The New And Improved Unofficial R65 Forum V2
General Category => Totally Off-Topic Discussions, Rants, Tire & Oil Threads, Etc. => Topic started by: nhmaf on July 31, 2007, 09:46:00 PM
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OK,
>:( >:( >:(
I have tried for days now to just let this go, but I am thinking that I'm going to have to write a letter to
one of our state newspapers to see if anything beneficial might be precipitated from it..
Last Friday, I was riding to work - my main client's office is 80 miles from my home, and the weather was
beautiful. I usually take the interstate to get to their office in a timely fashion, and then take all back roads
home for some variety at the end of the day. Anyhow, I was riding along with traffic on I-89, doing 70-75, and noticed
that a large group (I would estimate between 50 - 60) of motorcycles were leaving a roadside truck stop and
were heading onto the on-ramp ahead. Seeing the potential for merging problems, I pulled into the left lane
(only 2 lane wide interstate highway in this section) as did most of the group of traffic around me, expecting to give
them the right lane to merge and for us to pass by on the left, as normal. Well, this group of bikers had at least a handful of
complete idiots that almost ruined everyone's day..
I have nothing against riders of any brand of bike in general, but these people all happened to be riding a particular
American-brand V- twin bike and they demonstrated utter disregard for the rules of the road and for the other citizens
using the road with them. Once their group gained entrance to the highway, a couple of their group instantly pulled into
the left lane and slammed on their brakes, while some in the right lane group did something similar in an effort to try to let their ENTIRE string of bikes onto the highway at once in a contiguous cluster. Those in the left lane refused to yield way, and almost got mowed over by some folks in a BMW sedan traveling just in front of me - fortunately for them the sedan had ABS. The tour bus that was behind me loomed frighteningly large in my rear view mirrors as I tried to weigh the options
of rear ending a sedan at 60+mph or becoming the grille ornament on the greyhound behind me. The swarm of bikers, riding 2 abreast in a lane, also began
passing us in any manner to try to get out front, this included lane splitting, passing other vehicles within the same lane, running on the shoulder/breakdown lane, etc.
Did I mention that this was all while over a dozen vehicles (including me) that they CHOSE to intercept by their speed on the on-ramp, were swerving to try to avoid running them over and running into each other.
Not one of pack of riders bothered to use turn signals of course, simple pointing - or having their female pillion passengers pointing fingers in various directions, generally well after they had already swerved into the place they intended to be. By some miracle, no collisions occurred, though at least one SUV had to pull off the side to avoid taking out half a dozen of these idiots. I think that a number of us had to check our underwear after we got to where we were going, and I was jittery for the whole day without drinking any caffeine. Had I been in a car I might have taken down some license plates, but on my bike I needed all my limbs to keep from
dominoe-ing through the pack of Harleys or becoming the meat in a sedan-bike-bus sandwich. On the plus side, I think that some folks in one of the cars or the bus
made a cell call to the police, but I don't know, and where they were headed could have taken them onto interstate highways going in at least 4 different directions.
After several miles of this foolishness - and being forced to miss my exit while dealing with these bastards/bastardettes, all the rest of us managed to find a lower speed
and position so that the swarm of loud obnoxious locusts would fly away in the distance, like out of a Max Max movie. Thank goodness I didn't crash, cause in the unlikely event one of the "swarm" bothered to stop to help I would have put a 12" inch Crescent wrench through his "do-rag" protected skull. good riddance !
I think that this large group of idiots were doing one of those "poker runs", which seems to be especially appealing to the H-D riders of this area. They almost got
their chips cashed in. I 'm thinking of writing a letter to the paper to just remind bikers to respect the rules of the road and highway regulations, and if they
cannot travel on a limited access interstate highway without getting lost from each other, that they should either get a parade permit or hire a police escort. With any luck, maybe these fools did/will end up with several police escorts whether they wanted one or not.
This sort of behavior can make all bikers appear as law breaking idiot scum in the eyes of the general automotive public.
Well, I feel slightly better now. Thanks for letting me rant.
nhmaf
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By writing a letter to the paper you are presuming there will be at least one in the bunch who can read sufficiently well (without moving his lips as he does so), to relay what you wrote to the rest of them!!
Waste of time for what are a waste of space.
Bill..................;-)
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sorry and glad you where fine. i started to answer this a couple of times and ended up revising it before posting. i can not wait till these people move on to the next popular thing that the herd thinks is cool so we can have our sport/hobbie/passion/lifestyle back.
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I do not think they will move on. I have run into this since 79 when I started riding. I get the same thing with a bicycle club that use the road to my home. You get as many as 25 or more bicycles and they block the road. You find them as you come around the curves most of the time. They have been lucky that they have not been hit. I have even called the police about this and it has not helped. They could at lest get in smaller packs space apart and single file when cars come up behind. Same for the bikes on two lane roads.
Don
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we at an all time recond number of people driving motorcycles, with the rise in HD being the popular brand and the rise in fuel prices there are more out there riding.
the one thing i truely miss is the wave. it used to be when you rode you waved at everyone that rode and they did also, now i see only those who ride similar wave, sport to sport, HD to HD etc... when did everyone forget that we are not in a steel cage and can be hurt very easy (same time everyone started driving SUV because they are "safer"). i see more riders treating their bikes like they are SUV and think they can push you out of a lane???
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99% of everyone here waves, I get just as many returned waves from Harleys as I do ricers and others. I draw the line waving at mopeds and scooters!
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Around here, in town, everybody either waves 1st or waves back except HD, which is a shame.
On the highway, or especially the Parkway, everybody's a wavin' fool! ;)
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One of the reasons that I decided to buy my first BMW was that every single BMW rider I ever encountered on
the road, *ALWAYS* waved at me, whether I was on a Yamaha, Kawasaki, Triumph, etc..
They always stopped to help an rider on the side of the road, and I even encountered some BMW riders who had stopped to help a lady in a car
(though given the appearance of the lady and the car, I certainly stopped too !). I think in general, BMW
riders, especially airhead riders, are some of the friendliest bikers around.
Another thing that irks me is this whole"pointing" thing. Now, I realize and understand about bikers
"pointing" at road hazards or debris in the road, etc. to the guys & gals riding behind them, and maybe car drivers
don't understand how to interpret the basic motorcycle hand signals we all learned as part of getting out
license,... but I see these guys with apparently perfect turn signals, on new/late model bikes, and they
cannot be bothered to use them to turn or to change lanes. They, or their pillion, just points, generally
after they've already made the lane change or turn anyway.... Is this a northeast phenomenon, or do you
see it in other parts of the U.S ? How about our friends Down Under or across the Pond ?
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We have the same problem with "swarms" (that's what I call 'em) of H-D riders who take part in what seems like endless "poker runs" here in SC. They block entrance ramps on freeways by slowing up to allow the "hive" to all lumber onto the freeway together, all blipping their throttles and accelerating their un-baffled bikes in a cacaphony of roaring thunder. It is annoying and unsafe, to say the least. About all you can do is shake your head and stay the hell out of their way.
About the only positive I've noticed is these kind of riders tend to stay on large, straight, wide roads like interstates and freeways, because they are unable to ride proficiently on the kind of "normal" two-lane roads that I prefer to keep Britta on!
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if you look at my bike you will see i have to use proper left hand signals which are still legal to use. i see that wher the rider is pointing with his right hand, left hand even saw one point with a foot?
come on justin whats wrong with waving to our little brothers of the scooters or is this a mods vs. rockers thing? ;)
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Well, it just don't feel, well, "natural"...
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"natural"... ;D
now i dont care who you are, that right there is funny.
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Jerks come on all types of bikes. I have some lifelong "outlaw" friends that are real good people but I've also met my share of fools. Dare I say that there are even some riders of of European marques that I cannot tolerate. In any given sample your gonna meet some knuckelheads. r65.org being the exception.
rich
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my wife calls me a knucklehead ;D when i am just being me, i can say what she calls me when she is mad at me :o
wait what where we talking about? oh ya how much we hate those HD people ;D
know what i really hate! i mean it just drives me nuts, it when they forget your fries at the drive thru! you want to see me mad, just a warning if any of you see some crazy bald ape yelling at some poor kid who forgot my fries just stay out of my way till i get my fries.
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come on justin whats wrong with waving to our little brothers of the scooters or is this a mods vs. rockers thing? ;)
I wonder if scooter riders wave at each other, but not motorcycles? :-/
Justin, maybe you should get one of those big step-throughs to do the "ride a mile in his moccasins" kind of thing...
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Now regarding the original post (sorry you had to write it, nhmaf - but it was well written!) -
I don't think it was a poker run, I think it was a crack run - and they just finished smoking! [smiley=furious3.gif]
crack-head biker --->[smiley=Kick.gif]<--- nhmaf
another crack-head biker ---> [smiley=behead.gif]
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we at an all time recond number of people driving motorcycles, with the rise in HD being the popular brand and the rise in fuel prices there are more out there riding.
the one thing i truely miss is the wave. it used to be when you rode you waved at everyone that rode and they did also, now i see only those who ride similar wave, sport to sport, HD to HD etc... when did everyone forget that we are not in a steel cage and can be hurt very easy (same time everyone started driving SUV because they are "safer"). i see more riders treating their bikes like they are SUV and think they can push you out of a lane???
A lot of Harley riders wont wave back, but the "true sportster riders" will wave at anybody. I guess that is because we are the quad cam bastards of the harley world.......Dew.
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Justin, maybe you should get one of those big step-throughs to do the "ride a mile in his moccasins" kind of thing...
Rob, it's pretty safe to say that THAT ain't gonna happen! :o I think I did wave at one once (before I realized what it was) and the person was without clue. Also, for the remainder of the day I felt like I had done something really nasty and kinky, it really was not a good feeling. :-?
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I can't complain too much about Harleys. My neighbor has an '05 "Wide-Glide", the dude that owns the company I now work for has a new "Ultra-Glide"(?), his son (other owner) has an HD, as well as one of the shop-hands. I am definately outnumbered and try to remain very quiet about some things... ::)
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In Atlanta the only swarms I have seen have been groups of Jap Bike riders that come out of downtown and then treat cars in the road like moving posts while traveling at 100+ miles an hour. Individual riders here in Atlanta have been clocked at 140+ in afternoon traffic - Scary bad.
Usually the swarms of H-D riders are in the North GA mountains (like everybody else). 100+ riders in single file! :o Never had this happen to me on the freeway but I will take note of their block the whole road mentality and plan accordingly. Thanks for the warning.
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In my experiance it seems to be the 40 something returning to riding crowd that won't give a returing wave or headlamp flash. We all know the type biggest baddest fastest bike they can afford with vomit inspired leathers, and fu*k all road sense....
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This stupidity in numbers, doesn't seem to be marque specific, but the stupidity of the masses, is becoming ever more prevalent with every passing year in the motorcycle community. That's why I refuse to ride on the weekends ( that and the fact that I have to work every weekend helps there as well !) or around major holidays. I personally prefer to ride alone, always have, and always will . That's why I like motorcycling, a loner and an individualist, I follow no ones lead.