Attitude, risk and riding... long but maybe thought provoking...

I'm a clothing/accessories junkie. Love to shop for and own cool protective gear, and poof that any degree of heat or sweat can be overcome with silly amounts of money. Seriously though, I've always had difficulty riding without protective gear.

Today, a shirtless twenty-something wearing flip flops on a scooter runs a stop light and passes in front of my Tundra. I could have crushed the idiot; and that experience would be senseless.

Now a motorcyclist out riding with his true love, enjoying every moment as if it would be their last, if it makes them happy :thumbsup:

One of my cousins lost both of his parents while they were riding their Goldwing, they didn't wear protection. The rest of the story spans only a couple hours, but too depressing to share. I'm comforted in that they lived doing what they loved, but still struggle with the experience.
 
I ride like an ******* according to some.

Won't pass in blind turns though, I do actually enjoy life.

On the other hand, I absolutely will go bomb the freeway at insta-jail speeds, wheelie on a whim, go 5x the posted speed, and generally ride however my mood dictates WITHIN MY LIMITS.

That's the problem, people see fast riding and assume it's reckless, fact is, it's not always, and sometimes that rider you think is pushing it, is WELL within his own limits.

This is generally why I ride alone, or with experienced sport bikers, I don't like people who normally ride much slower than I do pushing themselves to keep up, that's an accident waiting to happen.
 
Some fellas just cant help but to try and have a pissing contest , i have a mate mid 40's rides a Harley and everytime we go for a ride whether it be just us 2 or even on a club ride with many other riders of varying skill set he rides like a complete tool , dangerous to others at times.
 
Some fellas just cant help but to try and have a pissing contest , i have a mate mid 40's rides a Harley and everytime we go for a ride whether it be just us 2 or even on a club ride with many other riders of varying skill set he rides like a complete tool , dangerous to others at times.
YEP lots of those fools out there so you have to be careful who you ride with they can kill you if you let them
 
You've undoubtedly met a few of us that talk like machine guns shoot....I reckon you'll agree that's really hard to listen to as well.
I find it more work to keep focus on those reeeeeaaaaalll Ssslloooooooow murcans. Hell - I live in Spain - they have machingun english speakers beat from birth.
 
Talented, foolish, reckless, awesome control, insane, way cool junior... How others ride and what they wear is not my business unless they are in my way or trying to take me out. I understand the risks as most of you do. Been down twice myself and still ride as hard as I want to when appropriate by my standard. Like @Steel and @Claviger wrote, we each have our priorities and desires.
I do not appreciate jerk riders but even that is by my opinion and not necessarily that of others. As I discovered in Arkansas last year, many of you ride faster and harder than i do, while back here in Virginia, none of my regular riding buddies ride as hard as me.
I wear the gear I do usually to ease the concerns of family. I do not like wearing ATGATT but I do more often than not. I hate pain and AGATT as decreased it twice for me.
 
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This is generally why I ride alone, or with experienced sport bikers, I don't like people who normally ride much slower than I do pushing themselves to keep up, that's an accident waiting to happen.

YEP lots of those fools out there so you have to be careful who you ride with they can kill you if you let them

Just as bad as TOO SLOW are those TOO FAST who goad you into going at their speed.

It's a good part of why I ride alone - and always have done. I'd rather concentrate on the road than some other rider. Hell there are enough distractions without adding some.

The other part is the now correctly diagnosed Schizoid Personality Disorder and a (un?) healthy dose of Psychopathic tendencies.
 
I could care less what anyone else wears or how they ride unless it affects me and to some degree it does. As was mentioned, we all get tarred with the idiot brush. I live on a road frequented by weekend warriors all summer (thousands of them) and it always makes me shake my head when I see the lack of protective gear. My favourite is the guy on a ****** rocket in full leathers, full face helmet, gloves, boots etc and the girlfriend clinging on for dear life wearing Daisy Duke shorts, a spaghetti strap top and flip flops.

We had a forecast of 90% chance our severe thunderstorms yesterday. I was passed on the highway by a guy (on a HD) wearing jeans, running shoes and a half helmet. No gloves and no glasses! (did you not see the forecast? I thought) But the best was he was riding about 10' behind a cube van in the very middle of the centre lane. Did I mention it was pouring rain?
I will stop for just about anyone on a bike if it looks like they have problems, but I would happily have kept on trucking had he dropped.
 
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