I know I am going to get flak for posting this, buy here goes…
I hate motorcyclists. They are noisy and damn dangerous. I have to get up early for work and this morning at 2:30 there is a bike screaming past my house. Of course I woke up and could not go back to sleep again until 2 seconds before my alarm went off at 3:30. So now I am praying that the next fatal bike accident involve this asshole.
The statistics should make it clear by now that bikes should be outlawed. They are all candidates for the Darwin award. Those not in the know - the Darwin award is for people doing stupid things, they remove themselves from the gene pool.
I drive a bike, but I actually agree with you on some points.
A lot of guys get a bike, and first thing they do is, “replace the can” with something as loud and crazy sounding as possible. Then they, for some reason, insist on SCREAMING from every intersection at full tilt.
Now call me boring, but I don’t see the point. My 600cc bike will out-accelerate everything on 4 wheels short of a Ferrari. What would the average life-expectancy of a ferrari driver be if he pulled off from every stop at full tilt? The logic is just against these guys.
I do NOT:
Go on breakfast runs (these have a higher fatality rate than you can imagine)
Replace stock mufflers with loud obnoxious shit.
SCREAM through neighborhoods at ungodly hours.
Drive without a plate.
Cut through traffic going at 2x the speed limit, or more.
I DO:
Slow down in suburbs if it’s late.
Fall into a lane if “splitting” is dangerous.
Go to the front at robots.
Now, the going to the front thing at robots seems to rise much ire with non-bikers. I USED to think like that before I drove one. When you’re on a bike, you don’t want traffic around you. People just do not see you when changing lanes. In my 1st week of owning a bike I almost got sideswiped twice. You learn quickly that “in the muck with the other traffic” is BAD and “ahead of the pack” is GOOD. However this still doesn’t mean you have to max throttle it from every intersection, see point about how fast bikes can be, no car can keep up even at 1/2 throttle.
So, I kinda agree. I think lots of bikers can be very considerate on the road, and because I own a bike, I try to be as considerate as possible towards them. However there’s no helping some people, just like ricer-boys in hot hatches… They give the rest of us a bad name.
i dont mind bikes as much as cyclists. bikes at least make their own way through traffic. cyclists get so indignant if you DARE drive past them. and then they peddle abreast with their gay little sausage pants.
i do however, hate bikes on the highway, they come flying past, and between you looking in your mirror to change lanes, and doing it, this fucker comes screaming past, giving you a heart attack. then have the gall to flip you the bird.
they allso have this little habit of showing you to get out of the way when they want to come past in traffic. that irks me.
personally, i love bikes. owned one. my dad had super bikes and touring bikes.
had two scooters as well. watched SBK at kyalami this year…
you just get shitburgers ;D who shouldnt own a pair of rollerblades, nevermind a highperformance machine.
There is a valid reason to put on a louder exhaust that stock. If the other motorists can hear you, their much less likely to hit you.
I don’t have a bike (yet), but I try to be courteous, move to the edge of the lane so that there is space for the bike to pass, and I often go away on weekends with a pack of bikes. Only reason I don’t have one is money and haven’t gotten a license.
The most fun you can have on the road without spending a million rand
Most of the kits help improve or increase performance that is already way beyond the abilities of the rider!
In most cases a toy, a very expensive toy!
Roads in this contry are far too dangerous to think of having fun on! Taxis, pot holes and drivers who appear to begrudge bikers helped me decide to get rid of my bike and to get 4 wheels.
Yes, I said one of the reasons. I didn’t say the rest of the reasons are good ones, or advisable.
Yes, most bikes are bought as toys, but you can use it as a commuter as well. And, there’s no reason to not go on trips across the country, as long as you have a comfortable bike
My friend, have you driven the East Transvaal passes, or the Drakensberg, Lesotho on the way to the Lesotho Highlands water project? Behind the wheel of a good steering car, it’s huge fun. You don’t even have to hit the speed limit, just go around a corner as fast as you are comfortable.
Testing your abilities, pulling some Gs… Ahh, bliss. Potholes and bad drivers are one of the risks, but not many things in this world, especially those that are fun, doesn’t have a risk.
Both the S/O and I ride. I’m a week-end motorcyclist (as opposed to a biker), I wont communte as its far too dangerous in my mind. I agree with you about the idjits that goes screaming home from the pub at 2am, but as with everything else, you have a varied type of rider out there. Most I know are professional people with adequate intelligence to know the difference between riding like a poepol and being responsible on the road, if you want to go moggy, go to a track day, you’re less likely to get hurt if you off yourself then as well.
As for loud pipes, imo, its pointless anyway, ever hear how loud the radio is in most cars? They wont hear you no matter how noisy you are. What annoys me most though is having a biker suddenly appear next to you in a yellow line (right of left), damn, you dont expect him there in the first place, and its an emergency lane which is often utilised by taxis and the like, lanesplit by all means, but do it where you’re expected to be.
It’s the idiots amongst the ranks that give all motorcyclists a bad name.
Something that make me : more than the stupidity you see amongst some of the guys, is that at any biker rallym the CMA tent is chokka with bikers pissed out of their skull.
My hate are the offroad bikers who scream around our farm on Sunday mornings…besides the noise, they cause untold damage to the environment chasing up inclines with wheels spinning and gouging out deep dongas…there are some areas where they have created up to ten dongas alongside veach other which wash deeper and deeper with the rains…they don’t have licence plates and are not allowed on roads yet they come roaring out of the sugar cane fields popping onto the roads, scaring the shit out of motorists and then disappear into the cane again. I’m contemplating a cable across the road at throat height!
In every group there will be those whose actions tarnish the rest … motorcyclists are no different… equally there are skeptics who will give the collective a bad or unwarranted reputation.
However, the thought of injuring, maiming or even killing someone who pisses us off by their actions is extremely narrow minded. What next…side-swiping scholars on scooters because they go to a different church to you?
I had the misfortune to hit a throat-high wire on the 15 Jan 1978. The wire was obviously intended for a cyclist or motorcyclist - but my first trip down that particular road!
Result - no vocal cords, impaired airway, 45 operations and the very real risk of dying every time flu season comes around.
Rather address the actual trouble makers than everyone who sits astride a two-wheeler.
On reflecting about my statement, it is easy for us on these forums to make these wild statements like "consider suicide’ ‘hope you die’ f_ucker’, without really considering what we say and how this may affect someone else. Maybe it’s the safety of isolation and the computer screen infront of us. Some time ago I complained about call centers and lo and behold Peter Grant works in one :-[ not that it changed my view of them. Sorry PG… With the experience I had with my Landie and grandson, I should be more sensitive …dammit I am! Sorry again Mutton I can’t imagine what it must have been like for you and your dad…
more than the stupidity you see amongst some of the guys, is that at any biker rallym the CMA tent is chokka with bikers pissed out of their skull.