Another Reminder to Ride Safe

I spent this past weekend at the second annual Eureka Springs ZZR1200 Rally. Sadly, a ZZR rider from Missouri crashed on Talimena Scenic Byway Friday afternoon. He and his motorcycle left the roadway and struck a tree. Despite him wearing all the right safety gear and aggressive and immediate CPR administered by those riding with him, he died on the scene. (Obituary is here.)

I'd just been through there that morning with my friend Greg Ruffin, both of us mounted on our CBR1000RR's en route to Eureka Springs. (In fact, we passed that southbound group somewhere south of Ozark, recognizing the bikes and our mutual friend Crazytrain in the lead. We turned around, figuring they'd stop to say hello, but they continued on. Because we hadn't had lunch and were heading in the opposite direction, we didn't chase them down.) I'd also been through there two weeks ago with my friends Danny and Kim (ref the video in my last post, filmed on that very road). I'd felt extremely confident on my Triumph Tiger two weeks ago, never out of control at speeds averaging 70 mph. On the CBRs this past weekend at significantly higher speeds, both Greg and I admitted to being a bit sloppy. It'd been some time since we'd "ridden the CBRs in anger" and it took most of that first day to shake out the cobwebs. There'd also been a fair amount of pine debris on the road surface from the storms the night before. For these reasons, Greg and I had both backed off the throttle a bit, but I can't help being reminded that an accident is just a thin margin of error removed. I often contemplate an accident scenario -- an overcooked corner, an imperfect and/or poorly evaluated road surface, an approaching vehicle with no respect for the centerline ... any of the dozens of potential pitfalls -- but I never punctuate my ruminations with death. Road rash. Bumps and bruises. Maybe a broken bone or two. These things I expect. Never death.

It's a sobering reminder that there's great risk in what we do. Group rides often bring out some rather unsavory dynamics. Never ride over your head. There's nothing to prove, nothing to gain, and everything to lose. "Ride your own ride." It's an oft-repeated and simple mantra. Sadly, I think it's very often an empty platitude with group rides. Blame peer pressure. Blame testosterone. Blame the simple courtesy of not wanting to hold up everyone else. It doesn't really matter why it happens. The simple truth is that it happens more often than not. At last year's rally, there were five crashes. Amazingly, there were no serious injuries. This year, there was only the one crash, but it was certainly one too many.

Personally, I think I'll be reevaluating my own participation in such group rides in the future. I honestly can't recall a single one where I haven't seen some seriously dangerous and stupid riding take place. And, yes, I'm honest enough to admit that some of that dangerous and stupid riding was done by yours truly.

My heart goes out to the wife and two daughters who thought Daddy was just going away for a fun weekend of riding the motorcycle he loved so much. I can't even imagine what it must have been like for his wife, having a Missouri State Trooper come to her door with no other information than "Ma'am, you need to contact the Oklahoma State Police." How long did it take to make that call, heart in her throat? How many times was she agonizingly put on hold and transferred from one person to another until she reached someone who gave her the worst of all possible news? And how do you deliver such dreadful news to your children?

Let's all be careful out there. Life is a very fragile thing.

A Reminder to Ride Safely: "Morning Fall"

Morning Fall

It's Your Noggin...

I always enjoy European motorcycle safety advertising. Our friends across the pond seem to have a way of getting straight to the point, and they seem much less concerned with offending or shocking their audience than those of us here in the politically correct U.S. of A.

Prime example is this campaign advocating the use of helmets.




Cool.

I knew there was a reason I always wear one.

What If Motorcyclists Didn't See You?

K Should Have Been for "Keep it Zipped!"

File this one under truly bizarre and unbelievable:

Biker's penis hit by lightning

A Croatian motorbiker's penis was zapped by lightning as he stopped beside the road to take a leak.

Ante Djindjic, 29, from Zagreb, said: "I don't remember what happened. One minute I was taking a leak and the next thing I knew I was in hospital.

"Doctors said the lightning went through my body and because I was wearing rubber boots it earthed itself through my penis."

Djindjic, who suffered light burns to his chest and arms, added: "Thankfully, the doctors said that there would be no lasting effects, and my penis will function normally eventually."

I might think twice next time I get off my bike to take a leak at the side of the road!


Source: Ananova News.

UK Safety Campaigns

I keep coming across these excellent UK commercials advocating motorcycle safety and public awareness. This one definitely gets the message across.

It's a pity that the USA doesn't take a very active role in educating motorists...

Tire Talk

Regarding last night's blog entry about my "screwed" tire, someone emailed to ask what I would have done if that had been a fairly new tire -- rather than one at the end of its useful life -- and what tire mounting and balancing equipment I have. I thought my answers might serve more people if posted here, so...

While many -- perhaps even most -- motorcyclists toss punctured tires, I tend to be a bit more frugal ("cheap" is what most people actually call me). I once had a brand new tire pick up a roofing nail. This was on the ZZR back in '03, I think. The tire only had about 700 miles on it. There was no way I was going to throw away a practically new $130 tire! I pulled it from the wheel and patched the hole from the inside. The patch held just fine for the remaining life of the tire (another 3,000 miles). Did I worry about it the whole time? Nah, not at all; I'm not a worrier. I didn't even change my riding habits, exceeding 100-120 mph regularly. "Weren't you worried about a blowout?!?!" some incredulous riders (i.e., ones who worry) might ask. Nah. A small puncture in the tire isn't likely to cause it to come flying apart. If the patch didn't hold, I'd wind up with a deflating tire, same as any other puncture (which I could just as easily pick up the very next day from another nail).

I admit I might have been a bit more concerned had this been the front tire, because a front flat is a bit more difficult to ride out when compared to the rear. I do so hate tank-slappers! I'm also a bit less confident of the "plug type" repair method (where the hole is plugged from the outside, without removing the tire from the rim), although I've also heard of riders doing thousands of miles on plugged tires. Though I carry a plug kit on my street bikes, I've never had to use it and tend to categorize this as an emergency or temporary repair versus something I'm going to live with for the remaining life of the tire. Of course, "temporary" is relative to where you are and where you're traveling to at the time. In the middle of a trip to Alaska, a "temporary fix" might have to last hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles. My thinking about patching the hole from the inside is that the combination of tire pressure and centrifugal force isn't going to allow the patch to shift or come loose, whereas both those forces are actually working to shove a plug out of the hole.

"Your life isn't worth the price of a new tire!" some riders will say. Well, yeah, but if I thought like that, I wouldn't ride at all, would I? Motorcycles are inherently dangerous no matter how you slice it. I mean, is losing my life worth the 15-minutes of fun to and from work every day on a bike? Of course not. It's not even worth that great 10-day bike trip I recently made to Mexico and back, but that doesn't mean I'm going to sit at home and watch Dr Phil instead. I evaluate the risks on a daily basis ... and then I ride. To my way of thinking, a patched rear tire still falls within the acceptable risk inherent in riding motorcycles. You're free to disagree, of course.

I should add that my thoughts here apply to tires with a clean puncture in the running surface of the tire. Not a punctured sidewall. Not a cut or tear or more serious damage. There's acceptable risk and then there's sheer stupidity. Draw your own line between the two.

As for tire changing and balancing equipment, excuse me while I roll on the floor and laugh hysterically for a minute. I've got some tire irons ... that's about it. If I don't bust a few knuckles and utilize my entire vocabulary of curse words, it's just not tire changing. I prop the wheel on a couple two-by-fours (to protect the brake discs) and subject it to a whole lot of jumping up and down, pounding with my fists, and threats. Occasionally, I get creative with something I find at hand. (I'll conclude with one of those creative techniques, just so you feel you've gotten something useful out of reading all this.) The practical side of doing it myself and doing it the hard way is that I know I can handle roadside repairs -- keeps me in practice, doncha know -- which is very important to a dualsport rider who might find himself a hundred miles out in the boonies with a flat tire.

What about balancing? My approach is simple: I don't do it. In the last four years, with five different street bikes and more tire changes than I can remember, I haven't had a problem. My reasoning is that tires are manufactured these days to fairly exacting standards and for the most part are true in and of themselves. The real variance lies in the wheels -- valve steam placement primarily -- which were originally balanced from the manufacturer/dealer when I bought the bike. If they were balanced correctly to begin with and haven't thrown off a weight or been damaged, they should remain balanced when mounting a new tire. I do take note of and use the tire manufacturer's balancing spot (generally a yellow dot of paint letting you know the lightest part of the tire; line it up with the valve steam on your wheel), but fewer and fewer manufacturers are even marking their tires these days, probably an indicator of what I said earlier, that today's tires are pretty well balanced right from the factory.

If I eventually have a problem, I'll either take that wheel-tire combo to a bike shop and pay to have it balanced or I'll build a simple balancing stand of my own (if you do some Googling, you'll find plans from other motorcyclists that have done this), but -- knock on wood -- I haven't had a significant problem in the last four years, even on my ZZR1200 which has been rock-steady all the way out to nearly 160 mph (actual mph as verified by GPS, not indicated) on tires that I mounted by hand.

For some reason, this time around, I did have a hell of a time breaking the bead on the ZZR's tires, especially the front. The new tires went on easy as you please, probably because of how long they'd been softening in the hot sun on my driveway, but getting the old shoes off was a bugger. (Here comes that tip I promised.) I eventually used a technique I picked up from other dualsport riders. I dragged the ZZR's wheel over to my BMW Dakar and used the Dakar's sidestand to break the bead. According to BMW, the Dakar weighs 425 pounds with a full tank of gas -- much more than my puny 170 pounds. Worked like a champ (you'd expect nothing less from a $9,000 bead breaker!), and I'll be sure to use this method again, especially if I find myself out on the trail with a flat sometime. Of course, this technique isn't possible if you're riding alone.

Over the years, I've heard of other crafty methods for breaking a bead: running over it with an auto, creating a fulcrum with a couple two-by-fours, C-clamps, etc. Got a clever tire-changing technique you'd like to share? Hit that comment link below...

Great Public Awareness Campaign!

Check out the videos at Please Look Twice. Very clever advertising for motorcycle safety.

"D is for Danger..."

"Motorcycles are dangerous!"

That's what non-riders are always telling me. I didn't own my first motorcycle until I was 19 or 20 and out on my own ... because the general consensus in my parents' house was that motorcycles certainly are dangerous. (When I did finally get a bike, I was promptly hit by a woman in a red Mustang, then spent 7 weeks in traction and most of 1981 in a cast. Dangerous indeed!) "Donor-cycles" is what Emergency Room professionals call them. Most riders I've known have had at least one accident and uncountable "moments" on the mean streets.

I've generally been of the opinion that the real danger to me and my scooter comes in the form of other motorists. This puts the threat in something of a "manageable" category for me. Makes the risk level acceptable, if you will. Ride on the street long enough (perhaps I should say "survive on the street long enough") and you develop skills and instincts; you learn to read the cage drivers, anticipate their inattentiveness, carelessness, and just plain ol' selfishness. It's something of a game (albeit with serious consequences): How will they try to kill me today? I've gotten good at the game over the years and generally feel pretty safe on my bikes.

I assumed the threat and risk assessment was essentially the same for other riders. However, recent statistics aren't exactly supporting this line of thought. Since I work for the Air Force and am a motorcycle safety focal point for my organization, I'm often provided with accident statistics and details. Thus far, there have been seven motorcycle fatalities in the Air Force this year. This is from a recent report:

Of the seven mishaps, six were single vehicle mishaps. The only mishap involving another vehicle was a result of loss of motorcycle control, with the rider veering into oncoming traffic. Preliminary analysis tells us that all seven did not maintain positive control over their own motorcycle. None were caused by a four wheel operator failing to see or account for a motorcyclist.

Not good at all. As if the cage drivers weren't enough of a threat, untrained riders are out there crashing -- and dying -- all on their own, simply because they're incapable of handling their motorcycles. My personal theory on this is that these riders don't get enough saddle time. These are your weekend riders, your bar-hoppers or shopping mall cyclists. Riding a motorcycle with any degree of skill takes a huge amount of practice. Acquiring experience without paying too high of a price (recall that I was run down by a woman in a red Mustang!) is the trick. The keys to a new rider's survival during this dangerous period are training, such as that offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, and the mentorship of experienced riders as a member of various clubs and organizations. Saddle time, lots of it, is paramount. Riding offroad is certainly a big plus, too.

How do my speculations bear up when compared with real-world data? Here are some very interesting ("disturbing" might be a better word) motorcycle safety statistics from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) which pertain to the general U.S. populace:

1. Deaths of motorcyclists have skyrocketed during the past decade, while deaths have decreased among passenger vehicle operators.

2. Motorcyclist deaths have more than doubled since 1997, and in 2005 accounted for 10 percent of all motor vehicle crash deaths, up from 5 percent in 1997.

3. In 2005, a total of 4,439 motorcyclists died in crashes, up 14 percent from the 3,904 in 2004.

4. The number of deaths on motorcycles was about 34 times the number in cars per mile traveled in 2005.

5. 71% of motorcyclist deaths in 2005 occurred during the six months of May through October. Fatalities peaked during July through September and were lowest during December through February.

6. 59% of motorcyclist deaths in 2005 occurred during Friday through Sunday.

Bullets 5 and 6 certainly point to a higher number of accidents among summer and weekend riders, those motorcyclists who, in my opinion, do not have the requisite skill level to handle an ever more powerful offering of street machines.

A National Highway Transportation Study on Motorcycle Safety indicated that an emphasis on the following areas can reduce motorcycle fatalities:

1. Failure of motorcyclists to appreciate the inherent operating characteristics of their motorcycles
2. Failure of motorcyclists to know the limitations of their motorcycles
3. Failure of motorcyclists to follow speed limits

Even though their wording seems to point a finger at the "limitations of motorcycles" (if you ask me, today's motorcycles are so capable that it's impossible for anyone short of Valentino Rossi to actually "out-ride" them and exceed their "limitations"), I think we're really still talking about skills acquired by riders who need to spend many, many hours in the saddle. To survive, you absolutely must be an expert at operating your motorcycle. Weekend warriors would be better off taking up golf. Motorcyclists who exceed their skill levels -- whether that relates to speed, cornering, or just plain understanding traffic situations and how bad shit unfolds on the street -- are accidents waiting to happen.

Let's all be careful out there.

"Are You Ready For This...?"

Pulling into my driveway when I came home from work today, I noticed all the pretty blossoms on our Japanese something-or-other tree and realized that "spring has sprung." The tree wasn't my only reminder, though; I'm beginning to see a lot more motorcycles on the road as all the seasonal riders uncover their steeds, blow off the cobwebs, and hit the mean streets. Though my own bikes get ridden year round, I realize not everyone is as hardcore as I am. Many bikes are forced to hibernate through the winter, sullenly slumbering through the drab brown months with their bellies full of stabilizer, their dreaming brains tickled by battery tenders, and their thickening lifeblood pooled morosely into sump pans. Grizzlies in waiting. Summer friends.

But now ... now here comes the sun and the green shoots of Bermuda thrust up through the dead heather of winter. Spring storms will soon inspire wildflowers to bloom. In southern states, women are revealing far more than they should in exchange for cheap plastic beads made in China ... All clear indicators of motorcycle-friendly weather!

Before you jump on that two-wheeled beauty, fire it up, and roar off through the neighborhood, however, make sure the bike's actually ready for the road. Check the tires for proper inflation and adequate tread. Check all the fluid levels (oil, coolant, brakes, battery, etc). Run a quick test of all the electrics: turn signals, horn, lights; in particular, make sure the brakelight comes on when you apply the brakes. Inspect fittings and hoses. Look for loose fasteners and inspect your chain: is the tension correct, does it need lubricated? Make sure your throttle and clutch cable move freely and smoothly; if not, lube them. How about your brakes; are the pads in good shape? Does your air filter need replaced or cleaned and oiled? Make sure no critters have taken up residence in the exhaust, air box, or even under the seat. When you saddle up for the first time, check the adjustment of your mirrors and take a moment to refamiliarize yourself with the controls; you don't want to be fumbling for the horn button when a careless driver, having gone all winter without worrying too much about motorcycles on the road, cuts into your lane.

You might also take some time to give your riding gear a quick once-over. If you haven't ridden in a few months, take it slow and easy at first; make sure you're not rusty. Find a vacant parking lot if necessary and chalk off some imaginary cones.

When your bike and you are ready, enjoy the ride!

And don't forget to return my wave when we pass.

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Have a suggestion or tip for prepping your bike in the spring? Please share it with the rest of us by using the comment feature below!