Advice needed.....a squid in the making...

[bigred875]

Ok here is the deal...my little brothers friend had his heart set on a new GSXR-600.

Now I already did the you shouldnt buy new...get something older..less bike..yadda yadda...blah blah...

Well he just bought a brandy new one....he wanted it...is 22 and credit...what are you going to do..

Stupid yes I know...but I have also been there...really really wanted something and bought it..but what is done is done...

I am harping on him about gear now...and he is not fighting it...

He is a dirt rider so he has SOME experience on 2 wheels..but we all know the street is a different animal...

I just dont want him to turn into road pizza...

Can you guys post up any articles or posts you may have come across that i could print out and give to him.

I dont see him buying TTW books..or any other books for that matter.....just looking to give him some free advice...I have and will talk to him....but it is always good to here more people..

thanks..

[Awesome]

send him to the website. And stop worrying like you're his mom. My first sport bike was the 929 brandy new and I'm still ripping it. I was 22 at the time.

[bigred875]

he doest have a computer...

and good for you...

[Awesome]

no computer? I'm confused, what year is this? Where am I and who are you? I want answers and i want them now or I want them eventually!

[highsider]

I'm beginning to think it doesn't matter what bike you start out on; either you are smart enough to not kill yourself, or you aren't. Obviously there are advanted to not starting off with a monster of a bike, but I think human genetics play a larger part in the whole thing

Jay started on a 929; I learned on an FJ1200 (no, I'm NOT comparing those two, they're both just big bikes.) We're both still around. A friend of mine had a brother who died on an Interceptor 250.

My opinion - get him to a track day ASAP, so at least he can learn how to handle that bike. Then, show him as many gross pics of aftermaths of bike crashes as you can. That always put some fear in my mind.

In the end, though, as much as we worry about friends who take up riding, their safety is ultimately in their own hands.

[benVFR]

Get him to take MSF if he hasn't already???

You never know.. my little brother is much like this guy, he just turned 21. He's been riding my dad's cruiser for like 3 years now. He was downright scary on it for a while when he started but we kept harping on him about safety and he seems to have gotten the message. He took MSF and had dirt experience and his skills were actually pretty good he just had the typical young guy do stupid stuff traits that we all have.

He hasn't bought his own bike yet but I would expect him to this summer, and somehow all the crap my dad and I fed him worked, he seems to want a dual sport/motard now instead of a sportbike.

Overall it has been pretty cool, he did turn into a pretty good responsible rider along the way. I took a 600 mile weekend trip with him last year and he was fine, even though he was still stupid about preparation. I lent him a bunch of gear and let him ride my VFR one day on the trip and he was even responsible enough not to do anything stupid on it.

Don't give up, chances are if you're careful with this guy you can show him the ropes in such a way that he won't get hurt.

[bigred875]

He has taken it.. little while ago..but took it ..it is require in RI to get your permit...

But I hear ya...and my brother wants to get one now as well...he is a lot more hard headed as well...lol...wish me luck

lol..like I am the model of responsibility..lol

[ChrisNoF4i]

Originally posted by hessogood
send him to the website. And stop worrying like you're his mom. My first sport bike was the 929 brandy new and I'm still ripping it. I was 22 at the time.

My first street bike was a brandy-new F4i when I was 23. I would still be ripping it if it were rippable. But I rode 23K miles before I put the shiny side down and me bum on the pavement. The safety of the rider doesn't depend on what bike he or she rides... it depends on how they ride said bike and how lucky they are while riding it. Yepp, luck plays a huge role in streetriding. Call me a squid if you will, I'll just go sit in the corner and pout. You've done your part my educating/informing him. Don't nag him like an old Jewish lady... give him a rabbit's foot and take him riding with you.

[benVFR]

Sounds like it is too late but one of the things that worked with my brother was showing him how small and inconvenient riding around on a 600 race rep would be, he is slightly taller than I am so he was certainly not going to be doing huge miles on a 600 without being uncomfortable. On top of that he goes to school in Ohio and seems to want to be able to travel home on a bike if he gets one, so the short range on the race reps was not attractive.

Find some other reason besides "you're not good enough" that will get him to be attracted to another kind of bike.

[ancosta]

When he's near a PC, log him on google and look at some (graphic & gross) pics of motorcycle accidents:

http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...cycle+accident

Here's a thread that appears to be valid and horrific

http://zrxoa.org/03Z1Rthreads/hitandrun.htm

If it can happen to others it can happen to me/him/you, etc. is the point I'd make to the new rider.

I agree with the idea that a cool head on a hot bike is better than a hot head on a cool bike, so the real odds are up to him vs. the bike. Not that an SV wouldn't make a better 1st bike, and the GS500 better than the SV, and a Rebel 250 better than the GS, etc. etc.

[By-Tor]

Best advice I can give is to ride with your brother and ride with him often. Preaching good habits and safety will not be as effective as showing him through your example. Take him out riding and set the pace. Don't let his friends or any other rookie riders influence him first. Bad habits are hard to break so get to him first. Make sure you are wearing all of your gear when you ride with him. Take him on group rides with guys you feel comfortable with, guys that understand that your brother is just getting into the sport. They will gladley keep a safer pace to allow him to develop some skills. If they all are wearing their gear, he will feel like the oddball and will see that gear is the way to go. This has worked for me as more of my friends have joined the sport.

[Cue Ball]

I had a friend that was 20 years old, he bought a Katuna 750 for 1st bike, he never rode it, sold it and was to buy a 04 CBR600RR, his father talked him into buying the CBR1000RR as he would only out grow the 600. Kevin Smith died 8/10/04 on his shiny new CBR1000RR, nuff said.

[daviid]

No Need For Gear
Author Unknown

Riding without boots and crashing might cost you some road rash or foot mash or even in an extreme case might lead to amputation. You might never walk without a limp. You might battle a weight and fitness problem for the rest of your
life. You might never walk with pain. But it probably wouldn't kill you.

Riding without gloves and crashing might cost you some road rash or a Munched hand or the severe, excruciating pain of mangling a body part rich with nerve endings. Or you could lose a finger or two. It could cost you the ability to play ball with your son, to properly feel the gentle curve of a woman’s breast, or to hold a beer. But it probably wouldn't kill you.

Riding without at least an armored jacket and leather trousers or full leathers or an Aerostich or even just a leather jacket and jeans and crashing might cost you serious road rash. You might grind off a nipple. You might embed gravel in your elbow. You might get beef jerky all over your back. You might grind off your kneecap or have a scar resembling Australia on you calf like a friend of mine does. You would be scarred for life and not be able to walk on a beach shirtless without feeling self conscious. You might end up like Kevin Spacey's character in "Pay It Forward" and have to deal with the same awkward moment every time you remove your clothes with a new lover. But it probably won't kill you.

Riding without a back protector and crashing in all but rare crashes would be inconsequential. However, there are so many variables out there- curbs, fenders, poles, guardrails, and debris in the road- any one of these could be the golden BB that nicks your spinal cord in just the wrong way and leaves you in a wheelchair for life. Or, maybe you just have constant sciatic pain in one leg. Or you can't move your legs. Or you have to wear diapers for when you @#%$ yourself, and/or a colostomy bag you have to pull out of your pants leg and squeeze your waste out into the toilet at a bar like a guy I know. Or you can't move from the chest down. Or from the neck down. Are you good at working joysticks with your mouth? Or maybe you might need a respirator? Or 24 hour care? Certainly, there are impacts that are completely foreseeable that would permanently injure you even with the best back protector in the world. But there are crashes and subsequent impacts that even mediocre back protectors can make that little bit of difference in- the ones you get up and walk away from, sore all over, but *walking*. Do you want the last time you walked to be when you walked out of 7-11 with a pack of smokes and then got on your bike? Those precious few steps out the door and over to the bike to be the five steps you remember the rest of your life because the next time you were off the bike you were lying strapped to a backboard staring at the headliner of an ambulance, tears running down your face because you couldn't feel the little piggies and you were almost ready to vomit at the stench of your @#%$ because you lost control of your bowels? Riding without a back protector and crashing might not make a difference, or it might make all the difference in the world. It might not kill you, but it might make you wish it had.

And, finally, helmets. Riding without a helmet and crashing might be of no consequence. You might never even touch terra firma with your head. Or you might give yourself an asphalt facelift. You might get a concussion that results in only a bad headache the next day. You might get a serious concussion that lands you in the hospital for endless CAT scans and MRIs, and for the rest of your days be plagued by migraines. You might fracture your orbital and lose your vision. You might fracture your skull and end up
fully functional but with a horrible Frankenstein like scar and a metal plate that bothers you on cold days and sets of metal detectors in airports. You might have a closed head injury from which you don't awaken from for hours or days or weeks or months- all the while your mother, father, sister, brother, children, workmates, and/or riding buddies come a visit you, filling an utterly depressing hospital room into a gauche jungle of flowers and bright card saying "get well soon!" that you never see or smell. Sure, you might awaken completely normal besides the hole drilled in your head to reduce pressure. Or you might awaken a little fuzzy, unsure who these people are. Or you might awaken and have to re-learn everything it took you all your life to learn, eventually returning to normal or even better like Harrison Ford in "Regarding Henry". Or you might awaken a man-child, drooling and laughing as you try to stack blocks, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt signed by your mother, father, sister, brother, children, workmates, and/or riding buddies- which you will never read. Or you might have an open head injury, from which the "you" you know will most likely never return. The rest of your life -be it a day, a week, a month, a year- will consist of feeding tubes, the endless beep and whoosh of the heart monitor and respirator, and the drip-drip or IV fluids, catheters in your rod, and feeding tubes. Of course, you won't mind all of this; you'll be in a dream land no one knows about. Your body will waste away and
atrophy. Eventually, the shell that used to be you would give out, and your loved ones would have to make the most grueling decision of their life. Or, you might die on the road, fluffy gray brain matter mixing with blood and cerebro-spinal fluid. Perhaps you last ride would be twenty miles an hour down the street by your house combined with an impatient young driver and an
ignored stop sign. Or perhaps it would be a ride on the freeway and a pothole denting your rim and popping the front tire off the bead sending you into the guardrail. Or you might go out in a blaze of glory with a 100 mph wheelie ending the wrong way. Whichever way, would make maybe a 10 second news story depending on where you live, maybe a paragraph buried on page 32B of the paper. Riding without a helmet could be of no matter- or it could mean the difference between going on as you are now, or having life taken away from you as if God flipped a switch.

I can live without toes or a mangled foot- but I choose to try and prevent that. I can live with a hand that looks like a burn victim's and maybe relearn to write with my left hand- but I choose to try and prevent that. I can live with a scar in the shape of Australia on my calf- but I try and prevent that. I can live with road rash on my torso and arms- but I try to prevent that. I could live in a wheelchair, agonizing through every day, but I chose to try and prevent that.

I can't live as a man-child. I've already played with blocks. I only drool when I sleep.

We all make choices. Gear can't always save you. All the best leather, denim, Corduroy, Kevlar, fiberglass, and plastic are useless when fate throws the Immovable Object or the Irresistible Force in your path. But I choose to stack the deck in my favor. If it all ends up for naught and the stacked deck and the cards up my sleeve end up losing to Fate's royal flush, so be it. But I'll try.

-Author unknown-