Is biking safe?

It's no more dangerous than most things you do, except you will likely sustain nastier injuries if something does go wrong.

The thing is to be prepared IF something goes wrong. I wear all my protective stuff, all the time (ALWAYS WEAR YOUR FERKIN LEATHERS) and this is why I have a sore knee and physio instead of no skin and crutches (or worse).

Part of it is being prepared for other idiots. Never assume a car has seen you, that a pedestrian isn't going to suddenly cross, or that white van man hasn't spilled some fuel. See these hazards and be prepared for them.

The other part is YOU, the other idiot. Nobody controls the bike except you, so all the observation in the world won't mean jack if you can't control the bike. Don't ride beyond your abilities - a lot of bike crashes are just the biker, overcooking it in a bend and coming off. An experienced MotoGP rider can't push a modern superbike fully to the limit, so you most definitely can't. Ensure you're at the right speed before you reach the bends, ensure you'll be able to stop for those lights if they change, ensure you don't have a heavy hand in the rain in case you spin the back wheel. The last thing you want is to go too fast, get into trouble, panic, snatch the front brake... wallop!

So basically, don't expect you'll inevitably come off, but be prepared that it *could* happen, and take the steps to minimise the chances of it happening. I crashed in August and was very lucky to come away with so few injuries. I've heard of people going much slower getting much more badly hurt.

Ahh yes how could I forget that gem!

Rule number 1: assume everyone else on the road is a complete IDIOT and will do the dumbest possible thing they could do in any given situation.

You'll be nicely supprised when you're prooved wrong but it won't happen often but you'll be more prepared for when you're prooved right!

Originally Posted by Red Herring

.... Oh and don't accept that coming off is part of motorcycling, crashing is not part of the learning curve...

I absolutely agree with this

[Dave20046]

I'd say no it's just risk assessment as to whether you can afford not to ride.
Then ofcourse there's a lot you can do to make it safer, attitude, skill, experience, decisions, good gear, good luck.

It's just what I think, how many of us can truthfully say when cornering we have the capacity to stop safely on our side of the road if we were to find a broken down lorry round the blind bend? Or that that moron can see us? Of course again a lot of the relates back to skill,planning, hazard perception and decision making. Just not a nice thought.
I understand that if I die on the bike, I die on the bike. when I got on it I knew there was a chance - life wouldn't have been my life without it, so...

Don't jump on me for this post please

I've had 2 accidents, one I was filtering (line of traffic to my left clear oncoming lane) at a safe speed imo (bout 15mph - long straight road ,no junctions either side) whilst I was parallel with a saloon it just suddenly did a u-turn through me.

Second one was bad decision making and prioritising/observance on my part plus bad luck (IMO), that hurt. But I was exremely lucky.

Then again I know a bloke who's got round a corner twice on the same 50mph road (over a few years) to find a car on his side of the road over taking. First time he managed to squeeze out of the way second time he collided head on with a combined speed of about 120mph, no time to brake. Shot over the car and slid under one that had luckily stopped, got off with just a swollen bum. Safe to say had he been in a car both times things would have been different. jammy git.

All good points, and rightfully noted.

Nice to put things into perspective. I guess it's all about preparing for the worst, and keeping your wits about you, and a bit of good luck.

Feel a bit better now that there's a good few of you who don't think you have to crash as part of the learning curve. Otherwise I'll be driving about getting twitchy and not getting more and more confident in riding within my abilities...

Thanks guys! From now on, I'm treating everyone like an idiot!

<goes off to get his ass kicked by the missus>

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by PsychoCannon

I tend to tell all my friends when they ask about biking that everyone comes off eventually it's simply part of the learning process.

Ahhh yes, but then some or most people you say that to expect it to happen early on in their biking career.Some people fall off/get knocked off many times early on...some of us that don't are either extremely skilled or have more jam than Hartleys

It took me five years to slide down a road on my head, and it knocked so much confidence out of me, I was scared to death of one of my bikes for this last year, and I fell out with completely.

Thankfully a very patient London forum member took me on some nice and scary roads on my other SV and taught me London filtering a couple of months later....lol...that cured it. I came back better than ever

DfT like to throw around the statistic that...

"Motorcyclists accounted for 1% of the nations road traffic last year, but also accounted for 20% of the fatalities during the same year".

So yes...it is a dangerous mode of transport.

[dizzyblonde]

you could nit pick and say how many that were killed or injured were blokes on bikes


I'm joking of course

[Dave20046]

Originally Posted by dizzyblonde

you could nit pick and say how many that were killed or injured were blokes on bikes


I'm joking of course

Apparently male 26-40's are the biggest portion (which surprises me tbh I thought it'd be either young'ns or born agains).

Originally Posted by Dave20046

Apparently male 26-40's are the biggest portion (which surprises me tbh I thought it'd be either young'ns or born agains).

this is prob because this is the age were people would be most confident on a bike and with their own ability, this can easily grow into 'over' confidence which is a bad thing or even the other way were some people get lazy about riding i.e. not doin shoulder checks and the like
everytime i go out i try my best to have a clear head and make sure im fully up for the ride, even if its jus round the block to the shop, also i'll always put on my full protective gear no matter what