2Wheeltips

I was reading my local news online a couple of days ago, when a headline grabbed my attention:

"1 Dead After Crash on Route 18 in East Brunswick"
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20100712/NEWS/100712019/1004/NEWS0102

Somehow, without the headline saying it, I knew a motorcycle was involved.  Sadly, I was correct.  Sadder yet, the motorcyclist died in the accident; the passenger on the bike was taken to the hospital and was in stable condition at the time.  Apparently, the 19 year old driver of the automobile that was involved was not injured.

I know nothing about this accident (other than what little was written up in the local paper) and I know none of the people involved.  But motorcycle accidents send chills down my spine whenever they occur, and especially when they occur on local roads that I travel all the time.  Perhaps many of you will agree with me when I say that it seems like we are often a bit too interested in the gory details of motor vehicle accidents.  Yet, hopefully, we can learn something from even the most tragic of accidents.  I looked at the photos that were taken of the accident (and there was controversy about the newspaper even posting some of them, especially the ones that show what appears to be covering over the body of the biker) in an attempt to understand better what had happened and I am baffled.  Was the biker making a right turn onto Route 18 from the side street?  Did the vehicles collide while merging into the same lane?  Was someone driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs?  Was one of the operators distracted?  I don't have an answer.  What I do know is that, regardless of the roads that we ride on, the moment we let down our guard is the moment that we will be in big trouble.  Defensive motorcycling is necessary on all roads at all times....because our lives depend upon it.

Take a look at the photos after this accident to see if you can learn anything from them:



















And, for those of you who might live in my area, and who just might have been witness to what happened on Sunday evening, this is what I found on the road today:

I was out on a short ride the other day with some friends. I was leading the pack since I was introducing some new roads. Once we got going, I noticed that one of my friends kept tailgating me....and at some points even passing me! He almost ran into me a few times because he could not see my turn signal in time.  It shocked me because everyone knows (at least I thought) tailgating another motorcycle is a no-no and you do not pass other motorcycles when riding in a group. If you do, you will cause a crash if the rider in front of you swerves to avoid a pot hole or brakes suddenly because traffic slowed down. Youtube.com is full of motorcycle crashes that highlight this point.

So the next time you go out for a group ride, make sure you keep our distance and never pass a bike in front of you unless the rider signals you to do so.

Just got an email today on the dwindling number of motorcycles the big three Japanese manufacturers (Suzuki, Honda, Yamaha, Kawasaki) are shipping to the US. In April, they shipped just 4900 motorcycles!! I recently heard that Suzuki is not shipping ANY 2010 sportbikes to the US. You can read the details here:  http://www.powersportsbusiness.com/output.cfm?id=2537965

Hi, I'm Reggie and I was invited by the hosts of this marvelous web site to write some articles on motorcycle safety. I have been actively participating on the 2Wheeltips site a couple years now and have become more and more active writing blogs on motorcycle safety related subjects. I felt it was important to contribute to the topic of safety this website is dedicated to and give something back for how much it has benefited me.

I'm in my 50's and have been riding for almost 6 years now. I rode when I was in my late teens and early 20's but mostly off-road. I gave up riding when career, family and time constraints pushed it off the priority list. When I made a job change in 2005 and moved from the Carolina coast, where I was big into boating, to the middle of Iowa, I had to find a new pastime as boating in Iowa (after doing the Intra-coastal waterway and Atlantic) was a "non-event"!!

Well, the boat got sold and the proceeds went to buy a Kawasaki 1600 which I rode for about 4 years before trading up to a Honda GoldWing that I bought at the end of 2009. My wife and I are taking longer and longer trips necessitating more carrying capacity and comfort than a crusier can afford.

Motorcycling has now become a passion for me, and I have always been passionate about safety, which is why I'm so excited about writing these articles for 2Wheeltips. I am not a professional writer but can certainly get my points across. I am not a safety expert but have had over 25 years of safety training in the manufacturing industry and been responsible for the safety and welfare of the several facilties I have managed over that span of time. I am not an expert motorcyclist but aspire to become one. I am very much like most of you that have been severely bitten by the "motorcycling bug" and simply can't get enough of it. I want to learn as much as I can about motorcycling, how to do it safely and mitigate risks, with the objective of getting maximum enjoyment from the sport.

The articles that I write will focus primarily on three areas:
Attitude, Knowledge and Proficiency

I will try to discuss areas that are not already thoroughly covered on this website and beyond the basic safety information you should have learned to get your license and hopefully, are religiously following. I will provide references to many of the books I have read that give insightful and valuable information on enhancing riding skills and techniques that will help you become a more proficient and astute rider. I will, also, share with you things I've seen, mistakes I've made and what I would have done differently over the past 5 years as I re-entered this wonderful sport.

I hope you will find my articles to be useful and thought provoking. I would sincerely appreciate your feedback and comments both positive and negative so I can adjust accordingly and give you the maximum value for the time you take to read my articles. 

Do you ever wonder what motorcycle helmets look like AFTER they have been tested by Snell?  Well, we did....  So, we contacted Snell and they were kind enough to send us half of what was left of a half helmet after they smashed it during testing. 









Follow the arrows in the last two photographs and you will see the point of contact on the outside of the helmet and the resulting compression of the interior liner. 


These cross-section photographs allow you to see what we can normally NOT see after a helmet has endured some sort of impact (from hitting the ground when a rider is thrown off a bike in an accident, for example).  "One and it's done" is a clever way to remind ourselves that after one impact, although our helmets may look relatively fine from the outside and even from the inside, the damage from the fall has been done.  The helmet is no good and should not be used again.

I finished watching the video sent to my by a friend (see "Safety, Safety, Safety (part 1)" and I must say the conclusion was very interesting. The man in the video had a few very powerful comments that I want to point out here:

Your attitude towards safety is what matters
It doesn't matter the occupation or activity. The same people riding around ill-dressed are probably the same people who do not wear seat belts, do not use safety glasses around power tools and probably are the ones who use a gas grill indoors.

Others are affected too...
What happens to those who are close to you if you get seriously injured in an accident?  Children, spouse, parents. Who will take care of them?

Recovering from an accident is painful...
It will take months to heal and some injuries are permanent, such as seizures, scars, missing and disfigured fingers and limbs. Also, who will pay for all of your medical bills and your regular bills if you are unable to return to work.

The video helped me see motorcycle gear in a different light. Let's be honest, on a hot day it gets uncomfortable inside a helmet. And a pair of shorts and sandals would feel feel much better than hot boots and jeans. What would feel more uncomfortable would be getting skin grafts or learning to operate a wheelchair with my chin. Looking at it that way, I think I'd rather be hot or not ride at all than to risk going through what the guy in the video when through.

Here is a newspaper article I came across recently about helmet standards. It is from the NY Times and covers the safety of the buckets we all put on our heads. What do you think ?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/27/automobiles/27SNELL.html?_r=1

So, there we were...at Americade 2010...up in the beautiful Adirondack Mountain region of New York State...  And, like so many other Americades, which start on the first Monday of June, the weather was, as usual, unpredictable.  We arrived on Wednesday of Americade week and it was dreary, rainy, and cool.

 This year, we didn't sign up for any of the scheduled tours, though, so we were pretty flexible when it came to what to do, where to go, and whether to brave the weather!  We clocked out a route from Lake George for a Thursday trip with some friends of ours.  Of course, Thursday morning arrived and guess what?  Yep...it was raining again.  So we canceled our plans for the day trip and tried to figure out what else we could do in the cool, wet weather.  Of course, going to a motorcycle rally, we wanted to get on our bikes and ride, not wander around the village of Lake George.  So, when the clouds cleared a bit, we decided to give it a go and we hopped on our bikes and headed north.  We rode up the western side of Lake George, on Route 9N, a very curvy, twisty and scenic road that snakes its way north.  Lake George comes to an end and Lake Champlain begins and we continued north until we got to Fort Ticonderoga, where there is a ferry (really just a little barge) that carries people, cars, and bikes across Lake Champlain between New York and Vermont.  Once in Vermont, we took a few more roads and before we knew it, we were at our destination:  the Woodchuck Cidery in Woodbury, Vermont. 

Well, my friends, this is not your regular ol' cider mill.  These people make HARD cider!  Normally, the cidery is not open to visitors for tours but they made an exception for us, and in we went. 

We were given a brief overview of the cidery and, although we weren't given any samples of the ciders they produce, they did send us away with tee shirts and cider glasses (on one side of the glass you get the proper measurement of Woodchuck draft cider and lager for a "snakebite" or turn the glass to the other side to get the measurements of Woodchuck draft cider and stout for the perfect "black velvet".  Sounds yummy!)

Our next stop was the Otter Creek brewery, a stone's throw from Woodchuck.  We walked in and were greeted by some really friendly people who   offered us samples of the ales that they brew! 

We were given a few sips of a bunch of varieties and then off we went for a tour of their facility.  It was fascinating to learn a little about how they brew their ales.  We stood over some mightily large vessels that were used in the storage and fermentation processes.  Then, we watched as the different ales were bottled and packaged. 

Of course, we had to find out who, in our area, sells their products since there were several that were delicious enough to want to buy! 

With our curiosity (and a teeny bit of our thirst) satisfied, we headed out to our bikes to continue our day trip.  And, of course, with such unpredictable weather, wouldn't you know it?  It was POURING!  Thank goodness for rain suits, waterproof boots, full face helmets, good tires and dependable bikes!!  We had a couple of other places on our list to visit but, due to the torrential downpour, we decided to just go grab some lunch and head back to Lake George.

One of the people at Otter Creek recommended a restaurant in downtown Middlebury, called "Two Brothers." 

It was a GREAT place for lunch and it gave us enough time to dry out before heading out into the rain again.  After lunch, although the rain had let up a bit, we decided to just head back to Lake George Village.  I kept looking in front of us and behind us to keep track of potential rain clouds.  On the ferry back to New York, I turned around and saw some clouds that looked like they were following us! 

Of course, at that point, what difference did it make?  I mean, we were dry INSIDE our riding gear….the outside of us was completely drenched. 

So, if you ever venture up to Americade, keep in mind that you are not limited to just the standard tours listed in the Americade brochure.  If you do a little research before your trip, you will find that there are lots of places that you can visit in the region.  And, DO keep in mind that, the first full week of June, when Americade is held, is a very unpredictable time, weatherise.  You should be prepared for cold, heat, sun, rain, and even (yikes!) the possibility of snow!!

A 2wheeltips.com friend of mine sent me a DVD on industrial safety. He figured it was something I'd like since one of the goals of 2wheeltips.com is to help riders understand  that shorts, t-shirts and fake helmets will not help you if you fall off your bike. It is not an easy message to tell......because you do want to look good on your bike and A LOT of motorcycle gear is ugly and expensive. I'll be the first to admit, you will not catch me dead in a lime green helmet or one of those ugly green/yellow riding jackets that look like something a crossing guard would wear.

But at the same time, I don't think my riding jacket should cost more than my Cashmere Hugo Boss coat either (if some company comes along and makes good looking riding gear that doesn't cost an arm, they will make out like bandits).

I watched a few minutes of the DVD and it talks about a guy who worked at a oil refinery. He's your typical rough and tumble guy who had worked there for years, knew his job and could do it in his sleep. Long story short, since he knew his job so well, he cut every safety corner in the book. It finally caught up to him when he caused an explosion (by not following safety procedures) and he was almost burned to death.

Watching the DVD, all I could think about was how many riders do the same thing. They've been riding for many years and they've got the whole motorcycle thing figured out.....so they think. They started out using riding gear but somewhere down the road, the t-shirts replaced the jacket, sneakers replaced boots and shorts replaced the jeans.

And then their turn comes.......and they get into a situation where they wish they had had some of that stuff on.

It doesn't have to be a crash either. It could be a nail kicked up by a car that hits your arm at 65mph. Or rocks falling off a construction truck that smack you on the fingers (I've had that happen before). Or even dropping the bike at intersections because the ground was oily and their sneakers slipped(boots can help here). 

All of this stuff happens every single day and riders can avoid twisted ankles, deep cuts and burnt legs if they would just put some clothes on.

By the way, the picture here is from a motorcycle injury....