Yamaha YZF600 Thundercat

Are there more accidents involving bikes now pro-rata than back then
as well, bearing in mind things like, as others have mentioned, bikes
have improved in most other ways as well as the sheer power they knock
out.

And then there's the fact that whereas all one had to do in your day
was to avoid the man clutching a clipboard jumping out from behind a
hedge in order to get a full licence, nowadays you need to be far more
financially committed to biking if you want to ride the bigger stuff -
whereas you used to be able to just jump on a 250 with L-plates with
no training, you have to go through CBT and DAS to jump on a 'Cat
these days.

Go back even further, and whilst there was less traffic on the roads,
there never used to be a DD limit and I believe it was the norm to
mutter 'I've only had four pints' before driving home.

Rubbish.

The terminally stupid will always be terminally stupid and overdo it,
be it lobbing a moped or bike away, or lobbing a car into a tree.

Have you got any stats that show that newbies on sports 600s have more
accidents than those who started off in the 70s and 80s on 250s?

Yes, I had this on the ex Barry Richards GS500 I launched along a
straight that actually turned out to be a corner, just after I passed
my test.

I reckon I'd have faired just as well, if not better, on something
like a 'cat, or my usual choice of steed back then, a CBR600.

I didn't have this though...

 

yes, the audience only laughed out loud during the infamous armco incident.
Rotten fruit was tossed the other times.

 

No, but the born-agains and the mature DAS-boys *are* the groups tht are
showing the worrying increase in casualty figures.

Curiously, these are also the groups that jump straight onto big bikes
rather than going the 125cc --> 33bhp route.

Ultimately, it's all about experience. Nothing is as valuable as
experience. Get through the first year or two intact, and your chances
improve enormously. A bit like old-style fighter pilots' early mission,
really.

But inexperience and a lot of power is not a good mix. IMHO, of course.

 

Well I am now 34... and maybe it's just me, but I certainly don't feel
as sharp as I used to when out on the bike or driving.

But then I don't tend to ride everywhere at ten tenths any more,
either.

Nor do I get the adrenalin rush that I used to get when doing so, no
matter how big the bike.

Having said that, I've not tried anything big that's that recent.

I've always maintained that you're safer on something like a CBR600
than you are a CG125, assuming you fully familiarise yourself with the
bike before 'aving it large', as the handling / braking etc, is that
much better.

I disagree to a certain extent.

If you're anything like me, then a bit of complacency will have crept
into your riding as time has gone by, something which I also feel is
linked to the fact I don't seem to get an adrenalin rush from riding
bikes fast any more.

Funnily enough, the bulk of the bike related deaths reported in the
local press over the last summer seem to have involved experienced
motorcyclists rather than newbies...

"Familiarity breeds contempt..."

 

I'd like to know how the local press distinguishes between experienced
and born again...

 

(The Older Gentleman) wrote in

Same way as always: guesswork, assumptions and misrepresentation.