sticking together.

[Antallica]

Urm... did you mean, "sexy chick on that daytona with a great pony ass", or some "yellow chick with a sexy bike"?

Which was better looking?? Or sexier? got any pix?

You edited that sir!.... long ass ponytail I said!

No I don't think she was hot shit at all.

[KATWYN]

I waved to a couple of Harley riders (riding together) on the
weekend ....but alas...no wavey back

But I shall keep doing it.....

[Posh Tourer :P]

Preach it man, preach it!

One thing that has cultivated unity for the NZ biker community would have to be KB. I for one have a far more positive attitude about riding/riders now that I have spent a few months chatting/debating with you lot - my impression of kiwi motorcyclists in general has somewhat improved.

Mr Frosty, as far as less and less young guys getting into bikes, fighting amongst ourselves, sneering at eachother, the government rating us as 2nd class, etc etc...whatever factors have lead you to having this opinion have not influenced me in the same way.


Zed

Unity for the NZ biker community in KB? yes ok, but it is still dominated by sportsbikers and racers. With some exceptions, there are very few BMW Harley Trike and Scooter riders on here.
Perhaps the scooter riders are absent because it is mainly a convenient means of transport rather than a fun activity that they would seek out like minded people for. The best bets for creating unity are probably things like the Wanganui street races and events such as the Westpac Heli run.
Still, I will promote the site as much as I can.....There has been, as far as I can see, a turnaround in the attitudes of many sportbike riders on here towards harleys, in most riders towards scooters. The fun comments are more taking the piss rather than comments truly believed. What hasnt really happened yet is a turnaround in attatude towards beemer riders or trike riders. The stereotypes probably have some basis, but oh well....

I think the main issue for the biking community now is that the young guys are not being let into the biker community, parents who rode in the 70s have horror stories of "I knew someone who was badly mutilated on a bike", and wont let their kids ride. This is changing slowly, as parents lose control of their kids at age 20 or so, but bikes are still not seen as a means of transport. They are toys, and expensive ones at that, to buy new.
Because there are very few bikes on the road being used as commuters, they arent an option many people would consider. They are considered dangerous, perhaps because of the high number of deaths in the 70s? and this attitude has persisted.

Having said that, the more young guys there are out there commuting to Uni, getting free parking and beating congestion, the better. I have convinced one of my friends to start riding as a commuter, because it is that much more convenient and possibly also cheaper, and at least another couple are interested. Keep encouraging young people to ride, and get some momentum going. The more bikes on the road, the more of an option they seem to present to the rest of the general public, and as a side benefit, the safer they get as people learn to look out for them!! (grr blind cagers)

[Jackrat]

I've been thinking about this whole being a biker thing a lot lately.
It seems to me we are a pretty small -and ever shrinking community. less and less young guys are getting into bikes in Godzone.
We seem to be fighting amongst ourselves instead of showing a common front.
How many harly riders sneer at "rice rockets" and how many sports bike riders put down the harley guys.
I think maybee we need to look at ourselves and realise we're all in the same boat We have a goverment who rates us as second class
How about summat simple like waving to a guy on a custom bike or just saying gidday if ya see him.
OMG im sounding like a bloody preacher

It's not going to happen.
BRONZ tryed for years to get bikers to act in a combined front and were undermined by the very people they were trying to help.
NZs bikers had a damn good opertunity and all they could do was piss in their own nest.The club I belong to today is made up of mainly ex BRONZ members like myself who came to belive NZ bikers did not deserve our time and efforts in the first place.We worked bloody hard on behalf of bikers and got nothing but back stabbing and bitching in return.Today the organisation is a shadow of it's former self.Thank you bikers of NZ,you did it to yourselfs.

[FROSTY:Me]

Yep i hear ya jack. Lots of stupid politicling and so fourth.
All Im suggesting is we take the first step. Say gidday to a triker. Wave to a custom rider-or a BM rider.
If they dont wave back first time so what.

[Joni]

the other day I was in my car, a really nice bike came past, not sure the exact model, I hooted at him in confirmtion as I moved aside in the traffic, he thought I was being aggresive,pulled a fingerat me! Damn.

[jrandom]

I hooted at him in confirmtion as I moved aside in the traffic, he thought I was being aggresive

Yeah. Don't hoot, wave. Or just nod if you don't want to take your hands away from important motorcycular controlification duties.

[Joni]

Yeah. Don't hoot, wave. Or just nod if you don't want to take your hands away from important motorcycular controlification duties.

I hear you, thanks....I thought Iwas being friendly, lol.

[Gixxer 4 ever]

[COLOR=Blue]Yes I am new here. So if I muck this up such is life. I can not get with this idea that we have a problem. What boat are we in? if some of the other riders do not wave? I would not spend time with some people by choice and they would not want to spend time with me so if they have a different attitude to life than mine why should I wave to them? I always stop and help any type of bike or rider that needs help. I do not see that we have a problem. Yes ACC etc etc but there is to much living to do to get bogged down in the politics. Just ride as often as we can. [QUOTE=XJ/FROSTY]
I think maybee we need to look at ourselves and realise we're all in the same boat

[jimbo600]

I've been thinking about this whole being a biker thing a lot lately.
It seems to me we are a pretty small -and ever shrinking community. less and less young guys are getting into bikes in Godzone.
We seem to be fighting amongst ourselves instead of showing a common front.
How many harly riders sneer at "rice rockets" and how many sports bike riders put down the harley guys.
I think maybee we need to look at ourselves and realise we're all in the same boat We have a goverment who rates us as second class
How about summat simple like waving to a guy on a custom bike or just saying gidday if ya see him.
OMG im sounding like a bloody preacher

A united front is indeed what we need. In the UK a few years back the eurocrats were really clamping down on bikes. Leg protecters, 100bhp limit. Things were looking pretty grim. MAG (motorcycle action group) are the UK equivilent of BRONZ. MAG was mainly made up of HD riders and the like until the political pressure was applied to bikes. After that there was all sorts of bikes on the MAG runs. Gixxers, HD's, 250's, the whole gamut. Slowly things began to change, and as history shows, no leg protectors or 100bhp limits were ever introduced. In fact the fat German who was the champion of all these crap anti bike ideas lost his job.

Personally I don't give a f**k what anybody rides. Every one on two wheels is alright by me.............until they pass me, then it's all on.

[dhunt]

I've been thinking about this whole being a biker thing a lot lately.
It seems to me we are a pretty small -and ever shrinking community. less and less young guys are getting into bikes in Godzone.

This is true. But for me a couple of my mates had a ride on the back of my bike and liked it sooo much they decided to get bikes of there own.

I think bikes do need to be promoted more. But there is always the other side of the coin, you are more likely to bin a bike than a car and get hurt a lot worse. This creates bad press, bikes get labled as dangerous beasts.

Well that's my 2cents, got to get back studying

David

[Cajun]

Okay i have always loved bikes always will, i do not like cars full stop, owned one car, i have decided i never own a car again.

Alot of young people, see getting in to motorcycles as expensive it bloody well is, you look at much for a cbr250 $4500 + $1500 gear, so $6000 you go see what car you can get for $6000, a hell of alot of car for that money. Also the baby boomer mothers, don't want they little babys getting hurt on the big bad motorcycles, my parents did not want me riding a motorcycle, since my uncle died on one, they knew they couldn't stop me, but they also did not help me.
And then there is the motorcycle law, you have to do a basic skill handling test before you can get your learners licience, so in turn you need to know how to ride a motorcycle before you can get basic skill handing test, do they have to that with a car no, just go scrach a few boxes, and what ya know, they have a licence, and can get in there daddys v8 holden, wrx and drive.
Due to this, there is not a great deal of people around my age that in to motorcycles, to have friends with espically in tauranga.

The one thing that gets on my goat, is when people call motorcycles tempoary citizens. Its a load of bollocks, which in turn makes bikes sound dangous


I have ride all sorts bikes, father in law has bmw i ride often(needs a run), he use to have a vn1500 cruiser, i use to ride that alot, sister in law a vn1500 meanstreak, and ride that from time to time. So i ride everything from cruisers, sports touring(bmw, bandit 600, vtr1000f), to my gsxr600.

I find most types of people only wave out to bikes in same types, alot of guys on gsxr1000, r1 would not wave out to me on my gsxr1100, looked more like a sports tourer, but now those sames guys wave out to me on the gsxr600. and so on and so on.

Personally i wave out to pretty much every bike i see riding, either they riding the other direction, or i go flying past them or they past me. Either they harleys, gang members on harleys/triumphs, or just average job bloggs. Its only really 5/10 people wave back. But that doesn't stop me i still be friendly.


hmmmm i think i have rambled on enough for me i still could still babble about more, but thats enough to pounder about now

[phil_elvey]

Personally I don't give a f**k what anybody rides. Every one on two wheels is alright by me.............until they pass me, then it's all on.

So true
As for the actuall debate, yeah I think the parents are a big problem. I talk to heaps of parents who won't let their kids ride, and by the time they get to 20 and leave home they've got themselves hooked on boy racers instead and they think that's where it's at - they don't realise what they're missing in bikes.

Also, I've always thought the best way to get NZers on two wheels en mass is to do a big biking drive in Auckland. I hear so much whinging about the traffic in Auckland (which is fair enough, I'm not saying its not bad or the whinging is unjustified), but imagine if half of the commuting public of Auckland got into bikes, the traffic problem would be instantly reprieved.

They don't have to be racey sports bikes either, thinking like someone has no history of bikes and wants to commute on a bike, one of those 650cc scooters would be quite appealing I think - good in the traffic, easy to ride and plenty of juice.

[Wenier]

Personally I don't give a f**k what anybody rides. Every one on two wheels is alright by me.............until they pass me, then it's all on.

That must b alot of ppl then jimbo ahahahha.

[Wenier]

The fun comments are more taking the piss rather than comments truly believed.

Having said that, the more young guys there are out there commuting to Uni, getting free parking and beating congestion, the better.

That is completely true most of us here are jus tryin to take the piss out of each other because of brand and whatnot but in the end we will ride together and then talk alot shit at the end of any ride.

And the uni one is a good one as i have found that quite a few ppl were getting into it for that reason of free parking and commuting, and in vic uni at wellington they have even started a club as a group of us were always going for rides whenever we could.