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  1. #11
    Senior Member F6Dave's Avatar
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    I started riding little bikes in 1970, and by the time I got my first serious street bike (a Kawasaki KZ-900) a few years later we were stuck with the 55 MPH speed limit. So everyone drove really slow compared to today. You'd get a 5-10 MPH cushion from most LEOs, but 65 usually got you a ticket.

    In some ways this slow travel may have been safer, but many drivers became preoccupied with avoiding speeding tickets. Most people I knew had radar detectors. Since these were prone to false alarms you were frequently distracted trying to figure out if that beep was a police car, or a nearby door opener or security system. CB radios became popular too, as drivers learned that truck drivers freely shared info about 'bear sightings'. So the 55 MPH era had its own unique distractions.

    When I started riding motorcycles had serious safety shortcomings. Most had drum brakes which faded terribly. Lighting was dim, and the horns were barely audible. Handling was often downright scary. There were vast improvements in all of these areas over the several years.

    As for the traffic today, I'm often asked by non-riders how I can possibly ride on an Interstate highway. I answer that I'd rather ride several hundred miles on an Interstate, with safe access ramps and no cross streets, than I would just a few miles on a city street with drivers running red traffic lights and ignoring stop signs. Statistically the controlled access highway is far safer.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frye View Post
    It mostly stayed on the big sprocket since I was years too young to drive on the roads although I rode on local roads to get to trails and neighborhood dirt tracks. That was before lawsuits ruined the world. In the late 60's/early 70's every vacant field was or could be a dirt track, every woods had bicycle and motorcycle trails, every railroad track could be ridden beside and every strip pit was a swimming hole surrounded by trails and full of fish for the taking. Many of those vacant fields and back woods dirt tracks would be surrounded by partying kids sprawled out on the hoods of cars and trucks on the weekends watching the races and crashes on those homemade tracks. And of course, if you knew where to go you'd sometimes find hundreds of people hillclimbing and watching hillclimbing on abandoned coalmining property. There were some bad accidents and occasional deaths (mostly rolled jeeps) hillclimbing but the thrill level was off the charts and there were some real characters that lived for it. The motorcycles were all two strokes of course, the air was full of the smell and smoke of them. No lengthened swingarms, just dual purpose, or off road, or striped road bikes or even seemingly homemade bikes. Saw a Rupp minibike a time or two with a Hodaka SuperRat motor and a crazy ass big dirt bike with a carburetor from a giant loggers type chain saw. That bike could tumble and flip all the way back down a hill (roughly a 60 yard tumble) and the motor would still be running. I guess they weren't all two strokes. Harley 350 sprints did pretty good out there too although they were big. Those were good times. Nearly everybody went home limping at the end of the day but it didn't matter.
    My favorite thing to do on dirt bikes back then was motorcycle tag. It was played in the dark in grown up fields. If you were "it" you had to touch another bike with your bike to make them it. No helmets, usually tank tops or T shirts and no headlights allowed. Crashing the other guy was allowed and encouraged. And of course there were patches of briers in those fields that you could shred yourself in getting away from faster bikes. I once got stuck in one with the briers wrapped around myself and my bike so tightly I couldn't fall over and couldn't get off my bike. The other guys eventually heard me shouting and pulled me out backwards. It was a hot summer night, I was bleeding everywhere and all the torn skin was filled with burning sweat. The guys that pulled me out were in the same shape. The we started up the scooters and got back to enjoying balls to the walls mayhem. Damn those were good times.
    Man, this was a pleasure to read, Frye. Thanks for taking the time to write it. And the line,"Those were good times. Nearly everybody went home limping at the end of the day but it didn't matter." .. describes a lot of my life, too.

    Jason

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by F6Dave View Post
    ...When I started riding motorcycles had serious safety shortcomings. Most had drum brakes which faded terribly. Lighting was dim, and the horns were barely audible. Handling was often downright scary. There were vast improvements in all of these areas over the several years.

    As for the traffic today, I'm often asked by non-riders how I can possibly ride on an Interstate highway. I answer that I'd rather ride several hundred miles on an Interstate, with safe access ramps and no cross streets, than I would just a few miles on a city street with drivers running red traffic lights and ignoring stop signs. Statistically the controlled access highway is far safer.
    All good points, F6Dave. I do pay very close attention to what drivers around me are doing in city driving, which, in San Antonio, is pretty much staring at their phones and avoiding their blinkers at all costs.

    The lighting, braking, and horns especially are night day from some of the older bikes I've ridden. Even the stock lights on the B were a revelation to me, but then again so was cruise control, lol.

    Jason

  4. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by willtill View Post
    The cell phone in this day and age, has become the greatest threat to a motorcyclist. It wasn't like this back in the 1970's when I started riding.
    But mate in the early 70's I remember coming home on leave on the old 500 Yam (2000 Kays)
    With a cassette Player in the pocket playing Supertramp And Springsteen and EarBuds.
    Now that was Kool

  5. #15
    Senior Member ReserveBum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cali261 View Post
    If you get hit by a semi doing 85+, you won’t have any more worries.
    Whether its a Freightliner doing 85 or a Smart Car turning in front of you at 25....results are the same.

  6. #16
    Senior Member F6Dave's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by K2157 View Post
    But mate in the early 70's I remember coming home on leave on the old 500 Yam (2000 Kays)
    With a cassette Player in the pocket playing Supertramp And Springsteen and EarBuds.
    Now that was Kool
    That reminds me that tape decks were emerging as the newest high tech auto accessory when I started riding in 1970. Before then you only had AM or AM/FM radios with 5 presets, but tape decks gave you the ability to choose what you listened to. There were 8 track decks at first but cassettes soon followed and ruled the market.

    Looking back, these were quite a distraction. If you didn't like the current tune you couldn't just tap the 'Next' button on your steering wheel or handle bar. You had to reach for the deck mounted under the dash (a long reach on some big cars of the era) and press the fast forward button. With some decks you had to hold the button long enough to advance to the tune you wanted. Cassettes typically had to be ejected and flipped over every 20 or 30 minutes, and to change albums you had to eject the tape and replace it with another which was often stored in the console, glove compartment, or box under the seat.

    I'm not trying to minimize the danger posed by inattentive drivers using their cell phones. But distracted driving has been around in many forms for a very long time.

  7. #17
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    five of my friends have been killed on motorcycles………I have witnessed two motorcycle fatalities since purchasing my 2013 f6b …another close friend was in an accident three years ago in Death Valley….severed his friends leg…..he died in the helicopter in route to the hospital…..numerous friends have suffered very serious injuries…a guy from the Norton club who rides with us occasionally, crashed on the freeway last year he is now partially paralyzed in a rest home….motor cycles are extremely dangerous…..when I was a kid I asked my dad why he quit riding '' I don't want to leave you kids orphaned'' was his response……I have two friends who are both missing a leg from the knee down….married with children ????? do your wife and kids a favor son ,stay away from motorcycles………..later on, red dog

  8. #18
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    I like this quote:

    “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” “Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” “You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.”

  9. #19
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    Most of my friends have died from unrelated causes. Brain bleeds, cancer, car recks. None from motorcycle. They were all riders.
    When your time is up it doesn't matter what your doing. How can we say it was because of the bike. that just happened to be what you were doing at the time.
    When I rode my first bike it scared me and that has never left. Its covered up by the enjoyment now.
    I had my first accident after 40 years of riding. Went over the bars did a summer salt and landed on my shoulder and rolled onto my back.
    I don't care who you are, you aint gonna walk away unhurt. That was a $1800 mistake on my part. I work my guardian angle overtime.
    I thought about quitting riding, while I was in pain. Then the pin went away and so did those thoughts.
    But anyway, Enjoy your time here. Life is short.
    ITS ALL GOOD

  10. #20
    Senior Member valkmc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by F6Dave View Post
    I started riding little bikes in 1970, and by the time I got my first serious street bike (a Kawasaki KZ-900) a few years later we were stuck with the 55 MPH speed limit. So everyone drove really slow compared to today. You'd get a 5-10 MPH cushion from most LEOs, but 65 usually got you a ticket.

    In some ways this slow travel may have been safer, but many drivers became preoccupied with avoiding speeding tickets. Most people I knew had radar detectors. Since these were prone to false alarms you were frequently distracted trying to figure out if that beep was a police car, or a nearby door opener or security system. CB radios became popular too, as drivers learned that truck drivers freely shared info about 'bear sightings'. So the 55 MPH era had its own unique distractions.

    When I started riding motorcycles had serious safety shortcomings. Most had drum brakes which faded terribly. Lighting was dim, and the horns were barely audible. Handling was often downright scary. There were vast improvements in all of these areas over the several years.

    As for the traffic today, I'm often asked by non-riders how I can possibly ride on an Interstate highway. I answer that I'd rather ride several hundred miles on an Interstate, with safe access ramps and no cross streets, than I would just a few miles on a city street with drivers running red traffic lights and ignoring stop signs. Statistically the controlled access highway is far safer.
    I use to feel the same until I was running 70mph on an interstate in NC when a pallet flew out of a pickup and skidded in front of me. No time for anything but to tighten up my grip and go straight over it. Thought I was going down but somehow held on. IT was several years ago and I have only been on an interstate a couple of times since. The danger is everywhere. I just try to be alert and minimize it as much as I can.
    Blame No One, Expect Nothing, Do Something!!!!
    Bill Parcells.

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