Again the itch as emerged to get into something motorized, so I’m looking at scratching it again. Rather than hearing all of the hearsay (Everybody I’ve ever known has laid down a bike…to death!), I figured I’d poll the group here.
Threadshitters will be ignored.
So, based on your experiences, what have you found from a safety standpoint
(It’s a poll, gimmie a minute.)
ETA:This is PERSONAL experience, not ‘I know a kid that…’ We ALL know SOMEONE that did SOMETHING. I’m not looking for that.
None of the above. I rode a bike for a few years and after two near death experiences it occurred to me that, having people say, “did you hear about how he died. It was a one in a million event” at my funeral would be poor consolation, I gave up the two wheeled death-mobile. Although I must admit the worst injury I suffered was a sore ankle.
Okay, so I’m not really dead but I should have been. My cousin Shari was riding with my boyfriend(A) on her boyfriends(J) motorcycle while her J tried out A’s new bike. I was working that weekend and wasn’t there when Old Dude stopped and signalled a left. J drove past and my cousin and A who were about 100 yards behind him were both killed instantly when Old Dude completed his turn in front of them. It took me years to get over the feeling that if I had just gone home that weekend instead of working it would have been me and Shari would be alive.
J and I went out for a short ride on A’s bike on the day of the funeral. For me this was to prove that I could so I would never have to again. It’s been almost 25 years now and I never have again.
Nearly 12 years, 150,000 miles of riding experience. No accidents, despite some fairly intense sporty riding in the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, in the Rockies of Colorado, and in the deserts of southern Utah. Most of my riding is done out in the countryside, or on interstate highways trying to get to that countryside; I don’t commute on the bike, and I don’t waste time cruising congested urban roads. I almost never ride after sunset (the deer and the drunks tend to come out in much higher numbers after dark), and I never drink and ride.
Staying accident free on a bike requires attentiveness, good judgment, and an interest in developing/maintaining a skill level beyond what is taught in the MSF’s Experienced Rider Course. After taking the MSF course, consider attending a track school to develop your bike handling skills, and do some reading to help learn how to cope with road/traffic hazards better than the average driver. Street Survival Strategies by David Hough is a good starting point.
An “incident analysis” mentality also helps. When close calls occur, try to think objectively about what happened and what you could have done to avoid the situation, even if the close call wasn’t your fault. You’ve got more to lose in a crash than any car driver, so you should be highly motivated to avoid those close calls. As a friend once said, “you have to be driving for yourself and for the other guy.”
I’m seeing some mitigating factors that would weigh in my favor:
Most if the major injuries surround:
No or amateur training
Insufficient safety gear
Alcohol
Age (19-29 years experience a much higher accident rate)
Type of bike
I fully intend to get the best protective gear, get training, I’m over 40, and while the bike is larger to accommodate my size, it’s not a particularly high strung cafe-style motorcycle
I rode a dirt bike as a kid and have had sports-cars nearly my whole adult life (zero accidents) and that’s not where I want to take this hobby.
While the accident rate is higher than cars by a significant margin, the overall odds of a prepared person being in an accident seem manageable.
Clarification:
I’ve been riding for years, never a serious injury
I’ve been riding for years, slight injury that didn’t change my outlook on the hobby
I’ve been riding for years (started at five, probably 140,000 miles), and I’ve never had a serious injury. So I might choose that option. But what’s a ‘slight injury’? I twisted an ankle once when I was 12, riding offroad, and dropped the bike in some mud. I’ve had minor abrasions a couple of times. Those were ‘injuries’ by definition, but do they count? I’m inclined to say no, since I’ve had worse tripping on the sidewalk.
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I’ve been riding since the mid-70’s. I never laid a street bike down til August of this year. I skinned my knee and elbow. I’ve hurt myself worse falling while jogging. It hasn’t changed my outlook on riding significantly, though I do pay closer attention at intersections for loose gravel.
I’d categorize a slight injury as one that didn’t require a cast or major PT to recover from.
Squish your foot when the bike falls on it? Minor.
Slide the bike with an abrasion mitigated by safety gear? Minor
The Medical bill includes the words titanium or plaster-of-paris? No Minor.
Different perceptions, I suppose. I’ve never dropped a bike on my foot, but I’d consider the damage done. As I said, I did twist my ankle when I was 12. I was on a dirt road in the desert after a rain. The bike was too big for me, and also fairly new to me. I hit the mud at low speed and the front wheel went back and forth similar to a high speed shimmy, but at just a couple of miles per hour. I put my foot down as the bike started to go over, but it was too heavy for me. Minor twist, and it hurt, but not so bad that I couldn’t pick the bike up and ride home. I wasn’t crippled for any amount of time. I can’t quite bring myself to consider that a ‘slight injury’, since there are other ‘slight’ or ‘minor’ injuries that people have had that are much worse. For example, someone might have an actual sprain that kept him off his foot for a couple of days.
Twice I’ve had the rear wheel slide out when accelerating from a stop and making a left turn. (First time was when it hit a flattened aluminum can in an intersection, and the other time was from a stop sigh on a wet road.) In both cases I had some abrasions on my left arm. I didn’t even wash them. (The first time I was wearing a denim jacket, and the second time a leather motorcycle jacket. No direct skin-on-ground contact.) Sure, there was some scabbage to pick after the second one, but it still seems to minor for me to consider it even a ‘slight’ injury.
Technically, by definition, it’s a ‘slight injury’; but it hardly seems mentioning. It seems (to me) that there is too great a gap between ‘never a serious injury’ and ‘slight injury’. Just my perception.
Rode for 20+ years, down twice with bumps and bruises only.
Always wore full leathers, helmet and boots/gloves.
I had a really bad accident and went back to riding as soon as I was able.
I was on a blind curve going along a mountain road when someone passed me, there was another car coming towards us and the car passing me jerked back into my lane and knocked me off the road and down a rocky embankment. Bike was totaled, I broke several ribs, got lots of cuts and bruises. Neither car stopped, I was able to crawl back up and flag down a truck that took me to the hospital.
I had been riding less than a year, I have been riding now for almost 40 years since with no other incidents worth mentioning.
Johnny L.A. I was trying to find a relatively minor distinction between never having an injury, having an injury, having an insurable event and owning a toe-tag
The one thing I’ve found about the Dope’s Polling: You will never have a poll that everyone’s happy with.
Yep. I thought about that as I was typing, and it bugs me as well. 
I’d feel dishonest choosing the first option because technically I’ve been ‘injured’. But for me the second option implies something more than scrapes or bruises.
I picked “I’ve been riding for years, slight injury that didn’t change my outlook on the hobby”
I’ve been riding for 10 years, and road racing for 5 of them. I’ve had a couple of street crashes that resulted in nothing more than soreness and bruises, and I’ve had some rather spectacular on-track crashes that resulted in mild concussions, larger bruises and a torn rotator cuff.
In all cases, my injuries were relatively minor solely because I’m rather adamant about wearing full safety gear (helmet, full leathers, back protector, proper boots and gloves) at all times.
I’ve never considered quitting the hobby, even for a moment. Well, maybe while shelling out the hundreds and hundreds of $$$$ needed to rebuild the race bike after one particularly nasty crash…
I’ve been riding for years, mostly in the third world, but not on a daily basis. Have fallen off a few times, slid a few times, had a lot of near misses, but never been injured.
I know you don’t want anecdote, but a guy I work with slid on gravel last week and went under the back wheels of a truck. He’s going to be OK, but only after his broken ribs, broken shoulder and punctured lung heal up.
Ya know, it occurs to me that, if I’m only asking for firsthand experience, then the already deceased will be under-reported. :smack:
Well you’ve given them a poll option. Why should they get special treatment?
I hit a deer six months after I started riding. Banged my self up pretty damn good, ripped up legs and feet. Dumb ass me was not wearing boots. I had another one a few months later where I hit too much rear brake then let go. Put me and my ex into the hospital, her for a few days.
I still ride.
And it’s been exercised. Presumably by Speaker For The Dead.
I’ve ridden for thirty-two years without an accident. Both times I dropped the bike were when I was nearly stationary.
I understand that I am among the very lucky (and careful.)
I thought my reflexes were getting too slow to ride about eight years ago and sold the bike. After a couple of years I missed it so much I thought, “One more time around the block. . .”
My attitude is fatalistic. When it’s my turn, then it’s my turn.
I don’t expect to have an accident caused by me and the odds are still in my favor I think. Should it happen I hope no one else is injured. (Should it happen my children will be fortunate enough to be independently wealty. 
)