Senior Discounts?

Ken Ibold said:
Motorcyclists (even those who aren't pilots) are a lot like pilots. They internalize as truth that accidents only happen to the less skilled or less conscientious.
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Speaking as a motorcyclist I'll agree that some do. Others of us have learned that every cager is out to kill us and those with motorcycle brand decals in their rear window are the absolute most dedicated to the task. I like riding with little traffic around these days. City traffic on a bike just isn't much fun.
 
Clark1961 said:
Speaking as a motorcyclist I'll agree that some do. Others of us have learned that every cager is out to kill us and those with motorcycle brand decals in their rear window are the absolute most dedicated to the task. I like riding with little traffic around these days. City traffic on a bike just isn't much fun.
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I have been riding since 1976 and currently use mine to commute in heavy rush hour interstate highway traffic whenever weather permits. I'm most wary of aggressive men in pickup trucks and clueless middle aged women in SUVs. But you are right: One must always be prepared for any vehicle you can see to suddenly try to kill you.

As a biker of more than 40 years and a pilot of more than 30 years, I think the similarities in the personalities of people drawn to these activities are striking.
 
Ken Ibold said:
I have been riding since 1976 and currently use mine to commute in heavy rush hour interstate highway traffic whenever weather permits.
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Before our move downtown I was an all weather motorcycle commuter for 16 years. The only days I didn't ride were days with predictions for severe TS or frozen precip. Anything else was game. That said, I most prefer backroads touring, the more backroad, the better.

Now that I'm downtown I commute by bicycle in good weather, it just isn't worth the effort to gear up for a 3mi motorcycle ride.
 
I like to ride. My first bike was a '66 Ducati 250 and I have had about a dozen bikes since then.

But what ****es me off about bikers now is all the car bumper stickers that say "look twice, save a life" (with a picture of a biker). My question is why don't more bikers don't look out for themselves? I see them zipping between cars on the interstate, flying through intersections without looking, running red lights, tailgating and speeding. Then when they cause a crash they blame the 4 wheeler for not looking out for them.
 
JOhnH said:
But what ****es me off about bikers now is all the car bumper stickers that say "look twice, save a life" (with a picture of a biker). My question is why don't more bikers don't look out for themselves? I see them zipping between cars on the interstate, flying through intersections without looking, running red lights, tailgating and speeding.
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The population motorcyclist/biker isn't all that different from the population cage driver. I see cars doing all of these things as well. Some people are conscientious operators, others are flaming arseholes.
 
Bill Jennings said:
The population motorcyclist/biker isn't all that different from the population cage driver. I see cars doing all of these things as well. Some people are conscientious operators, others are flaming arseholes.
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I agree with that. But I still think there should be more emphasis on defensive driving by bikers than on blaming stupid "cage drivers".
 
JOhnH said:
I agree with that. But I still think there should be more emphasis on defensive driving by bikers than on blaming stupid "cage drivers".
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Now that this has thoroughly been hijacked into a motorcycle thread ...

Bought my first bike in 1977 when I went to college when I was 17. One of my best friends bought one at the same time. He was still in high school and lived at home. We were at his house, feeling great about ourselves, when his dad came outside. His dad was an old school ex Navy guy -- anchor tattoo on the forearm and everything. He had this deep voice that was all growly from decades of whiskey and cigarettes. He said: "If you guys are going to ride these things, you will remember one rule and you will follow it without fail every time you get on it. You WILL act as it any car you can see is being driven by your girlfriend's dad."

For us, that was enough.
 
Ken Ibold said:
Now that this has thoroughly been hijacked into a motorcycle thread ...

Bought my first bike in 1977 when I went to college when I was 17. One of my best friends bought one at the same time. He was still in high school and lived at home. We were at his house, feeling great about ourselves, when his dad came outside. His dad was an old school ex Navy guy -- anchor tattoo on the forearm and everything. He had this deep voice that was all growly from decades of whiskey and cigarettes. He said: "If you guys are going to ride these things, you will remember one rule and you will follow it without fail every time you get on it. You WILL act as it any car you can see is being driven by your girlfriend's dad."

For us, that was enough.
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Most of my high school girlfriend's parents liked me. That is why most of my high school romantic relationships never lasted long.
 
Half Fast said:
Volvos.

Dear God, protect me from Volvo drivers.
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Amen to that. Soccer moms driving Volvos in Silicon Valley were the worst. Then, when I moved to the Portland, Oregon area years ago I figured out how to deal with Portland drivers. Assume they are ALL Silicon Valley soccer moms driving Volvos. Unpredictable is an understatement.

I rode a motorcycle for 5 years in college. I have the screws in my left ankle to prove it. The orthopedic surgeon who put my wife and me back together after an idiot ran a stop sign (at an estimated 30 mph) and hit our bike broadside kept referring to them (motorcycles) as "murder cycles". He was not a fan of them. Great fun, but get into an argument with a car and you lose. Right, wrong or indifferent, you lose.

I knew 4 people in high school and college who needed helmets. 3 had them (my wife and myself included) and are alive today. One didn't and he died at the scene. Limited sample size, but 100% correlation. If you ride, wear a helmet.
 
Paulie said:
After buying (new) a 78 R100S a 86 S, and a 05 R1100RSL I thought I had enough of BMW but my R1200S is something else.
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Had one BMW before this one, an ‘03 R1150RT, put 90kmi on that one, it was still running fine when I traded it off on a Truimph Street Triple R.
 
Ken Ibold said:
Motorcyclists (even those who aren't pilots) are a lot like pilots. They internalize as truth that accidents only happen to the less skilled or less conscientious.
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Motorcyclists and pilots must both deal with the risk of death.

But there’s a difference — the degree to which fate is in your own hands.

If I die as a pilot, the odds are great that it will be due to my error. As a biker, less so.

Unpredictable hazards are much more likely to kill a biker than a pilot. Deer, traffic, and the like.

Collisions with left-turning cars kill loads of bikers who often can do almost nothing about it, except to avoid streets altogether.
 
I came up on a motorcycle accident this evening right at sundown. I missed seeing it by seconds. Medium sized cruiser did not realize traffic came to a stop and laid it down. The bike missed the stopped car but the rider didn't. Helmet and leathers saved his butt, and head and all the rest of his skin.

He went to the hospital but I do not think anything was broken. By the time the ambulance arrived he was sitting on the tail gate of a pickup.

Around here most bikers are the cause of the crash. Something about going fast and alcohol. Or riding between cars.
 
NoHeat said:
Motorcyclists and pilots must both deal with the risk of death.

But there’s a difference — the degree to which fate is in your own hands.

If I die as a pilot, the odds are great that it will be due to my error. As a biker, less so.

Unpredictable hazards are much more likely to kill a biker than a pilot. Deer, traffic, and the like.

Collisions with left-turning cars kill loads of bikers who often can do almost nothing about it, except to avoid streets altogether.
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I get what you're saying, but mynpoint of view is a little different. I think bilers are far more in control of their fate than you do. Are there idiot drivers who serm to be hunting for bikes? Absolutely. But I feel at least as safe on a bike as in a small plane. The hazards are just different. Flying is more complicated and more likely to induce pilot error than riding. Defensive driving negates most of the hazards created by cars. That's my take. Obviously you feel differently. I'm not here to try to convince you otherwise. But after 40 years of riding and 30 flying, my conclusions are firm for myself.
 
In my biking years I rode as I drive. Every vehicle on the road is trying to kill me. Cannons and machine guns should be allowed to deal with those idiots.

In the past few years two Michigan State Police troopers have lost their lives in collisions with cars and prior to them be accepted into motorcycle patrol on the freeways they must prove themselves competent riders. If they get killed in the line of duty what chance does the rider who goes out to enjoy a sunny day have?

I had my fun on the Gold Wing , nearly 100,000 miles worth but I am not sorry that I no longer ride.

I'm getting older and realizing I am mortal. Death will come soon enough without my hastening it at the hand of some stupid jerk who drives like tomorrow is imaginary.
 
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