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redscare posted:Now I'm trying to figure out how I give a car a wide birth. Doesn't sound pleasant Having driven one, they have lousy rear visibility and handle like supermarket shopping carts. That probably accounts for most of the lousy driving.
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Oct 29, 2009 17:33
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berth
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redscare posted:I don't know what it is about those things, but they consistently seem to be driven by the worst drivers around. I always give them a very wide birth. My boss is the only person on the planet that I know for whom a Prius makes any sense. He always buys new, and drives it until it just won't go anymore. He's got a Toyota truck that he bought new in college, drove for many years, gave to his dad (who drove it for many years, also) who then gave it back after R's Ridgeline was stolen, then burned. That truck he bought in college is pushing 200,000 miles. He passed his '94 Accord on to his teenage daughter with 145,000 on the clock, and they've got 120k on the Odyssey... Conversely, there's a woman at work who bought a Prius 24 months ago, and last month sold it and bought a second one new.
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Oct 31, 2009 03:26
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Z3n posted:Out here in cali they're playing the "maximize the gas mileage gauge" videogame. I always feel the urge to taunt those people when I see them, since they do worse on fuel economy grannying their cars around than I do being a hooligan on a Ninja 250.
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Nov 18, 2009 21:31
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I have two near misses. One my own fault and one thats just bizarre and involves produce. I am on my first real bike (Honda shadow 500 - been riding for years but just dirt biking and the like with the family) coming around a cloverleaf into a straight away 3 laner. The inside lane turns into an on ramp for the highway. I am heading that way and already am in the lane and accelerating out of the cloverleaf. Of course my inexperience (I am only maybe 19 at this time) shows as I don't even think about all the other vehicles that are of course going to take the inside track and then cut over to my lane. Sure enough some lady in the biggest Caddy I have ever seen takes over my lead space and proceeds to absolutely slam on her 4 wheel anti-lock disc brakes. Lets just say my early 80's Honda shadow wasn't up to this kind of stopping. Had to take it onto the grassy median passing by her rear quarterpanel by about a foot and tried to keep it upright. Grass was wet. I failed. I did have the presence of mind to pull my leg out from under the side I was going down on and push the bike away from me as we slid. Managed to ride away after prying my shift lever back into some semblance of its original shape. Secondly I learned to never trust uncovered loads in trucks you are following. Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I am riding up to spend the weekend with my family. A rather plain looking farm flat deck truck with two large white plastic containers tied down is in front of me when something absolutely nails my helmet. I have hit a bird before, and been hit by rocks, bumblebees etc. This was something else. I see something bounce off the road ahead of me and swerve in my lane to miss it. Then something hits my face shield and I literally am left with ringing in my ears. There is something bouncing out of these containers on this truck so seeing my chance I hit the passing lane and blow by him. An hour later I stop for gas and inspecting my helmet I find green smudges and some thick but small leaves stuck in my vents. Can you guess what sucks being hit by at 100 km/h? Brussel sprouts
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Feb 24, 2010 05:32
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shipwrek posted:I have two near misses. One my own fault and one thats just bizarre and involves produce. That has to be the weirdest thing to be hit with short of a sex toy. How big were they?
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Feb 24, 2010 13:52
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Tipped posted:That has to be the weirdest thing to be hit with short of a sex toy. How big were they? Ummm ... brussel sprout sized? Maybe 1.5" across? Took one in the chest too; felt like being shot. Those little bastards bounce too! They were coming out of the tubs and bouncing off the road right up to riding height.
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Feb 24, 2010 16:44
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shipwrek posted:Sure enough some lady in the biggest Caddy I have ever seen...absolutely slam(s) on her 4 wheel anti-lock disc brakes. The biggest Caddy I've ever seen is a good 26" longer and 15 years older than standard ABS brakes (which was in MY 1991, for those who care) Kenny Rogers fucked around with this message at 17:03 on Feb 24, 2010 |
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Feb 24, 2010 16:57
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Jabs posted:I feel so old now. Don't be. That Caddy only looked that big because I was pretty sure the trunk was going to become my casket.
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Feb 24, 2010 17:06
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Those cloverleafs intersections are frickin deathtraps where you have a shared on/off ramp. We have several where I live. There have been so many fatalities at one of them that they are now redesigning it.
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Feb 24, 2010 18:49
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redscare posted:I don't know what it is about those things, but they consistently seem to be driven by the worst drivers around. I always give them a very wide birth. I think the Top Gear logic applies here: If they're voluntarily driving a car that's as awful to drive as a Prius, they probably don't care about driving. And if they don't care about driving, they're probably pretty lousy at it (the same way that I'm a lovely cook, because I don't care about food). And if they're lousy at it, they shouldn't be driving and should have their licenses taken away.
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Feb 24, 2010 19:07
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shipwrek posted:Don't be. That Caddy only looked that big because I was pretty sure the trunk was going to become my casket. Like Elvis or something.
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Feb 24, 2010 22:21
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Yesterday riding the F4i from the gym back to work, I was making a right on red into the closest lane of a heavily trafficked 2 lane road. I accelerated hard into the lane and I gave it a bit too much throttle because the rear tire spun up and the back end started coming out pretty far. It was too quick for me to consciously react but I held steady throttle and saved it from a low side and luckily didn't highside. I was coming from a basketball game literally 4 blocks away all I was wearing was a tanktop, basketball shorts and my Nikes. That would've hurt to drop it and slide sideways under a car going 40 mph
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Feb 25, 2010 02:32
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aventari posted:I was coming from a basketball game literally 4 blocks away all I was wearing was a tanktop, basketball shorts and my Nikes. That would've hurt to drop it and slide sideways under a car going 40 mph I don't preach on just any little event but here I have too, being that this is a pet peeve of mine. I am good seeing people ride day to day in a half decent jacket. I am good seeing people ride day to day in a decent pair of jeans. I am even good seeing people ride day to day wearing somewhat less than a full helmet. There is; INHO, never EVER a good time to ride in shorts and a shirt. This immediately qualifies you as a squid and/or organ donour. This is made worse by the fact that you are within walking distance of your destination. Please make sure that you make a skid mark of yourself somewhere thats not going to create traffic for me.
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Feb 25, 2010 04:37
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shipwrek posted:I don't preach on just any little event but here I have too, being that this is a pet peeve of mine. I am good seeing people ride day to day in a half decent jacket. I am good seeing people ride day to day in a decent pair of jeans. I am even good seeing people ride day to day wearing somewhat less than a full helmet. There is; INHO, never EVER a good time to ride in shorts and a shirt. This immediately qualifies you as a squid and/or organ donour. This is made worse by the fact that you are within walking distance of your destination. Please make sure that you make a skid mark of yourself somewhere thats not going to create traffic for me. Eh, relative risk/reward. And traffic is going to be bad regardless of where someone crashes or what gear they're wearing. I've seen aventari ride, he's a good rider, I'd put him higher in shorts and a tshirt than some 'tard rider in full leathers. The most important thing, bar none, is being a good rider. That's better than all the gear in the world. I firmly believe that riding skill and judgment is a much better thing than gear. Sure, you can have both, but sometimes you're just not motivated to make the extra step, and...there's nothing wrong with that, as long as you understand the risk. But seriously, aventari, stop being such a lazy rear end 
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Feb 25, 2010 04:49
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heh yeah I know it was retarded, no excuses. I think a big factor was that I was so exhausted after running full-speed up and down the court for 2 hours that I was making poor judgment calls on the bike. Like at the end of the day at the track when you screw up a little thing you wouldn't usually, just because of overall tiredness. Aside, there's nothing worse than putting on a tight full-face helmet when your head and face are drenched in sweat
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Feb 25, 2010 05:15
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Z3n posted:Eh, relative risk/reward. There is everything wrong with that ranging from 'having my 6 year old nephew witness your bloody stumps being hauled off the road' to 'having to wait in backed up traffic while the firemen scrape and coca-cola your skid mark off my way to work' I have taken more than one fall in my life and the difference between getting up and shaking your head and watching the firemen coca-cola your legs off the pavement is not large enough for that kind of laziness. While I agree that a reasonable, experienced rider is not the same as some random squid; there is no reason with modern equipment and how cheap, available and simple it is attain, wear and possess that you shouldn't make a habit of it. Hell I live in Vancouver where if you have been watching the Olympics its been so warm we cannot keep snow on the mountains! Been riding to work for two weeks now. I wear shorts every day, and I ride with my Olympia armoured overpants and Jacket every single day. Takes around 3 more minutes to put on. Aventari; you posted while I was writing this. I had an uncle who was riding an completely empty highway and had a deer come out of a grass filled ditch and completely hosed his life. The right side of his face doesn't work. He walks with a cane. That kind of stuff. Just be careful and remember that you are not the only one on the road who witnesses accidents when they happen. shipwrek fucked around with this message at 05:26 on Feb 25, 2010 |
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Feb 25, 2010 05:21
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shipwrek posted:I don't preach on just any little event but here I have too, being that this is a pet peeve of mine. I am good seeing people ride day to day in a half decent jacket. I am good seeing people ride day to day in a decent pair of jeans. I am even good seeing people ride day to day wearing somewhat less than a full helmet. There is; INHO, never EVER a good time to ride in shorts and a shirt. This immediately qualifies you as a squid and/or organ donour. This is made worse by the fact that you are within walking distance of your destination. Please make sure that you make a skid mark of yourself somewhere thats not going to create traffic for me. The guy who owned my CBR told me a story about how he raced another guy in a full leather suit at speeds over 170mph on straightaways, and 140mph in turns over devil's slide (freeway borders a huge cliff drop into the pacific) in Pacifica. He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts.
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Feb 25, 2010 05:28
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shipwrek posted:There is everything wrong with that ranging from 'having my 6 year old nephew witness your bloody stumps being hauled off the road' to 'having to wait in backed up traffic while the firemen scrape and coca-cola your skid mark off my way to work' I have taken more than one fall in my life and the difference between getting up and shaking your head and watching the firemen coca-cola your legs off the pavement is not large enough for that kind of laziness. While I agree that a reasonable, experienced rider is not the same as some random squid; there is no reason with modern equipment and how cheap, available and simple it is attain, wear and possess that you shouldn't make a habit of it. Hell I live in Vancouver where if you have been watching the Olympics its been so warm we cannot keep snow on the mountains! Been riding to work for two weeks now. I wear shorts every day, and I ride with my Olympia armoured overpants and Jacket every single day. Takes around 3 more minutes to put on. People die or get injured every day. Your nephew's gonna have to learn that some time. Hell, someone smearing themselves over the pavement could be a good object lesson about why gear is good. Accidents can take just as long to clear when someone's only moderately injured, in my g/f's accident she could still walk, but because she was capable of talking to the EMTs, it took them longer to decide to take her to the hospital, the cops wanted to talk to her, blah blah blah. It sucks that people crash, sucks that they get seriously injured, but motorcycling is an inherently risky activity. People will choose their level of risk and reward, and that's their choice. To try and restrict that is ultimately futile. You have to trust people to make their own decisions and their own mistakes, getting on a high horse about it doesn't solve any problems. I occasionally go a couple blocks without gear, hell, I pulled stoppies on the DRZ yesterday to bed the brakes. I felt it was an acceptable risk to go out with a helmet and no other gear. That's my right as an adult. Z3n fucked around with this message at 06:09 on Feb 25, 2010 |
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Feb 25, 2010 06:04
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^^^Z3n posted:To try and restrict that is ultimately futile. You have to trust people to make their own decisions and their own mistakes, getting on a high horse about it doesn't solve any problems. Jack the Smack posted:The guy who owned my CBR told me a story about how he raced another guy in a full leather suit at speeds over 170mph on straightaways, and 140mph in turns over devil's slide (freeway borders a huge cliff drop into the pacific) in Pacifica. He was wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should. Either way, I agree that everyone should wear a helmet but I don't agree that you should be forced to wear a helmet. To each his own.
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Feb 25, 2010 06:05
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jdonz posted:^^^ Make it opt-out rather than opt-in for organ donation and a clause that health insurance doesn't have to cover head injuries if you ride without a lid and I'm sold
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Feb 25, 2010 07:38
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Oh God, please don't start this in this thread too. Aventari admitted it was stupid. Let's just move on.
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Feb 25, 2010 15:36
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The other day I was taking the bike out for a wintery ride. A rare nice day in New England February that was to good to pass up. I rode for a good two hours around town through back roads and old neighborhoods, reliving memories from my childhood. I came around a nice sweeping right hand turn to see the Crypt Keeper driving a BMW across the double yellow into my lane. Fortunately the sand at the shoulder wasn't plentiful and disaster was avoided, for now. About a mile later I was coming down a very steep hill towards a red light on route 9, a fairly major road around here. The last stretch of road before the intersection is heavily shaded, and I did not see the oil/diesel spill on the ground. When I applied the brakes the speedo dropped to zero, then shot back up to 20. I figured I would lowside into traffic, but suddenly ABS clicked on. Praise God for ABS. Then I went home.
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Feb 25, 2010 16:03
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redscare posted:Make it opt-out rather than opt-in for organ donation and a clause that health insurance doesn't have to cover head injuries if you ride without a lid and I'm sold I have always found this entire business hilarious because I ride a road bicycle, oftentimes exceeding the average speed of a motorcycle crash, wearing shorts and a tshirt, and no one ever flips out about that. I've hit 45mph going downhill on my road bike. No one ever  about bicyclists not being ATGATT, and my bicycle is inferior in every way to my motorcycle. I'm far more at risk riding my bicycle than I am riding my motorcycle, I'm less visible, I can't stop as fast, I can't accelerate, I can't swerve as fast, etc. And my average speed in a lot of places on the road matches the flow of traffic. I have more scars from my mountain bikes than I do my motorcycles. I haven't crashed my road bike yet, but I've definitely lost the front over some pretty serious potholes at around 25mph, and it was a hell of an experience.
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Feb 25, 2010 18:10
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I almost crashed today. My country drives on the right hand side. While I was about to exit the highway , i checked my left mirror and i didn't see any vehicles there , so I turned left. I usually would cross two lanes , but this time I have crossed one lane only. A few seconds after I got onto the lane , a cab went fly past me on my left and he wants to go on the highway. Later I think I'm going to attach some blind spot mirrors on my side mirrors.
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May 6, 2010 08:48
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Today I had the StreetFighter kick out a good drift while doing 70 MPH on the highway. Rear tire slid out a good 2 feet and the front followed a good 9 or so inches before it caught again and I did a powerslide in the rain/slick. It wasn't scary at all because I ride supermoto and am completely used to this. So the lesson is: Ride supermoto people.
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May 6, 2010 09:16
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ZeroConnection posted:I almost crashed today. My country drives on the right hand side. You drive on the right, yet you exit highways on the left? Where is this?
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May 6, 2010 12:27
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Spiffness posted:So the lesson is: Ride supermoto people. This saved my rear end yesterday. Went riding in the mountains and took a road I hadn't tried before. Great road but it is in lovely condition and had gravel everywhere. Slid around a lot more than I would have liked to on the SV, plan on going back with the DRZ.
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May 6, 2010 16:31
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Went a bit hog wild cleaning the Dakar for the first time in a very long time and got a bit too happy with the WD-40. Got the wheels, forks, swingarm bits and all all sparkly and went to bed. Woke up the next morning and found out half way across the parking lot that I had also cleaned the brake pads with WD-40. Friction was .... lacking. Lesson of the day: Just let the dirt be.
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May 6, 2010 18:43
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[[ Please wait, retrieving post quote... ]] Malaysia. English is my main language but it is still hard for me to explain. So here is a picture instead.  Purple dot =drivers seat Gold dot= me I didn't see the cab when I looked back with my left mirror.
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May 7, 2010 08:36
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Today my front end washed out from under me in a tight right hander and caught grip about half a foot later. Hand flew off the handlebar and almost smashed my helmet into my new windshield. loving gravel.
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May 9, 2010 06:36
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Had a little slide across a double yellow at about 50mph. It's a weird feeling having the bike jump sideways about 8 inches, definitely a heart in the throat moment. FYI, it was a country highway that makes random 35pmh, 90 degree bends because of property lines and poo poo...so I had visibility up the road for at least a mile, and crossing the line was intentional.
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May 11, 2010 04:03
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Don't tell AI you violated the sacred double yellow, they'll flip their poo poo! Today I was bicycling home from work and almost bit it when I pulled my hands off the bars to change position...gust of wind showed up and all of the sudden I was leaning the bike about 20 degrees just to keep it going straight, and then I realized that I wasn't going to be able to recover without my hands on the bars. Managed to grab them before I fell over, but still upped my heart rate significantly for a minute.
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May 11, 2010 04:29
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Z3n posted:Don't tell AI you violated the sacred double yellow, they'll flip their poo poo! Yeah, I get it now. Being on the other side, not so bad. Encountering the traction change while crossing it is the scary part
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May 11, 2010 05:16
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This happened to me last week. Me and my friend "passenger" go out for a ride in the countryside. The road is semi-curvy and I'm going about 40-45 up around then down this long curve. At the bottom there's 15 Canadian geese just camping out taking up the entire road. I slam on my brakes sending the passenger hard into my back. And this little bastard goose I'm heading toward doesn't even move. I end up stopping inches from him and yell at all the geese to get out of the way. Was actually funny looking back on it because I'm sure the goose's face was exactly like this. Could have been a very bad situation if I was speeding or not paying attention to the road. I don't really know how the bike would have handled running over several geese...I'm guessing not well.
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May 11, 2010 06:49
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M4gic posted:I don't really know how the bike would have handled running over several geese...I'm guessing not well. Thinking about it, I don't know that it'd have been all that bad - what with the hollow bones and all. Certainly not as painful as hitting, say, a 15 pound bowling ball or lump of iron.
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May 11, 2010 17:16
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M4gic posted:This happened to me last week. Me and my friend "passenger" go out for a ride in the countryside. The road is semi-curvy and I'm going about 40-45 up around then down this long curve. At the bottom there's 15 Canadian geese just camping out taking up the entire road. I slam on my brakes sending the passenger hard into my back. And this little bastard goose I'm heading toward doesn't even move. I end up stopping inches from him and yell at all the geese to get out of the way. Was actually funny looking back on it because I'm sure the goose's face was exactly like this. Geese are assholes. There's a whole flock of them downtown here and they just wonder out in the middle of the street all the time. Cars honking at them and they just waddle across the street like they own the joint. I'm guessing it would be better to run over one than to be hit by one flying, though.
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May 11, 2010 17:20
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Geese are big fuckers, and they're heavier than they look. If you hit one dead on I think it's more likely for you to go over the handlebars than just run it over. One of my parents hit a goose years ago in their car, and that thing did enough damage to the front of the car that you'd think they'd rear-ended someone.
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May 11, 2010 18:16
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Came around a blind alley 90 degree corner in the city without slowing as much as I should or honking and there was a mexican scrap metal truck heading right at me as I was in the middle of the turn, and I almost ALMOST grabbed a handful of brake and dumped the bike. Instead, I somehow only skidded the front very slightly as some instinct I didn't know I had made me release the brake and reapply. Thanks, subconcious...
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May 12, 2010 00:57
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I've got about three months and 6,000 miles experience so far, and I learn something every time I ride. Scene: Five lanes, two in each direction plus a turn lane. Approaching the crest of a hill so I can't see very far in front of me. Me: Far right lane, traveling at posted speed limit, 40mph. Him: Drunk driver (presumably) driving into oncoming traffic, all the way over in my lane and driving erratically, coming directly at me. As I approached the top of the hill I saw the headlights coming at me but I don't think my brain processed it right away. Once I realized just what the gently caress was happening I was able to swerve and miss the SUV by what I'm guessing was a few feet. Adrenaline, then calm, then rage. Ironically, I'd been practicing swerving earlier in the ride on the empty freeway by trying to swerve quickly between the painted lines. I'd seen that posted somewhere in CA before so every time I change lanes I'm practicing that. Moral: Take the goddamn MSF class. Those swerve drills probably saved my life tonight.
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May 31, 2010 10:40
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Showing off to my buddies entering a service station with a loose gravel entrance, being a newbie on a DR650 dual sport, i slammed the rear brake and went into a rear wheel drift with bars at full lock, and somehow, didn't lowside. Luckily i was going slow enough to just keep it up. But i still came in pretty quick and didnt know how to control an out of control bike back then.
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May 31, 2010 10:52
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