Experience/ perspective, how do you rate yours?

[rictus01]

I’ve read a few threads that have me wondering how some people decide this, I mean when reading you’re getting a viewpoint which would be much more valid if you knew what it was based on, and I seem to see the “if I can’t do it, it must be dangerous” type thing more and more these days.


I’ll give you some examples, what one person views as wild and reckless could well be routine and well within another’s abilities, be that anything from filtering to overtakes, to stunting a bike, cutting across the countryside, negotiating city traffic daily or being track day addict, I know this is personally variable for me from an application perspective as I get to follow the London couriers quite often and some days they are awesome, others just in the way.

I also know new-ish riders can have that “I can do anything” attitude based on nothing more than luck, but beyond this what would you say makes a good/respected judgement point/ perspective and what is important from the list below to you?

So is it what courses you have done?
How fast you go?
Can you get your knee down/ lean the bike/chicken strips?
The bike you ride?
What job you do?
How long you have had a licence?
How long you have been riding?
What mileage you’ve done (total)
What mileage you’ve done (annually)
That you commute?
What organizations you belong to?
Mechanical/ tuning knowledge you may have?
You ride all year round?
Places you’ve been on a bike ?
Forum post count?
Forum joining date?

Just interested to know what people base their own opinion’s on?

Cheers Mark.

this is going to be quite an interesting one.....

So is it what courses you have done?

2 bike safe courses, and I take my I.A.M. on the 3rd of july, a few track days.

How fast you go?

as fast as the weather, roads, traffic, and mood takes me, I've had my busa flat out in 6th on british roads, most days commuting I tend to sit at a max of 80 -85 mph

Can you get your knee down/ lean the bike/chicken strips?

nope - I'm too fat, no chicken strips....
The bike you ride?

currently I have a 2009 xt660z for work, a 2004 busa for fun, a 2005 KTM for off road fun, a 1989 xtz 750 restored just for the hell of it and a project xrv 750


What job you do?

Health and safety manager.......


How long you have had a licence?

car since 1987, bike since 1992


How long you have been riding?

got a moped at 14 (legal age in germany). been on 125's and above since 1988.
What mileage you’ve done (total)

god knows - over 800,000


What mileage you’ve done (annually)

40,000 ish


That you commute?

35,000


What organizations you belong to?

AA Recovery!!!!!!! I.A.M


Mechanical/ tuning knowledge you may have?

I do most of my own servicing, shop do engine internals, tyres and chain and sprockets....


You ride all year round?

Yes, with the exception of snow and ice


Places you’ve been on a bike ?

England, ireland, scotland, wales, northern ireland, france, holland, belgium, germany, spain, isle of man..
Forum post count?

Dont know - is it not shown?


Forum joining date?

Dont know

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by busasean

this is going to be quite an interesting one.....

So is it what courses you have done?

2 bike safe courses, and I take my I.A.M. on the 3rd of july, a few track days.

How fast you go?

as fast as the weather, roads, traffic, and mood takes me, I've had my busa flat out in 6th on british roads, most days commuting I tend to sit at a max of 80 -85 mph

Can you get your knee down/ lean the bike/chicken strips?

nope - I'm too fat, no chicken strips....
The bike you ride?

currently I have a 2009 xt660z for work, a 2004 busa for fun, a 2005 KTM for off road fun, a 1989 xtz 750 restored just for the hell of it and a project xrv 750


What job you do?

Health and safety manager.......


How long you have had a licence?

car since 1987, bike since 1992


How long you have been riding?

got a moped at 14 (legal age in germany). been on 125's and above since 1988.
What mileage you’ve done (total)

god knows - over 800,000


What mileage you’ve done (annually)

40,000 ish


That you commute?

35,000


What organizations you belong to?

AA Recovery!!!!!!! I.A.M


Mechanical/ tuning knowledge you may have?

I do most of my own servicing, shop do engine internals, tyres and chain and sprockets....


You ride all year round?

Yes, with the exception of snow and ice


Places you’ve been on a bike ?

England, ireland, scotland, wales, northern ireland, france, holland, belgium, germany, spain, isle of man..
Forum post count?

Dont know - is it not shown?


Forum joining date?

Dont know

Interesting Sean, the post count thing is shown, but whether it's been mucked about with is anyones guess, for instance IB posts don't count and neither do Photo one's, plus a few people have had theirs changed for some reason?

Cheers Mark.

Originally Posted by rictus01

So is it what courses you have done? None
How fast you go? Have been over 186mph, but usually more restrained but quicker than average
Can you get your knee down/ lean the bike/chicken strips? Yes/Yes/None
The bike you ride? Daily - Versys, track - CBR600, trail - TS250
What job you do? Bike shop manager
How long you have had a licence? 31 years
How long you have been riding? 37 years (off-road as a kid)
What mileage you’ve done (total) God knows, lots
What mileage you’ve done (annually) Now only 10K, until recently 20K
That you commute? 3K
What organizations you belong to? Local bike club (when I remember to renew)
Mechanical/ tuning knowledge you may have? Do all my own work, even tyres and engine work
You ride all year round? Yes, unless it's in extremes of winter
Places you’ve been on a bike ? All over Europe, have ridden hire bikes in USA
Forum post count? 4316
Forum joining date? 13-5-07

There ya go

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by rictus01

beyond this what would you say makes a good/respected judgement point/ perspective and what is important from the list below to you?

So is it what courses you have done?
How fast you go?
Can you get your knee down/ lean the bike/chicken strips?
The bike you ride?
What job you do?
How long you have had a licence?
How long you have been riding?
What mileage you’ve done (total)
What mileage you’ve done (annually)
That you commute?
What organizations you belong to?
Mechanical/ tuning knowledge you may have?
You ride all year round?
Places you’ve been on a bike ?
Forum post count?
Forum joining date?

None of the above. People talk a lot of s**t so whatever you hear you have to look into it yourself to find out if it is reliable or not.

Interesting that people are not answering the question

[rictus01]

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

None of the above. People talk a lot of s**t so whatever you hear you have to look into it yourself to find out if it is reliable or not.

Interesting that people are not answering the question

a valid veiwpoint Chris, but surely you have a licence ?

the point I suppose was to give me at least an idea where some of our more opinionated contributors were coming from and whether their point of view was balanced or just upping their post count

Cheers Mark.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by rictus01

a valid veiwpoint Chris, but surely you have a licence ?

License means nothing, one guy whose opinion I respect massively does not have a license. Worst drivers in world have a license. Most patronising know-nowt pillock of a copper has a license.

Despite reading Engineering at University I put very little faith in bits of paper.


So are you wanting to know answers to long list of questions, or a more in depth review of how people rate their own views based on how they answered those questions?

[rictus01]

but that's the point, some do, and the other categories; for those knowing can add weight to someones post.

I've tried to be balanced in the list, feel free to add to it if you want.

although I'm guessing those who regularly post just for the sake of it will undoubtedly ignore this thread.

Cheers Mark.

I suppose I'm a grumpy old git, but I resent being told how to ride and having my riding criticised by anyone who had to have an instructor to teach them to ride on an ER-5 before they did a '2 part bloke following on a BMW' m/cycle test and who now only does about 3K miles a year. When they've got the road experience that I have, only then can they criticise or assess my capability.

What really makes me laugh is someone who's had a licence for a year, trained with the IAM and done virtually all their riding on assessed rides and in training, thinking they are a better/safer rider. That really does show to me the real value (or lack of it) of an IAM pass, because some of them I know are downright crap riders who'll never progress to being any better because they have a head filled with nonsense. They're slower maybe, but not necessarily better or safer.

[yorkie_chris]

I didn't have anyone teach me how to ride.

I did however have somebody teach me how to pass the test.