News story link - death crash horror gore etc etc all on video.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Yup there are plenty on here have bikes properly, I think he was on about the weekend warriors on ZX10Rs stuck under the front of cars on easy corners all across this land...

ahhh you paint such a loverly picture lol

After watching the video.
The biker is just overtaking the car behind the one the causes the accidentand the dark car that moves out wouldn't really see him?
I think it was just one of those unlucky moments.
End of the day take it easy on the way to your quiet favourite roads and then hoon about all you like.
I feel sorry for eveyone involved but it must have been bad for the Dark Car driver and the van driver feeling like they cuased his death?
That really must have been a grim sight.

Originally Posted by carty

I pretty much agree with the rest of your post regarding 'moments of madness' Vs. 'sustained aggressive riding' but just wanted to point out a couple of things;

1) MotoGP races generally last between 40-45 minutes, double your estimate.
2) Even mentioning MotoGP pilots in relation to any average joe rider is folly. They're a completely different league to the rest of us and we should all remember that!

I haven't seen the video so can't comment on the riding. A sad event that could have been avoided I'm sure.

Apologies it never seems that long, but for the sake of the point I was making you can round it upto 60min if you like. I stand by my reference to the GP riders, those riders as you say, are in a completely different league, top of the game, best of the best, top gun etc etc but they are expected to perform like this for less than an hour.
Yet joe rider as you call him thinks he can ride for a few hours in a fashion which will demand lighting reactions and uninterupted concentration. If the top guns arnt expected to be able to do that, then why does joe rider think its perfectly achievable for him? Its an arrogance/c0cksure nature I've seen in a lot of riders, to these people I turn and walk away. It doesnt matter how good you are, if your on the road doing it your not THAT good. 10mins of enjoyment I have no beef with but hours of lunacy I certainly do.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

And thats changed as well, Sports bike is IMHO as luxury item or a fashion accessory. Its really changed the sort of person you'll find on two wheels now. Where before it was somebody looking for a cheap commuter tool, often now its not and its back to the "Fashion acessory" ego massaging, willy waving kind of Toy type problem again isnt it.

Its also that sort of person who buys a sports bike for the above reason is more than likely to ride like a pratt / or fall off IMHO

Thats what annoys me. Guys who actually have no love of two wheels at all.

Somebody who really loves motorbikes will get as much enjoyment out of some old thumper as they will out of a modern sportsbike. It's grin's for different reasons, but grins just the same. I get a big smile just from looking at and listening to some bikes.

You come across far too many idiots with the latest and greatest sportsbikes who claim "I love my bike", and all too often you see them ride and hear them talk and you think "love motorbikes? no you fu***in' don't, you love the ego massage and the adrenalin rush of being the fastest thing on the road! If they could build a faster Subaru for £10K and thats what your mates and the pub landlord would be impressed by, or if all your mates got into Quad's, you'd drop two wheels in a minute!"

Of course non-sportsbike riders can't tar all sportsbike riders with the same brush. Look at Haggis, he rode around on his old SV which he'd built and customised himself for years, obviously a guy who is passionate about bikes, but he dreamt after and eventually bought a 2009 R1, because thats what floats his boat. Because of the ego massage idiots though, non-bikers tar all of us with the same brush.

Originally Posted by leedsmatt7

Disagree with that, I only focused on riding because I couldnt afford to buy a house and have a car. So I recon I fall 100% into the commuter tool catagory. I know you didnt mean EVERY RIDER has a bike for the accesory but just making it clear that there are exceptions to your theory.

Yes, but you ride an SV, which is not a sportsbike whatever Suzuki like to claim in their marketing blurb. Not many sportsbikes get used as commuting tools.

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Yep or like the guys that turn up at bike meets, with 6 month old bikes, brand new leathers all matching and have mahoosive chicken strips and no low speed control

They just make me laugh though, I don't get so annoyed with those guys. Most of them are just born again newbies that are completely mismatched to their bikes.

The ones that annoy me are the warriors who have to make as much noise as possible and ensure the whole car park knows what speed they reached and how many near misses and tankslappers that they had on the way there (most of them ******** of course).

[fizzwheel]

Originally Posted by -Ralph-

The ones that annoy me are the warriors who have to make as much noise as possible and ensure the whole car park knows what speed they reached and how many near misses and tankslappers that they had on the way there (most of them ******** of course).

I normally find that its those sort of people that have 6 month old bikes, with matching leathers, and mahoosive chicken strips and no low speed control...

The same sort of rider that is Fast on the internet but you go on a ride with them and then hold you up as they cant corner...

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

I normally find that its those sort of people that have 6 month old bikes, with matching leathers, and mahoosive chicken strips and no low speed control...

The same sort of rider that is Fast on the internet but you go on a ride with them and then hold you up as they cant corner...

Yeah, those guys exist too, but you usually find that the car park noise they make is complete ******** and the first time they try to reach the speeds they are shouting about they land in the hedge at the next corner.

They are a bit different from the complete hooning nutters who make the same noises in the car park, but obviously have the ability and well scraped knee sliders to match, they just don't have the brains to realise that the road is not a racetrack. I think the riders in the video fell into this latter category, and they are the ones giving us a bad reputation.

Originally Posted by leedsmatt7

Apologies it never seems that long, but for the sake of the point I was making you can round it upto 60min if you like. I stand by my reference to the GP riders, those riders as you say, are in a completely different league, top of the game, best of the best, top gun etc etc but they are expected to perform like this for less than an hour.
Yet joe rider as you call him thinks he can ride for a few hours in a fashion which will demand lighting reactions and uninterupted concentration. If the top guns arnt expected to be able to do that, then why does joe rider think its perfectly achievable for him? Its an arrogance/c0cksure nature I've seen in a lot of riders, to these people I turn and walk away. It doesnt matter how good you are, if your on the road doing it your not THAT good. 10mins of enjoyment I have no beef with but hours of lunacy I certainly do.

Good post mate, I agree

[yorkie_chris]

You want to go and explain that to the guys who do the endurance racing and turn in fast laps at night at 3am?

I think they may choose to disagree.

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

You want to go and explain that to the guys who do the endurance racing and turn in fast laps at night at 3am?

I think they may choose to disagree.

What's that got to do with anything? He's talking about the average joe thinking they've got anything near the skills of high level racers, which would include those able to do endurance racing.

It seems like all your posts in this thread are trying to defend your preference for high speed riding rather than just acknowledging what everyone's saying, which is that those guys were riding faster than the conditions allowed and it's not surprising it ended tragically.

I travelled along this road with the missus in the car about 5 minutes before the accident happened! complete and utter .....