tink we average about that many a day here in beautiful SoCal. Poor guy in the paper this morning ran into an abandoned car in the car pool lane in the middle of the nite. I vote we take the cars away from everybody else, i'm writing maxine waters right now...
Motorcycle fatalities in the Sacramento Area
First post!
Seriously though, I guess I'd have to agree with Sean. Even the new rider on the Harley may have been taking risks that were a little too high in general - I don't know how fast he happened to be going, but I know I routinely see guys going down two-lane rural roads at night as fast as they would during the day. Now maybe some guys have much better night perception than I do, but I'll say that for me I tend to back off some at night, finding my ability to judge exact distances and speeds not as precise in darkness than in the light of day, not to mention making reading the road ahead of you from a long way off that much harder. I believe it's called "out-riding your headlights".
Seriously though, I guess I'd have to agree with Sean. Even the new rider on the Harley may have been taking risks that were a little too high in general - I don't know how fast he happened to be going, but I know I routinely see guys going down two-lane rural roads at night as fast as they would during the day. Now maybe some guys have much better night perception than I do, but I'll say that for me I tend to back off some at night, finding my ability to judge exact distances and speeds not as precise in darkness than in the light of day, not to mention making reading the road ahead of you from a long way off that much harder. I believe it's called "out-riding your headlights".
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What kind of fvcking idiot abandons a car in the carpool lane? They should throw him in jail for manslaughter.
I know we like to joke about Harleys being underpowered, but it's a relative thing. You can pick up a Dyna Glide from the dealer with a couple of Screaming Eagle addons that give it more power than performance bikes of not too many years ago. The original CB750, while outdated by today's standard's never made as much power as a lightly modified Dyna. And no one with half a brain would call a CB750 slow, even today. It'll still shred most any cage you can name. And it weighted almost as much as a Dyna.
The Dyna weighs a lot and it'll get you in real trouble awful fast if you're not careful.. as will any modern bike. And it's more likely he was stooging around on a softail. Big mistake for a newby. The guy might still be alive today if he'd taken a year to get experience on a GS500 or another smaller bike. Too bad these overgrown adolescent's egos require them to act so stupidly. Not enough respect for the sport. Afraid of being laughed at by other Rub idiots.
The Dyna weighs a lot and it'll get you in real trouble awful fast if you're not careful.. as will any modern bike. And it's more likely he was stooging around on a softail. Big mistake for a newby. The guy might still be alive today if he'd taken a year to get experience on a GS500 or another smaller bike. Too bad these overgrown adolescent's egos require them to act so stupidly. Not enough respect for the sport. Afraid of being laughed at by other Rub idiots.
None of the three sound like likely candidates for the oft touted remedy: rider training.
SSDD. Sean is probably 100% right...sigh.
SSDD. Sean is probably 100% right...sigh.
Re: Motorcycle deaths
"Down these mean streets a man must go, who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished, nor afraid." {R. Chandler}
It's getting nuts out there, and can only get worse. Good luck.
Except for short runs to the liquor store, I'm pretty much staying in the dirt.
"Down these mean streets a man must go, who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished, nor afraid." {R. Chandler}
It's getting nuts out there, and can only get worse. Good luck.
Except for short runs to the liquor store, I'm pretty much staying in the dirt.
The second guy was running away at 80-100mph? That's cruising speeds on all the freeways.
If this keeps up which I think it will, we are in trouble. It's too bad these people had to die and make us look even worse to the public to boot. But being in Sac the knee jerk reaction capital, it won't belong before some news hound wanting to make a name for him/herself does an expose on the "dark and dangerous motorcycle underground" and find a bunch shirtless ill-spoken wanna-bee stunter jackasses that are all too eager to be on TV to prove their point for them. Then the safety Nazi's will have "credible evidence" that all sportbike riders are represented by the few and we need them to save us from oursevles so that we don't kill ourselves and take some bystandard with us. Next horsepower regulation, limiteded riding hours (those damn things are dangerous enough you don't need to be riding them in rush hour traffic), and a full platoon of police to police the back country roads. Long story short watch out and be careful, I'm not saying don't speed, we all do it, we all rip the occasional wheelie. But doing everything to the extreme i.e. 100mph wheelies on surface streets and the like, is like saying "look at me I'm big irresponsible jackass who has no regard for your safety or mine" Sorry to rant but I used to work in a bike shop here in Sacto and the community used to be small and I have watched it grow and I have buried more friends than i care to recount, some by faults of their own some by the irresponsbility of others both cagers and other bikers. But this is what always scared me and still does. I want the fastest bike you have cause I wanna be like the Star Boyz, and if you try to show these morons a smaller bike, (note this garbage came from beginners...generally aged 18-30) they think you are infering that they are not man enough. Any way they buy, crash, die or if they don't die they find away to blame everyone and everything but themselves. And we all pay for it........public looks done on us, police harrass us and have you tried insure a sportbike in htis area lately? when I bought my RC51 in 2001 my insurance was $65 a month now it is almost $250 a month and I am 30, been riding since i was 19 and have had several MSF advanced rider courses. When I was younger I did not want to start on something top rate, for one the people I new that had them were truely fast guys, racers or exracers and I would have just felt like a poser moron getting a bike like that. So I started with a small standard (1991 Kawi Zephyr 550) bought in 94 and worked up from there, a series of 600 machines later I finally my 51. I guess what I 'm trying to say is alot of people need to learn some humulity because the are only hurting themselves and our image. Sorry about he rant but it needed to be said. And about the knee jerk politicians......Never underestamate the power of an uniformed mass.
Re: Motorcycle deaths
Or do you run off into the dirt during those short runs to the liquor store?
Or do you run off into the dirt during those short runs to the liquor store?
Impressive rant I must say. Paranoid and kinda scary, but impressive. (Slow day here.) U pay $250 a month for bike insurance? What's your driving record look like?
Re: Motorcycle deaths
Usually after.
No, it all came to me in an instant, I think.
My senile Dodge Dakota is making expensive rattling noises, so Ive been doing a lot of commuting via bike lately. No big thing, Ive been riding in and around Los Angeles for a very long time. The secret has always been ride like someones out to kill you, i.e. on the edge of offensive riding. Most of it street riding. No freeway stuff.
But yesterday, I had to make a bike commute to San Bernardino, and back, some 45-50 miles in one direction. Usually, this kind of stuff never fazed me.
So there I was, on the 210, tootling along at around 75 miles an hour, and everything but the water truck is passing me.
And right about then, I took a good look around me (not a wise thing sometimes). It was not a pretty sight. Old ladies frozen in fear, stuck in the fast lane at 80, maniacs in 25 wheel big rigs, spewing road debris, mini-trucks, middle-trucks, maxi-trucks! All sorts of potential carnage about to coalesce. Misfits, creeps and slobs! VW Vans, Volvos!
And then it hit me: My life (at that moment) was in their hands! And all of a sudden, I got very paranoid. It was not a nice feeling. Akin to pre-race jitters, but worse.
So, Im staying off the freeways for a while. Tear into that Dodge lower-end, and see whats up. You need as much armor as possible, between you and the dingbats. Hell, Im even thinking of buying a 68 Electra 225. Fill up the fender with cement.
Usually after.
No, it all came to me in an instant, I think.
My senile Dodge Dakota is making expensive rattling noises, so Ive been doing a lot of commuting via bike lately. No big thing, Ive been riding in and around Los Angeles for a very long time. The secret has always been ride like someones out to kill you, i.e. on the edge of offensive riding. Most of it street riding. No freeway stuff.
But yesterday, I had to make a bike commute to San Bernardino, and back, some 45-50 miles in one direction. Usually, this kind of stuff never fazed me.
So there I was, on the 210, tootling along at around 75 miles an hour, and everything but the water truck is passing me.
And right about then, I took a good look around me (not a wise thing sometimes). It was not a pretty sight. Old ladies frozen in fear, stuck in the fast lane at 80, maniacs in 25 wheel big rigs, spewing road debris, mini-trucks, middle-trucks, maxi-trucks! All sorts of potential carnage about to coalesce. Misfits, creeps and slobs! VW Vans, Volvos!
And then it hit me: My life (at that moment) was in their hands! And all of a sudden, I got very paranoid. It was not a nice feeling. Akin to pre-race jitters, but worse.
So, Im staying off the freeways for a while. Tear into that Dodge lower-end, and see whats up. You need as much armor as possible, between you and the dingbats. Hell, Im even thinking of buying a 68 Electra 225. Fill up the fender with cement.
Great Post
"Never underestamate the power of an uniformed mass" </a>Boy that is the understatement of the century given the current political (Iraq War) and economic (huge budget and trade deficits, outsourcing high-tech jobs) mess this country is in.
But your rant makes the case for cc levels of licenses.
"Never underestamate the power of an uniformed mass" </a>Boy that is the understatement of the century given the current political (Iraq War) and economic (huge budget and trade deficits, outsourcing high-tech jobs) mess this country is in.
But your rant makes the case for cc levels of licenses.
1 speeding ticket for 45 in a 40. It comes off in Jan 05, but I've been told not expect much of a drop, because there are so many new riders here the claims on 1000cc sportbikes are unbelivable, plus some other factors very high number of unisured motorists and the overall population here is growing very fast so more insurance claims in general. But mainly the expanding motorcyclist population, which is a good thing, like I said just too many people trying to jump into the deep end head first when the have never even gone swimming.
ps I am switching to liability so I can afford insurane I have a feeling it will be much less. I just hope nothing happens to my bike.
ps I am switching to liability so I can afford insurane I have a feeling it will be much less. I just hope nothing happens to my bike.
KPaul's solutions
Go back to cc levels for licenses. Mandatory MSF training. This may have saved the 46 year-old. But there will always be squids like the other two guys. Also if you get a ticket you have to retake the training. Eww that would mean me so no scratch the last idea.
Go back to cc levels for licenses. Mandatory MSF training. This may have saved the 46 year-old. But there will always be squids like the other two guys. Also if you get a ticket you have to retake the training. Eww that would mean me so no scratch the last idea.
"ps I am switching to liability so I can afford insurane ' I might have to do the same thing. I have two tickets 48 in a 40 and passing in a no passing zone. My insurance went up but no as high as yours. Probably do to location. I am in Seattle. Wife says the bike goes if I get another.
Re: Great Post
So much for the abstention on political topics.
Liar.
So much for the abstention on political topics.
Liar.
Re: Motorcycle deaths
And the moral of the story is:
Don't buy Chrysler products, 'cause they'll make you broke and insane.
And the moral of the story is:
Don't buy Chrysler products, 'cause they'll make you broke and insane.
Re: Mo' parts
How true. It's the first, and last one I'll ever own. It's got the "tiny brake" option, too. Like trying to stop a '55 Century. Real POS.
How true. It's the first, and last one I'll ever own. It's got the "tiny brake" option, too. Like trying to stop a '55 Century. Real POS.
the great uniformed mass
donuts what did it.
donuts what did it.
1 - 20 of 103 Posts
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