I think I'm done

[GRAYZ]

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Riding in the city can be amazing, you just need to pick your time and location. My favorite is at night. Anywhere sucks in traffic. If your preference is to not ride in the city, or not ride at all, that's up to you. Just be careful not to preach.

 

[turbodish]

Looking at the fallen riders forum, I would say it's safer in the downtown core. I live DT and have never seen a rider down. I heard of one at queen and duffrin but that's it. Plenty of riders down outside the city, on the highways, country roads....

Looking at my list of fatal Ontario motorcycle crashes for 2011, about 9 out of 10 have occurred on highways or in rural areas and not on city core surface streets. About 3 out of every 4 fatalities this year also happened because of rider error, not driver error.

Regardless of who is in error, if you're going to crash, slow speeds typically had in the city core may cause that locale to be the safest possible place to have a crash.

 

[hammakat]

I have a young family, so riding on weekends usually doesn't happen. I just feel bad leaving me wife and daughter to go riding for a few hours, but that's just me. I live south of York University and like riding around the 'burbs, and I have driven north of the city, and yes that is quite fun. It's not a money thing, I can handle having the car and bike plus insurance for both (I'm 31 with a good job), just a safety thing.

There's still winter, I may change my mind when the bug hits.

You sound exactly like me... I'm 31 and have a 2 year old and am the main source of income for the household and I really question why I got the motorcycle at all... Maybe an early mid-life crissi thing I don't know. I will keep it until I get my full M, which is in November, then I will be asking myself the same question as you are asking yourself.

Once you get married and start a family, it's not all about you anymore.

 

[Metastable]

Well you could always sell your bike, sell your SUV, get a Jetta TDI Wagon, hook up a hitch and get a cheap dirtbike for you and a PW50 for your 4 year old!

 

[matthew]

...

 

[RodneyBR]

I've ridden lots in the past, dirt bikes and stuff, but now getting back into it. Not dirt bikes, but getting my Motorcycle licence. Taking my M2 in a week or so.

I've been riding since I've had my M1, but mostly on quiet roads. Even so, I see it. People seem to have to respect or something. And yes, it is scary, but just be as aware of your surroundings as possible.

I live in Ajax, and use my bikes solely for pleasure. So when I do for a ride, I normally take off roads or roads without to much congestion. Even then, you have to at some point cross or go on busy streets. As soon as I hit a busy street I'm anticipating anti-bike drivers.

I spend over 10 years in Toronto, so I know what drivers are like, even to other cars. Motorcycling in TO is something that I personally am not ready for yet!

 

[S500K]

When you have Mid-lifer dad's in minivans trying to race you

Sorry, I'll stop doing that...

+1 for this. 99% of the minivan's that pull up beside me want to race for some reason.

Again, sorry.

I have only pulled up beside 3 bikes, driving my van 4 years. I ended up pulling up beside a guy on a 600 a few weeks back, right when the light turned red, we both stopped. We had a good 2 min convo. When the opposite light turned yellow, I asked, "wanna race?" He rev'd up. This comes out of my mouth, "vroooom vrooom" - He laughed his *** off :lmaowhile still laughing and in neutral) light turns green, I take off. 3 seconds later, pwned .

I'm selling / giving it away by the winter. Need space for the new car. Green V6 FWD 98 Windstar 190,000km. $800 obo. everything is good (surprisingly) I just can't stand driving a van anymore so I'm buying myself a car. Might rip all the rear seats out and turn it into a bang van :agave: - Free to anyone who wants it after that

 

[06ravenS]

Come on the city is not that bad. No matter where u are a dummy can turn rite into u. U have to keep ur eyes open and see everything before it happens. And if it's meant to be then it's meant to be either getting hit on ur bike or slipping in the shower that's how I see it anyways. And for those guys talking about kids and getting married ridding is ridding weather married or not. I'm 27 my 10yr anniversary is this March and have a 9 and a 6yr old. City, country or track we can go down anytime. Live life and let god deal with the rest... That's my 2 cents

 

[stevex]

if every close call makes you want to hang it up and retire from the world of motorcycling.. perhaps you never should have got on a bike in the first place.

 

[T~Bone]

Sounds like u need to speed up if u're getting passed by old ladies and mini vans. You need tiger blood to ride in the gta.

 

[turbodish]

You need tiger blood to ride in the gta.

No, you just need to stay a little more alert. Riding heavy city traffic is mostly an exercise in patience and in making your bike as visible and predictable as possible to other traffic. As long as you're patient and ride just like others on the road would expect a car to drive, you should be ok. Find your spot in a group of cars, and remain in that spot. Problems usually start to arise when you use the bike's size and acceleration to force your way through traffic, zipping back and forth and quickly popping into places where other traffic doesn't expect you to appear.

 

[kickstartt]

Dont ride in the city, take it to the country and you'll be fine. Riding in toronto is like giving retarded kids grenades

LOL

OP: There's always alternatives to keep riding, riding in the city isnt the only choice.

 

[espro]

Find your spot in a group of cars, and remain in that spot. Problems usually start to arise when you use the bike's size and acceleration to force your way through traffic, zipping back and forth and quickly popping into places where other traffic doesn't expect you to appear.

So many times this. I ride in the city daily because it's how I commute in the summer. Sure I've had unaware drivers do stupid things, but for the amount of time I spend riding, those events are minimal. Ride defensively, and stay aware, and it's fine.

 

[Griffin]

So many times this. I ride in the city daily because it's how I commute in the summer. Sure I've had unaware drivers do stupid things, but for the amount of time I spend riding, those events are minimal. Ride defensively, and stay aware, and it's fine.

A agree. The only thing I would add is to be prepared to use your acceleration to get out of Dodge when trouble is brewing. A quick and short twist of the throttle gets me out of harms way in city traffic more often than my brakes do.

I also agree with Turbo that although I'm slightly more likely to get dinged in the city, I'm far more likely to die on the highway or country roads.

 

[jay-d]

A lot of riders are a bunch of sissies!!

I have no problem sharing my lane at a red light, I have no issues when a car is really close to me either.. but that's probably because of this wonderful word called confidence. What a powerful word! You only get confidence with experience.. hint hint.

Driving in Toronto is a piece of cake.. you think this city is bad.. check this out.

[video=youtube;RjrEQaG5jPM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjrEQaG5jPM[/video]

You got pedestrians, three wheelers, bicycles, buses, cars, trucks, motorcycles, taxis, and bulls.

 

[GayManLoveIsOK]

city riding requires spidey senses and a certain steel something on your body...to me it's a game of dodgeball...but you really have to be aware of what's going on around you...i like riding in the city and wish i had a sumo to do so...but yeah, it'll bite you when you ain't paying attention, cause no one else is...don't blame you, i tend to ride mostly in the city and my manners are atrocious at time simply because i treat everyone else on the road like a pylon sometimes...

 

[T~Bone]

Do u ride a motorcycle or drive a Mac truck?

 

[toshison]

Metalx, I live and ride in that area nearly every day as I commute to work by bike. Yeah its bad but if you are use to riding in traffic its not that bad.

A lot of people think riding a motorcycle should make my commute faster but its actually the opposite. On 2 wheels my commute takes about 30% longer and its because of how I ride versus how I drive. In a car, I am more aggressive in changing lanes, running through yellow lights and generally driving like a typical Toronto jack off. On a bike however its different, I change lanes a lot less, don't run through yellow lights, drive very smooth and like Turbodish says, show more patience and be predictable.

My only motorcycle accident so far was when I was on a country road.

 

[Flashmonkey]

if every close call makes you want to hang it up and retire from the world of motorcycling.. perhaps you never should have got on a bike in the first place.

Harsh but true.

95% of my riding is commuting to the core from scarborough. I'm not sure what all of you are complaining about....riding through the city is like riding through an obstacle course. If that isn't enjoyable then I don't know what is.

 

[unL33T]

Just out of curiosity... have you crashed yet? I have a number of times in the few short years I've been riding and it still hasn't scared me off. Maybe I'm just retarded though (and obviously a bad rider, lol).

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