Bike down on 16, 23 March

[gunnyrob]

Saw a bit of the aftermath, SCU were taking measurements, one waggled his finger at me as I went past heading south. A crane was in the process of lifting his bike up the bank, looks like he went through a fence as he went down the bank. Hope he/she pulls through o.k.

As others have said, it's an excellent road, just treat with respect.

[ducatijim]

[QUOTE=SixPackBack;1486609]Save the lecture dude, you do not know the details. 16 is open, wide, flowing with no supprises-it is in fact a great riding road that is well maintained.
QUOTE]

Oh, I realise that any 'lecture' would fall on deaf and dumb ears here, that was why my comment was merely an opinion.

No, I wasn't there, however bike v countryside = rider fuck-up,( usually!!)

And, thanks for your expert opinion of SH16, but I can make my own call on it, as I too ride it.

I wonder if 15 minutes of adrenalin 'rush' will compensate for a lifetime of limp?
When someone else takes you out, now that sux; nobody deserves that and they would receive all my sympathy, but the likes of folk who send their 'prilla down the road into on-coming cars, well those folk should not be riding on public roads.
Harsh? no, its just good manners really.

[Katman]

No there's not. It's the same as always. We just blather about it far too much. We start off with about 12 threads per bin which eventually get merged so each individual bin ALWAYS starts off looking like some WWII Russian village massacre. Don't give me the lecture about learning from others mistakes either because motorcyclists don't do that as a rule. Some of them say they want to but they're just trying to keep up appearances.

If we stopped obsessing about it and went riding instead we'd all be doing ourselves a favour.

Jim, just because you got tired of smelling of stale piss and sold out doesn't mean the rest of us who are concerned by the constant display of irresponsibility on motorcycles are prepared to do the same.

I used to see you as a man of conviction and action but these days you come across more like a ditzy blonde trying to figure out which shoulder her hair would look better tossed over.

[Motu]

No there's not. It's the same as always. We just blather about it far too much.

Jim2's right - there is a bit of fluctuation over the years,but we have been crashing bikes since they were invented.Before the internet you only knew someone who crashed if you knew them personally or you had at least seen them in the flesh and knew who they were.You might of heard about it weeks later when someone said ''Hey,did you hear about......?'' Now I hear about a bike that crashed on SH16 within hours....and so does the rest of the world if they so desire.I don't know the guy or what bike he was riding,but I do know the road.Not nice - but it's never been nice.

[Katman]

The point that some of us are trying to make Motu is that there needs to be an improvement in the manner in which motorcyclists conduct themselves on the roads. The fact that motorcyclists might have been conducting themselves like that since the year dot doesn't change the fact that attitudes need to change - otherwise one day the government might just decide to take the whole matter out of our hands.

[tri boy]

Here's an idea, a part of the govt fuel tax for cars/bikes can be converted into a sort of fly buys point, that can be redeemed at a race track to hire one of Shauns bikes for an hour session. (say 2000 points gets you an hour of tutorial riding).
Riders get their speed jollies every 3months if they are heavy fuel users, ACC get better riders, Shaun and people like him can make a reasonable living passing on riding skills. Everybody wins. Damn, theres the problem, the Govt arn't forward thinking.

[Toaster]

Mm, true, but, f'rinstance, if I keep slowing down, 1/10 becomes a very slow wobbly U-turn on a 250kg motorcycle, which starts getting butt-clenchy again.

Try a 350kg cruiser.....

[James Deuce]

jrandom's already made the point that needs to be made and illustrates perfectly that there is nothing you can do for those with an empty cranium. They know about the bump, but they still whinge about "it pushing" them into oncoming traffic.

Some of us have that experience once on a particular piece of road and modify our behaviour to suit in future. The n00b testosterone/oestrogen (increasingly) suicide bombers (we should call them Hezbikkah) will count it as a rite of passage and hit it at ever increasing speeds and ever decreasing available talent until it all goes pear shaped and then complain about the road surface.

Those of us with a ken for avoiding stress whilst motorcycling will barely have a clue about that which the Hezbikkah are complaining because we whistled through that bend in 1983, discovered the bump, stored it away and our line is permanently modified. Or our subconcious spotted it and moved us around it. Often at speeds the Hezbikkah dream of but seldom hit without a trip to ICU.

[sAsLEX]

You can build up plenty of speed on that stretch,

Jesus, dude, start riding to the conditions.

There's nothing wrong with that bit of road.

and there ain't no dodgy surface there

[QUOTE=ducatijim;1487056]

No, I wasn't there, however bike v countryside = rider fuck-up,( usually!!)

Just done 1000km southish and 16 is like a billiard table compared to SH22, that things has jumps,bumps and potholes big enough and ugly enough to seriously upset your bike....... thats what makes it fun! It has to be treated with respect.

Though saying Single Vehicle Accidents must be rider error is taking to polarised a view. There is some serious shortfalls in some of our roads, my favourite is the unmarked seal repairs that leave gravel nicely hidden right on the line, sure you should easily adjust for it, but it is a situation caused by poor road repair. So some of the blame for these accidents goes to road condition, maybe poor bike set up, maybe a lot of things.

I know this morning I nearly fell into a pothole that more than likely would of had me off the road due to its size and depth which was very hard to pick up due to shadows and road colouration. I had the whole corner clearly sighted could see through the exit and that there was no traffic, but this hole was hidden....... would of it been entirely my fault if I had of hit it and come off?

[James Deuce]

would of it been entirely my fault if I had of hit it and come off?

Unfortunately statistical analysis and making the road user responsible for dodging crappy repairs would make it so.

[Katman]

And regardless of the excuses that Jim has put forward, I would would put it entirely down to rider fault.

We must always ride to the conditions put in front of us.

[James Deuce]

I didn't put a single excuse forward. You may want to try some after school remedial reading.

I do my best to "ride to the conditions". When they change I speed up.

However a big chunk of motorcyclists just go hard out and you can whinge as much as you want. They aren't going to change. A lot of them when they are taking it easy are still illegal in practically everything they do.

[sAsLEX]

I would would put it entirely down to rider fault.

Even not knowing ANY of the facts!

Wow you are amazing, I am going to believe everything you say!

[Dave_G]

[QUOTE=Katman;1487661]And regardless of the excuses that Jim has put forward, I would would put it entirely down to rider fault.

So what makes it rider fault genius? Haven't seen anything in the press to say that it is or isn't, thats simply your assumption. You ride the way you want to, I'll ride the way I want, simple as that. This isn't a club where everyone gets a vote, its just using a vehicle on the road, where there are rules. If you break those rules, then you take your chances, and it aint your business what I do- but if you don't like it you have 2 choices, *555 or piss off.

[Biggles08]

And regardless of the excuses that Jim has put forward, I would would put it entirely down to rider fault.

We must always ride to the conditions put in front of us.

So a car parked around a blind corner with the driver out of his vehicle in the other lane is rider beware situation is it? Ride to the conditions ALWAYS is it? Always the riders fault in a bin is it? Your a cock Katman...fucking pull your head in and wait to find the facts out first before blaming the poor guy/girl thats in a bit of pain right now. YOU DO NOT KNOW!

It may be rider error but that doesn't change anything at this point...your still a cock for presuming anything at this stage...I'm glad you weren't at my accident scene last year when the above scenario happened to me...you'd be too busy blaming me for the accident to call the ambulance while you preached to me about how I should have been riding to the conditions! There are other vehicles on the road too fella!