Responsibility ?

I did a little visit to one of the local dealerships .. As I browsed
through the new models and accessories, couldn't help but notice
a young gent, who was taking a great interest in one of the new
muscle bikes.. 2000 cc's.. One of the best experienced sales-
guys in the house was kinda sticking by him, answering his quest-
ions, but mostly listening to the guy.. Now, I'm telling you, this dude
was a wealth of information.. He knew all the technical information
on this powerhouse bike and you could readily see that his expert-
ise was purely from the "book"..

At some point.. I asked Mike (the salesdude).. who is also a young
guy.. somewhere in his late twenties, I'd expect.. if the man had a
lot of experience with motorcycles, since he seemed so knowledge-
able.. Mike's response was that he'd never owned a motorcycle in
his life and had only riden at a very early age and his experience was
limited to small dirt bikes..

I watched.. eavesdropped actually.. as Mike tried to show this young
man several different, and smaller motorcycles.. There was no inter-
est whatsoever and this young man was completely focused on that
monster.. New paint and gleaming chrome, surrounding an engine
that could pull stumps, as well as propel that motorcycle to speeds
of over 150 mph, had completely overwhelmned the guy.. There
wasn't another motorcycle in that dealership that he was even slight-
ly interested in..

All Mikes' efforts to persuade this young man to even try another
motorcycle, were wasted.. Finally.. Mike made the deal with him and
the bike was taken from the showroom floor to be serviced for del-
ivery.. Flushed with pride over the purchase of his new motorcycle..
the young man was proudly proclaiming to one and all, that he'd be
the terror of the highway, on such a magnificent mount..

When the motorcycle was serviced and ready.. the owner of the
dealership, who'd been advised of the situation, offered some
words of wisdom about safety and getting acquainted with the
bike.. Suggestions of taking a good MSF course, or riding with an
experienced mentor, were brushed aside and argued while this
arrogant little twit with too much money, declared his skill and
expertise in all things.. The owner even made the offer for Mike
or himself to accompany him around the immediate area to help
him get acquainted with his new purchase.. was declined ..

We get to the bottom line and finish of this little tale.. That partic-
ular dealership is located in a huge shopping area, with restaurants
galore and car dealerships.. furniture malls and various other bus-
inesses, both large and small.. Almost always a lot of traffic and
usually quite busy..

We'd all gathered around the lounge area talking, when the sirens
were heard.. One Fire Dept. ambulance went racing by and then
another.. Police cruisers raced to the direction where our young
man had gone.. Less than a mile from us, there'd been a motor-
cycle crash.. Within an hour.. that new motorcycle was back in
the dealership.. the young man, in one of the local hospitals..

Shortly.. a man came into the dealership.. obviously upset and
very irate.. He wanted to talk to the salesman that had just sold
his son that killer motorcycle.. He thoroughly reamed out Mike
and the owner of that dealership, threatening lawsuits and other
legal attacks for their negligence in making that sale to such an
inexperienced rider.. I couldn't help but agree with him, except
for several points that he was ignoring..

That young man is well over legal age.. I learned that he was 27..
He'd come into that dealership, determined to buy that motor-
cycle and nobody could persuade him that he should consider
another motorcycle that would be better suited to his experience.
He'd declined all offers to help and arrogantly ignored any sugg-
estions that he should take some sort of educational course to
get him started with his new motorcycle.. Outside of denying to
make the sale, that dealership had gone above and beyond ..
At one point, they'd even offered to deliver the motorcycle to
the home of the young man.. which he laughed at.. declaring he'd
bought it and he'd ride it out.. Well, he rode that sucker out, all
right.. Less than a mile away, that monster had eat his lunch..

Listening to that father, as he berated, threatened and insulted
those good men, who'd gone above and beyond, it occurred to
me .. that old boy should take responsibility for what had happ-
ened to his son.. at least the arrogant little shit was still alive and
being cared for in a hospital.. Instead of raising all that hell with
a bunch of people who'd tried to accomodate the little smart
aleck prick, he'd have been better served to have been up at
that hospital to see to the medical needs of his son..

As we learned later.. the guy had suffered a broken arm and
collar bone.. Of course he was skinned up and had lost quite
a bit of hide, along with a couple of pretty bad cuts.. The motor-
cycle is probably a total loss, one side of it is a mangled mess.
The frame is bent like a hairpin and oil was streaming from one
side of the casings.. It was estimated that he was going about
70 mph when he ran a stop sign and sideswiped a car..

Too bad.. another motorcycle statistic that will go down in the
books as just another example of how dangerous the riding of
motorcycles can be.. and is.. Not so.. I contend that young man
was a danger to himself and others, no matter if he was oper-
ating a car, motorcycle, boat or airplane..

Bill Walker
Irving

 

The stop sign he ran was inside a huge shopping mall.. The speed limits in
there are considerably less that the surrounding street areas.. The
estimated
speeds that he was running on that bike could have been run on a much lesser
motorcycle.. The attitudes of that young man, as I observed .. was that he
knew
more than anyone and no one could advise or tell him a damned thing..

I also learned that the father is quite well to do and does ride a
motorcycle..
During his tirade in that dealership, I couldn't help but notice that his
attitudes
reflected those of his son..

Yessir.. over the years I've heard a lot of criticisms directed toward
dealers
selling motorcycles that were way over the heads of the buyers.. Even made
a few comments in that regard, myself.. At least in this case, the dealer
did
all that he could do.. That young man represents a statistic waiting to
happen..
The motorcycle had nothing to do with his misfortune.. It was all his..

Bill Walker

 

The motorcycle had nothing to do with his misfortune.. It was all his..

Reading this reminded me of a story I heard on a feller that bought
him a brand new Honda I believe it was and didnt know how to ride. He
bought the bike and ended up across the street in some guys garden or
flower bed before he got it stopped and the property owner was out
there watering. Dont remember the fellers name that was riding that
bike. Good thing he wasnt hurt.

Redshad

 

lol.. I seem to recall that little incident, myself.. Happened almost 30
years ago.. seems like.. The guy had been telling the salesman that
if he bought the bike, someone was going to have to teach him to ride
it.. <chuckle> The salesman didn't believe that he didn't know how to
ride a motorcycle.. The motorcycle wasn't a high performance bike
and as I recall, MSF courses were not readily available at the time..
Not the same kind of situation, at all.. Especially considering.. that is
some kind of old guy now.. and he was taught to ride by some of
the best hands on motorcycles..

Since the incident in the man's yard with that first motorcycle.. that
same old guy has mentored many young riders who were willing to
ride with him and learn.. Must be doing something right..

Bill Walker

 

one word .... "deposition".


You might be called, but like me, I think that would be
fun. But, it's unlikely they'll be litigation. If the father is
so experienced/knowledgeable/wise, why wasn't he
present to advise his son more appropriately.

Unless Daddy was raggin' at sonny that none of those
Jap bikes could ever touch his Harley FLHGTYDSVB
model with the Screamin' Eagle upgrades.

Might be interesting, but I feel sorry for the guys at
Grapevine.

 

SNIP

Good story...I've heard it too often. I've also seen it at Killeen power sports.

I don't like extra legislation BUT. In the case of driving and riding I'm
starting to wonder if being allowed to ride/drive shouldn't have as many hoops
as getting a Pilots license. I know that when my eldest gets his license he will
get an "M" certification at the same time and until he's 18 will be only allowed
to ride motorcycles...his first will be an old 1979 DR370. Maybe if he's safe he
can get something else when he's 17 at 18 he's on his own and I can only hope
he'll have a little sense.

 

Here Kitty Kitty Kitty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Unfortunately, new riders (and most others too) don't understand *why*
it's a bad idea to not go with a larger bike to start off. Most will
come up with all sorts of explainations, most of which sound
condesending to a new rider.

It's not the size of the bike. Whether you're a mammoth riding the
bike or not, doesn't matter in that. Whether you're used to powerful
machines, doesn't matter with that either.

Most riders think "if I just don't use the power of the bike, I'll be
okay....then when I want the power, I'll have it". This is a WRONG
thought process. Suzuki now has a bike that many new riders are going
toward. Their GSX-R 1000 has a switch which changes the engine
dynamics to choke it down or power it up. This is solely for track
conditions. Many new riders are now confusing it for a "newbie
switch".

The sole reason it's a bad idea to start off looking large on a
motorcycle is simple...a motorcycle will propel it's rider in such a
way, you'll find yourself going faster than how it feels. Until you
understand this, you should seriously stay with a smaller slower bike.

There's one other problem coming up in the ranks that many aren't
looking at. Used to, a 600cc was a good bike to start off on for a new
rider. They were light, nimble, didn't have the fire-breathing
characteristics and were still comfortable enough to stay on for a
couple years and enjoy the bike. Since many new riders want to ride a
sportbike, they look at the smaller bike. Since us "old hands" keep
telling them to look at a smaller bike (600cc), we're sending them to
these bikes without realizing what we're doing. From where we come
from, a 600cc bike was a small pull-toy. In the past few years,
manufacturers have closed the gap from the mid-bike's power and that
of the liter-bike's. A 600cc sportbike is now popping ~140hp with top
speeds of 160mph. This is on a frameset which is generally less than
400lbs....and all this is just "out of the box". With statistics like
this, where do you send the new riders who want to get into riding and
has the money?

Maybe if that salesman explained to this new rider that he might be
able to handle the power, but until he gets used to the speeds of the
bike and how it handles, it might've been a good idea to change what
he was looking at. It sounds like that's exactly what happened to this
rider. It sounds like he was going faster than he thought he was and
didn't have time to stop, went into panic mode and hit a car. At least
that's how I read it. He probably wasn't even into the throttle and
probably still doesn't understand how all this happened.

 

BillWalker wrote: '

-snipped a bit--

Too bad.. another motorcycle statistic that will go down in the books as
just another example of how dangerous the riding of motorcycles can be..
and is.. Not so.. I contend that young man was a danger to himself and
others, no matter if he was oper- ating a car, motorcycle, boat or
airplane..
Bill Walker
Irving


Probably ''peer pressure'' from some of his buddies, that have those
crotchcycles.

So often people will go by them a Big ole Harley, merely because the
other dudes, he knows, have them. So he goes in wildly in debt, thinking
gotta have what they got.

Probably the same type deal with that young man.

I guess, he gunned it, and it go out from under him, and he crashed,
fortunatly he lived,----this time------.

B. Jay Kana--
NETexas
02 Valkyrie Cruiser--
( happy trails to you all)

 

Redshad comments:
''Reading this reminded me of a story I heard on a feller that bought
him a brand new Honda I believe it was and didnt know how to ride. He
bought the bike and ended up across the street in some guys garden or
flower bed before he got it stopped and the property owner was out there
watering. Dont remember the fellers name that was riding that bike. Good
thing he wasnt hurt.
Redshad)


Reminds me of that Video circulating of that Nigro riding his brand new
Harley off the Harley lot, taking a right turn, and apparantly lets the
clutch all the way out too quick, and IT jumps across the street, and
strikes several cars, and crashed to the pavement. The guy taking the
video....continued to L''his''AO
(remember that one)

B. Jay Kana--
NETexas
02 Valkyrie Cruiser--
( happy trails to you all)