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Really???? I ‘learned’ on an RGV and bought a GSXR when I had a full licence. That’s a while ago. Things have changed - I understand that car drivers still try to kill you but nowadays there are more killers behind the wheel.
I say that knowing, but not accepting, I’m an old C! (Rhymes with runt😁😁)
Biking is the only way to travel - it really is, excepting the death sentence.
Total honestly now - I have the funds to buy another bike (within reason), my wife does not object to a purchase at all. Nothing - no objection at all. She has no idea about riding - she was good friends with a local road racer who was killed in a race but she doesn’t equate this with road riding. I look at gumtree and dream. We have a daughter, she is 15, I work mad hours not by choice, normal week is 60 hours at the mo, that can rise to 84 very quickly. So I don’t see much of my wife or family at the best of times. I’m still a fucking mad teenager at heart BUT I do understand that I have responsibilities - my family. Me dead isn’t a great option, me in a wheelchair is actually worse so I dream. I still dream , but the balance of family and my own dreams is swayed by the death aspect.
It’s shit, I get that but it’s not growing up - it’s my responsibility to look after my wife and daughter so two wheels isn’t a safe idea. I can’t imagine me in a wheelchair because of some notion that I need to be back on two wheels.Long post, I know, but I know and I was at an accident where a rider ended up in a wheelchair with damage to his brain. His Blade had moss on it when recovered, I don’t really know what his family thought about the day or the accident but it had to have been horrific for them and they had the aftermath to suffer.
It isn’t a safe mode of transport - but it’s the best by a very long way.In closing, I still smoke - no doubt someone will say that I’m on a road to disaster with a cancerous family history but it’s a slow death - that’s my only way to balance two wheels with life. If a doc told me I had a month to live, I’d be at the bike shop rather quickly. That may sound very harsh but that’s how dangerous biking is.
To all who read all of this, please stay safe and be careful!!! Bikers know that being careful means not going out 😁
RIP Joey Dunlop - King of the Road
TGR-
I second all of that. If I had any kids maybe I'd have given up. I still worry about the cat if I had a disaster. I've had 3 scary crashes which could have been fatal or crippling, but I didn't hit anything hard, so I got away with it. I've had to have words with myself many times. I decided not to give up, but to improve my odds with training and practice. This has been very expensive and a big time commitment. But also enormous fun. I took up endurance racing and did OK in my first season in the British championship. Then I had to have another word with myself because I thought I could see a way to improve such that I could enter the world championship. If you qualify fast enough they give you a chunk of the TV money, which can be enough to pay all the costs if you're in a team of dedicated, clever people whose life centres on the Bol d'Or and Spa and all that. I chickened out because I didn't think I'd get to Spa qualifying pace without dying. And I ran out of money. So that was that.
I have always studied other people's crashes and injuries. If there's a fatal crash video on youtube I'll watch it 20 times. I can always see what I would have done differently. Since my first scary crash at 18 I've never thought 'it won't happen to me'. I ride fast, but I take defensive riding as far as I can. After years of practice, including invaluable experience as a courier, I instinctively use a bit of road which the car ahead won't. So I don't compete with anyone for road space. There's no conflict. So if they don't see me, it doesn't matter. I always ride like this, and it's immensely satisfying. There's a serenity to it.
I also believe in safety gear. Before the helmet law, head injury was the principal cause of death for bikers. Since then it's been chest injury. You can see it on 24 Hrs in A and E. Hit a car or a kerb or something and you break ribs and make holes in your lungs and other organs. If you decelerate instantly from 40 to zero, your organs burst. If you have an airbag jacket with inertia sensors and your front wheel hits a car which has pulled out in front of you, the airbag will probably inflate fully before your chest hits the car. Body armour can also make a huge difference. I broke a Ford Escort radiator with my knee but got away with a bruise. Modern gear is so good that some of it doesn't even look like bike gear. You can wear it anywhere.
nick_h.
Haha. Loooooooong old answers over there.
In fairness Dammit, motorbikes are so cheap you should buy a 916 (because you want one, you're sensible enough to take it easy and you'll look after it properly) AND a 250 enduro bike like a KX250X (or 125 two stroke if you're feeling brave.) That way you can shove it in the Vito and take it to the MX track or off road area and have a proper bike when you get there. Sorted.