The Mole's bus sideswipe gave me an idea. A thread about Something vs Motorcycles Stories. There doesn't need to be an off or contact, just a Shake Your Head moment. I'll start...
The other day around 4:30pm. I'm approaching a round-a-bout. Look to my right, all clear. I'm watching the traffic approach from the left to make sure it is going to stop (for US readers, we ride on the left side of the road). I'm looking at the woman coming up to the round-a-bout. A boombalada munching down on a sponge cake while she's driving. She's got her fist wrapped around this sucker and is plunging her mouth into it to take a bike. She's also not looking. Eyes straight ahead, she doesn't even glance in my direction. I hit the picks and blast the horn. NOW she looks. Amazingly, she doesn't make any alteration to her eating. Sees me, looks away, and takes another bite as she single-handedly turns the wheel to go around.
Michael
How about this, not a cage but.............
The sun is shining, its a beautiful day, and I'm enjoying the quiet ride to work on the GS500. The traffic is moving along nicely at 50 kph and for once the driver behind me isn't trying to get close enough to read the small print on my rego label. I'm at the southern end of Jonson St, and there's a car waiting to come out of Ruskin St on my right, so I eyeball it carefully for a second to make sure I don't get SMIDSY'd. I look ahead again, and in my peripheral vision something large leaps out from behind a parked van.
As my reflexes kick in I realise its a surfboard, and its going for my throat!
I hit the brakes hard, and as the bike comes to a stop with the back tyre squealing I realise the board is in the care (if not the control) of a dreadlocked muppet on a bicycle. I stop with my front wheel touching his forks, the nose of the board is about 6 inches in front of my visor, and Bob Marley is looking at me as if I've just teleported from a distant galaxy.
He's got the board under his right arm with the nose high, so he couldn't have seen me or used his front brake. As he pedals off across the road, I look over my shoulder and give a thumbs up to the car driver who has stopped safely a few feet behind me. Ah, Byron, beautiful one minute, deadly the next.
Ever notice when you are behind a car you can see the driver's face in their rear view mirror?
I pulled behind an SUV with a woman driver and couldn't see her face. What's wrong with her mirror? Seems she turned it so she could do her hair! Right! Brushing her hair, using the rear view mirror AND making a left turn. When the light turned green, she does a very wide one hand left turn while brushing her hair. If there was a car pulling out of the KCF on the far left corner - head on crash. She wasn't watching anything but her hair.
Needless to say, I gave her MORE than a 4 second lead ahead of me.
If you can't see their face in their mirror, they can't see you.
people in front, honk a lot, probably on every ride someone pulls out without looking or just acts a retard
a roundabout near here is pretty awful, people just drive through, i have been next to them in the lane, turn my body and give them a what the f%$k look from a couple feet away
someone a little to close behind me, killswitch backfire
I own a car and bikes, "cage" is a term used by a MC elitist, the old us against them...when actually most riders here own both. Spare me the drama.
Rant over..every time I hear Cage, Cager or Caging I just what to kick somebody in the nuts
Quote from: Suzuki Stevo on December 02, 2010, 06:42:10 PM
I own a car and bikes, "cage" is a term used by a MC elitist, the old us against them...when actually most riders here own both. Spare me the drama.
every time I hear Cage, Cager or Caging I just what to kick somebody in the nuts. Rant over..
Fixed! :thumb:
Lets call a car a BOX and a bike a BRIEF (since it has 2 wheels). Think of the innuendos of postings of boxers .vs. briefs :cheers:
While I am not a MC Elitist and the use of Cager or some such, at least down under where time stands still and the world forgets about us, is certainly not an elitist thing, I really dislike the idea of getting kicked in the nuts, or someone gunning for my nuts. So have changed the topic to be more reflective of my intention.
Stevo, you can put those steel capped nut crushers away now :icon_mrgreen: :cheers:
Michael
Quote from: mister on December 02, 2010, 08:54:25 PM
While I am not a MC Elitist and the use of Cager or some such, at least down under where time stands still and the world forgets about us, is certainly not an elitist thing, I really dislike the idea of getting kicked in the nuts, or someone gunning for my nuts. So have changed the topic to be more reflective of my intention.
Stevo, you can put those steel capped nut crushers away now :icon_mrgreen: :cheers:
Michael
OK, I can see maybe in other parts of the world it could be more common, and if so I'm sorry, I forget people from all over the world post here :cheers:
Bump....it'z OK, you can go back to raging about cages, don't let my babble slow you down :kiss3:
Happened in front of me...
Car in left lane, car in right lane with bike behind it and I'm watching from behind them all.
The car in the right lane goes zooming past the car in the left and is gone. The bike edges forward just enough to now sit in the car's blind spot and stays there! I'm thinking "dude, drop back or go forward, but don't sit there." Sure as sure can be, the car decides he needs to be in the right hand lane to exit the road and starts moving over. Must have only been inches in it before the bike's horn beeping and slight lane position change enables the car to know he was there.
Did the bike twist the throttle to get outta Dodge while this was going on? Did he hit the brakes? Nope & nope. Just stayed there beeping horn WTF. Then comes up level with window to give the old menacing stare at the driver. As he does he is now drifting to the road barrier on the right. He's getting closer. I start slowing down cause it looks like he's gonna hit it and I'll want the extra room to stop and pull up the cars behind me. Finally, he glances up and now needs to take evasive action to not hit the road barrier - which he manages to do and again there must have only been inches in it.
It is only Then that he rides off leaving the car behind.
Michael
I had a near pancake incident ( awhile ago ...). A friend and I had ridden out to look at an old truck he was interested in.... I was on my ZX11 and he was on his Kat 600... He wanted to try the 11 out so I said ok ( seemed to be a competent rider... so I agreed.).
We were 3/4ths the trip back to home - was just dark... I was in the lead - A truck quickly squirts across a side street ..straight across my path... from my right to left...was Ok I was half expecting it and was covering the brakes etc. I slowed enough (just enouggh) and he got across ( he didn't waste any time moving...luckily..). The problem was the 70+ year old grandmother in the Big Crown Vic that was in the right lane going the same direction he was... Seeing him go she assumed she had it clear to pull out.....
OF course the truck obscured my view of her until he got by...now I have a two ton plus 10 mph road block right in front of me ( was going 40-45....).....No shoulder- just a curb to the right....AND a car in the oncoming lane to my left sitting there waiting to make a left turn. I'm on top of her... I yellow lined it between the Vic and the other car.... I mean the right grips nearly brushed the mirrors on each car.... I was braking too so I kinda passed the driver door of the Grandma and was then even with her ( as she was speeding up)....Not sure if she could hear the obscenity's coming out of my mouth or not....She was looking at me like I was crazy ( and probably thought somehow I was in the wrong..).
My friend thought I was dead...couldn't believe I made it between the cars......(I couldn't either..). I was probably lucky to be on the smaller bike.... We pulled over shortly after that so I could calm down...
I've lost count on the times I've been pulled out on ( Truck and my bike )... People running stop signs...make eye contact with you and think cause they did that you can /will get out of their way...
BaltimoreGS (Jessie) and I were riding around in Pennsylvania one day and I was riding his Van Halen bike (my bike was broken down at the time). We were pretty much finished for the day and we decided to take an alternate way home (Maryland). So, we stopped at an intersection where it's a two lane freeway and stop signs that are across from each other. He took off from the stop crossing the highway and I shortly followed. Along the other side of the road (direction in which we were now traveling) there was a line of cars (about four or so) at their stop sign. A van started to pull out, but just barely saw Jessie and stopped as Jessie passed by. I realized that this guy was an idiot since he almost hit Jessie, so I had already began to slow down. However, he started to pull out again, right in front of me. Now, it's me and a big white van and no room left on the road for evasive action (as I said I was already in the process of slowing down....brakes applied, etc.). He kept pulling out, so I attempted to swerve around him because I was not going to stop in time, but he took the turn extra wide and I hit the front panel of the passenger side of his van. The first thing I worried about was Jessie's bike because I don't like messing up other people's property (especially friend's). After I noticed the bike was in decent condition, I tossed my helmet and gloves onto the grass and started berating the guy that hit me. I think it was the most pissed off I have ever been. Fortunately, for Jessie and myself, the bike escaped with very little damage (slight scuff mark from maybe my boot). I still, to this day, do not know how I did not get hurt. I think I jumped off the bike as I realized the collision was inevitable. I do remember smacking my head against someone's pavement driveway, but like I said I came away injury free.
Does anyone else love the feeling of walking away after an accident? Every near death or frightening experience I've had have been some of the greatest moments of my life. The flow of adrenaline is just pure euphoria.
Back in 79-80? I was at a stop light on my '79 Suzuki GS750L waiting for the light to change when I noticed in my mirrors a car coming up on me quickly...I then heard it's brakes start to squeal as he locked it up, bout this time I grabbed a handful of throttle and dropped the clutch as the needle went past 7,000 Rpm or so? Needless to say I smoked the tire through the intersection and averted contact with said car, glad there was no cross traffic cause I didn't have time to check :bowdown:
On the way to work one morning. I'm on a two-lane road, coming to an intersection where the traffic crossing my road has a stop sign. No stop sign for me, but I am going to turn left. A pick-up truck pulls up to the stop sign from the left (USA, where we drive on the RIGHT side of the road :icon_lol:), he stops then pulls out to cross the road I am on. Then decides to look for traffic from his right. By this time I've already come to a stop as I was slowing for the turn anyway, and noticed that he didn't look my direction so I prepared to stop just in case he's a freakin' idiot. So the idiot jams the brakes and stops in the on-coming lane. Rather than going around him I just motioned for him to continue on while saying "just get out of here you jackass!" Wish he could have heard me, but by the look on his face I could tell he felt like the idiot he is.
on my way home from work on Tuesday (i take in some back streets through Brisbane's north west suburbs, there is is nice wannbe twisties) i was going through Ashgrove heading towards ashgrove ave cutting out the lights by going in between the 2 shopping centres. as i come up to the drive way for Woolies i could see the top of a 4wd coming down the drive way (it was peek hour so there was bumper to bumper traffic heading in the other direction to me the right hand lane). once i seen the 4wd i set up the brakes and iam glad i did cause id be a speed if i hadn't. even tho it was peek hour and there was a gap in the right hand lane, she just shot out did even look to see if anyone was in the left lane.
that was it, i lost it steam coming out of my helmet i dropped Suzi back to first dumped the clutch spun the back wheel all the way up the hill to the intersection where said 4wd was white lined it so i come up on here window and started shouting holding my helmet down with my right hand so she got in full... next thing i know baby screaming in back, female driver whose eyes are level with the top of the steering wheel ( she could see even if there was no traffic) said she couldnt see so she just pulled out hoping poeple would stop for her saying her husband said she would be safe in a large car from an accident.
(This took longer to type than it did to happen...)
My partner and I were westbound on Turk just past USF (in San Francisco); two lanes each direction.
We were riding staggered in the left lane, me at front-left, when to our left we notice a Mercedes SUV pulling out of a parking garage, looking like it's going to make a left itself and end up westbound on Turk as well.
No traffic in sight behind us, no oncoming traffic in sight either. Thought it was near twilight, the sun was very dim and ahead of us in any case; we were very visible.
Of course, instead of waiting until we (who had the right-of-way) had passed, the SUV driver chooses to time it perfectly, and busts a left at the most (im)perfect moment.
I dodged to my left, into the clear oncoming lane; my partner dodged right, BUT THE SUV decided to make for the right lane herself!
My partner rides a Ninjette, a moto well-known to have "meh" brakes. All I could see from my vantage was the SUV, no partner in sight...
A tick later and I see my partner squirting forward, winding her Ninjette hard, in the bicycle lane, having very nearly become the meat in an SUV-and-parked-car sandwich.
The SUV driver never even turned her head.
It thoroughly underscored to me the two rules: 1) EVERYTHING is out there to kill you; 2) EVERYONE is out there to kill you.