In defense of the squid

Hi Carmine, for a reasonable explanation of the Motorcycling term " Squid " see below link from Wikipedia, do you have an equivilant Term for similar riders in Italy ?

Squid Linky:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid_(motorcycle)

 

Carmine.

Basically a squid is an idiot that does very unsafe things on his motorcycle such as drive reckless, take unnecessary chances, ride without proper protection and put risks the lives of not only himself and his passenger, but others using the road as well. Something like those 5 fools in my avatar. I have to stress to you, none of them are me.

 

Randy, we assume you have an unbiased witness that will verify this... :smile:

Man, where would I start? I've had a love affair with internal combustion motors since I was young, and there was also all of those Schwinn Stingrays that we found every single weak part on by subjecting them to stresses that Schwinn never even considered...

Probably the height of my "squidliness" was all of the street racing in my late teens & early twenties. I was kind of the local wrench for performance mods to the sixties muscle cars (Camaros, Mustangs, Chevelles, GTOs, etc.), in addition to my own vehicles. I always felt professionally obligated to ensure that every last available horsepower was being extracted, so I would bring along a few essential tools to tune the motor between "power pulls". Some of the power pulls involved other vehicles, sometimes they didn't. You'll never know if fuel starvation is an issue unless you look for it...

This was always done on public streets, of course. It seemed completely reasonable at the time. Heck, it STILL seems reasonable once in a while, provided that the time and place are low risk.

Back then, an occasional blast to 100-120 MPH in a 35 MPH zone was more of the norm than the exception. The world was less crowded then, but it showed a complete lack of respect and consideration for others.

"Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgment."

 

The majority of my "sins" where commited off road, riding drunk which involved being tore off the bike by a tree branch that was about 20 ft off the ground after launching out of sand pit. No helmet, w/ about a fifth of Windsor in me. Other instances included eluding land owners, security & law enforcement on bikes, in 4X4's(quite a few instances of riding in the box while jumping trucks & being ejected) & with a custom off road Thunderbird some friends & I built(T-birds bend easily when jumped & are quite nose heavy especially @ 90mph; was a good summer of fun but was killed when attempting to jump a creek, didn't quite make it). On street I of course went thru the drag & street racing phase, I've run some one off the road while powersliding around a banked 90 deg. curve @ well over 100 mph(in my defence he was drunk & I made sure he was alright but melted away in the gathering crowd before law enforcement arrived). I've raced trains(one of the dumber things I've done); I've always had more respect for 2 wheels on the street w/ speeding being the most common atrocity; but have ridden intoxicated on an occasion or two(not even remotely recent) I've been down twice w/ three total accidents one a spin out in an intersection after a new tire install, one deer collision keeping the bike up, one near deer collision putting the bike down hard(had been drinking). Now old, turning grey & generally stiff I tend to behave myself; I have kids that will be getting their licenses soon & want to relay as much "good" information as I can.

 

I think most of us diplayed "squidly" behavior when we in our teens or early 20's. Although I have never stood on the tank while doing 90 down the interstate I have went MUCH TOO FAST and many times with my young (at the time) bride on the back, both of us wearing shorts, sandals and tank tops. My fast trip to maturity came with the birth of my kids. Now my youngest is 10 and already wanting a NINJA (my previous bike before the vfr) I know I must watch the way I ride/drive/act, because he sure does. The old saying "You pay for your raising" scares me to death.

 

Rolled a mint condition '72 Charger onto its side when I was 20- learned my lesson. Dirt roads and high speed - bad idea. No one was hurt, had no passengers and it was middle of the night in BFE. But it was BIG wake-up call for me.

Rebuilt the car like new (gotta love cars with FRAMES) and drove the wheels off it, so I got my money's worth. (In fact the driveshaft dropped out on my way to pick up the new 84 Fiero I had just purchased- must have known its time was up...):tongue:

Never have driven drunk or angry but have engaged in felonious speeds more than once with no tickets or warnings. I seem to have a bit of sixth sense where the po-po is concerned- I can't count the times I have dropped back to the limit on a whim only to see the nose of a cruiser hiding behind a building or shrubs.

Now that I'm all "mature" I don't even get upset when some squidly type in a hoody and felony flyers wants to show me how fast his literbike is- only to find out that smooth on a VFR often beats squidly on a CBR1000.

Seems to happen a lot, there must be something about our stately and sedate VFR's that suckers the squids into extra squidditude.

 

Was it Orange with welded doors and a novelty horn ?

 

thanks john 451 and 34468 randy : now I understand the meaning of "squid" !
We have many terms to indicate irresponsible guys both drivers and not drivers). The main term (a very "strong" and offensive term) to indicate persons who act and live with no respect for safety of other persons is :
"testa di cazzo". I beg your pardon and I translate this : "dick head". I can not explain why but we call "testa di cazzo" a person like a squid !
Lamps ! Carmine.

 

Not squidy....just dumb

Rode my bike over to my girlfriends house, over night it snowed and she lived in a bad part of town so i did not want to leave my bike out.

there was a lot of snow, and over night all the cars and compacted it and nicely sanded it to a mirror like finish. In my not so great wisdom i tried to ride home. I made it about 20 feet before i fell. my wife follower with the car so i could go slow without being a hazzard.

i thought if i made it to a busyer street it would be alright...it wasn't..i droped my bike about 8 times.

cracked the fairing broke a mirror and bent my break pedel..

learned some things tho.

 

I think we've all done some stupid things. Me, I was riding way too fast and couldn't stop at an intersection and blew through it with the rear tire locked up...thank God the other people at the intersection saw me coming and didn't turn.

Also, wasn't much on gear at first (always wore a full face helmet) but I was trying to hang out with serious riders and one day I got seriously chastised by one of them for wearing a tee-shirt. I'll never forget the points the guy made and it wasn't long before I bought my first set of gear. I realized none of the serious guys/ gals took me seriously. Therefore, they didn't want to hang out with me.

I think there is a big difference in some people doing a dumb stunt or two or having "jackass" moments vs. the "squid" culture that supports the behavior and promotes it too! Look at all the videos that support the "lifestyle".

And to piggy back off something KC brought up, I challenge that many squids have good riding skills. I will say many I have met have good throttle control for wheelies and great brake control for stoppies, but they can't corner for crap? They'll blast by you on the straights then slow way up for corners.

Odd, but true.

BZ

 

as regards slang terms I'm learning..."being a squid" is a skill that I can call "squidness" or "squidship" or "squiddity" ?
All right, USA guys, no doubt you have a very special sense of humour !
Nice to talk with you ! If there was a bridge between Europe and USA...!!!!
Lamps to everybody.
Carmine.

 

Hello, Carmine. That is funny! :biggrin: We (in the USA) also use the term "dick head" in the same way that you do.

 

OK, I'm officially confused; your wife followed you home from spending the night @ your girlfreinds house:caked: or can we assume that the girlfriend mentioned is now your wife?

 

Sorry I married that girlfriend who tolerated my stupidity.

 

You must have a very understanding wife... helping you get home from your girrlfriend's house and all...

 

im not even going to get into it. I am 26. I still do dumb shit. Ive been cracked up so many times it is stupid. My mods include some custom work on my interior organs, lots of reset bones and repaired tendons, lots of neato scars.
I try to behave nowadays like I am mortal. but its hard. I dont have any kids yet. I just have my absolute dedication to having fun. Sometimes that gets me in a pickle.

You guys have done some sick stuff. I wish I was around when those bitchin sports cars were easier to get. Me, I built a huge truck and ran stuff over.

Looks like we all have a little "inner squid"! Good for you guys for enjoying a little reflection to your less responsible days. And for those of you with kids, be honest with them. Why do you think kids that go to catholic schools rebel so much when they get out? Because they were taught that the world is different than how it is.

Show your kids what you did, what you learned from doing it, and all you can hope is that they learn the lessons without paying too dearly. Just like you did, nobody learns the easy way .... unless your kid is a saint. I sure wasnt.

 

:biggrin: My favorite Squid moment....
http://www.newsweek.com/id/134482

Yeah, buddy. that's the Squid's hooker the Dr. is examining!

If you read the article you'll see that the largest squid pecker is like 49mm.... so perhaps some of their behavior is to compensate for this?

Also says that the female squid tends to be larger than the male. :wink:

I didn't start riding until I was older and married. My stupidity involved four wheels and will not be discussed as it does not relate to the VFR :wink:

 

I must post. In Wisconsin, Waukesha County, Kettle Moraine Forest. Strawberry Rd.(now Waterville Rd.) and Road X, Both very narrow, jump worthy, twisty, and heavily tree lined. Great for cars and bikes. Did alot of dumb shit out there. Great stories everyone.

 

In all of our minds the squid seems to be an implanted,unwanted thing.Where would we be without the squid.Just turned 50,yeah,been eh' squid all my life.There are bold squids and old squids...how old do squids live anyway?

 

Ha ha ha, that's a VERY good point about raising kids. I've seen many examples of kids raised in strict homes only to go wild once they're free. I had a friend in college and he flunked out his first year because he came from a very strict home. He just couldn't handle the sudden freedom.

Same thing for an aunt of mine. We call her Hitler because she's unbelievably strict with her kids. She even tells them no TV on vacations! Because of that her daughters have gotten piercings (not the kind on ears) and broken curfew several times.

I haven't done that many dumb stuff and I have always kept my license. I've been driving for over 12 years and I have not filed an insurance claim. The only "accident" I was in I wasn't even IN the car. Someone backed into my car in a parking lot and that was it.

With my Dad he was actually pretty cool about teaching me to drive and had some hilarious stories on the stupid stuff he did. He used to purposely make his car backfire when he was in high school just for laughs. Plus he told me of stories where his friends would drive and say, "Hey watch this" and do some incredibly stupid driving and FLIP the car over not once but twice!

Anyway, with my Dad being really honest about his experiences I actually learned it's better to just drive wisely because he always followed his stories with consequences. Like one time he totaled his car and he had no car for an entire summer. What a bummer!

Also, this might come as a surprise but he actually gave me some tips on speeding and how to get away with it. For example, check the area first and make sure to go when barely anyone's on the road. I mean let's face it, we all enjoy a spirited ride every now and then might as well make it safe as we can.