07-26-2018, 06:07 AM
oh boy, i've got one of these:
I watched a squid on a BMW r1200GS drop it at low speeds not 6 weeks ago. He was riding with a friend, on a much older sport tourer (VFR i think), and the friend was in the lead. It was clear that they were out for an afternoon ride together, and that said squid was way proud of his brand new GS. As many of us know, it's a fairly heavy bike. and it's high up, and it's relatively powerful. it's really not a beginner bike, but I always seem to see people with very little experience or sense riding them. We all know of the guy that's been mentioned above, whose whole dream is to own a big bad Harley, so he's just gotta buy one for his very first bike because he can't wait. We also all know of the short-sighted dumb kid who's just got to pop some dank whoolies, so he leaves the showroom on an R1 or a FZ9 or god forbid a Busa for his first bike. But i'm beginning to suspect there's a third group on the rise. there's a subset of...i dunno what to call them....independently wealthy 30-somethings (yuppies? do they still exist?) who are really psyched about buying a brand new R1200GS or an Africa Twin or a Super Tenere for their first bike.
anywho, this guy was definitely one of those guys. no helmet. polo shirt. shorts. i was in the far left lane, they were in the far right. my lane was somewhat traffic-clogged, so they passed on by, and i lost sight of them for a moment or two. when i came upon them again they were coming to a rather sudden stop behind a line of cars at a red light and sure enough, the BMer couldn't keep his footing and fell over. I sat at the stop light a couple lanes away and watched his friend park and try to help him lift it carefully while people honked and yelled out their windows behind them to move out of the way. The cringe i felt was powerful.
i'm making a big assumption that the guy's got money, so he's probably going to repair his damages no problem and carry on riding this monster bike that he can't handle all season. considering his propensity for riding without a helmet i found myself thinking on the way home that it's only a matter of time before he loses his life. There's a lot of traffic deaths in this state. the lack of a helmet law here surely contributes.
There's also the short story of the guy on the lime green custom Hayabusa who was so enamored with the way my stock black CB1100 looked that he spent too much time looking at it and went face first into the back of a minivan. he was going the opposite direction on a local road in traffic, and i gave him a little wave as he approached. he waved too, but i could tell by the angle of his helmet he was giving my CB a very long look, like he'd never seen anything in the world like it. I was trying to pay attention to my own stretch of road, but i saw the moment his front end crunched and his helmet hit the back windshield. thankfully he wasn't going fast enough to even break the back windshield of the minivan, but it **had** to hurt, and that Custom Busa was certainly going to be off the road for quite a while after that.
I watched a squid on a BMW r1200GS drop it at low speeds not 6 weeks ago. He was riding with a friend, on a much older sport tourer (VFR i think), and the friend was in the lead. It was clear that they were out for an afternoon ride together, and that said squid was way proud of his brand new GS. As many of us know, it's a fairly heavy bike. and it's high up, and it's relatively powerful. it's really not a beginner bike, but I always seem to see people with very little experience or sense riding them. We all know of the guy that's been mentioned above, whose whole dream is to own a big bad Harley, so he's just gotta buy one for his very first bike because he can't wait. We also all know of the short-sighted dumb kid who's just got to pop some dank whoolies, so he leaves the showroom on an R1 or a FZ9 or god forbid a Busa for his first bike. But i'm beginning to suspect there's a third group on the rise. there's a subset of...i dunno what to call them....independently wealthy 30-somethings (yuppies? do they still exist?) who are really psyched about buying a brand new R1200GS or an Africa Twin or a Super Tenere for their first bike.
anywho, this guy was definitely one of those guys. no helmet. polo shirt. shorts. i was in the far left lane, they were in the far right. my lane was somewhat traffic-clogged, so they passed on by, and i lost sight of them for a moment or two. when i came upon them again they were coming to a rather sudden stop behind a line of cars at a red light and sure enough, the BMer couldn't keep his footing and fell over. I sat at the stop light a couple lanes away and watched his friend park and try to help him lift it carefully while people honked and yelled out their windows behind them to move out of the way. The cringe i felt was powerful.
i'm making a big assumption that the guy's got money, so he's probably going to repair his damages no problem and carry on riding this monster bike that he can't handle all season. considering his propensity for riding without a helmet i found myself thinking on the way home that it's only a matter of time before he loses his life. There's a lot of traffic deaths in this state. the lack of a helmet law here surely contributes.
There's also the short story of the guy on the lime green custom Hayabusa who was so enamored with the way my stock black CB1100 looked that he spent too much time looking at it and went face first into the back of a minivan. he was going the opposite direction on a local road in traffic, and i gave him a little wave as he approached. he waved too, but i could tell by the angle of his helmet he was giving my CB a very long look, like he'd never seen anything in the world like it. I was trying to pay attention to my own stretch of road, but i saw the moment his front end crunched and his helmet hit the back windshield. thankfully he wasn't going fast enough to even break the back windshield of the minivan, but it **had** to hurt, and that Custom Busa was certainly going to be off the road for quite a while after that.