Comments on: Motorcycle Riding on the Razor Edge of Life and Death

By: Johnny Bonds

Johnny Bonds — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:38:54 +0000

I have had a couple of close calls in the past couple of years involving “distracted” drivers., on cell phones. One was a classic. Three women in the front seat of a pick-up and all three were talking on cell phones.

I was riding on a 2 lane paved road doing the posted speed limit of 55 mph and it had just started raining making for a very slick surface. It was daylight and my lights were on, high beam. There was a restaunt on my left and as I approached I saw the truck pulling toward the driveway. The truck didn’t slow or stop when it got to the road, they just pulled right out in front of me. When I hit the brakes the bike started sliding and I knew I was going to go down under the truck. I let off the brakes and recovered enough to go by them on the right shoulder. I let them pass and they looked at me like I was an idiot, all three had a phone up to their ear. I followed them for about a mile till they stopped at a light and pulled up beside them and forgot I was a gentleman, I think I got their attention.

I am so glad the fereral government has finally started the wheels turning to ban cell phones while driving. I truly beleive they are as dangerous as drunk drivers.

By: transalper

transalper — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:23:59 +0000

This was my own negligence, I was on my way through Germany, and it had been raining most of the way from Calais . I was soaked and tired I know now it was the start of hyperthermia, I was on a twisty road riding through the mountains and rain clouds , visibility was really bad, I was shivering but must push on. At a curve I went straight on , the quick thinking mercedes driver stopped thank god, and I squeezed between him and the embankment on the wrong side of the road . It realy shook me up, when I found a hotel for the night in the middle of nowhere, it took me a long time to warm up in the shower , I slept in my sleeping bag in the hotel bed . I don’t want that again.

By: Gene Colclasure

Gene Colclasure — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 21:57:38 +0000

Side stand Down. I like my Suzuki that shuts off the moter when you let out the clutch with the stand down.

By: Stripes

Stripes — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:14:05 +0000

I wsas travelling through some twisties leading up to the mountain pass, exellerating to pass a truck with an SUV behind it. When I got close the SUV decides to pass the truck as well, not noticing me behind him. Due to oncoming traffic I could not go right and had to do some emergency braking, pulling to the left of the SUV but right behind the truck. The front wheel of the Busa went beneath the truck before my speed was low enough and the gap between me and the truck increased. This should have been sufficient warning that something bad is on the way. I passed the SUV and urther down the mountain some cars before a right hand turn. I had to exellerate hard in order to pass the all as there was not enough distance between them for me to fit in. I know my speed was too high and applied brakes but there was not much slowing down. Had to really throw the bike into the right hand corner not to go over the barrier and down the side of the mountain.
Lesson learned: Normal brake pipes does not handle heat well and tend to expand thus pushing less breakfluid to the calipers.
Actions taken: Installed waved racing discs and braided brake hoses.
It is twice that I should have gone down within 10 minutes from each other. I will attribute this to my Gardion Angel and not to riding skills.
I am now more aware not to allow the heat to build up to much and rather slow down if I have to hard breaking often.

By: Paul Arsenault

Paul Arsenault — Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:35:02 +0000

This was of course my own fault. I was on my 1200 Goldwing and had pulled off the road to fix something. I fixed it, jumped back on the bike and hit the road. When I had stopped, I was positioned at about 45 * angle facing the edge of the blacktop. It was about a 3 inch jump back onto the road. I started the bike, put it in gear, drove onto the pavement and leaned to the right to head down the road. The road curved to the right and it wasn’t until I was going about 60 mph before the road curved to the left. I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that I forgot to raise the kickstand. When I leaned to the left, for the curve, the sidestand dug into the blacktop. The rear of the bike jumped about 6 inches off the ground and came back down about 18 inches to the right of its original track. I instinctively (turn into the skid?) turned the handlebars to the right and when the bike came back down, the handlebars wrenched back to the left to keep me going down the road. It amazes me to this day that I did NOT go down.