Is it really true that everybody crashes?

[Dodger]

I've been riding my bike for around 6 months now, and was using a borrowed bike before that.

Also been riding a 50cc scooter around Stokes Valley for over a year. (probably the saddest 2 wheeler ever to have a kiwi biker sticker on the back )

I've had a few "oh shit" moments, but no bins or drops.... yet.
When riding the bike I wear full gear. On the scooter It's just a helm, jacket and gloves. It's not that the road is any softer on the scooter, but the speeds are less and the trips shorter.

[Citroenjunkie]

I've been riding of and on for the past 30 years. I had one incredible close call when I was 16 and riding a Honda 50, since then I have kept my eyes wide open and ridden very defensively.

It is essential that you find your limits and then work out for yourself how close to them you want to go.

I remember once when I was racing a CB72 Honda in classics. It was pissing down, but I was young and invincible and didn't pay much attention. When I got into the pits my father nearly brained me. The bike was evidently sliding all over the road, but I was so wrapped up chasing a mate I really hadn't noticed. The next practice session I approached the track with far more concentration paid attention to what the bike was doing, worked out how far I was prepared to push the bike and myself and still had a total ball. I wasn't slow either!

I think that the biggest danger is swallowing everyone else's bull and trying to match their real or imagined exploits. You decide how fast or slow you are comfortable riding. I doubt you will lie on your deathbed wishing you'd gone just a bit deeper into that corner, or cut infront of just one more blind bastard in a truck.

It's your life, you decide!

[Chisanga]

I think that the biggest danger is swallowing everyone else's bull and trying to match their real or imagined exploits. You decide how fast or slow you are comfortable riding. I doubt you will lie on your deathbed wishing you'd gone just a bit deeper into that corner, or cut infront of just one more blind bastard in a truck.

It's your life, you decide!

I think that was very well put

[Blairos]

Simply Put, I dont EVER plan on falling off, but "if" (not when) it happens, I will be in a position, gear-wise, to limit any damage incurred...
No point in wearing it otherwise...

[Disco Dan]

Various sources of statistics have told me:

From the moment you buy your first bike your average life span drops to about 15 years.

The chances are that in the first 6 months of you learning to ride you will fall off/crash.

[Chisanga]

Various sources of statistics have told me:

From the moment you buy your first bike your average life span drops to about 15 years.

The chances are that in the first 6 months of you learning to ride you will fall off/crash.

You mean BY 15 years I assume. I find that hard to believe - could you provide the statistics you mentioned that show this?

[Jamezo]

Hmm. I've spent my time in bike riding constantly pushing myself to my limits.

I've had a couple of bins where my brain has simply shut down and not made a corner (not nearly coming in too hot), one resulting in injury (broken arm).

One bin on gravel when I tried to neatly apex a corner dragging me knee, but other riders ahead took the more sensible option and slowed down. Couldn't really go anywhere with that one. Braking + gravel = sideways.

One bin in the wet where I lost the rear when cranked over mid-corner, with no change of rear wheel torque (bad camber though).

One road accident where I was sideswiped by a car I was splitting past (after aggressively splitting for months and never clipping so much as a mirror), resulting in a badly broken arm.

The interesting part is, all of those corner bins were right-handers. I am now rather apprehensive about right handers, and I need to re-program my brain to improve my riding. I think some carpark sessions might do the trick.

Would I recommend adopting this approach to riding? Not really. Was it productive in terms of raising skill and having obscene amounts of fun? Yeah.

[Disco Dan]

You mean BY 15 years I assume.

oh yes BY 15 years was the stat!

[Crisis management]

I am never sure whether these types of threads are seriously about "I want to ride a bike but don't want to get hurt" or an excuse to get a gratuitous thrill.
A simple reflection on the process of bike riding must make it apparent that it has some safety issues.

It involves balancing at speed on two skinny rubbery things on a changing surface with constantly changing forces enacting on the vehicle.
Left to its own devices a motorbike will lie down.
The act of riding involves constantly challenging your skills, how well have you judged your cornering speed?
A motorcycle is capable of high speeds and it is very tempting to find out what that capability is.

If, from an analysis of the above, you don't realise that at some time gravity is going to win, you must be stupid.

So... there are risks, now, any sensible questions?

[Dai]

I can in all honesty only say, that I do not know if everybody will crash.

All I really know is that I have crashed and all my bike riding friends have at some time, crashed.

The skill I have learnt is too be as aware as I possibly can and hopefully limit the effects of any spills I have.

As I get older it gets harder to recover from these.

[sunhuntin]

Various sources of statistics have told me:

From the moment you buy your first bike your average life span drops to about 15 years.

The chances are that in the first 6 months of you learning to ride you will fall off/crash.

how many years have you lost by the time youve bought 3 or 4 bikes? im guessing my life is down what? 45 years? cos im on my 3rd bike, lol.

[jafar]

these can be used in all kinds of different ways to prove a point.There used to be one floating around that claimed that if you are currently riding a motorcycle of 250cc or more & had been riding for more than 2 years you had been in 2 fatal accidents . I.E you were dead twice over. Not surprising that it wasn't taken seriously.

[madandy]

Some learners simply push a bit harder than others when starting out...attempting stoppies, wheelies etc is gonna lead to a few learner offs for sure.
I started out on a 50cc at age 5 and crashed that a couple of times then didn't hurt myself until I was 13 on a CR250-trying to jump...I've had a SR250, GS650, XR250,AX100, RF400 & YZF600 over the last 12 years and not come close to falling off on the roads.

It may be a case of odds...

Push your limits and you'll find out how lucky/unlucky, skilled/unskilled you are. Ride within your limits and learn every lesson you possibly can...speed is for track days and carfully assessed conditions.

[Macktheknife]

My opinion after 26 years of riding is this; it is not carved in stone that you will crash, it is however, likely that you will put the bike on one of the sides not intended for contact with hard surfaces. Whether this is through an attack of the dumb, forgetting to put ones feet down for example, or through going too fast in a corner, or being too tired to judge things well, it is likely that you will have it happen to you.
Having said that, many people have ridden for many years and had no 'serious accidents', involving bad choices or bad luck, so it is not definite that you will have a 'crash', but you might have a 'bugger'.

[McJim]

My own experience tells me that if you come to motorbikes when you are a bit older (over 30) and with a good deal of road sense already that it's less likely that you will bin the bike.

Many people come to bikes for the thrill and the thrill comes from pushing the envelope a bit. If there was no risk there would be no thrill.

So the question is what would you like to get from your bike?

1/ An economic mode of transport that lets you feel at one with the elements?
2/ A fast accelerating piece of metal upon which much fun can be had?

Bear in mind that (statistically) people who buy performance cars crash more often than people who buy family stationwagons simply because of the reason they bought them - if you drive/ride at the edge of your ability then it will probably go wrong at some point. The consequences of getting it wrong on a motorbike however are almost always worse than when you get it wrong in a Nissan Skyline.