Why I Sold My Harley

Come to think of it, astronauts strap themselves to the top of a can of rocket fuel, so I guess the jet engine thing is not so far fetched . . .

-Russ H.

I have no intentions strapping on to a Boss Hoss, Tomahawk, or Y2K. I've rode a turbo GSXR 1000 and the 250 ft/lbs of tq that gave me was enough to make me tighten my sphincter.

Whilst riding a bike you must assume that everyone is out to get you and be prepared and equipped to deal with the risks. That means at the most basic level wearing full leather gear, boots, gloves and a helmet as well as taking the relevant riding course.

Obviously the truck driver is at fault here by ramming into and failing to stop once he hit the scooter rider, but the rider did not do anything to avoid that situation, he was not aware of what was behind him, nor was he properly positioned in the lane, and he definitely did not have the engine power to accelerate out of that situation.

As a rider you have got to realise there are inattentive drivers and crazy people on the road and you've gotta be looking ahead, behind and to the sides constantly.



*Note even to the car drivers here it is definitely worth doing a defensive driving course and applying what they teach you. I have only been driving for 6 months but the number of times simple precautions like knowing what traffic was behind me and looking over my shoulder before merging has saved me from a crash is very high so I'd highly recommend one

Had a friend who drove a big rig. He was always amazed at the number of cars that would accelerate around him, pull back in front of him, and SLOW DOWN-- fast.

He said people don't realize that a fully loaded truck can take hundreds of feet to stop if it's going 50/60 mph-- they just figure trucks handle like their cars.

One time, a gal pulled in front and immediately slammed on her brakes. He didn't overreact-- he just started gearing down as fast as he could, as the truck picked up her car and scraped it sideways down the freeway. She was fine, but very shook up. And she was very pissed at him! Telling this story, he'd just laugh and shake his head. "She's lucky that she's still alive. I did everything I could to prevent an accident. What did she do?"

I agree that the truck should have seen the scooter-- but there are truck drivers that like to drive too close, to "teach the driver a lesson"-- and it looks as though the truck was moving into the next lane, and tried to swerve back as soon as he saw the scooter (quite a ways, actually). If the truck was fully loaded, it could not have slowed down much more. I'm guessing (purely guessing) that the scooter driver figured the truck would slow down faster (like the lady in my story above), and slowed his scooter even more when he got to the edge of the truck, since he was looking for traffic in the lane he was merging into (the truck blocked his view). Truck clipped the bike, dragged him under, and you all know the rest.

An error in judgement.

Cost him his life.

We see people "die" in movies everyday. But we all know it's fake. And we hear about people dying in accidents, shootings, etc. But we seldom see this happening-- either live, or on video. I guess that's why this video has had such a haunting effect on me.

-Russ H.

It looked like the truck was going to take a left, but then realized that he was suppose to go straight so he came back to the right to go straight.

I bet that the truck driver was looking left or into his left mirror. Then he looked straight ahead to go straight and by that time the scooter was so close and on the left bumper that he didn't even see him.

Off-topic:

When gas prices hit almost $4/gal I saw many scooters on the streets.

If you can't afford a car and the scooter is the only thing you can buy, that's fine. But I don't understand the people who ride one because it gets better gas mileage or because its environmentally friendly.

I understand the need to be green or save money. But sometimes is it worth the risk? Yes, you can get many many more miles a gallon in a scooter, but is saving that type of money worth it?

Imagine watching 50-60 of clips like that in one sitting. I did about 3 days ago. Surely had an interesting effect. Mostly I noted that:

1. You never know when your time is up - due to chance or circumstance
2. Make the most of it while you can.


Seriously, some stuff I've seen - like this video - is unreal. One moment changes everything.

How do you do this? Brake-checking doesn't seem like an option- is this an example of dropping a gear and deafening the idiot cager

I will admit that this is my biggest fear, after my one wreck back in Sep '06(2 weeks after I met Adi) where an idiot pulled a left turn from a stop-sign in front of me and I flew over his hood, I have made it a HABIT to make eye-contact with every cager I see about to turn at intersections, parking lots, stop signs etc.

+rep- I know that there's a thread about how the Lambo has lost it's luster for MJ and hopefully this will bring back that spark

if you own a sport-bike/exotic and have the means/time then you should be on the open-road with it AND put in some track time as well, think of it as stress-relief or an "anti-drug", but I can totally see the annoyance of bumper to bumper traffic or the punk in the Civic/Stang always trying to start trouble.

as far as Bilge's comments and Matt's as well, here is a real-life example of MSF courses being priceless- while I took the beginner's course before I got my first bike, while it didn't teach me how to avoid that first accident, the advanced course I took last yr did and there were two very valuable tips I learned- proper braking and clutchless shifting.

by proper braking I mean, NEVER EVER use the clutch when braking(I already knew that it's about an 80/20 split for F/R), even in an emergency stop the worst that will happen is the bike will just stop, not jump like a car, but the lesson was that the clutch acts as "third brake" and the rear wheel locks which is what causes skidding and adds about 20% to your stopping distance.

and one last thing, in addition to the $300-500 in riding courses, $500 MINIMUM on safety gear(helmet, jacket, riding jeans/leathers/textiles, gloves, boots, etc) think of it as a lot less than the lifetime of skin grafts/pain from road-rash, not to mention the medical bills

It is amazing.

We talk about mindfulness, and living in the moment.

But how often do we attain this?

-Russ H.

This might be a repost but this'll add to what Rawr said, not to mention, goes to show that even walking can be dangerous- even if you look both ways before crossing and have no oncoming traffic:


To add to this, the tragedy involving Nick Adenhart goes to show that even in a new car with all the crash safety standards and wearing your seat-belt is not enough protection from some drivers out there

i had an R1 and went down on it twice. as much as i loved the thing, i didn't want to make the 3rd time the last. i sold it a few summers ago.

But even in that pedestrian crash, it is no different than being on a bike. As a pedestrian, you are NEAR traffic ... but on a bike, you become a pedestrian SURROUNDED by traffic. I'm not trying to steal anyone's enjoyment with these statements, just please be careful and mindful of the dangers.

I gave up street bikes a long time ago. At one time it was my only transportation. This was early 90's and it was still fairly safe to ride bikes. Now days there are way too many idiots on the roads. What's worse is there are way too many idiot bike riders on the roads doing wheelies at 80 mph on the highways around here. When the true croth rockets came out in the mid 80's - 90's a whole new crowd of riders emerged. These riders are f'ing nuts!

I now enjoy my vette and riding around with the top off. Not quite the same as knees in the breeze but close.

Good move, bikes are death traps these days. You can do everything right and some bimbo in a Suburban on her cell can run you down and kill you.

I like having some meat around me on the road, and airbags those are nice.

If you live far out in the country where the roads are empty a bike might be OK.

ahh yes- i went the other way around- from f-bodies(t-tops and drop) to bikes- hearing that makes me miss the droptop Formula even more (especially since "knees in the breeze isn't the same as wind in your hair)

meat as in those vintage Mercedes aka street legal tanks

my neighbor has an '84 380SD and that thing not only looks like, but sounds like a tank(since it's diesel )

Not to be a jerk but its a 300SD if its a diesel, W126.125 powered by a 617. And yep the W126 in all its forms is a fantastic car.


I love my street panzers, they are made for crushing poor peoples cars.

I fell in love when I closed the door on them the first time, it sounds like a bank vault latching.

Here's a better example for rider awareness:

Painting her nails.. - Chicagoland Sportbikes

FYI Adi and I were out for a ride on this same street about 10-15 minutes before this happened.

RIP Mrs. Zaffke

Had she been in a car, she'd be alive. Thru no fault of her own, she's gone. It is very sad.