There's no such thing as passive riding.

A 24 year old colleague at work was killed on his SV650 a couple hours ago. He bought the bike in the early spring and I immediately gave him a copy of "A Twist of the Wrist" by Keith Code, and spent as much time as he could stand trying to impart some of what I've learned in close to 30 years of street riding and many seasons of road racing.

A point I stressed, repeatedly was:

"The most common way of being done in on a motorcycle is being passive in intersections - If you don't cover your brake, lift out of the throttle a little, and have eye contact and recognition with any vehicle that could in any way turn into you - you're car fodder".

He left here at about 1:45 and blocks from his house, on a fast divided road, it appears a car took a left in front of him and he T-boned it. I don't know whether he died on impact, en route the the hospital, or at the hospital. In any case, he didn't make it.

As a road racer of bikes and now cars, I have that racer pragmatism that this is a possibility when we put of the side stand and go. Still, in all the years I've been around bikes - and I was a messenger and worked in the industry - I've never known anyone closely who's died on a bike.

And it pains me greatly that had he been covering his front brake, keeping his berkeleying eyes ALL THE WAY UP, lifting a little and being proactive about his lane position and escape routes, we'd be walking to get coffee across the street tomorrow.

berkeley.

Luckily my family members that ride have lots of experience and are very aggressive with safety equipment and habits. I still get anxious when I hear of motorcycle accidents anywhere near where they might be.

That truly is sad news. My prayers go out to him and his family. I was on my GT380 about the same time today. In fact, I was probably going through the intersection (with poor visibility for vehicles on the side road perpendicular to my direction of travel). As I approahced the intersection, I said to myself "lift and be prepared." I have seen people dart out into intersections and I has seen vehicles to unexpected things. I sllow down going through every intersection.

motomoron wrote: As a road racer of bikes and now cars, I have that racer pragmatism that this is a possibility when we put of the side stand and go. Still, in all the years I've been around bikes - and I was a messenger and worked in the industry - I've never known anyone closely who's died on a bike. And it pains me greatly that had he been covering his front brake, keeping his berkeleying eyes ALL THE WAY UP, lifting a little and being proactive about his lane position and escape routes, we'd be walking to get coffee across the street tomorrow. berkeley.

I can tell you up front don't blame yourself. For years I carried the death of a friend in similar circumstances. It still chokes me up sometimes when I think about it. Think about the good times as silly as it sounds, and keep up the good work of teaching people the safest way to ride that you know.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but speculating about whether he was being proactive or not won't help him or you...he may have been, he may not have been, you don't know that for sure.

You gave him the right advice, rules that everybody should live by - literally.

That sucks to hear. I've had a few close calls myself including people pulling right out in front of me.

Sorry to hear about it. The times I've come closest to being splatted have usually been when I've been riding passively as well. That and I'm no a new bike.

Sadly, many folk believe that is the way to ride. You can see it in several threads in this forum, unfortunately. From "if you can do it, than you're a show-off liar" to "it's not my fault" and "how dare you tell me I'm responsible for my own riding".

I lost my once-best-friend in a m/c wreck about a year ago. Experienced rider, family man, not the kind who would be out horseing around and wore most, if not all, the equipment when he rode. Lost control and went into the oncoming lane about a mile from his house. His daughter was not far behind on her bike and the first on the scene after he hit the oncoming vehicle.

There's risk in everything we do. I do my best to manage those risks that I choose to take on. Instead of focusing on those that have died in the process, I look at the guys who have been riding for 30 years and are still doing it. What are they doing? How can I learn from them? Sometimes your ticket is just up, but a lot of it has to do with the skills they bring to the task.

Slightly OT: Two weekends ago I rode with another guy to show him some of the dirt roads around here. While I'm all about ATGATT, I've put off buying 'summer' riding pants for reasons of laziness. Front end washed out in a turn (rider error; too hot into the turn) and down I went. Everything performed as it should, including the jeans I were wearing, which is to say they shredded immediately and I lost a layer of skin over my knee. I'm a dumbass. New riding pants arrived yesterday. You can't drop your guard at all riding these things. Bad stuff will happen.

Sorry - that sucks. Condolences to his family.

Some people don't believe that you have to ride like everyone is trying to kill you. Some people take all the precaution they can and still get the blunt end of the deal for a moment of distraction. Be smart out there folks.

My condolences.

Sorry to hear it man. You did everything you could. Passing your experiences and knowledge to others is a great and generous thing to do, and you should take heart in knowing you did your best to help a fellow human being. Be proud of that.

I got more info today, which is that he hit the passenger side door of the car.

In my worldview - a motorcyclist has no rights. They're invisible to car drivers and pedestrians, and riding is a continual process of threat assessment and the calculation of escape routes.

If you t-bone the middle of a car that turns in front of you, from the turn lane of the oncoming divided road - you've abdicated control of your situation by trusting the other person.

I see this as shared responsibility for the outcome.

I'm sure this view will piss someone off - but I've been an advocate for rider training for decades, and have watched hundreds of cars obliviously turn left w/o signalling into the space I'd be occupying had I not taken proactive or predictive evasive action.

If I could say one thing that people would take absolutely literally, and put into practice 100% of the time, it would be:

"As a motorcyclist, you are literally invisible. When you put the side stand up cars cannot see or hear you. A car in motion is identical to a train or ship under way; it cannot stop or alter course. If you enter an intersection at which there is any oncoming vehicle, irrespective of what lane they're in, that vehicle WILL deliberately go out of their way to drive directly into you, every single time. It is your responsibility to recognize and neutralize every threat, and your responsibility alone. This means that riding on the street is as mentally draining as riding on track"

News story w/ images

I raced and worked in the industry for years, and that's a bike that didn't get significantly slowed before impact.

berkeley.

Any word on what the major factor was in cause of death? Head trauma, internal bleeding? I hit a car one time at 45 and my bike looked way better than that one...it was ridable. It looks like he was really moving. I ride a lot so am always curious as to what the cause of death was in an MC accident.

That is terrible news my condolences to his family and friends.

I am about to take my riding test and was wondering do you guys wear full leather when riding?

Joshua wrote: That is terrible news my condolences to his family and friends. I am about to take my riding test and was wondering do you guys wear full leather when riding?

I wear Dragging liners, above the ankle laced boots and a FirstGear Kilimanjaro jacket with armor in it.

Motomoron, you did all you could. I try to impart what I've learned while riding on the street. It is difficult to get across the idea to new riders that being on a motorcycle is vastly different than being in a car. You really have to be alert at all times on a motorcycle. Sitting still, going down the interstate, putting on your gear, doing a walk around your bike..it's a constant state of alertness that you have to learn and force yourself into.

I'm sorry to hear this young guy didn't survive this. I've had a few friends who have life long injuries and I've known some guys who died. One guy I knew of only by association. The man was a legend for being a safe rider. That guy, or my perception of what he would do, rides with me every time I'm on the bike. Then if I do something stupid it's what I imagine his voice being scolding me for being a dumb ass.

I'm sorry to hear of this.

You did all you could. The unfortunate thing is that there's no substitute for experience and experience, while the best teacher, is not very forgiving. It sometimes takes a while for new riders to understand that some cagers do not view motorcyclists as big enough to be a threat to them and consequently will do the most idiotic things.

I got to know Larry Grodsky through the shop where I worked. This was a guy who was probably the most knowledgeable and respected authority of rider safety and instruction. He died when he hit a deer while riding an eBay cop bike home from TX, and presumably was wearing all the gear I saw him in every time.

Personally, I've slacked off on full leathers all the time - but at minimum wear an Arai full face helmet, Held fully armored race gloves, Sidi road race boots, and a Vanson or Aerostich fully armored jacket. In cooler weather I have armored pants in Leather and textile. Also, my Aerostich Darien jacket is hi-viz yellow.

That sucks. I'm sorry you lost a friend.

I'm definitely in the crowd that assumes everyone is trying to kill me. It's not that I'm paranoid, just been on bikes since I was 7 and seen lots of bad stuff and had enough cars turn in front or change lanes into where I am. The last car that turned in front of me was a local cop yakking on a cell phone.

Arai full face helmet - I usually ride in armored textile bibs and jacket instead of leather until it gets a little cooler, zip/velcro boots (I've had laces get hung up on pegs).

Part of the reason I'm selling my bike is because I just don't think riding is anymore fun than being in a fast car, and spending all of my life on a bicycle in the woods, its nothing like riding a mountain bike. Too much to worry about. Too much gear to get wind in the hair. I get can just as much of an adrenaline rush and a far better workout on a bicycle.

Now is it great cheap transportation? Sure. Would I love to go on an adventure to the Arctic Circle? Definitely.

In the end, there are ways I can get cheap, versatile, and fun modes of transportation without putting on special pants, jackets, gloves, and restrictive helmets in bright colors and moving around in traffic like everyone is out to smash me.

Now if I could only sell the bike as easy as I bought it.

In reply to PHeller:

I hear 'ya.

I'm down to the 2 bikes I really want and perfect gear for every season, for both.

Even a C sports racer and an M3 TT car don't replace the totally unique sensations of riding. I don't know that I can quit it deliberately, but if I go X duration w/o riding I'll sell the KTM supermoto.

The RD400 Daytona I'll hang on the wall in the shop.

Joshua wrote: That is terrible news my condolences to his family and friends. I am about to take my riding test and was wondering do you guys wear full leather when riding?

I have leathers, but have not worn them on the street. I wear jeans, sometimes the kevlar style with pads, shoei full face, various jackets, gloves and boots. I wrecked in a t shirt 21 years ago....won't do that again.

Always hate to hear of a fellow rider going down.

My worst close-call was when I was approaching an intersection where I had the green. I slowed down as I approached to check for cross traffic. If I hadn't slowed down, a Cadillac that blew its red light at full-speed would have been exactly where I was in the intersection.

My riding style is get the berkeley away from all vehicles to the best of my abilities. I ride in full gear minus pants. I have leather riding pants, but they are really uncomfortable and unwieldy.