit while still only in second gear ... it has six speeds.
I have seen 245km/h on a bike speedometer - that was on the back straight at Pukekohe testing Kawasakis. It felt fast, but yeah, it was rather fun, in an exhilarating way. But that sort of speed belongs in that sport and on a race track.
Yes, big motorcycles are fast. But that does not make them dangerous? No. Again, only vulnerable.
They are also, it appears, invisible to some drivers.
"I didn't see you!" is a common introduction between startled motorists and wounded riders. I've heard it myself.
I have had (and it's not a record I roll out willingly as it's nothing to be proud of) eight motorcycle crashes, three requiring hospital treatment and one requiring admission. Wrist, ribs and pelvis broken, and stitches running into the dozens.
They were all, effectively, preventable.
However, two were as the result of having vehicles turn in front of me, both resulting in unavoidable impacts.
They were all avoidable had I, and the two drivers involved in the car-bike liaisons, been doing everything right.
The last "off" was a relatively minor affair five or six years ago. I had a test bike, a big one with a very, very willing engine, and too much gas while turning to straighten up high-sided me over the bars.
I'd kind of figured I'd worked out the acceleration/lean/speed equations by the age of 45 but nope, and it takes longer to heal the aches at that vintage too.
But that was an exception, as over the past 20 years I've clocked up a fair haul of kilometres without incident.
The bad run of "offs" came during the young years ... no surprises there.
I am wary when I get out on a bike today.
I don't ride as much as I used to but by virtue of having maintained my riding, and never been without a bike of some size in the shed for more than 30 years, I am comfortable with my abilities.
I am no longer a "10 foot tall and bulletproof" wannabe Barry Sheene (children, ask your parents) but a "medium-sized and breakable" rider who would rather meet doctors in a social environment than in a ward.
But maturity in years does not automatically equate to a savvy motorcyclist.
I was in Auckland a couple of years ago at a model launch and got talking to a bike dealer who said he shuddered when blokes of a greying vintage wandered into the showroom and declared they had to give up biking 20 or 30 years ago but now were in the position to "get back into it."
One positive fall-out from years of motorcycling is that I am a defensive driver in a four-wheel vehicle - most long-term riders are.
Copyright by Hawkes Bay Today
Subject: Road Crashes
Regional group: National
I'm scarred but i'm not scared
Hawkes Bay Today, Napier | Nov 22 2007 8:18AM
National — Having ridden motorcycles for 36 years I've got used to hearing the comment "motorcycles are dangerous".
It would usually transpire that the issuer of such statements knew someone who knew someone who got hammered in a bike crash, or worse, knew someone who had been killed while riding a motorcycle.
I used to defend motorcycling in a table-thumping way and still do, but not with the same amount of intensity because the "bikes are dangerous" perception is too ingrained in the national psyche to fight.
All I usually say now is "well I ain't hanging my boots up".
For me, riding a motorcycle is highly enjoyable.
Are they really dangerous?
No, they are not. They sit quietly in the shed at night and when they do go out they will only do what they are told.
In a well-maintained state they have good brakes, vision is excellent, response and manoeuverability is superb.
They won't bite.
But are they susceptible to danger, vulnerable in certain situations?
Oh yes, no doubt about that.
A simple rain shower ups the danger ante nicely, but then it comes back to the point about bikes doing what they are told.
Riding in the rain comes back to the operator.
But all the caution in the world won't prevent disaster from an unseen slick of diesel laid through the centre of a bend.
A car would get a little shimmy on - a motorcycle would end up in the ditch.
I unloaded once in the rain, but it was my fault. I was going too quickly into a corner. But that was in the early 1970s and it hasn't happened since. A few slides here and there, but lesson learned.
The thing about motorcycles is, they do look dangerous.
Anything of a sporting nature with an engine of 600cc or above will happily send its pilot up to 240km/h.
A couple of months ago I spent four days on a piece of Italian one-litre exotica which has a top speed not far short of 300km/h.
I didn't do that of course, but I did experience the sensation of nudging the open road speed limit while still only in second gear ... it has six speeds.
I have seen 245km/h on a bike speedometer - that was on the back straight at Pukekohe testing Kawasakis. It felt fast, but yeah, it was rather fun, in an exhilarating way. But that sort of speed belongs in that sport and on a race track.
Yes, big motorcycles are fast. But that does not make them dangerous? No. Again, only vulnerable.
They are also, it appears, invisible to some drivers.
"I didn't see you!" is a common introduction between startled motorists and wounded riders. I've heard it myself.
I have had (and it's not a record I roll out willingly as it's nothing to be proud of) eight motorcycle crashes, three requiring hospital treatment and one requiring admission. Wrist, ribs and pelvis broken, and stitches running into the dozens.
They were all, effectively, preventable.
However, two were as the result of having vehicles turn in front of me, both resulting in unavoidable impacts.
They were all avoidable had I, and the two drivers involved in the car-bike liaisons, been doing everything right.
The last "off" was a relatively minor affair five or six years ago. I had a test bike, a big one with a very, very willing engine, and too much gas while turning to straighten up high-sided me over the bars.
I'd kind of figured I'd worked out the acceleration/lean/speed equations by the age of 45 but nope, and it takes longer to heal the aches at that vintage too.
But that was an exception, as over the past 20 years I've clocked up a fair haul of kilometres without incident.
The bad run of "offs" came during the young years ... no surprises there.
I am wary when I get out on a bike today.
I don't ride as much as I used to but by virtue of having maintained my riding, and never been without a bike of some size in the shed for more than 30 years, I am comfortable with my abilities.
I am no longer a "10 foot tall and bulletproof" wannabe Barry Sheene (children, ask your parents) but a "medium-sized and breakable" rider who would rather meet doctors in a social environment than in a ward.
But maturity in years does not automatically equate to a savvy motorcyclist.
I was in Auckland a couple of years ago at a model launch and got talking to a bike dealer who said he shuddered when blokes of a greying vintage wandered into the showroom and declared they had to give up biking 20 or 30 years ago but now were in the position to "get back into it."
One positive fall-out from years of motorcycling is that I am a defensive driver in a four-wheel vehicle - most long-term riders are.
Copyright by Hawkes Bay Today
Subject: Road Crashes
Regional group: National