26 Bike Pile-up

Right you are Badbilly, but here is the most interesting thing, on that fateful day when said diaper was removed, it was discovered that in my case it didnt stink.

 

lmao... wearin' the patch doesn't make ya a badass

in any case, Bear is right, if it bleeds it leads... that sucks, but such is the way of the world...

 

Um, hmmm. I'm taking it that I must have done a very bad job of communicating.

I know where the 1%'er line came from. I was using it as a metaphor to simply take your point about 'bad guys' (defined in any way) getting all the press and being the seat of all evil for the 'good motorcyclists' and point out that every group blames all their issues on some 'fringe element' of their group. Even terrorist organizations do it; such as the IRA blaming all the violence on groups such as the Real IRA and Continuity IRA.

The point I obviously miscommunicated was that I was agreeing with you that all our misbehaving motorcycle fringe elements cause the rest of 'normal motorcyclists' all our grief. I was using the 1%'er statement as an example or metaphor of that.

As I stated, while I agree with your point in general, I am also saying there are no absolutes. While these fringe elements don't do us any favors, we have :asshat:'s in our own midst, and they too are doing us a disservice. So, while I agree with your point, we should do a little 'house cleaning' in our own communities, via peer-pressure and mentoring, before we run off and blame ALL EVIL on any or all the fringe elements.

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

Nothing like one's first time getting caught with one's knickers down, coming out smelling like a rose..

:thumbsup:

 

To answer your question Bubba Z, I used the term "hypocrite" very loosely, as you so aptly pointed out. I simply meant that, were I to hate on any segment of the motorcycle community, I would be labeled a hypocrite since I do, in fact, ride a motorcycle. I did not mean to imply that anyone involved in this discussion even comes close to being hypocritical. On the contrary, I have found this to be an intelligent and very stimulating discussion. It is one of the primary reasons I frequent this site.

 

Tons of great posts in this thread, as well as some nice literary discussion. :tongue:

No sense in rehashing it all, so I'll just say I think a bunch of riders who don't give a crap about anyone but themselves (and that's probably even overstating it considering their riding formation, following distance and lack of riding gear) got owned by an SUV driver (or 'operator' as one person put it). It's tragic but understandable when you look at how they ride, and how bad the average driver is in America. Hell, those riders are lucky they weren't all killed.

Like Forrest Gump's momma used to say, "Stupid is as stupid does."

Personally, I'll never understand people whose idea of fun is to go out and ride with 30 to 300 of their best friends. No gear, no training and some without proper licenses. Most groups like that ride too damn slow, too.

And lest you think I'm just piling on the HD/cruiser crowd, I see bad riding habits and stunts from sportbike riders once in awhile, too, as well as lack of gear. But around here it's mostly the HD folks using poor judgment, mostly b/c the bike/rider population here is dominated by cruisers.

I have some good friends who ride Harleys & metric cruisers. I would hope they're not stupid enough to ride like that gang.

As for the 'biker' image and the harm it does the motorcycling community, I agree with those who say squids and stunters (on public roads) do as much harm to our rep. And many Harley riders participate in charity rides while I've yet to do one. No offense, but maybe it's b/c when I get to do a nice weekend ride I'd rather run sweet twisties than ride in a parade.

 

Well BZ, I got the novel from the library yesterday, will likely start it this weekend...

 

So which of the facts are true? Did the SUV purposely brake to make the bikers crash or the SUV brake for a good reason.

 

Well it was a GM product. I'd say the tranny locked up on it.

 

Careful there buddy. You will piss off a whole new group of people. We all know that GM are better than Fix Or Repair Dailies, or Found On Road Deads

 

Not very safe, but hell we were looking bad ass!! (can't fix stupid practice)

78 Edges.