Of course anyone can go down, but at least he has the right mindset. My tips for new riders:

1. Ride as if nobody can see you, at all. Never give anyone the benefit of the doubt. Keep extra space between yourself and anyone you are following.

2. always keep an eye on the environment. Potholes, sand patches, oil slicks, rocks, tire treads, etc. are all your enemy. You should be able to see most things well before you reach them and be able to act accordingly to avoid them safely.

3. riding a motorcycle fast is fun. never ride your bike fast down any unknown roads. If you do want to "tear up" a backroad, twistie, etc. I'd recommend to ride down it first at a very reasonable speed to scope it out before hitting it at a faster pace. Or just take it to the track (if you have one nearby).

4. riding with friends can be good, but if you are riding with more advanced riders always go your OWN pace and never try to keep up with someone else. It's tempting.

5. avoid crappy situations altogether if you can. I ride my bike for fun and put thousands of miles on it each year, however I almost never ride in traffic, or through the accident prone "clusterfuck" areas around town. I'd just rather be in a cage for these scenarios.


These are just off the top of my head, but generally rules i go by. I'll update if i think of more.

 

all great advice.
I just kinda got over it after I laid it down though.

I must say I am quite tempted every now and then to pick up another crotch rocket, but I talk myself out of it lol

 

Cars are safer and you are a dad, it makes sense

However, for us single adrenaline junkies, it's hard to beat dragging a knee through some twisties. Plus the open air experience, the at "one-ness" with a good bike, and the feeling of freedom are all pretty awesome. You just need to be smart about it, same with snowboarding. Work your way up to things slowly and confidently or you will end up hurt.

 

There are no twisties where Ryan lives. The roads are straight and flat with square intersections. It is the most densely populated county in Florida. It is a place that is predominantly populated by grandparents and great-grandparents or service industry workers. Somebody with failing eyesight or someone with too many distractions inside their car turns left in front of a motorcyclist and kills them every single day of the week in this area. Every single day. Experienced riders get killed too, like the off-duty motorcycle cop that was killed a couple of weeks ago.

If you lived up near where my lake house is, I would understand it. Those roads are curvy and there are lots of great elevation changes and few people. I would totally get it. But the risk/reward balance is nuts around here. Add to it that the summer weather around here is typically not comfortable in shorts and a t-shirt, much less in properly armored riding leathers and a helmet. Up by the lakehouse, yes, worth it. Here? How could it be? It thunderstorms every single afternoon in the summer. It is hot and humid before the storm and then again right after it. Every day. Every day. Riding season is just ending here now.

I love motorcycles. They just don't make sense right here.

 

 

Buy a supermoto/motard instead of a sport bike. Way way better for city commuting than a street legal race bike.

 

Motard or dirt bike. Dirt bikes means off-road which means no rules. Hoon all the time, go fast, go slow, drift, spin the back tire at will, jump things, wheelies, stoppies, hit a berm and rail though it full throttle, etc no one hassles you. Usually you don't have traffic, and if you crash it's because you invoked it and the speeds are typically slower.

 

Yeah I can see a dirt bike in my future. Something cheap and fun that I can take out once in a blue moon and just go nuts on some trails or something.

 

Probably the most reasonable explanation to not get a bike I've heard. I live in the land of canyons, rural backroads, and major elevation changes so i'd probably keep my bike before the miata.

Commuting on a motorcycle can be fun. Dangerous, but fun. A buell is not a bad bike to be in traffic on, lots of torque, short wheelbase, low center of gravity, etc. I'm sure Ryan will ride safe on his bike if he chooses to get one.

 

having ridden a few twins before, I was seriously amazed at DAT TORQUE

 

Like I said, I don't plan to commute on it for a number of reasons. Danger being the top reason. Not really being any fun to ride in traffic is another. The bike is going to be a toy and when I ride with my brother we will probably head up north of where I live. The roads out that way are a lot less crowded and a lot less straight. They are no mountain twisties, but people who ride around here seem to enjoy them.

 

At least having a Buell discourages street racing other bikes since you'll get beat by 600's

Unless turbo......

 

While this is true, the 1200 is more of a ticket magnet imo. You can easily end up doing 90 at part throttle and 4k rpms on backroads.

But straight line performance you will get wiped out by 600's after 100mph. It will hang there with most 600's up to 100mph though.

 

street racing in a bike is beyond retarded either way.

"oh look bro I'm going 180 in 4 seconds if anything aside from perfect world conditions takes place I'm dead or injured to the point of wishing death"

herp derp

lol

 

Yeah, hard to say though. You can get up to speed quickly and quietly on a Buell. Cops and bystanders think they're just hearing another Harley struggling to hit 35 mph. On a 4-cyl everyone within a mile knows how fast you're going WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE buzz buzz.

Very true.

 

I ended up buying the bike on Friday. He did end up have the stock tail piece so I bought a seat for it. I have a few small aesthetic changes to make and I will take some pictures of it. The ride home was so much fun once I got over the initial nerves.

 

I'm gonna miss you, Boo.

 

An important tip, if you haven't heard it before:

At stop lights, especially when you're the only vehicle in your row, always leave the bike in gear and keep an eye on your mirrors. This can save your life if someone doesn't see you. This could have helped me avoid my accident altogether.

 

I can't believe I've never seen this thread.

My daily ride, 40WHP DRZ400SM. I thought selling my sportbike for one of these would be a "smarter" decision. I swear I'm going to get arrested riding where I shouldn't some day.


Just got done doing a SoCal Supermoto school...so much fun.

 

Two of my buddies have been rear ended sitting at stop lights on bikes. Lane splitting is illegal here, but you can bet that I'll be stuck between two cars and un-rear-end-able before I let the clutch out and relax.


The way to stay safe on the bike it to stay in control of your situation.