Read this... Â Chicago Sun-Times Article

[Gpirelli]

I'm sure I will catch hell for that one

I'm sure they are getting a lot of responses especially if this article was being posted on all these other boards

 

[stockerjo]

Cut Leslie some slack.  She's a former reporter obviously with an eye for a story.  Old habits are hard to break.  I love the colorful rhetoric:  

"If we keep an ear out, we will know to keep an eye out. Lucky for them, their bikes are very noisy. Listen for a high-pitched whine that sounds like a swarm of supersize, very angry hornets coming up behind you on the highway, coming up very fast, aiming to plunge a stinger into your rear bumper."

She is only addressing the Squids we all complain about, and I hope the cager readers pay attention.  No need to lose a life or get maimed, Squid or no, because a cager switches lanes at the wrong moment, and gets others involved in a crash as well as the biker.  I'm glad someone is telling the cagers to watch out for bikers, any bikers.

Stockerjo

 

[TOP0369]

Okay, lets just suppose she has a point somewhere in all her criticism? She would have been much better served if she focused her article on the importance of motorcycle, or rather, highway safety. Instead she chose to attack motorcyclists, as if to raise a banner for the less informed to rally on, and leave everyone else with nothing but the bantering of an "aggressively" opinionated woman.

...maybe she was just jealous of a honey with a tattoo?

 

[hooken203]

Would all the action she is talking about be OK if these riders had the proper gear on?
I sure hope I dont grow up and become as good a rider as some on here cus that would make riding the basa kinda boring.
Some of that off the wall stuff is what makes riding a sport bike what it is.FUN.
So take a breath already reporter.

 

[RaiderDm]

Technically there are a number of cars out there that can outstop a Booo from 60-0

 There are actually Porsches hitting it in well under 100'.
What's even more bizarre is some of the best 60-0 times are done by cruiser bikes and not sport bikes!  Must have something to do with them not being prone to stoppies.

You're right about the Porche's and some other HP cars, but generally speaking with normal cars, a bike doesn't take longer to stop then cars...but then again I guess that also depends on the rider.  There are a lot of riders out there that don't know how to use their brakes...

While some cars MAY be able to out stop a Busa very few
cagers can out brake a bike. Heck 98% of cagers don't even
realize its time to use the brakes until AFTER they've hit something.



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[Revlis]

I have to agree with damn near everything she says.  I see that kind of moron squidling crap on a daily basis.
I'm sure everyone in here has noticed what effect the Busa has on squids.  Doesn't matter if there is 1 or a gang of 10, their IQ's drop at least 50 points, revving of fart pipes start, followed by wheelies and then weaving between cars at triple digit speeds.

All that to show the guy on the Busa what kind of "men" they really are.  If anyone in here drives a classic muscle car you get the same effect with kids in Honduh Civics and Neons.

Very true words Turbo T, I see it almost everyday I take the bike out also.   Gotta say though, that article did get my blood boiling a bit.  In her article she did an excellent job of describing the majority of society's stereotype of a sport bike rider, which we all know as dipshi*'s...I mean squids.  What heated me up though is she's trying to come off as so intelligent and caring (or whatever) but she did not mention the majority of us more "mature" riders that don't do stupid crap on the highways (just on the track  

).  She has taken such a one sided perspective on this issue, which makes her look ignorant and hence has earned her the title "da biatch."  To make a fully convincing arguement, you have to acknowledge the other side.  Her words weren't necessarily wrong, just one sided, and just from being on this board I can tell (I think) that they don't apply to most of us. I mean, if I wanted to play her game I can write an article of all the morons on the highway in the morning going to work eating/drinking/on the phone/sureashellnotdriving all at the same time.  Or the old lady in the huge-ass cadillac/towncar who can barely see over the steering wheel going 45 in the left lane with her blinker still flashing (actually there was one that ran me completely off the road this past friday that fits in this one).  Let's not forget about the minivan with the 5 kids bouncing around the back while mom is singing along with the radio and picking her nose.   Point is, there are stereotypes for everything, but it doesn't apply to everyone...not even the majority, just a couple of exceptions that spoil it for everyone.  
My final thoughts....she pisses me off, because as a former reporter/author and current teacher, she should be knowledgable enough to understand that her experiences were the result of a couple of bad apples, and most riders don't demonstrate that kind of behavior on public roads.  She's just all twisted because the day she wrote the article she was probably rollin around and got passed by a bunch of bikes who scared the crap out of her and she noticed that they were doing stupid stuff, so she thinks..."I'm gonna write an article about bikers and how bad they are."  She is plain and simple ignorant.  
BTW, I had a rough week (including getting run off the road and 2 flat rear tire in 3 weeks)...had to let it out  

Well Said....  

Now who is going to bring me this Dipshit's head on a Pike?

Turbo-T The Busa does seem to bring out the absolute worst in every Male ages 18-50 in the area...  when I am out in the car, I do not see the nearly the amount of stupidity I see while on the Busa.  Every Small dicked, brainless, twit with any sort of a hint of a performane mind wants to "Show" the Busa rider how it's done.  Yadda Yadda...   Never ends...  But I imagine it's worse up north where an abreviated riding season condenses all the good riding time into a few months...

Doesn't change the fact that this article is going to make you and I look even worse than we allready do in the eyes of Johny Law and Joe Public regardless of our behaviour or maturity level. We are automaticaly pegged as punk kids and get treated as such...  As for the real rider thing....  Um...  Sounded like a slap to me so uh...  bite my ass...  

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[Turbo-Torch]

As for the real rider thing.... Um... Sounded like a slap to me so uh... bite my ass...

[/QUOTE]

You take things too personal, even when they're not aimed at you

I was more or less referring to sites where the members (squids) feel it's their God given right to ride as fast as they want, do what ever kind of stunts they want, wherever they want, no matter who's lives they put in jeopardy. That's what I love about this site...that breed of idiot is practically non existent here.

Headed over to the drapstrip today and while riding along on a highly congested roadway in front of the mall (and a million other stores) I got to watch a squid on some yellow POS do a wheelie through the intersection, t-shirt and shorts, no helmet...little hottie on the back in a tube top, shorts and of course no helmet. Sometimes I wish the girls father would just so happen to be driving by at that very moment.
This damn near described to a T what the bimbo mentioned in that article. I bet if I turned around and caught up with them the girl would even have the tattoo right above the ass!

Be honest...set aside the fact that she left out mentioning all the REAL riders, did she not perfectly describe the squids we see nearly EVERY time we go out and ride?

 

[PACIFICBUSA]

Sigh...another mom with more issues she blindly lays on the general biker population.

It's useless to talk to people so ignorant....

 

[MET]

WOW!! Most soccer moms around here are lethal. Drive speeding in and out of traffic. heaven for bid if you leave a spot open in front of you one car lenght they will come behind you and jump in the spot, thus moving them ahead by one space. Let's not even talk abouty the phone use. They are much more dangerous becasue they do not even know they are doing it. This article is a good example.

 

[Gpirelli]

Be honest...set aside the fact that she left out mentioning all the REAL riders, did she not perfectly describe the squids we see nearly EVERY time we go out and ride?

I agree Turbo T, she did. Squids definitely ruin it for us...like you said, its the morons out there that feel that they have every right to ride as fast as they want and do whatever stupid stuff they want. Its a fact of life, motorcycles are fast machines...even the 600's. I'll be lying (and I think I speak for most) if I said that I never 'opened it up' a little here and there, or once in a while take a known corner a little faster then I normally do, just to get my lean on, but all this is done when I know there's no traffic and I'm gonna get no surprises. Besides that, I try to be the model rider, stay with the flow of traffic, usually don't exceed the speed limit by more then 10, heck, I even use my turn signals all the time. As a matter of fact, I think I do more stupid stuff in my car then on my bike. Bikes not only provide the temptation to get stupid because of their potential, but they even give you the option. So for most of us, we exercise extreme self control every time we take our Busa's out. We know that we can do all the stupid stuff we want to on the track, or local dragstrip.
So you got it right Turbo T, squids are just bad examples of us, and unfortunately the Busa happens to sometimes initiate stupidity from the little guys