I was just thinking about how it made me feel hearing about all the terrible deaths of fellow bikers and wanted to know how you guys pluck up the curage to get back on after hearing of a friend going down or if you yourself come off of your bikes. One of my partners friends has just died in spain through a collision while overtaking and then a post on here today about another death is twisting my mind. I have been riding for a year and six and I love it but more and more feel that its a matter of time before I come off or worse. I think that if I did come off and survived I think that would be enough of a warning and give it up. Even now i sometimes think about selling it but think i would miss it too much when i haven’t even had many scares.(touch Wood)
How about hearing from you guys that haven’t come off and restor my Faith
It does get to me hearing about people in accidents, and crashes, but riding is what we do.
No one can really tell how they will feel about getting back on again, until it happens, but i tend to try and not think about it happening in first place…
well I had a little off last year, and I had no choice but to ride home on the bike as well. and monday came round got back on took it steady for a few days and then forgot about it.
It doesn’t really bother me reading about other peoples offs. I do feel bad for them, especially when it was caused by someone elses mistake or stupidity but it doesn’t affect me or how I ride.
At work I deal with quite a few RTA’s involving bikes, thankfully none of them so far have been fatal but it’s only a matter of time until I attend one that is. I think it’s good in a way to see the accidents as you almost learn by other peoples mistakes rather than your own!
I had my fair share - been shunted, clipped, cuddled by pedestrians, been knocked off by other bikes on track, people have dropped it in front of me (I missed them both)… it is a part of the biker life and you had better wake up and smell the coffee, because it will happen to everyone one day (thats if it doesnt get stolen first). The sooner everyone realises that and starts treating it as a challenge rather than as a threat, the better
I’m pretty resigned to the fact I’ll come off at some point and just hope when it happens it’s not one of those we read about involving death, paralysis or serious injury. I returned to the uk 13 months ago and one of the first things i did was get a scooter, knowing I’d work up to my full license and proper bike i have now. I got sideswiped on the scooter the second day I took it out. But I knew I wanted to ride bikes so I just got back on and built up my confidence. I try not to do stupid things, but every so often a car will pull out or something and I just think, should have seen that sooner. When I lived abroad it was in countries with long cold winters so a bike was impractical. Now I can’t imagine being without one
when its someone i never met, or had spoken too etc i fel for them and the people they have left behind.
when its someone i knew, as an aquaintece or friend i obviously feel it more, it does make me think about my riding when the person is better known to me.i have had a couple of close calls in my 11 months riding big bikes, but no offs, the worst a 90+ tankslapper scared the shite out of me, i actually HAD to get off the bike, i cried after that incident, i honestly think if i had have come off i wouldnt be here now.
BUT at the end of the day i ride, i always will…i have kinda accepted that one day fate may play its part, if it does, it does, i will go doing something i love to bits…riding…
If I come off I come off - wont stop me getting back on a bike again though unless I physically couldnt!
Its not that I dont care but hearing of people coming off doesnt really affect me in how I ride - its just unlucky really, same with anything else. If I read every story about somebody coming off & let it affect me I wouldnt ride more than 30 miles an hour anywhere and wouldnt take any risks - wheres the fun in that!
As you get older you realise how temporary life is, don’t worry about it, when your time comes at least you can say you went out kicking and screaming with pleasure ! My Dad has several illnesses which mean he’ll probably pass away this year . . . coming to terms with that is difficult enough as it is but it’s made easier for me because he’s off enoying himself in Switzerland now, making good use of the time he has.
Use what life you have as best you can, mitigate the risks by wearing good kit and having a sensible eye on the road but enjoy biking, it’s one hell of a way to spend a few hours a day and beats the car
I felt exactly like you did in my first couple of years of riding (I was convinced that I was either going to crash and die or get taken out by someone else). As I grew more experienced biking became less and less of a new thing/novelty and more and more second nature. With experience comes the sense that YOU are setting the agenda on the bike - this doesn’t mean that you are not going to crash/die (far from it - and a sense of mortality is a HEALTHY thing to have as a biker) - I guess it is just a confidence thing. What this ‘experience’ amounts to is a whole load of things - getting to know how to maintain the bike, riding in all weathers (including snow and ice!), having close shaves, and of course CRASHING. Coming off the bike is part of biking and happens to everyone sooner or later.I think that speed and the danger that comes with speed is an essential part of biking - without it biking would not be biking - it comes with the territory (it DEFINES the territory) and the longer you ride the more acclimatised to it you will be - it is this element of danger and the willingness to take (calculated) risks which ultimately defines us as bikers. All you have to do is look at the motley collection of nutters that post on this site;) to understand that it is a certain type of person who is prepared to sit on a lump of metal propped up on two wheels and then launch themselves at high speed (sometimes v.high speed) at the horizon:D.
I don’t want to minimize in anyway the tragedy (for family and friends) that accompanies a biking death/serious accident - but it is this aspect of biking (THE RISK - NOT THE DEATH/INJURY e.g. parachutists, rock climbers probably feel the same) that gives it it’s edge and paradoxically makes us feel more ALIVE;)
I’ve got many friends and a lot of my family who hear about all the accidents and do the worrying for me. one of my friends even refers to bikes as suicycles - bless her. I understand that at some point I’ll have some sort of accident on a bike but like has been said - all I can do is try and reduce the risk to myself and make sure I ride safely - same as when I’m in the car. Hopefully I’ll just never find myself in a serious accident but the very real threat of it happening isn’t going to stop me getting a bike. No point hiding from everything that’s dangerous else you’d never leave you bed - and being on a bike is just too much fun
+1 You can’t let every bad story you hear affect you. If you did then you’d never leave the house, eat anything or talk to anyone.
I feel bad for those involved and for their families, more if it’s someone that I know. But I believe you have to get on with life. I have though, never been in the situation where a loved one has been killed or injured in an accident.
Maybe this leads to another question. If you already have kids or have some in the future, would you be happy with them riding bikes? Bearing in mind that traffic levels could be much worse as time goes by.
I’m sure there are both parents and their kids that are LBers. How do they feel?
all very good posts I guess it boils down to how much you want it.
This might sound bad although I do not mean it to but when i hear of a crach involving a bike I want to know what happened I think because 80% of death crashes I personaly have heard of is because of the rider undertaking overtaking or wheeling and i try to look to blame the biker I guess its because if its the bikes fault I can hope I dont make those silly moves but if its the car then it out of my hands and thats what scares me.
I.e My partners friend who died in spain last week aparently he was overtaking at speed and hit an oncomming car which killed him and his cousin on the back and when i hear of a head on colision my mind assumes someone shouldnt have been on the other side of the road weather this is right or wrong is how I like to deal with it.
Again before someone slates me its just how i deal with it I am not saying everyone who dies on a bike its their fault
I haven’t been riding long, I guess (since October 2007). A friend of mine passed her CBT the day before, but had no road knowledge whatsoever, didn’te ven read up on the highway code. She came off her bike 4 times in 6 weeks. A brand new bike, too.
A guy I know who races bike came off a couple of months ago and broke both his legs. Another guy a week or two later came off and broke his hand, and another guy was speeding around a corner at 80mph and came off. The bike is technically totalled, but he was wearing his gear and just got some serious scraping when the material wore through.
I also have a job which means I get to see and read the gory details about various Fatal Collisions. It ain’t pretty.
I even had my first accident yesterday, and luckily it wasn’t that bad. I was even driving carefully.
BUT I still will keep riding and I still want to do the bigger test and get a bigger bike. Like others have said, you can’t avoid things you like because there’s some danger attached. Otherwise you would never do anything. I guess you just have to be as careful as you can be, be aware of side roads and act as if every car out there hasn’t seen you. I’ve had a few close calls because of sudden moves from car drivers, but because I try to be constantly alert, I’ve been ok and avoided collisions that could easily have been avoided. however, it’d be naieve to think that just because you’re careful means you wont have an accident. It’ll probably happen some time, just do your best to make sure it’s not a stupid one on your own part.
I dont think you’re thoery or way of dealing with it is wrong. I did my cbt acouple of months ago and they clearly stated that the vast majority of accidents involving bikes (fatal or not) the bike was at fault. I was thinking about this and the only way I can reason it out is that in car you can make mistakes and it doesnt matter. Its not as responsive, you’ve got a shell and airbags all around you, you’re more visable etc. But on a bike your out there in the elements. You more or less have to soley rely on your judgments and responses. In a car, a sudden movement or swurve or little clip with another car probably isnt going to cause any problems or too much damage but on a bike its completely different; everything is a potention hazard. You get clipped or bumped on a bike its gonna do alot more damage (to you and the bike). In that sense I can see why so many accident are blamed on the bike.
I dont know if any of that makes sense but thats how I explain it when somebody says ‘yeah but most accidents are caused by the bike’ or ‘bikes are so careless’. They dont ride, they dont understand.
I know that I’ve done afew silly things since I’ve been learning to ride but thankfully, I’ve been lucky or had an alert driver nearby.
