long standing member wrote:madryan wrote:long standing member wrote:Look up motorcycle accident stats. YOU HAVEN'T!
Up here where the roads actually curve it's about 70% single vehicle crashes WRONGand of those they're mostly harleys. WHO SAYS? NO STATS HERE
Face it, for anyone who's used to bikes which actually perform, they're deathtraps. If you dig them fine. If you want something that's safe for 2-up riding buy an ST-1300 or something that's designed to go reasonably well with the added weight of a passenger and has a suspension system that can handle it.
ARE YOU ACTUALLY SAYING THAT SPORTBIKES ARE DEATHTRAPS???? IF YOU'RE
USED TO RIDING A SPORT BIKE, WHY WOULD IT BE A DEATHTRAP??
IF YOU'RE ACTUALLY AWARE OF ANY STUDY THAT COMPARES SPORTSBIKES VS. TOURERS?? OR ONE THAT COMPARES ANY BRAND TO HARLEY'S???
BTW, I don't have anything against Harley type bikes, but why would you want to ride one? (other than status?)
Calm the fuck down dude...
I did in fact look up stats for out area and it was predominately single vehicle crashes.
That was way back when all the mid life crisis morons were pulling the equity out of their houses to buy a Hardly Ableson though.
Lots and lots of obits in the paper and the local HD dealer always had a collection of wadded bikes they were doing estimates on. You didn't see anything like that in the sport biking community, of which I was a member. We did track days and schools and had clinics for newer riders so they could learn, as well as encouraging proper gear. Group rides were gear mandated (full face, real jacket, gloves, boots, at minimum but most of us just wore full leathers)
Bi difference in the different groups who ride.
calm your own sorry fuck ass down
what you call "stats" are what the rest of the world calls "anecdote".
I'm
still trying to figure out whether you think it's more dangerous to ride a sportbike than a cruiser. I thinks that a sportsbike rider is probably younger w/a lot more testosterone flowing than a Harley rider. That would cause the higher rate of wrecks, but not b/c of the type of bike itself.[/quote]
You seriously went 0-extreme butthurt faster than my ZX-10 would do 0-100 which is pretty damn fast.
For your information, the 70% stat came from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation guys who used to teach all the classes and schools down here. Take it up with them.
The types of bikes involved in wrecks came from anecdotal and from a bunch of guys I used to ride and shoot 3-gun with who were cops and who in fact were bemused by the fact that rather than guys on "bullet bikes" splattering themselves on guardrails, it was almost always a guy on a cruiser. In fact, just yesterday a dipshit on a Harley nearly rearended me because he was paying way more attention to his pretty little formation of bikes than he was the cars around him.
So in answer to your question, yes, Cruisers are much more dangerous to ride because they're much heavier, don't turn or stop nearly as well, and often times have seriously underspec'd brakes. That said, often, as you pointed out, idiots buy a clapped out used 600 as their first bike and ride like an idiot. However, most of the guys I knew who rode sportbikes, and we had a fairly large group which was affiliated with all the local dealers so we could gather up the new riders, were responsible riders, despite riding fast, who took the time to learn to ride.
I'd say that in the hierarchy of folks I've ridden with over the 20 or so years I've ridden on the street, the safest were the Goldwing/BMW/Concours guys. Those guys wrack up huge miles and tend to be really good riders on whatever they're on. Then there's the guys like me who were track day fiends and tended to buy sportbikes and ride them year round. I only owned my old pickup that the wifey drove and my various bikes for years. If I was going somewhere it was on 2 wheels, rain or shine. After that it's the guys who are relatively new but are consciously working at developing the skills to ride. They sign up for track schools and MSF courses and learn how to really ride, regardless of what sort of bike they ride. Then there's the casual riders. These guys often see the bike as a fashion accessory. My buddy Steve had a neighbor who trailered his Harley to Sturgis every year, then he'd sell it and buy a new one the next year. He'd maybe ride 500-700 miles in a year. I'd do 20k in a year. We'd all be getting ready to go on a group ride and have our bikes lined up along the curb and he'd come out and talk shit about our "Jap" bikes lol. Those guys, and the guys who are just learning to ride for the first time at 45 and think their 800lb Road King is just like the 125 they rode back in the day are often downright dangerous.
I used to do this big poker run with a bunch of friends. Several hundred bikes would do the Redwood highway and have lunch then come back whichever way we wanted. Every year some guy would eat it. What really blew me away was the Harley guys drinking beer with lunch. Beer, during a ride FFS lol....
Even the kevlar jeans don't always perform that well in a crash... I've seen some gnarly pictures but luckily haven't experienced it myself. I do wear just regular jeans once in a while but if I leave town I wear my leathers.
