Hey motorcycle guys...

[entirelyturbo]

... stop riding around with your brights on all the time.

In case common sense wouldn't tell you this, your brights hurt my eyes just as bad as a car's. It is not only inconsiderate, but dangerous, as I have a much harder time seeing where I'm going.

So stop being douchebags, riding around with your brights on because you think it looks "cool," and have some courtesy for those you share the road with.

Kthxbye.

[BAC5.2]

99% of bikers that I rode with, don't ride with their brights on during the day. It can look that way, thanks to bumps in the road. I got flashed ALLL the time when I rode.

You have a harder time seeing where your going, but you sure as hell see them. That's the point most riders that do ride during the day with high beams on, think about.

[TheSubaruJunkie]

Yeah, any bump in the road changes the angle of their lights considerably. Usually, flashing straight into your eyes. It sucks, but I get used to it... 8 out of 10 times instead of saying "what a cocksucker" i say "wow, there's a bike there".

-Brian

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, it's the bumps, but their headlights are also physically higher to begin with.

It's the excessive noise from a certain sect of bikers that bothers me most.

[555BCTurbo]

It's the excessive noise from a certain sect of bikers that bothers me most.

ah yes...the typical Harley owner who thinks that since his motor displaces as much as a Honda and makes half the power is reason to make his bike deafen everyone in a 5 mile radius?

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah. I understand there's some safety to being heard, but when it's loud enough to cause hearing damage it makes my hand twitch the wheel towards the source of the noise. If I was a cop I'd hand out tickets all day for that.

[Richard]

<------ lives in Harley capitol. Hates douchebag exhausts.


The Wisconsin DOT says you're supposed to run w/ hi-beams on during the day. One of those extra safety things, seeing a helmet's all you got, if you wear it.

I wish riding on a motorcycle in traffic for a couple hours was a prerequisite for getting your car liscense. Same for trucks. Once you've been on the other side of the table things look a little different.

[555BCTurbo]

If I was a cop I'd hand out tickets all day for that.

That's the plan...

(i'm gonna be a cop after I finish my degree...)

[206er]

"8 out of 10 times instead of saying "what a cocksucker" i say "wow, there's a bike there

this is the correct attitude. its a fact, motorcycles are not as visible as cars. there's not a biker on the road who would sacrifice a little visibility/noticability to cater to the comfort of cagers. you noticed a motorcycle with its headlights on? job done. with the amount of stupid drivers on the road and the amount of cars that run with their brights on its wrong to attack bikers for doing so when there are motorcyclists dying every day because cars "didnt see them." the huge majority of car-motorcycle accidents are caused by the driver of the car, citing that they didnt see the motorcycle. I personally never ride with my brights on in the daytime, but always ride with the headlight on.
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[evolutionmovement]

I wonder what the stats are on how many are caused by bikers doing 160 between lanes (where they're unlikely to be seen), wheelies on the highway, standing on the seat at 90+, and accelerating to 100 on residential streets to impress cheap skanks.

I really like the European bike guys as I've never seen them doing stupid stunts and they've never deafened me be they Ducati, Guzzi, BMW, Triumph, whatever. I've never almost hit them because they were doing somthing stupid and I didn't see them (see above) or had to intentionally run into their lane in response to the 'amusing' purposeful blasting of ear drum-damaging pipes into my open window.

[206er]

I wonder what the stats are on how many are caused by bikers doing 160 between lanes (where they're unlikely to be seen), wheelies on the highway, standing on the seat at 90+, and accelerating to 100 on residential streets to impress cheap skanks.

right, like that's the rule rather than the exception.

[evolutionmovement]

It's not like there aren't any. I can see this everyday in the summer. I don't know how many times I've seen or talked to a rice rocketeer (they love to brag about being stupid) and shook my head laughing at how they wonder why they get killed and how it's everyone else's fault when they do. Mostly the only bikers I see are wannabe tough guys on Harleys with illegal exhaust and stunt-biker wannabes on the Jap rocket bikes. Ive even seen one hit a parked car cruising a beach trying to impress some underage whores. Unfortunately, Darwin missed one that day as the guy got back up. The Euro bikers and the touring guys are the only ones that seem to ride because they llike to ride, not to prove something to someone. Guess it's TOTALLY different in CO.

[BAC5.2]

Everywhere has the bad riders.

Around here, the bad riders are at least cautious.

I was riding on the highway and another rider signaled me, asking if I was getting off the highway. There was a cop in the "express lanes" and we were in the "local" lanes. I signaled that I was going to continue on the highway. So he nodded, accelerated up next to the cop. Gave him the finger, then did a stand-up wheelie away. The cop turned on his lights and sirens, and tried to chase the clearly track-seasoned rider. He got halfway down the off-ramp and turned off the sirens. Highway was clear for me, so I cracked a bit more into the throttle and rode happily on. It was easier to cruise at 80mph on a sport bike than it was to cruise at 60mph, espically in wind.

When I rode, I would lane-split occasionally. But it was exclusively in traffic, when cars weren't moving to get to a turn. I was going so slow my speedo didn't even move. I never did it on the higway. The only thing I ever did on the highway was ride down the shoulder during rush hour to get to my exit.

[farfrumwork]

It's not TOTALLY different here in CO, but as a general rule - we are better drivers than you are in MA (not as many Massholes)

Seriously though - we have more weekend warrior Harley people here than anywhere on earth I think (WI is the possible exception, but they are generally Real Harley guys - I know, I'm from WI originally) and their pipes are generally Super Annoying!! But the commuters ride like civil, sane people - they have to as they are out in rush hour on a nearly daily basis.

I've only seen one stunting incident, a guy doing standup wheelies on the interstate at >100mph - but he had a clear lane at least.

Most of the "crotch rocketeers" out here are canyon carvers, so they are concentrated on making the next turn - not standig on their seat. The Harley guys must feel emasculated in the same canyons - most of those cruisers are NOT meant to run switchbacks.

And, FWIW, I ride with my highbeams on in the day, but I also run a 32yr old scoot so it's brights are lame at best (they wouldn't blind anybody, anytime...) So put Vintage riders on your list of cycle sects that ride because they like to ride (and enjoy having a bike they see once/twice a year on the rode - not one you see everyday - kinda like rocking the SS )

-Chad

[evolutionmovement]

Yeah, the vintage guys I just lump with the Euro guys, but I guess they're not all European bikes. Don't see them often, though, and it's a shame as I usually can only see interesting bikes at a show once a year. I don't have a problem with people lane splitting at a sane rate in traffic - that's one of the advatages of a bike, plus I know the air cooled guys don't want to be sitting still when it's hot. It's the guys that blow between me and another car at almost double my speed on the highway (and I'm usually going faster than the rest of traffic) that bother me. At that rate they're only in your mirror for a second or two before they're by and they're easy to miss. I can just imagine the damage they'd do to my damn car.

[206er]

those are known as squids, or organ donors among hospital types.

[Tleg93]

For me, it's the super loud exhausts that annoy me. I myself would be too afraid of being maimed to go crazy fast on the highway or any public road. I can see owning a bike but I'd rather have one for practical purposes, a nice quiet one and it would still have to look and run nice.

[isotopeman]

Like farfromwork, I ride an old bike. The headlamps on my 69 Scrambler dont' do much at all, and on high, the lamps burn more than the rated output of my generator - eventually running the battery to some low equilibrium point.
I have stock exhaust, and I still feel like my bike is too loud. The only thing more I can do is try to find a catalyst that will fit inside the present exhaust system and still do what it's supposed to.
As far as visibility goes, I feel just as visible on the motorcycle as I do on my bicycle (hardly visible at all). One thing about the motorcycle though, more (not all) people tend to allow you your place in the road than they do if you're on a bicycle, so it feels a little safer.
Scary story about headlamps: On I-40 one night on the way back from near Memphis, in a thunderstorm, my headlamp went out. There were semis all around, and I had no idea if they knew I was there or not. The only light I could have going on in the front was the turn signal. I pulled off at the next exit where there was a truck stop. Needless to say, they did not have a lamp for my motorcycle. Even the dealer cannot order a lamp for it anymore (Hurray for Ebay!). I had to call a friend with a pickup to meet me and get the bike and myself back home and bought them 12 bottles of Nivole for the favor.