"Gixxer Brah" and the 20 minute drive from Colorado Springs to Denver

In reply to Keith Tanner :

As someone who got up at 3 AM to load my bike, then drive to the track, race and drive home (arriving at 9 PM) I find the track accessibilty excuse even more lame than you do.

Keith Tanner said:

Rodan said:

In reply to mr2peak :

High Plains raceway is close enough to Denver and has enough m/c trackdays available that it's no excuse for Gixxer Brah.

It's easier today than it's ever been to get a bike on track.

 

My thoughts exactly. It's hard to find a track that's more accessible than HPR. There's at least one motorcycle open lapping day per week, and you can buy a season pass for $1500. Lack of access to a track is no excuse here.

In the same vein as this, I find the guys that do "canyon runs" don't want to do to the track, because they don't want to find out how little they know and how slow they actually are. 

When I had one instructor who drove Porsche GT3 race car, I forget the exact lower level series..........I was astounded at how hard you could get on the brakes in a Miata on RComps. 

Yeah, Berkeley this guy. For reference if F=MA, if he's accelerating from a dead stop and his claimed top speed is real, then he's on top of at least 64000 pounds for force. That could easily end a family on their regular commute. 

For the record, It was 45 minutes from my old house in CO Springs just south of USAFA to Centennial (South Denver suburb). That was driving the normal 10ish mph over the limit on a clear traffic day. 

I would run into guys like this all of the time in the springs. There were a lot of guys on sports bikes going way too fast on I25 that I had to avoid. I almost hit more than a few of them. 

Tom Suddard said:

Wow. Nevermind how stupid it is--how is he comfortable going 160 in ripped jeans and street shoes? Insane. 

I mean, that's even considered excessive clothing for a gixxer bruh. The ones in my area could normally be found wearing flip flops, shorts, tank top and a pair of safety glasses. 

 While I admit I've been plaid on mine a few times, in traffic or just in general around other people is a bad idea. I have enough issues in traffic with people being oblivious. 

z31maniac said:

Keith Tanner said:

Rodan said:

In reply to mr2peak :

High Plains raceway is close enough to Denver and has enough m/c trackdays available that it's no excuse for Gixxer Brah.

It's easier today than it's ever been to get a bike on track.

 

My thoughts exactly. It's hard to find a track that's more accessible than HPR. There's at least one motorcycle open lapping day per week, and you can buy a season pass for $1500. Lack of access to a track is no excuse here.

In the same vein as this, I find the guys that do "canyon runs" don't want to do to the track, because they don't want to find out how little they know and how slow they actually are. 

When I had one instructor who drove Porsche GT3 race car, I forget the exact lower level series..........I was astounded at how hard you could get on the brakes in a Miata on RComps. 

I'm always surprised at how few people know about organized motorsports events. I'm very evangelical about stuff like that but in all the years only one person with a cool or tricked out car has ever heard of and/or participated in an event -- TNiA, RallyCross, DST Rally. MAYBE a couple have heard of autoX. I wish there were business cards at each event; I'd share them all the time. 

Not only is this stupid for all of the obvious reasons, but shiny happy people like this is exactly why we get legislation proposed like the bill in CA aimed at limiting vehicle speed. Bravo for them going after this guy and enforcing existing laws instead. 
I hope they throw the book at him. 

The idea that you need to see his face is not accurate. There are a number of ways to prove his identity without seeing him. His bike. His YouTube account. His voice. His phone records. His credit card to fill his bike bike up before this stunt (likely with video at the station.) it's beyond a reasonable doubt, no no doubt, and if the investigators have the ambition, they will find a lot of evidence to link him to the crime. I'm glad they are using the resources before he kills someone instead of after. 

Boost_Crazy said:

His phone records.

This is a big one, unless you put your phone in airplane mode to disconnect from the cell network, you're travelling with realtime remote location logging enabled. So his cell phone company probably has the logs to go along with the video that are all too easily accessible to law enforcement.

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

Devil's advocate here only.

None of those would stand up to any scrutiny with a good lawyer on the defense.  All he has to say is "I handed someone else my keys, my phone was on the bike."

In reply to Mr_Asa :

If you put his bike, his voice, his channel, his phone and possibly even his credit card together, not a lot of juries would see room for reasonable doubt there.

If you want to keep Ghostrider levels of anonymity (or, well, pseudonymity), you need to leave the phone at home or in airplane mode, make sure the channel has no links to your real name or IP address, not speak on video and ideally not show any part of your uncovered body, not show any identifiable marks on the bike (I think his looks stock from the rider's POV) and pay cash for gas. And then hope you don't run out mid-chase like he did...

This reminds me of Sur Ronster getting invited out to test Sierra's prototype crosskarts, he must've had heavy suspicions that the invitation was a police sting operation to nab him, I would've been almost certain of it if I were in his shoes.

Here's a contrarian take:  How about we just ignore him, instead of getting all upset and sending the full force of the law after him?

As far as I can tell, he's not a terrible rider.  He's paying attention, looking ahead and I don't think he's putting anyone in as much danger as some of you think he is.  He's engaging in a level of risk that's beyond what I'd consider reasonable, but I don't think I'd mind sharing the road with him.  The most likely way that I get in a collision with him is that he rear-ends me because there's stopped traffic ahead he wasn't able to see in time.  The next possibility is that we collide on a lane change.  I'm likely to come out of the both of those okay even though the rider probably isn't.  The scary motorcycle t-bones car photos you've posted just aren't going to happen on an interstate.

Even the lane change risk is way overstated.  At those speeds, you're just not going to change lanes fast enough to hit him.  All of your stories about all the bikers you've "almost" changed lanes into were nowhere near as close as you thought they were.  Yes, you probably started to change lanes into a motorcycle that was closing at a high rate of speed and it scared you.  It might have scared the biker, but probably less than you.  When I'm on my motorcycle I expect that all of you are going to change lanes into me all the time--one of the ways I minimize the risk is by maintaining a decent speed differential so that I minimize the amount of time I can let you squish me.

He hasn't hurt anyone, and I'd argue he's far less of a menace to society than the Volvo drivers who will do anything in their power to prevent someone driving 10mph over the limit from passing them.  Those are the drivers I'd like to see locked up.  This guy?  I'd rather he not, and I think there's serious problems with him making money off these Youtube videos, but I'm a lot less upset about it than most of you.

GameboyRMH said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

If you put his bike, his voice, his channel, his phone and possibly even his credit card together, not a lot of juries would see room for reasonable doubt there.

Dear god I hope you're never on a Jury. All of that points to him, and we all know it was him, but there is zero proof it actually was. Everything you posted is speculation and circumstantial, not proof.

Steve_Jones said:

GameboyRMH said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

If you put his bike, his voice, his channel, his phone and possibly even his credit card together, not a lot of juries would see room for reasonable doubt there.

Dear god I hope you're never on a Jury. All of that points to him, and we all know it was him, but there is zero proof it actually was. Everything you posted is speculation and circumstantial, not proof.

Would also have to get a warrant to pull all of those in the first place, since no one has been injured, cops won't lift a finger.

z31maniac said: In the same vein as this, I find the guys that do "canyon runs" don't want to do to the track, because they don't want to find out how little they know and how slow they actually are. 

This I think is a hugh factor in motorsports. Have had a ton of folks I know show up to cars and coffee, other meets, drive fast on back roads, smokey burnouts, drag launch from stop lights, etc. Half won't go to the track because "oh I'll hurt my car", "just need my stage 2 tune/new exhaust/wheels/etc, then I'll be ready" (never finishs), "Too expensive/far/helmets are uncomfortable", a quarter shows up and heads home pissed that they got spanked by a ...insert "slow" car of choice..., and a quarter might actually keep with it. 

In reply to Steve_Jones :

I agree. I'm my opinion the LE Agency wrote the warrant to save face and respond to the viral video. Doesn't mean the DA will actually prosecute if they do get an arrest (anyone check if the warrant is extraditable?).

In reply to johndej :

I've been that slow car guy demoralizing a more cheap faster car.

I also have been the guy being spanked: I was at my first rider school going along nicely when a guy comes blazing past me on a TZ250. It was 250 National Champ Rich Oliver.........he was scrubbing in a set of slicks. Best thing that ever happened to me........it made realize that a fast street rider had a lot to learn.

In reply to Tom1200 :

Yup, that's been my story rolling a nearly stock NA miata through HPDE/Tracknight/etc.

Looking up that bike, these are my favorite style era for sure

GameboyRMH said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

If you put his bike, his voice, his channel, his phone and possibly even his credit card together, not a lot of juries would see room for reasonable doubt there.

Dear god I hope you're never on a Jury. All of that points to him, and we all know it was him, but there is zero proof it actually was. Everything you posted is speculation and circumstantial, not proof.
 

It happens all the time. You don't need to be caught red handed or have witnesses to be convicted. Plenty of hit and run drivers get tracked down and prosecuted, this is the same thing minus the carnage, with the appropriate reduction in penalty. They have his bike- painted pretty distinctively I might add. His phone. His credit card trail. It's posted on his YouTube account. I haven't checked, but I'd be suprised if there weren't others like it. Or on his GoPro. We aren't seeing all of the evidence, I'm guessing they have more than enough if they are bothering to arrest him. 

In reply to Berck :

Here's a contrarian take:  How about we just ignore him, instead of getting all upset and sending the full force of the law after him?

As far as I can tell, he's not a terrible rider.  He's paying attention, looking ahead and I don't think he's putting anyone in as much danger as some of you think he is.  He's engaging in a level of risk that's beyond what I'd consider reasonable, but I don't think I'd mind sharing the road with him.  The most likely way that I get in a collision with him is that he rear-ends me because there's stopped traffic ahead he wasn't able to see in time.  The next possibility is that we collide on a lane change.  I'm likely to come out of the both of those okay even though the rider probably isn't.  The scary motorcycle t-bones car photos you've posted just aren't going to happen on an interstate.

Even the lane change risk is way overstated.  At those speeds, you're just not going to change lanes fast enough to hit him.  All of your stories about all the bikers you've "almost" changed lanes into were nowhere near as close as you thought they were.  Yes, you probably started to change lanes into a motorcycle that was closing at a high rate of speed and it scared you.  It might have scared the biker, but probably less than you.  When I'm on my motorcycle I expect that all of you are going to change lanes into me all the time--one of the ways I minimize the risk is by maintaining a decent speed differential so that I minimize the amount of time I can let you squish me.

He hasn't hurt anyone, and I'd argue he's far less of a menace to society than the Volvo drivers who will do anything in their power to prevent someone driving 10mph over the limit from passing them.  Those are the drivers I'd like to see locked up.  This guy?  I'd rather he not, and I think there's serious problems with him making money off these Youtube videos, but I'm a lot less upset about it than most of you.

The key here is ignorance of the risk. This is not a controlled environment. I'm surprised that I need to explain this to anyone in this group, but what he did was not safe even if he was the best rider on the planet. That's why racing is done on tracks, where risks are mitigated, yet even the best pro riders frequently crash. No body else on that road  agreed to the risk of getting hit by a 500lb bike doing 150 while on their way to work. You can be ignorant of the risk all you want, but ignorance of the laws of physics won't help you in a collision of that magnitude. 

In reply to Boost_Crazy :

If most of these squids are not in any real danger of getting clipped, explain all the bruh videos on YouTubes of these turds blowing up mirrors of cars "that cut me off." Can't have it both ways.

Let me be clear: I'm not suggesting what he's doing is safe, reasonable or even defensible.  But on the scale of terrible crap I see on I-25, he's pretty far down the list of who I think is causing the most risk on the road.  That is, I think the outrage here is out of proportion to the crime.  I won't be sad if he's prosecuted, but every time I drive I-25 between Denver and Colorado Springs there are a half dozen drivers I think are causing greater risk.

In reply to Berck :

You may be likely to come out 'ok' if a bike imbeds itself into the back of your car at a 60 mph differential, but the rear seat occupants in many (most?) cars not so much... Which is where my kids sit. So while you might not have reasons to care if he does so, I sure as hell do. Trying to turn this around to into some kind of argument about slow drivers being the bigger danger to society took some Olympic level mental gymnastics. 

Steve_Jones said:

GameboyRMH said:

In reply to Mr_Asa :

If you put his bike, his voice, his channel, his phone and possibly even his credit card together, not a lot of juries would see room for reasonable doubt there.

Dear god I hope you're never on a Jury. All of that points to him, and we all know it was him, but there is zero proof it actually was. Everything you posted is speculation and circumstantial, not proof.

People get convicted on circumstantial evidence all the time. Consider the alternative, that he paid for gas in the bike and then sent a professional impressionist-and-rider trained to do his voice on his bike with his phone (and likely credit card to pay for more gas in the same direction) to tear ass down the highway, then at some point he met up to get all that stuff back (location data may suggest he had to travel even faster than what was shown in the video to do this) and upload it to his channel along with other videos where he is known to have appeared (and yes there are/were many others). Juries aren't looking for strong scientific proof and aren't supposed to, they're supposed to have proof beyond reasonable doubt, and that explanation isn't very reasonable.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

About the only useful info in this case from cell records might be a date it happened, and even that could be fairly easily contested.