Despite the reputation, it's better, more practical transit than you might think.
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Uh, what? Laying it down means you are going to be separating yourself from your bike, allowing it to take the brunt of the wreck and you're sliding on your gear to safety. You're right about laying-it-down being "already crashed" though. It's a last resort. Times I've seen it done was in reaction to someone blowing a red light though, and not much two tires and a couple of small disc brakes can do for you there. Just let the bike take the hit. It's replaceable, you aren't.Hold it right there. "I had to lay it down" is pure fiction. Rubber has a much higher coefficient of friction than steel or aluminum does. A bike that's on two wheels can stop FAR more quickly than one that's sliding on it's side.
"I had to lay it down" inevitably means "I panicked and screwed up (usually locking the back brake and/or not using the front enough) and don't want it admit it - even to myself".
If you've "laid it down" you have already crashed. And things are probably only going to get worse.
I would like to point out that while the gear did help prevent more severe injury, regardless of gear he got extremely lucky that the way the accident happened he didn't just get flat out killed or sustain a life threatening injury. You get thrown off your bike and hit some trees, or even worse a stationary object like another vehicle or barrier dead on, and it doesn't matter what you're wearing, impalement or severe internal injuries are happening.The other article the author links to really hammers home why its so important to wear proper gear when on a motorcycle ride. He walked away with some pretty nasty bruises and a hematoma that took like a year to clear up, but that crash could have easily killed him if he wasn't wearing good safety gear.
Anecdotally, I agree.not going to lie, I prefer both a) living and b) living without a criticalmotorcycle-accidentcar inflicted disability
It has to be able to work for you. I am fortunate that I live in a small town (20k) and live a mile from work. At my previous job, a motorcycle would have worked great as I was around 18 Miles from work then. Paved bike trails are the best if you have access to them.I've been toying with the idea of grabbing an electric scooter or bike that can safely get me and a couple bags of groceries or whatever 20ish miles at a decent clip. The biggest problem for us is that there are very few roads where I could do this safely. There are a few places I can get to through back roads but otherwise I'm out of luck, which really impacts the utility of this mode of transportation for me. Our main connecting road is a 3-4 lane state highway and there's no way I'm getting on that. They've been planning a shared use path but I'd be surprised if it was ever built out substantially (current estimates have it completed in 2029).
The reason I quit riding:
People texting and driving. Speed, DUI, all of it pales in comparison to the sheer number of phone-addicts who can't put it down long enough to pilot their multi-ton road-bound missile. What made me hang up my gear for good and sell the bike was when I nearly had to lay it over on I40 in Raleigh because someone texting and driving nearly rear-ended me. I quickly got on the gas and lane-split a bit to avoid becoming a decapitated sandwich between the F150 and the lifted RAM. How I didn't get hit with shrapnel/debris from the ~45mph differential impact between the trucks, I'll never know. But it was the closest call I've ever had.
In short, if you text and drive, you're worse than someone who drinks and drives, IMO.
The lower performance of an ebike is a feature, not a bug.With ebikes getting ever closer in performance to motorcycles, it's a shame bicycle infrastructure isn't better in the US.
Plus you are covered for inclement weather.The same is true, and much safer, in a Miata![]()
That's not really the point. You ride "as if" everyone is trying to kill you. That means having a mental plan for what you are going to do when that truck swerves left into your lane, that car slams on it's brakes, that car brakes and the van behind you doesn't notice and keeps going at speed, etc.Pretty sure everyone around you couldn't care less about you one way or the other. - you can make them aware, and you can ride accordingly. a combination of proactive, lane placement, passive, good lighting and hi-viz etc.. A lot about those skills out there. Becomes second nature.
By that statement I take it you don't ride?Hold it right there. "I had to lay it down" is pure fiction. Rubber has a much higher coefficient of friction than steel or aluminum does. A bike that's on two wheels can stop FAR more quickly than one that's sliding on it's side.
"I had to lay it down" inevitably means "I panicked and screwed up (usually locking the back brake and/or not using the front enough) and don't want it admit it - even to myself".
If you've "laid it down" you have already crashed. And things are probably only going to get worse.
I'd wager that's mostly because the bikers who are following traffic laws don't register as something worth making mental note of.I see some cars do these things, but i see every biker doing them every time i see them.
I believe California is the only state that lane splitting is not illegal. CA used to not expicitly say it was legal, just that it was not Illegal. That may have changed in the last 10 years.If your dad would've been splitting lanes he wouldn't have been rear-ended.
Disclaimer: I teach people how to ride motorcycles and am a certified third party tester for motorcycle endorsements. I happen to like riding... a LOT. Although I live in a northern state, I still manage to typically get more than 10k miles/year on the bike.
I suggest that if you're bike curious, you take a motorcycle class. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation has a fairly well regarded curriculum used by several states as part of safety training. These beginner classes are designed specifically to take someone who's never been on a motorcycle before through learning to ride and ultimately passing the DMV test to get a motorcycle endorsement. Even if you don't end up riding, there's things that are taught in these classes (at least in the ones in my state) that also apply to driving cars. Things like looking where you're trying to go translate to just about every motor vehicle.
Additionally, a key to riding safely is to train to ride safely. Riding, like driving, is a perishable skill. If you don't do it a lot, it's easy for those skills to atrophy. Even if you do it a lot, it's easy to pick up bad habits. Although I am a trainer, I still take training as a student so other instructors can spot my bad habits before they take root.
As others mention above, it's not an activity without risk. You have to be present on the bike, not letting your mind wander, fuming about that crappy day at work, or whatever. For me it's helmet therapy and probably the only time I am completely "in the present" because there simply isn't bandwidth for anything else. That's kinda enjoyable.
As someone living in San Diego and having lane-splitting motorcycles whizz past me both while stopped and moving at full freeway speeds, I do find them terrifying. And then some of them look back at you angrily for not moving over, as if I had any chance to even recognize they were coming up behind me.As someone who used to commute in traffic on a bicycle in the pre-WFH days, both these practices sound absolutely terrifying! You'd want to have an awful lot of faith in your fellow road users; I do not.For motorcyclists, it's also famous because you get the ability to legally split lanes (i.e., ride between cars on the lane-dividing lines) and filter (i.e., ride between vehicles at a stoplight to get to the front)
Far and away the biggest mistake even veteran riders make is in riding a motorcycle like they drive a car. If you need any faith at all in your fellow road users you're riding wrong.As someone who used to commute in traffic on a bicycle in the pre-WFH days, both these practices sound absolutely terrifying! You'd want to have an awful lot of faith in your fellow road users; I do not.
And another anecdote, my dad ended up under a car after someone rear-ended him while stopped in traffic on his motorcycle on the way to work one morning. The leather gear and rider awareness courses did not have any effect on the driver who ran into him. Doctor said he was lucky to live, and he never replaced the bike.
That is true, but only applicable in a minority of accidents. In the vast majority of cases, what matters is the momentum of the car hitting you, which will be the same regardless of whether you are a 5mph pedestrian, 15mph bike, or 40mph motorcycle.Vast indeed:
View attachment 115753
While lethality of wiping out from a bike is lower vs a pedestrian being hit by a vehicle, the same power law applies, meaning the graph of serious injury and death will look very similar.
Edit: Source https://www.paho.org/sites/default/files/2018-SpeedRoadCrashes_ENGLISH_FINAL.pdf
There’s even better research out there but unsurprisingly all the graphs are in km/h and I didn’t want to open that can of![]()
I was using it to illustrate the impact of hitting the pavement at various speeds, not talking about being hit by car.That is true, but only applicable in a minority of accidents. In the vast majority of cases, what matters is the momentum of the car hitting you, which will be the same regardless of whether you are a 5mph pedestrian, 15mph bike, or 40mph motorcycle.
Literally got back up: got the plate number of the semi, got back on the bike, cursed the truckdriver (who never stopped) and resumed his ride.
It does indeed, and it's called "SUV".America has a motorcycle problem
Legal, but there are rules to uphold:As someone living in San Diego and having lane-splitting motorcycles whizz past me both while stopped and moving at full freeway speeds, I do find them terrifying. And then some of them look back at you angrily for not moving over, as if I had any chance to even recognize they were coming up behind me.
It astounds me that the practice is legal in California, regardless of how bad traffic is.
You have lots of choices for an automatic or DCT these days.I've always liked the idea of a motorcycle to frugally commute but been equally put off and scared to get onto one in practice. I could even see myself getting up the nerve to try out an electric bike... maybe in some idealized, suburban, low-stress-driving -setting and without highway speeds.
The two big mental blockers to considering a bike are the terror of a crash at highway speeds and, weirdly, the thought of that manual clutch/transmission setup (I'll explain in a moment...). As for the fear of a crash, all it takes is knowing (or having known...) one person who was in a bad crash to sour the whole concept of motorcycles. I thought going at top speed on a quick e-bike was scary near cars... literally makes me shudder to think of doing the same thing while traveling 3 times faster!?
Going back to my irrational-ish fear of the bike's clutch. I suspect I am in the smallest of minorities: a huge gearhead who completely despises modern manual transmissions. It's not that I hate shifting, but that I have absolutely zero coordination between hand and foot... no exaggeration. I can slop my way around on forgiving 3 and 4 speed relics - old trucks and muscle cars where clutch position is a vague suggestion - I can even have fun while doing so. That said, I simply cannot pilot a modern 5 or 6 that requires finesse and coordination to keep the vehicle from stalling. I say this having given modern MTs multiple attempts, even owning and daily-driving a 6-speed for months. The clutch coordination simply never manifests for me. With that context: the notion of being on a traditional motorcycle, at speed, is so much more terrifying. Stalling a car out is frustrating but rarely life-or-death. Screwing up a shift and stalling a bike in traffic seems like it could quickly turn to disaster.