Motorcycle Riders?

[melensdad]

... The chances you'll need your handgun is very slim, but no one here gets butthurt when someone advises carrying.

I've actually used a handgun to defend my life (no shots fired) and I hope to never need to use any of the motorcycle safety gear that I own.

But I am a strong advocate that people take responsibility for their own safety.

Ride without gear, I'm OK with that. Don't carry a gun, again that is your choice. Neither are a guarantee, but both of which can help reduce your harm, often dramatically.

But when your family is grieving I'm going to point out the obvious.

 

[JettaKnight]

I've actually used a handgun to defend my life (no shots fired) and I hope to never need to use any of the motorcycle safety gear that I own.

But I am a strong advocate that people take responsibility for their own safety.

Ride without gear, I'm OK with that. Don't carry a gun, again that is your choice. Neither are a guarantee, but both of which can help reduce your harm, often dramatically.

But when your family is grieving I'm going to point out the obvious.

I don't fault anyone when it comes to their own personal protection; be it riding, travel, carrying a handgun... everyone needs to decide their own level of risk acceptance.

Likewise, I can't fault anyone for providing information for aiding that risk assessment.



There's nothing uncool about ATGATT.

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

On the opposite side, a lot of motorcyclists are their own worst enemy.

• How many do you see with dim headlights?
• How many do you see with no running lights?
• How many do you see with smaller aftermarket lights that replaced the larger factory lighting?
• How many do you see with blacked out or darkened tail lights?
• How many do you see with their lights modified so that there is almost no visible lighting during daylight hours?

I frequently see big HD's riding at night with lights so dim I wonder how they can see the road in front of them and at night I very commonly see them with absolutely no tail light other than the turn/stop lights; so absolutely no running lights. Oddly enough big cruisers have a fairly low fatality rate for riders but their female passengers are over represented in the death rates.

Add to the above s#it list of things that bikers do to customize their bikes so they are unseen, what about the go-fast 20-year olds on their sport bikes who scream through traffic, weaving in between cars and changing lanes at high speeds and wonder, despite their bright green Ninjas, with bright graphics on their helmets, why they are the group that has the highest rate of fatalities despite the fact that they wear helmets.

I myself enjoy bright, crisp LED’s on my HD. I also bought lower fairing driving lights from Kuryakyn.

 

[melensdad]

I myself enjoy bright, crisp LED’s on my HD. I also bought lower fairing driving lights from Kuryakyn.

I agree with you. Sadly many do not.

 

[deo62]

Yep, LED's are the ticket. These will melt snow. If they don't get attention then they didn't look your direction anyway.

 

[91FXRS]

I'm a strong advocate of ride your own ride. Don't agree with helmet laws (or auto seatbelt laws).

But regardless of WHY people ride, the risks are very real.

Dave would very likely have walked away from that wreck if he worn full protective gear. It is just that simple.

I'm not meddling.

But I'll point out stupidity when I see it.

And I'm very sorry for his family and their loss, but he made some really dumb choices and now he is dead and his family is suffering.

All of the protective gear in the world is only going to go so far if you are disregard red lights.....

 

[melensdad]

All of the protective gear in the world is only going to go so far if you are disregard red lights.....

That is actually a pretty misleading statement, not intentionally but realistically. Statistically a very high percentage of moto accidents are SINGLE VEHICLE accidents.

In the Chesterton case the guy had a bike without ABS. We have plenty of data that shows that ABS, even without any safety gear, dramatically reduces both the number and the severity of accidents. So he went down, as will most non-ABS equipped bikes. He did it to avoid hitting another vehicle, but you don't survive slides if you slam your head on the asphalt or crush your vital organs.

He didn't hit any object other than asphalt, no car, no tree, etc. In that case a helmet probably would have saved his life, certainly a helmet + an armored jacket would eliminated road rash injuries, broken elbows, shoulders or most back injuries, possibly chest injuries depending upon armor location.

Moto pants save mostly road rash, knee and hip breaks, but mostly road rash. Rarely will moto pants save a life. Blue jeans, Carhartt work pants, etc typically shred upon impact with the asphalt and don't even protect against road rash.

Protective moto boots will save a shin break if they have shin armor (not all do). Save a heal or ankle crush, save your toes and save a foot crush (almost all moto boots do all those basic things). The more protective moto boots also prevent or dramatically reduce ankle breaks and torsion injuries of the tibia/fibia. Cowboy, combat and work boots do very few of those things but typically will protect toes.

Moto gloves have things like palm sliders and knuckle protection not found in regular gloves, again, not going to save your life, but will probably save a skin graft and a lot of bleeding.

He died from multiple injuries according to the various news reports. So yeah, pretty safe bet that protective gear would have saved his life.

 

[semperfi211]

My ultra classic is lit up pretty good. Little by little I am changing my old fashioned bulbs to led. This is my next.

ProBEAM® Squareback Run & Brake Motorcycle LED Taillight

Upgrade your motorcycle with a ProBEAM Squareback LED Taillight. The modern light pipe design and high quality automotive LEDs are sure to light up your ride.

www.customdynamics.com

 

[melensdad]

My ultra classic is lit up pretty good. Little by little I am changing my old fashioned bulbs to led. This is my next.

ProBEAM® Squareback Run & Brake Motorcycle LED Taillight

Upgrade your motorcycle with a ProBEAM Squareback LED Taillight. The modern light pipe design and high quality automotive LEDs are sure to light up your ride.

www.customdynamics.com

Custom Dynamics makes nice LED upgrades, so that should be a good taillight.

Have you also looked at adding one of their 4 function license plate frames?



Inside a non-intrusive frame they have an added row of red brake lights along the bottom, Amber rows on the sides for turn signal/running light duplication, dim whites for illuminating the plate itself. The frame itself is available in chrome or black to suit your bike's style. I added it to rear of my bike. So low profile you can't even tell it is there until it lights up.

EDIT: That red line under the license plate is the "running light" mode. When I hit my brakes that lower line doubles in intensity for "brake light" mode.

 

[91FXRS]

He died from multiple injuries according to the various news reports. So yeah, pretty safe bet that protective gear would have saved his life.

I think you missed my point completely. Pretty safe bet had he stopped for the red light that would have saved his life. As for the protective gear we agree, and I think we can also agree it sucks that a man lost his life doing something so many of us enjoy.

 

[melensdad]

I think you missed my point completely. . .

I did miss that point

 

[Emerson Dambiggins]

Elvira has her own Vespa!

Vespa Los Angeles Releases Special Limited Elvira Macabre Edition

Vespa Los Angeles is celebrating horror legend Elvira's 40th anniversary with a very special, extremely limited-edition Elvira Macabre Vespa scooter!

www.rideapart.com

 

[melensdad]

 

[JCSR]

Sulphar to Derby Tavern yesterday. Chasing my cousin on his Buell. Great day for riding.

 

[bwframe]

Amazon, love 'em hate 'em? I got the speakers in a day, pretty big deal as far from them as I am.

The factory box was smashed and taped and speakers had been installed before. Had some lint on the black foam covers. This was not just an open box. I reused the self adhesive velcro in my Scorpion lid and put catching the 'rona from the last owner out of my head.

Everything seemed and worked fine. The HD speakers plugged right in, but did not have the small bracket with hole for screw retention. The HD speakers worked with the old firmware. The new firmware has a switch for the HD Speaker Accessory.

I agree with the TwoWheelObsession YouTuber on the Audio Equalizer settings. Treble Boost may well be the loudest and clearest setting. That's what I left it on for now.

It's gonna be a few days before I can really test out if and how much better the HD speakers are than the originals. We will see if I can understand Lzzy whalin' in my ears, while buffeting in tractor trailer wash, doing 80?

Finally got a little road time in with the new speakers. They are louder, but not a whole lot.

Still wanting for volume on some youtube tunes at high speed. Wibc yesterday at high speed was quite understandable. Loud enough to make me wonder if I should have ear plugs in? I will experiment with that at a later date.

I kind of accidentally found out how critical the speaker placement in relation to your ear holes matter. I thought one of the new speakers had gone out. Only heard the left speaker working. Cranked the helmet slightly on my head and was back to equal stereo again. More fiddling due to make sure to get the speakers perfectly positioned for my ears.

I got the low battery warning on the Sena 20S at a little longer than 5 hours use, it quit shortly after. Seems as if the the new speakers might draw more juice?

 

[bwframe]

Studying up on the ear plug thing, I ran on to this video...

 

[melensdad]

Studying up on the ear plug thing, I ran on to this video...

Easy way to fix problems with SENA is to switch to CARDO

 

[JettaKnight]

Studying up on the ear plug thing, I ran on to this video...

I'm trying to watch that, but why is there an editing cut every couple of seconds?

And I want to duct tape his hands to the desk.



Anywho, I always wear earplug. I keep a big tube of foam ones in my saddlebag.

 

[JCSR]

Not just motorcycles crash on the Dragon....

Driver Flips Ferrari 488 on Tail of the Dragon​

Driver Flips Ferrari 488 on Tail of the Dragon

It's a cold, hard lesson about driving within one's limits.

www.thedrive.com

 

[frenchiectfd2203]

Here’s a photo from 129 that sits on the tail and takes photos all day darn near everyday. And another of the “tree of shame”. The dragon is no joke but I had more fun on the nickel and the skyway. Better views anyway. There’s just too many hot rodders on the tail for me. It was a one and done thing for me, I could care less to go back.