Riding vs Flying -- How many here ride?

Kyle Boatright wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

Morgans wrote:


"Skywise" wrote



Another favorite tactic is white lining. In a perfect
scenario I white line to the front while everyone is stopped
at a red light.


Here in NC, your are liable to get a bullet in your ass, or run off the
road, doing that crap. I might be one of the ones to run you off, as you
are pulling forward.

Don't do that crap. Be a little more patient.

Unfortunately, lane splitting seems frowned upon in the eastern US, unlike
in CA and parts of Europe (it seems popular and accepted in France
anyway). Personally, I think it is a great idea and would encourage more
motorcycle use and less fuel consumption. In Taiwan they even had special
"boxes" paintd on the roads at the intersections to allow the scooters to
move to the front and "stage" for the green light.

I think it is both illegal as well as frowned on in PA as well. The
difference here though is that if you shoot at a motorcyclist odds are
they, and several friends, will shoot back.

Matt


Yeah, but it is hard to pack "long iron" on a bike... ;-)

No, but I can pack my "big iron" (Super Blackhawk) just fine. Remember
the old Marty Robbins song... :-)

Matt

Matt Barrow wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...

Morgans wrote:


"Skywise" wrote



Another favorite tactic is white lining. In a perfect
scenario I white line to the front while everyone is stopped
at a red light.


Here in NC, your are liable to get a bullet in your ass, or run off the
road, doing that crap. I might be one of the ones to run you off, as you
are pulling forward.

Don't do that crap. Be a little more patient.

Unfortunately, lane splitting seems frowned upon in the eastern US, unlike
in CA and parts of Europe (it seems popular and accepted in France
anyway). Personally, I think it is a great idea and would encourage more
motorcycle use and less fuel consumption. In Taiwan they even had special
"boxes" paintd on the roads at the intersections to allow the scooters to
move to the front and "stage" for the green light.

I think it is both illegal as well as frowned on in PA as well.


It is illegal in CO, but very popular and never enforced (with good reason).


The difference here though is that if you shoot at a motorcyclist odds
are they, and several friends, will shoot back.


Hopefully with impeccable accuracy against thugs like Jim.

Well, I've killed 5 woodchucks this year on my property using 5 shots.

Matt

FlipSide wrote:

On 1 Jul 2006 05:35:24 -0700, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

[snip]

It used to be that most pilots I knew rode motorcycles, but that seems
to be less of a correlation lately. Wot say the group -- do you
currently ride a motorcycle? Did you in the past?



I had a 2002 Harley Dyna Low rider for a while. At 49 it was my first
motorcycle but sold it after 2 years for two reasons.

1. The longer I drove it the better the odds became that some idiot
driver would injure me. I know with more experience I could learn to
reduce the potential dangers, but I have heard of and known too many
guys that have been injured or killed on bikes that I thought it more
prudent to get a boat instead.

Actually, and we had a long thread recently about this on one of the
newsgroups, but maybe not his one, the probability does NOT change based
on the past.


Which leads to the second reason.
2. The motorcycle was such a solitary experience for me. My wife never
liked riding on it. And most of the time I was just cruising places on
my own. I did ride a few times with a buddy and was part of a special
ride with another 700 bikes once, but still it always seemed to be
such a solitary endeavor. I can now take another 10 people on my boat,
about 9 more passengers than the bike would carry. It's just more
fun to be able to hang out in the river, drink some beer, do some
tubing, water skiing, swim and generally just lounge around.

I actually like riding alone, but the good thing is that my wife likes
to ride, fly and shoot, even though she had done none of these before
meeting me. She knew that I was doing all of these before we got
married and wasn't likely to give up any of them. :-)


As of now, between the boat and sharing the flying with a colleague of
mine, I don't particularly miss the motorcycle.

Yes, I know I have too many passions and it is hard now with kids and
such to keep up with all of them. That is one reason I haven't been in
a big hurry to get another motorcycle, although I do miss riding a lot.


Matt

John Gaquin wrote:

"Skywise" wrote in message

Another favorite tactic is white lining. In a perfect
scenario I white line to the front while everyone is stopped
at a red light. ........The upshot is that
I am only near other vehicles when they aren't moving.


And every time you pull that sort of stunt, you leave in your wake 50-100
car drivers highly ****ed at the next motorcycles they encounter. That's
high school crap, and has no place in the repertoire of a responsible
driver.

Baloney. It is simply a good idea that hasn't yet come to fruition in
many places in the US. Encouraging motorcycle riding by allowing lane
splitting is at least as good an idea as having bus and car pool lanes.
People should be rewarded for saving fuel, especially when it doesn't
harm others. Allowing motorcycles to lane split doesn't really have any
significant adverse impact on the cars stuck in the line so what is the
harm assuming it is done prudently and safely? I'm not talking about
riding 60 MPH between a closely spaced line of cars, but most
interstates provide at least 6' between cars and that is plenty for a
motorcyle to ride in at 15-20 MPH.


Matt

Philip S. wrote:

in article , Jay Honeck
at wrote on 7/1/06 5:35 AM:



It used to be that most pilots I knew rode motorcycles, but that seems
to be less of a correlation lately. Wot say the group -- do you
currently ride a motorcycle? Did you in the past?


I've had a number of friends who rode, I've been a passenger a few times,
and generally enjoyed the experience. And obviously I respect everyone's
right to pursue it.

But as I sit typing this on a peaceful Sunday morning in a quiet, suburban
neighborhood, I feel it is incumbent upon me to remind you all of something:
a lot of you are really LOUD. How do I know when the guy five streets over
has decided to go riding? Because I have ears.

The next time some motorist behaves rudely or callously towards
you--behavior which I certainly do not condone, by the way--consider that
their nerves may be on edge from lack of sleep, or having the peace of a
Sunday morning shattered. As I just did in the middle of typing this.

I agree. People, mostly Harley riders, who run loud pipes are just
inconsiderate slobs. There is simply no excuse for it.

Matt

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
Kyle Boatright wrote:

"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...


snip

I think it is both illegal as well as frowned on in PA as well. The
difference here though is that if you shoot at a motorcyclist odds are
they, and several friends, will shoot back.

Matt


Yeah, but it is hard to pack "long iron" on a bike... ;-)

No, but I can pack my "big iron" (Super Blackhawk) just fine. Remember
the old Marty Robbins song... :-)

Matt

Dunno Marty Robbins, but I get a laugh whenever I hear "Uneasy Rider" by
Charlie Daniels.

KB

On Sun, 2 Jul 2006 12:28:12 -0400, "John Gaquin"
wrote:


"Skywise" wrote in message

Another favorite tactic is white lining. In a perfect
scenario I white line to the front while everyone is stopped
at a red light. ........The upshot is that
I am only near other vehicles when they aren't moving.

And every time you pull that sort of stunt, you leave in your wake 50-100
car drivers highly ****ed at the next motorcycles they encounter. That's
high school crap, and has no place in the repertoire of a responsible
driver.


But isn't the reason those drivers get upset is because they are
impatient, in a hurry and jealous that the motorcyclist is now ahead
of them? Too many automobile drivers are in such a hurry. A typical
traffic light will only delay you, at the most, by 60 seconds. There
are exceptions but usually it doesn't take longer than that and the
driver is on his way again. I always wonder...what's the rush these
days?

"Philip S." wrote

I've had a number of friends who rode, I've been a passenger a few times,
and generally enjoyed the experience.

Yep, and riding is also a skill, also.

I was riding passenger with a friend, while in college. We would go out in
the late night, and just start driving on back roads, no map, and not paying
too much attention to where we were going; toss a coin to decide which way
to turn at an intersection. The goal was to get lost, and then try to
figure out how to get back home.

One night while driving serenely along on a country road, not going
particularly fast, when we went up over a small rise, and before we knew it,
the road disappeared. When it quickly re-appeared, it had taken a pretty
sharp left hand turn. Oh SH^T!!!

There was no time to get slowed enough to make the turn, and we both knew
it. There was no ditch, and a nice smooth looking yard, (with plenty of
dew) so we straightened up, and went out through the yard. I knew that if
we had a chance of not taking a spill, I had better not squirm around and
upset the balance. I sat still like a rock (I was holding on grab bars, and
not onto the driver) and out across the yard we went, slowing as fast as was
possible, until we were slow enough to get back onto the road.

We knew where we were by then (pretty much) so we continued back home,
neither of us saying a word, but knowing what bullet we had both dodged.
Once we got home, and shut off the engine and dismounted., the driver said,
"Jim, I want to thank you for being the perfect rider. If you would have
panicked back there, I would not have been able to control the bike, and we
would be in the hospital, right now."

"Thanks," I said. "I knew what I had to do, even though I thought we were
going down, for sure."

Another lesson or two learned. One, brief your riders on the importance of
being a "still" rider, and two, if you can not see the direction of the
road, slow down before you get to where the road disappears. g
--
Jim in NC

FlipSide wrote

But isn't the reason those drivers get upset is because they are
impatient, in a hurry and jealous that the motorcyclist is now ahead
of them?

It is all about playing by the rules, and the ones who think that they are
better than everyone else, and cutting to the front.

He has no more right than I do to be at the front of the line. Period.
--
Jim in NC

Morgans wrote:
FlipSide wrote


But isn't the reason those drivers get upset is because they are
impatient, in a hurry and jealous that the motorcyclist is now ahead
of them?


It is all about playing by the rules, and the ones who think that they are
better than everyone else, and cutting to the front.

He has no more right than I do to be at the front of the line. Period.

I agree, but the issue is that the rule is stupid and should be changed.
It works fine in most of the rest of the world.

It isn't about rights. Driving isn't a right. I suppose you also park
in handicap spots as those handicapped folks don't have any more rights
than you do either right? And I suppose you drive solo in the car pool
lane as well.

Matt