| Author | Message | ||
     X1glider |
It seems as if I hear about one more dead biker every week. I heard of 4 here in Houston last month, 1 was a member of our HOG chapter. One was in a wreck and survived, but did some major damage to his skull. He won't be back to work at the shop I support for another 3 months. Lucky nonetheless. I sometimes wonder why there's any of us left. (must be that procreation thing) I'm surprised at the things judges let the cagers get away with. Here's an old example article: http://www.americanmotor.com/news.cfm?newsid=1928 I've been hit by a car once myself and almost get killed several times a day going to and from work. (Good thing my traffic skills are up to snuff) And if we're not being taken out by cagers, it's by the government. I joined the AMA http://www.americanmotor.com/a year ago and regularly visit the board to see what's up. When legislation issues arise, I fill out the (usually) pre-printed forms to e-mail or snail-mail the governor and send it off. Unfortunately TX officials aren't biker conscious and friendly and try to sneak anti-motorcycle stuff in with other bills. The AMA has lobbyists and lawyers that track that stuff down and try to help. They also promote new legislation to protect us (emissions, safety, stiffer penalties against wrong doers, road work). I do my little part when the opportunity is there by voting and sendingth e-mails. Unfortunately I can't send letters to other state's governors, not allowed, but I would if I could. TN, NJ and PA have many biker friends in high places!  Another organization I have yet to join is http://www.mrf.org/. They seem to do the same thing and try to keep a lid on unfair biased studies that the DOT and EPA come up with. Very important because I worry that they may remove bikes from the road completely if we don't comply with emissions and noise standards. I'd rather have a catalytic converter on my bike than not be able to ride at all. Anyway  , I think we all should get involved in this minimalistic form of protecting our rights. Doesn't cost much compared to the benefits we can reap. Check out the links and decide for yourself. I want to keep riding. P.S.-I got nailed for speeding on Xmas eve (cop didn't even have a rear deck mounted radar but the judge didn't care even when I showed him the pic) so I have defensive driving tonight. At every opportunity, I vow to make everyone in class aware that WE are among them and how to se US. Hopefully the instructor will get the hint and make it part of his lessons and not kick me out instead! | ||
| Rick_A |
I, for one, am fed up by the damn old ladies that cut me off in parking lots ...and well, we all know you may as well be invisible when it comes to most cage drivers. Comes with the culture, I suppose. | ||
| Jmartz |
The state of Georgia, for this tag year, increased the minimum liability requirements from 10,000 (property damge portion) to 30,000. This caused the liablity insurance on my S1 to go from $95/year to $130. While I feel the change was needed for cars, as a good smack on any high end vehicle would ceratinly exceed 10K, a motorcyle is certainly less capable than a car in inflicting damage. At least they let us use the HOV lane. jose  | ||
| Libnosis |
Jose Welcome to SC rate land. We don't even get the courtesy of a reach around. lib | ||
| Jmartz |
Yeah but you can ride w/o a helmet and shoot off fireworks whenever. Not a bad tradeoff. jose | ||
| Libnosis |
Did you say shootoff whenever? You're right, not a bad trade off.  | ||
| Shot_Gun |
Jose, My insurance on my S2 is $580.00 a year!  Plus I have a clean driving record! I would love to pay $130 even for six months. Now thats opening a 55 gallon drum of vasilene! SG | ||
| Ken01mp |
wanna talk insurance? i got full on my M2 cause of the loan, plus im 19. just under 2K a year. my bike payments are less than my insurance. Ken | ||
| Henrik |
Alright you whiners  try this on for size: 'round $1200/year for a 1996 S2; 150,000/300,000/50,000. 40 years of age, single, license for 22 years, clean record. Oh, and that's *with* the 2-bike discount because of the SV. Henrik | ||
| Newfie_Buell |
Hey Ken, Maybe your insurance agent saw your photo in your profile and thats why its so high.  I am in the insurance industry and any male under 25 gets nailed to the wall here in NF. I can't believe the minimum requirements that some of your states have. Here we have a min of $200,000 for Public Liability & Property Damage and you have the option to take a limit of up to $2,000,000.00. This increases that part of the premium by about 20-25%. Our problem here is the physical damage premiums way outrageous. So I just keep the PLPD with $1,000,000 limit. As for the cagers you have to be real careful here too. Bill | ||
| Sportyeric |
This is turning into an insurance thread, which I was just about to start one of. Maybe Blake will see fit to move it or re-name it? If X1 gilder doesn't mind? Anyway. I'm about to get fired up about the fact that people here (B.C.) can't really own a fleet of bikes because of the insurance. My insurance for bare minimum ($1,000,000 public liabilty and property damage) costs $70/month, so about $420 for a six month season. If I had another bike, I would have to pay the same for it. or get a one day permit at $25 a pop. Since I can only ride one bike at a time ( although I'm working on some trick riding skills), I don't see why we can't have transferable plates. (Our insurance is basically attached to the plates.) Do any of you live in jurisdictions where that is possible, that I could use as an example if I launch a letter writing campaign here? Henrick. You can keep your rates, but how does the 2-bike discount work? I know in Alberta one used to get a second car insured for just a token premium, which could then also be plated. I can see the weak point of that would be that both vehicles could be in use at the same time. Everyone's parents would register teenagers cars like that. Obviously, one could just put the plate on whichever bike you wanted to ride and that would pass a cursory glance, but it wouldn't hold up to being pulled over, much less being in an accident. I read hear about people owning several bikes and, besides being jealous of others having more money than me, and thinking they should be taxed more so I could get some of it, I think, how the heck can they afford to insure them all? Or do they just collect dust? I think it would stimulate the economy to get this going. Dealerships should lead the charge. I need more bikes! | ||
| Sportyeric |
And, on topic. I was driving up the highway today envying three guys on sportbikes ahead of me in the left lane when the car ahead of me (in the right lane) decided the left lane looked better. Pulled in behind bike number one. Bike number two went right onto the shoulder to avoid the idiot, who got 3/4 into the lane before seeing what was happening. Moved halfway back to the right lane again, then figured WTF and moved over into #2's space again anyway. #2 brakes, changes to the right lane, passes the car with a one finger salute and rejoins his bud up front. This in traffic thick enough that both lanes were moving at the same speed, no turn-offs. I tried to catch up in my bus so I could run the car into the shoulder, to put the shoe on the other foot. Crap driving like that is one reason I like an open face helmet. Easier to spit at people who piss me off. | ||
| Henrik |
2-bike discount: basically my insurance company, Progressive, takes about $100 off what it would cost me to insure the S2 and the SV individually. Not a lot, but a buck's a buck. I also get discounts for safety/riding course participation. MSF or CLASS accepted. Henrik | ||
| Shot_Gun |
Henrik: Your single, thats the proplem. Plus you live in the city. that can't be good. On the topic: Most cars are pissed that you can split traffic and they can't! Not that I recommend something like that  SG | ||
| X1glider |
Sporteric, in Texas, we carry guns, not spit! Unfortunately, using the gun while riding is NOT one of our rights, even with a Concealed Handgun Permit. Yeah, insurance people, get yer own topic! hehe On that note, I lucked out, my X1 isn't classified as a crotch rocket. It fits in the same class as my Harley, so it on costs me $580/year for full coverage. | ||
| Henrik |
Henrik: Your single, thats the proplem. That's what Melissa says  Henrik | ||
| Ken01mp |
speaking of splitting traffic, i was riding from Pensecola to Panama City, and in Destin FL, me and my buddy (on a GSXR 750) got stuck in a bad jam on HWY 91. cars stopped as far as the eye could see, and it was 95 degrees, and the bike was getting so hot it was starting to miss. (meant to do so, i realize as much) so i said to hell with it. it took some coaxing, but i got my bud to follow me down the middle. we got some cheers, (even a flash from a girl in a convertable) but mostly people suck. they would see us coming and crowd the center line, try and cut us off. just being total idiots, just jealous really. (i rewarded those individuals with a reason to re-adjust their side mirrors) we made it to the next light and beat the cars next to us so we could get back in a lane, only to see we had more hours to wait. so, we decided the center was a little risky, and the shoulder on the right was pretty wide, so we would try that. we got more of the same thing, a trucker even made me ride on the grass to go around him. so, naturally, i told him he was #1, and he honked in acknowledgement. was splitting traffic the right thing to do? probably not. but did saving three hours time, a red hot bike, a clutch, and getting flashed make it worth it? hell yeah. i justified it by thinking that it made up for everytime i got cut off by some dumb blonde in a bikini in the last three days, which was a lot. not to mention all the old people in FL. i unintentionally stood the bike on the front wheel in an effort to stop short of a big white crown vic with some blind, geriatric old fart behind the wheel. i guess its a horse a piece on a bike. riding one gets you in trouble in traffic, but they have good enough binders and agility to get you out of trouble. ride safe Ken | ||
| Shot_Gun |
I been told I'm going to be single if I don't stop spending time with my misteress"Buella"  | ||
| Sportyeric |
We're not allowed to split lanes here in B.C. and the cops will sit on the shoulder waiting for bikes to use the shoulder at long-weekend-return-to-the-city highway jams. "You should pull over and just wait for it to cool off, son. That'll be $150." I regularly ride up the shoulder to bypass back-ups on the bridge approaches but I also get a number of nails in the tires from doing so. My conscience sometimes bothers me, butI usually can get through that. I just figure that the government couldn't afford an HOV lane but if they could, I'd be allowed to use it. . Oh yeah. You Yankees and your guns. I have a firm rule never to spit at anyone in the United States. Besides, we have to perpetuate the "polite Canadian" myth when we're visiting. On insurance, I've got you beat. Ours is by engine size and my registration says 883.  | ||
| Dynarider |
Currently I pay $173 for a full 12 months coverage on my FXDWG & $150 for the X1. 39 yrs old, married with 1 speeding ticket. Tried progressive & they wanted over double what I currently pay. | ||
| X1glider |
Nope, splitting lanes is not a good idea. Before we know it, we'll have a new topic for "Recently Deceased BadWeb Members." Don't want that. One, it is illegal, two, some butt pirate will inevetably open their door on you. I don't know about other states, but in Texas it's a felony to open a car door on a biker. But if you survive it, try proving in a court of law that they did it intentionally. Here, people open their doors all the time to spit out their dip, and I think the judge will side them, cuz he most likely dips too. $173/12 months on a FXDWG?!?!?! Guess I need to get married too. | ||
| Aaron |
In many parts of the world, lane splitting is both accepted and expected. It reduces congestion. Far as I'm concerned, it ought to be legal here, too. | ||
| Sarodude |
That's one of the few nice things about California... The CHP lobbied to keep lane splitting legal here. It's gotten to the point where I NEVER head over to the other side of the hill (West LA, Beverly Hills, Melrose, whatever) in a car unless I absolutely HAVE to. My travel time gets cut in 1/2 sometimes on busy days... -Saro | ||
| X1glider |
Wow, I never would have guessed lane-splitting was legal anywhere, since you are not actually riding in a lane, especially Califonia. Hopefully you don't do it at too fast a speed. How many times have you had to dodge car doors and people squeezing cars together to keep you from passing? I always guessed it would be faster to walk or skate there. | ||
| Mikej |
In Calif, it's called "lane sharing" where it's legal for two vehicles to share a lane. This allows bikes to "split" the traffic. P.D.'s will try and get you if you are doing so in what they consider reckless abandon. I probably put 40,000 miles on a bike in So.Cal. splitting lanes when I lived down there. Didn't see it done much in Nor.Cal. though for some reason. Tapped a few mirrors down south, a few near-misses with lane dancers in cars and on other bikes, but kept my speed at a reasonable level compared to the traffic flow. Not safe by any means, but then few things in life are totally safe. Use your own best judgement. And don't be surprised when you see Jay Leno tooling along at 70mph in his Stanley Steamer. You see everything down there, but it's best to ride aware. Sure wish lane sharing was legal here sometimes, would be a great way to ditch certain anti-bike cagers in traffic. As it is I just side-street it (usually). Safety first, legal first, but primarily get home in the condition you left in regardless. | ||
| Jmartz |
Besides CA, is there another state in the union that allows lane splitting? | ||
| Sarodude |
Doors? Never. (I shouldnta said that...) Squeezers? Whether intentional or just a result of preoccupation with applying makeup, conducting an important business meeting with a hairdresser, and / or stirring a sugar substitue into a half calf double tall nonfat latte, it does happen. Also, very few people abusively split lanes - at least from what I've seen. Most go just a few MPH better than stopped / crawling traffic. The sterotyped 100mph wheelie between lanes is much blown out of proportion... -Saro | ||
| Court |
As I recall, our pals in Europe made reference to "filtering" which decreases congestion and explained you could be ticketed for impeding traffic if you didn't. Lane splitting, like most motorcycle manuvuers, requires some skill tempered with common sense. I never go over 15 mph faster than traffic (speed contrast) Don't split abreast of exits (the last minute _"hey..that's my exit" dive) Go between, not next, to cars. Never leave a hole for someone to drive over you. Ad infinitum. HINT: Buell S-1 Lightnings and Ford Aerostar have mirrors eqaul AGL. Court | ||
| Msetta |
I agree, lane splitting when done responsibly is better for both drivers. I always feel safer on my motorcycle when i am in front of the pack, instead of stuck in the middle, less chance of someone cutting me off by changing lanes (not so uncommon occurance). Up here in Vancouvver, lane splitting gets you a huge fine. Riding on the side of the road or a shoulder is just a minor fine (passing on the wrong side-i think). So I take the less expensive chance when I want to move ahead of traffic. The Setta | ||
| Aaron |
X1G, what I found in Europe is that it's expected, and the cagers seem to both be watching for it and will even intentionally make room for you on occassion. It's really nice to just go to the front of the line when you come to a light or something. The group I was with would *never* have done any high speed lane splitting, though  Hey, when in Rome ... |
