A Complaint

FLCN72

Registered
I want to sound off on something.  I took my fiancee riding with me earlier today.  She is a new rider, with only about four months of experience and on her first bike.  We linked up with a group of sportbike riders I go with on some weekend rides.

I have had a lot of fun with these guys and gals.  Though I perfer to ride alone, once in a while it is fun to be part of a group.  Yes, some of these guys like to pull wheelies and the like.  But they have been careful about where and they have always given themselves plenty of room.  They certainly don't ride so fast or hard that we couldn't have kept up safely.  Most of the time they limit their stunting to places where we all stop, park, and watch the handful of guys who do play around.  

Not today.  We show up at the park where people gather and almost none of the guys I know are there.  There are also a bunch of people I don't know.  No big deal, I think, I don't know anyone very well and the guys I kinda know will be along.  (They did show up later, but the group ride began then)

Well, it turns out that instead of a couple of guys who pull highway wheelies, today we had at least 10 stunters of the 35 or so riders.  They pulled them up in the middle of the pack of riders, in the on-coming traffic lanes, and around blind curves.  Yikes!  My fiancee was obviously uncomfortable... Heck I was a little unsettled.

Eventually we get on the interestate.  I figure we are headed back towards town to find another back road and perhaps park to let the stunters have at it.  Nope.  The sudden slowing and accelerating for the guys doing wheelies only gets more frequent.  On several occasions the cars around us had to brake suddenly or change lanes.  

This is a busy interstate on a Sunday afternoon.  The cars were trying to do somewhere in the low seventies.  The bikes leading the pack were slowing to around 30 and accelerating to more than 80 to accomidate the guys pulling wheelies.  Wheelies that were in the slow lane, fast lane and often both lanes.

I had enough and signalled for my fiancee to exit with me.  Now, I want to be very clear about something.  I am pro-stunting.  It looks like fun and is certainly impressive.  But those guys today made terrible impressions on most if not all of the cage drivers who saw us.  These are drivers and voters who will more than likely always associate sportbikes with the behavior they saw on the Interestate today.  In short, they might one day welcome laws that limit motorcycles and riding.

This group of riders, at least those I usually ride with, know a bunch of places where there is little traffic, smooth roads, great visability, and places to park.  This is where they have stunted in past weekends.  (Aside from the occassional wheelie on the back roads.)  And this is where they should have been doing so today.  But for whatever reason the people riding today chose to endanger all of us and the car drivers around us on the freaking interstate!  Arrg!
 
I agree.
Save the stunts for remote locations, away from other drivers.
I live in LA, and they do send 40-50 cop cars to crack down on a group of fools stunting in the middle of the city(McDonald's parking lot). They take everyone they catch to jail, spectators also.

Good thing I ride a busa!
 
Yes you have to keep your head. Doing things in the middle of a pack or with lots of Sunday drivers and children is foolish and only makes the general public hate bikers.
 
Even I am pro-stunting, but very very anti PUBLIC stunting. Do it in an abandoned lot somehwere safe where your activities don't put innocent people at risk. That's where I draw the line and get MEGA pissed off.

#1 guarantee: if I caught you pulling wheelies somewhere safe, I'd just drive by, pull down the window and tell you not to be dumb enough to do it when I'm driving past you and we'd all chuckle a bit.

If I caught you doing that crap in a public area where others could be put at risk, you WERE going to jail and your bike was getting impounded, period, and I'd throw every possible nit-picking charge at you I could scrounge up in the process to ensure that even if the prosecutor threw some charges out in the process and/or bargained, you were still gonna get hosed BADLY. You were inviting it yourself by your (lack of) displayed intelligence.

Hey, there's a big, fat obvious line between having fun getting a little wild and then becoming a danger to the safety of others. If you wanna turn yourself into a grease spot in some vacant lot or abandoned road (prefereably blocked off by your buddies for safety sake), more power to you, let Darwin rule, etc. Where I draw the line and call in the freakin' nuclear artillery is when you put some innocent kids' mother or some mother's kid at risk by your actions. Period.
 
There's a kid who's pretty good at stunts in Hawaii I have ridden with quite a few times but likes to showboat where there is an audience, ie. the beach or main street... I hate that! Who knows, a lil kid could run out in the street, old person driving ... I dont ride with that guy anymore. I never lift the nose in a nieghborhood or obvious wrong places ... jus plain dumb!
 
All you gents make very good points...I thought When I came to this thread that it would simply be bashing stunts...No the case...And I agree that not every place is the right place for stunts...
 
Excellent comments by all......I agree completely.
Keep the stunting to safe outta the way locations where there are no pedestrians, cages or other bikes to come in contact with.
 
Even I am pro-stunting, but very very anti PUBLIC stunting.  Do it in an abandoned lot somehwere safe where your activities don't put innocent people at risk.  That's where I draw the line and get MEGA pissed off.

#1 guarantee: if I caught you pulling wheelies somewhere safe, I'd just drive by, pull down the window and tell you not to be dumb enough to do it when I'm driving past you and we'd all chuckle a bit.

If I caught you doing that crap in a public area where others could be put at risk, you WERE going to jail and your bike was getting impounded, period, and I'd throw every possible nit-picking charge at you I could scrounge up in the process to ensure that even if the prosecutor threw some charges out in the process and/or bargained, you were still gonna get hosed BADLY.  You were inviting it yourself by your (lack of) displayed intelligence.

Hey, there's a big, fat obvious line between having fun getting a little wild and then becoming a danger to the safety of others.  If you wanna turn yourself into a grease spot in some vacant lot or abandoned road (prefereably blocked off by your buddies for safety sake), more power to you, let Darwin rule, etc.  Where I draw the line and call in the freakin' nuclear artillery is when you put some innocent kids' mother or some mother's kid at risk by your actions.  Period.
See this is good to hear. I mean it's not a guaranteed thing but by and large I have felt that LEOs are pretty practical, and are not all that concerned with you turning yourself into a road rashed "Sausage Creature", but when you put anyone else in danger thats your ass and that is how it should be...

There is a High School parking lot near where I live. Huge New lot kinda hidden from view. Probably a good 1/4 mile or so plus a long driveway and is rapidly becoming my favorite play ground...I can get crazy out there with NO witnesses and no harm done. Have been spotted twice by LEO's when I am flying through this parking lot...neither of them gave a crap...they slowed...but didn't stop... Of course only when the lot is empty in the afternoons...
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Good to hear...

Nuclear Artillery Heh....
 
My wife says that the ER term for motocyclist (especially one without a helmet) is "Organ Donor."

As for LE officers that share my philosophy: your mileage may very, and I will caveat that nothing pisses off a police chief more than having to turn in high accident stats to civil government powers-that-be, so caution is always in order.

Finally, not everyone is a LE officer for the same reasons, and hence philosophical background, that I was. Just as with any other cross-section of life, there are some who are more keen to, um, target certain activities than others. As for me, I wanted to just do my thing, keep people safe and happy, then punch out and go home. However, I had zero tolerance on either side of the domestic dispute equation compared to others. You call me to your house and force me to come in and take a report, I'm wired for zero tolerance for any foolishness, period, hair-trigger rigged to send someone to jail if they get stupid or have done something stupid. Likewise, some brothers out there are less ambivilent to riders like us than I was, even if they're in a fairly deserted/safe area...
 
 These are drivers and voters who will more than likely always associate sportbikes with the behavior they saw on the Interestate today.  In short, they might one day welcome laws that limit motorcycles and riding.
This is the scariest part for me. Someone needs to get this message to those idiots.
 
I don't see public stunting as any different from driving down the road IN TRAFFIC and shooting at signs or roadside rubbish.

The thing that really roasts me, and I mean right down to the 'nads, is the public stunter's blatant disregard for that 400-500 pounds of kinetic energy that's no more predictable than a bouncing football.

ANYONE who has seen a track bike come loose and go tumbling across the infield knows that NOBODY knows where they will go. Ignoring that's worth jail time in my opinion.
 
Pretty good thread, going here.  I agree with you all.  I may however be a little more relaxed in my views.  

Doing wheelies on the freeway is dumb.  Unless it's emptyish.  Then I'm all for it.  Now what your guys were doing sounds waaaaaaay out of line.

I have ridden with that type before and I will not ride with them anymore.  Especially the ones who put ME OR my FIANCEE in danger by their antics.

Doing wheelies for kids on the street corner is a whole nother can of worms.  If it's not a real safe place, but safe enough(not meaning through a playground, don't take it like that) I would still give them a little 1st gear wheelie maybe 25 feet.  I would not do a 115mph one wheel fly by.  Think about what it was like when you were their age.  I would have killed to see someone pop a wheelie.  Man that would be all I'd talk about for a week.  It makes them kids so happy it's unbelievable.  The smiles they give you in return is priceless.  Oh, and only if they request it of course, and only if  I know I'm not going to run someone over.


What I'm trying to say here is stunting in public can be sorta okay if done safely and with some respect for the others around you.  Of course parking lots are the best, but you shouldn't have to drive two hours to find a place to do a wheelie.

And yes I have been pulled over for doing a wheelie past a cop.  A valuble lesson learned.

One more thing, I am firmly against passing a car going mach3.  Scares the poop out of them and me.  

Hope you guys don't get too pi##ed at me, it's just another point of view.  I wanted to chime in.
 
One more last thing. This would be a good time to explain my user name.
I am not a stunter, I do love to wheelie though.

The name originally came from a atv board I was on. I have a banshee that I ride as silly as possible, hence the name. Fits the sportbike boards well too.

I am not sure if you will even care. lol
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One more thing, I am firmly against passing a car going mach3. Scares the poop out of them and me.
Went to a resturant the other day. The waiter visibly upset. Just lost a friend who passed him in Atlanta traffic at 150, 9 bikes doing 130. Mercedes pulled into his lane. Helmet (fullface) exploded on his bumper. 2002 busa. no place for this on roads with traffic.period.
 
One more last thing.  This would be a good time to explain my user name.
I am not a stunter, I do love to wheelie though.

The name originally came from a atv board I was on.  I have a banshee that I ride as silly as possible, hence the name.  Fits the sportbike boards well too.

I am not sure if you will even care.   lol
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Hey.. I have a Banshee too......awesome machines.......thinkin bout a Busa heart transplant right now.......might not be very healthy for my wallet though.
 
What it all boils down to for me is: Time and place.

I've done some pretty high speed runs on Interstates when the traffic was light. It was taking a chance, but a calculaed chance. Never saw any cars, so it was all good. To me stunting is very much like that. There is a time a place.

I like to see wheelies and stoppies. They just plain look cool. I don't mind seeing a little wheelie on public streets. Afterall it IS nice to have an audience. But popping one up for the kids is a far cry from the behavior I witnesses last weekend. To me, one is to be encouraged and the other to be spoken out against.
 
Those are the kind of guys I absolutely hate riding with........plus most of those guys think that everyone else should get out of their way. I either get way out front or way behind a group like that.

Or just go do wheelies out in the woods where we normally go.

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I agree too. Speeding, wheelies and stunts are nice when done in safe locations.
Problem is where to draw the line. How does one know if the road is too crowded? What may be a crowded road to a few, may be not so crowded to others...
 
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