DD,
Sorry to hear about your buddy and the other rider. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif My best wishes to your friend and his young family. It always bothers me to hear about accidents like that, particularly since this one sounds like it was avoidable. Some riders tend to forget that while cornering, their bodies actually overhang the lane boundaries and they have to careful of oncoming traffic on the left and phone poles of the right. The other point is proper gear. A motorcyclist should wear the best protective gear possible for when the inevitable occurs. Its not if , its when because anybody who rides will eventually go down. I know I have harped about this in other threads, but I feel it bears reiteration. Good street gear consists of a Snell Foundation and ANSI (American National Standards Institute) approve full face helmet (remember Dale Earnhardt, basal skull fractures are not new to the world of motorcycling), good quality leathers (heavy cow hide, double lapped and double stitched seams) or some of the kevlar or ballistic nylon suits, heavy boots (the taller the better, leave the road race boots for the track, cars are the problem here, not g-forces) and armored gloves with retention straps across the wrists (keeps them from coming off in case you have to do a "butt slide"). The minimum I will wear for an urban ride is 1) Arai Quantum S helmet 2) my Technics jacket 3) jeans (if its hot) or the Technics pants (if its not) 4) my Aerostitch Combat Touring boots and 5) either summer or winter weight Olympia kevlar reinforced gloves. If its raining or if I'm going on a trip, I'll wear my Aerostitch Roadcrafter one piece ballistic nylon suit (its got so many pockets, its like wearing a tank bag /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif ). Now, most importantly, if I'm having a software problem between the ears or I'm feeling sub par, I won't ride......it isolates a person from their environment and kills the reaction time. I'd rather drive the truck than go splat.
Well, while I'm on a roll I might as well touch upon another subject, rider education. I'm a firm believer that if a person wants to ride, start young, start on a small bike and learn in the dirt. Young people heal faster (and bounce higher), smaller bikes are easier to control and dirt has the advantages of isolation from cars, softer to land on, and slippery enough to teach not only control, but that all important lesson of proper gear (you know what I'm talking about onelight, gravel rash sucks almost as bad as a face plant into a yucca bush /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif). I really wish more beginner riders courses took place in fields than parking lots. Not that the courses are bad, I just don't think they take it far enough. It takes time to develop the reflexes necessary to survive in this world of distracted drivers.
Now before I go off on the pros and cons of riding posititions, I'll wrap this diatribe up. It pains me to see a rider in tennies, shorts and t-shirt on any bike or a wannabe outlaw in a $5 helmet. I feel sorry for them (because they have a hard lesson coming), I feel sorry for their families (if they learn that lesson too late) and I feel sorry for myself and riders like me who could lose access to one of our greatest joys because the death toll and injury rates became too high. End of rant.
Oopps almost forgot. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ohgeez.gif
Klaus,
Sweet ride guy!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif 900 Elephant, almost bought one myself (but they no longer import them /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif ).
Dan
