Why I quit riding motorcycles. | Page 4 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Why I quit riding motorcycles.

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jdepp said:
Interesting how so many people have such a strong reaction to a story about someone giving up motorcycling. Why do you take it so personally ? There's more to life than motorcycles even though some of you may think otherwise. I love bikes and generally have two or three at any given time but I love other things to.Life isn't one dimensional guys. Take the story for what it is. An interesting experience through the eyes of someone thats had a change of priorities.Nothing more.
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Strong reaction? he put his opinions in the paper, people here simply commented on what they think about his article and decision on a message board. I dont see how quitting riding even deserves an article in the paper....Why not just quit riding and save the sob story for your kids...I don't think anyone really cares about his decision, besides maybe his friends and family. Personally I think its just another stupid article that's trying to make riding motorcycles seem dangerous...
 
I don't dispute his reasoning but the title should've been, "Why I quit hooligan riding before I got killed." If he could just enjoy motorcycling at a leisurely pace, his chances of crashing would've been greatly reduced.
 
RetroGrouch said:
I don't dispute his reasoning but the title should've been, "Why I quit hooligan riding before I got killed." If he could just enjoy motorcycling at a leisurely pace, his chances of crashing would've been greatly reduced.
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If only all the d-bags would quit, we might see lower insurance rates.
 
Good for him and the rest of us; one less ass hat to run someone off the road from coming in too hot in corner.
 
JohnnyP636 said:
Strong reaction? he put his opinions in the paper, people here simply commented on what they think about his article and decision on a message board. I dont see how quitting riding even deserves an article in the paper....Why not just quit riding and save the sob story for your kids...I don't think anyone really cares about his decision, besides maybe his friends and family. Personally I think its just another stupid article that's trying to make riding motorcycles seem dangerous...
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Of course there is obviously a "strong reaction" and people do "care". Otherwise, why did people bother reading the article and/or posting a comment? The title alone should have been enough of an indicator what the article was going to be about. As far as it being "another stupid article that's trying to make riding motorcycles seem dangerous...", personally, I didn't get that from the article at all.
 
Every time I dump a bike I need to force myself back on. Its usually dirt bikes, and I jump right back on or I wouldn't get on again ever. If I took a 5 or 10 year break like this guy did after a serious fall, I doubt I would ride again either.
 
I quit street riding when my child was born. There was no sudden incident that caused this, it was just time. 15 years of funerals, hospital visits, and close calls, made me think, regardless of how careful I was(not always that careful), sooner or later my luck would run out. I still miss the gap trips, coffe runs, or just going for a blast to escape. To compensate, I still have a track bike, and bought a sportscar(which I've driven once in the last two years). This was my choice, I wouldn't suggest it works for everybody.

Why not just take the article as a human interest piece instead of taking offense?
 
I think you generally write an article to entertain or inform. I didn't find it very entertaining. It certainly wasn't informative. It left out key elements and illustrated illogical conclusions.

He tries to make the point that biking is far more dangerous than driving which is generally true but, if you want to assess your own risk you need to remove all the morons that ride like idiots and/or take inadequate precautions for it to have any real relevance. For me, I know biking is more dangerous than me driving but it is certainly not 35 x more so.

Also, as pointed out, the guy rode like a dick 20+ years ago. He wiped out on a blind corner that he took too fast. His conclusion was that riding a motorcycle is too dangerous to risk. That was not a logical conclusion. The logical conclusion was that riding like a dick is too dangerous.

Then, after a 20+ year hiatus, he rides a modern superbike at the edge of his abilities on tricky roads, scares himself and concludes that riding is indeed dangerous. Again, not a logical conclusion.

What bugs me about the article is that he is apparently trying to inform the readers that riding is dangerous and tries to demonstrate the credibility of his view by citing his experiences. But it's crap. His experiences have no value as comparison to a rider that rides reasonably with due consideration to their skills and the circumstances of the road and traffic. Yet most people reading his article will come away with their biases confirmed that riding is foolish or some that may have considered riding may be dissauded because they believe this is valuable advice.

I am glad he stopped riding though. One less dick on the road on a bike. Now if we could only get him to stop driving...
 
Why can't the newspaper put on more articles about how to be AWARE of motorcycles for the damn idiot drivers instead of hinting ppl to quit riding!
Panzies!
 
Media and public loves this theme. Also hates Scarborough, Mexico, Plane Crashes, Carbon fuels.

When I looked at the US Statistics it was 72 deaths per 100,000 for motorcycles vs car deaths of 13 per 100,000. If you consider that excessive speed was a factor in 50% of those accidents and 25% involved alcohol, that's a statistic that I can live with and manage. (Additionally, only 54% of US motorcycle riders are wearing helmets).

Plus 75.6% of all statstics are made up on the spot. These figures above are in the remaining 24.4%
 
JohnnyP636 said:
Strong reaction? he put his opinions in the paper, people here simply commented on what they think about his article and decision on a message board. I dont see how quitting riding even deserves an article in the paper....Why not just quit riding and save the sob story for your kids...I don't think anyone really cares about his decision, besides maybe his friends and family. Personally I think its just another stupid article that's trying to make riding motorcycles seem dangerous...
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Some people simply commented, some people over reacted and i am not sure why.I don't even look at it as a story about someone quitting riding. I just thought it was an interesting "motorcycle" story. He certainly wasn't trying to say no one should ride. Basically he is smart enough to know he can't control himself enough to ride safely. That shows a level of maturity that unfortunately is sadly lacking on this site. Lastly, riding a motorcycle is dangerous for many reasons of which are too lengthy to list here.Some of us choose to accept those risks and ride. To each his own.
 
overkill13 said:
Interesting that he thinks racing around on public roads in a car is ok, but not on a motorcycle. A jagged rock wall can still kill you in a car. .
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It can, but its several times more unlikely.
Lets face it, you have a head on collision with a decent modern car at 50 km/hr you walk away thanks to impact absorbing crumple zones, seatbelts and 10 airbags........hit a car head on at 40 km/hr on a bike and you arent walking for a while.
 
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Griffin said:
I think you generally write an article to entertain or inform. I didn't find it very entertaining. It certainly wasn't informative. It left out key elements and illustrated illogical conclusions.

He tries to make the point that biking is far more dangerous than driving which is generally true but, if you want to assess your own risk you need to remove all the morons that ride like idiots and/or take inadequate precautions for it to have any real relevance. For me, I know biking is more dangerous than me driving but it is certainly not 35 x more so.

Also, as pointed out, the guy rode like a dick 20+ years ago. He wiped out on a blind corner that he took too fast. His conclusion was that riding a motorcycle is too dangerous to risk. That was not a logical conclusion. The logical conclusion was that riding like a dick is too dangerous.

Then, after a 20+ year hiatus, he rides a modern superbike at the edge of his abilities on tricky roads, scares himself and concludes that riding is indeed dangerous. Again, not a logical conclusion.

What bugs me about the article is that he is apparently trying to inform the readers that riding is dangerous and tries to demonstrate the credibility of his view by citing his experiences. But it's crap. His experiences have no value as comparison to a rider that rides reasonably with due consideration to their skills and the circumstances of the road and traffic. Yet most people reading his article will come away with their biases confirmed that riding is foolish or some that may have considered riding may be dissauded because they believe this is valuable advice.

I am glad he stopped riding though. One less dick on the road on a bike. Now if we could only get him to stop driving...
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+1 Spot on mate
 
Have anyone of you actually talked to the writer? Asked him about the article, what he was trying to say or why?

Some of the reply I got when I asked him and told him what I thought.

"but riding motorcyclesis dangerous. So are some of many of the other things I do, like flying andscuba diving.In each case, I haveassessed the risk / reward ratio, and made a judgement. That's why I'm stillflying gliders after 35 years.
Skilled motorcycleriders who use good judgement can reduce the risk considerably. But the risks willalways be higher than in a car. To me, it was no longer worth it. Sports carsand track driving are."

"- Idon't blame anyone but myself for that crash. I screwed up. Bikes aren'ttolerant of error. And even the best riders make them.
As to the discussion - I am always ready to listen andlearn."
 
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Outlaws Justice said:
Have anyone of you actually talked to the writer? Asked him about the article, what he was trying to say or why?

Some of the reply I got when I asked him and told him what I thought.

"but riding motorcyclesis dangerous. So are some of many of the other things I do, like flying andscuba diving.In each case, I haveassessed the risk / reward ratio, and made a judgement. That's why I'm stillflying gliders after 35 years.
Skilled motorcycleriders who use good judgement can reduce the risk considerably. But the risks willalways be higher than in a car. To me, it was no longer worth it. Sports carsand track driving are."

"- Idon't blame anyone but myself for that crash. I screwed up. Bikes aren'ttolerant of error. And even the best riders make them.
As to the discussion - I am always ready to listen andlearn."
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I only commented on what he wrote, not what was or was not in his mind at the time. When you write an article it has to stand on its own. Newspapers articles are not dialogues. It's incumbent on the writer to get what they want to say in the article and then they are accountable for it, not their subsequent explanations.

However, his comments to you don't particularly help either. Neither scuba nor soaring are particularly dangerous. Unless you're a dick.

Further, he "acknowledges" he was at fault then states "even teh best riders make mistakes". True, but the way he describes his riding style doesn't qualify as a "best rider" for the street, IMO. He still is missing the point that when you ride dangerously on a motorcycle it's a lot more risky then riding responsibly. That's the point his article missed too.
 
Griffin said:
Further, he "acknowledges" he was at fault then states "even teh best riders make mistakes". True, but the way he describes his riding style doesn't qualify as a "best rider" for the street, IMO. He still is missing the point that when you ride dangerously on a motorcycle it's a lot more risky then riding responsibly. That's the point his article missed too.
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I mentioned all this too him and why I thought the article was crap. I mentioned also that it was his fault for riding like he was on a track and treating the road like a track and that he fails to make the fact that he had an accident that was a result of his riding a point, not the fault of being a rider.

By the way Gliders are far more dangerous than riding bikes.
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