Learning the Hard Way

[EnemyAllstar]

Well today I took the navy's new "Sports Bike Safety Course" they created in response to tards killing themselves on sports bikes( I think it was 68 last year). Well the instructor is a good freind of mine and i was all up for a day off work to go ride bikes. Well they were teaching us a new way to corner on our bikes "The lean forward and in with the elbow out and down" technique which ended up being way better than the squid method i was using. Well we ended up having a little competion on the side to see who could get it over farther during the exercises, and we were on the decreasing radius turns and it was between me and this honda super chicken. Well was in a curve slammed way over and I was just about to exit the turn when i decelerated to cut it tight and make it thru the cones. Well as soon as i came off the throttle i went into a low side. This is how i learned the valueable leason of " Never let off the throttle when your leaned the fuck over" And does anyone know how much on average it cost to get a bike painted? im going for glossy black

[pmmonster]

Sounds like you're ok at least. And it's certainly better to learn that lesson in a class/parking lot that in a canyon with oncoming traffic or armco + a big drop off. No idea about the paint - how much repair is needed?

[OldTLSDoug]

Well today I took the navy's new "Sports Bike Safety Course" they created in response to tards killing themselves on sports bikes

-on
Let's talk. Clearly you needed the course, as you learned from it. Clearly the course was a good one as the techniques were thought out and apparently correct. I was in the Navy way back between 1976 and 1982, I was required to take the MSF course in 1980 and it did me some good. We had lots of guys getting hurt and killed on bikes then as well.

My worry is that you class the folks getting hurt and killed as "tards". You obviously lack basic skills as well, but haven't died yet, so therefore you must not be a tard. Don't be so hard on folks, be patient. Go get some track time, wear your gear every time you ride and maybe, you will live long enough to get your knee down when you are 50 yrs old and still enjoy riding.

Maybe you won't go through the no gear period and lack of front brake use that I and many like me suffered through since there wasn't any training available.

My brother died at 22 years old in 1979 riding a KZ1000 in a single bike accident, he hit a pole on a desert road at 80 mph or so. He was wearing a helmet so he looked good in the box. That was a tough time.

Testosterone and being tough won't help you when you hit a car, or the road or a guard rail. You will die or badly injure yourself. You take that risk every time you climb on a bike. It is serious, it is deadly, focus and good skills will make you much less likely to die than the next "tard".

So, what the hell is my point? Don't make brash statements about folks who paid the ultimate price for whatever stupid thing they did. Spend part of your riding time practicing avoidance and stopping. Practice avoiding target fixation, practice stoppies, go do track schools and teach every poor "tard" you come across to not ride without gear, and to properly brake and such.

Then, if you keep yourself and one other person from dying in a crash, you my friend have save 2 lives, a very respectable, manly pursuit. Much more dignified than speaking of dead "tards" who have gone before.
-off


Even old guys blow it and fall off, be careful, enjoy the riding, you will always meet folks that enrich your life, even on the gurney on the way to the Hospital.

[EnemyAllstar]

Well No offence to anyone by calling the dearly departed "Tards" people die everyday even when they arent being stupid. Im just stressing the fact that a large part of the deaths we have on sports bikes almost qualify them for darwin awards. But there are those unfortunates that go by the rules and end up on the receiving end of a cager. No harm ment God bless those who have passed.

[MotoTiller]

I'm not gonna give you the riot act since Doug thoughtfully wrote it already but here's my .02

You took a 1 day, well a few hours worth of course actually (if it's in any way comparable to the Army's version of the MSC) and it initially sounded as though you thought that you didn't need it. Then in the course of actually learning about motorcycle safety you get caught up in a "little competition on the side" and crash.

There's an actual MSF course held in a town near you most likely every week. It costs a few hundred dollars and lasts 5 days and I can assure you there won't be an opportunity to do any "competitions on the side" and if you crash then you fail and kiss your money goodbye and get to do the walk of shame on your way out.

Seasoned riders almost always walk out of the course having learned something they never knew before. Sounds like it couldn't hurt you to take it, besides it's an insurance deduction and may teach you something that will save your life down the road.

Spend some money on the course or you may need another paint job.

I'm gonna take a wild stab in the dark here and guess that the super chicken dude didn't lay his bike down..........

[EnemyAllstar]

HOLY shit. Anyone else wanna rant? BRC and ERC already taken neither one of those teach you how to ride a sports bike(trail brakeing, etc.)

[OldTLSDoug]

You need basic stuff, get that down, then go for the racing and such. Ed and I aren't jumping on you. The initial post and your second one imply that the testosterone and ego you tote around are not your best friends. The plain fact is that in the atmosphere of safety training you crashed your bike screwing around trying to race. That makes you in the best light careless, and in the worst, foolish. Try to listen rather than think we are being dickheads and assholes. Old guys got old by not acting the ass the whole way. At some point we had to get a little bit wiser or we would be crashed "tards"

Just enjoy the riding, learn all you can and quit trying to be cool, just be safe and we will all be happy. Get to the track.

[Kamikuza]

If people rant at you, it means they care about you better to get an earful and throttle it back than have people be "nice" to you and not saying anything, and you go roaring down the road into a tree or under a car or something.
People being critical is not necessarily a bad thing - analyze and evaluate the data to improve your decision making process.
And I'm sure Doug, Duke & everyone will agree that if you're going to screw around, a track is the best place to do it

That said ... sometimes there's nothing you can do, no matter how careful, clever or attentive you are. You can minimize the odds by getting good education and experience.

Sounds like you made a start on it. You got bit in the arse but you got off lightly and in the process, hopefully you learned something too. Selah

[Steve TLS]

What hasn't been covered is :

The Super Chicken won

[OldTLSDoug]

Bastard! Well played, good form sir.