Worst case sceneario

[Toolmaker Tim]

27 Year Old Tech

Hey Tod, your reply makes an exellent point, most of the bikes have been modified in one way or another. Your point about trusting a valve of vintage age with your life is a case of judgement. Which is pretty much what Ivan's thread was about. Everyone is going to react to a worst case senerio as the gibbering little guy in their head tells them to at that moment. I guess I'm just trying to learn from everyone who has walked away to be able to tell their story so I can school the gibbering little guy into a possible solution. I guess if anyone takes any of this information in and survives to say thank you to the person who suggested it, even if someone else disagreed with it, its was a success.

[Erik the Red]

the gibbering little guy in your head

Interesting thread... I happened on it just now. Two things:
1. Over the years, I've developed the absolute belief that I should always listen to that little voice in my head. After wrecking my car when I was 16, a buddy told me "Always go with your gut." -since that would have saved me a wrecked car. That's stayed with me since then, and time and again, when it came down to it, that would have led me to a better outcome. Now I try to listen to his gibbering.

2. Never had a *serious* wreck, but wanted to share my slow motion story. Picture this: a young man in college, still immortal, went sledding with friends. Only this hill was the fire watch tower hill; 20 foot wide open stretch lined with trees on both sides. Steepest I'd ever encountered -standing upright, you're chest-deep in snow. Took a half an hour to work halfway up the hill. We decided that halfway up was good enough (~250' ride down from there). ...well for one run. I wanted bigger.
After that, I decided that I was gonna run it from the top. I struggled upwards for probably the better part of an hour, and after I caught my breath, pushed off. I don't know how fast I was going (20 mph, if I had to guess), but things were great until I saw the burm of snow we'd built up bracing our feet as we scooched out to the middle at the halfway point. No option other than to hit it as square as I could. I launched, and as I did, things slowed right down.
I remember being thrown forward (maybe I jumped), I was floating, touching nothing but air, my body fully extended. I watched as the hill seemed to come at me, but I didn't hit. Instead, into my field of view came my sled, then the top of the hill, then the sky, then the horizon, then the bottom of the hill, and then I hit (on my back) with a crunch. As I summersaulted downward, now throwing snow everywhere, things snapped back to real time. Trying to stand up as the top of your body is lurching forward is the equivalent to jumping and diving into the ground, so I quit trying to do that. I managed to get sideways and rolled the last 150 or so feet to where I managed to claw my way to a stop. It took a few minutes for equilibrium to return enough to stand up.
It was the strangest sensation, that slow-mo. Just weightless and realizing that you were doing a full front flip, and marveling that you were aware that that's what was going on. Impact will distract you from your oneness with the world, though.

Yeesh, didn't mean to get that long-winded. And it's probably not even that great a story, but I like it, so thanks for allowing me to reminisce.

[Toolmaker Tim]

Helmet Laws

On most things the "nanny state" should keep their nose out of it, but I disagree on helmets. It's a simple problem of economics, Medicine has advanced far and fast enough today that the village idiot who crashed without a brain cage has a good chance of surviving as a veggie. At least as long as his kin want to put up with it (still hoping for a Jerry Springer appearence). It costs more to keep the idiot alive on a vent than to chuck him in the ground. Hence the rising cost of insurance. I resent having to pay more to subsidise a whole village of idiots breathing on ventilators,because they like the wind ( and sand, rocks, bugs and the ocasional dip spit) in their face and/or hair. Head injuries don't look cool. Just my opinion. Guess I need to head for the showers now.

[mstic2000]

Re: Helmet Laws

Originally posted by Toolmaker Tim
It costs more to keep the idiot alive on a vent than to chuck him in the ground.

Wow! Did somebody piss in your cornflakes or what????

[Ivan]

On most things the "nanny state" should keep their nose out of it, but I disagree on helmets.

I find it ironic that here in Kansas, it is ok not to wear a helmet, but not wearing a seatbelt in your cage carries a misdemeanor charge.

[trbig]

Tim,

I do agree with the you that it costs a lot of money to keep someone alive in that condition. BUT.. above @ 25 mph, a helmet becomes pretty much useless for anything besides abrasion resistance. Some argue that it's additional weight on our pencil-like necks does more harm. Not many people wreck under 25mph.

Don't take this as a ranting from an anti-helmet crazy. Sometimes I wear them.. sometimes I don't. I do like being able to have that choice though.

I haven't seen any studies, so this is purely speculation, but I would bet that in crashes above 55mph, it's the guys with the helmets that are surviving on the ventilators. The others have Darwin'd themselves out of the gene pool.

The only viable option for our nanny, is to take away our choice to have just two wheels, wrap us in steel, air bags, crumple zones, etc. to "Protect us for our own good".


Tod

[mstic2000]

People on ventilators from motorcycle crashes is not even an argueable point when it comes to insurance costs. What you are paying for are ALL the uninsured motorists either on 2 or 4 wheels that don't necessarily even end up in a hospital. Same thing with the health care system. What you are paying for there are the uninsured who run to the ER every time they stub their toe and shouldn't even be there in the first place. And as long as I am on a rant......I wasn't STUPID enough to finance my home with a balloon mortgage. I have a fixed mortgage. Now the feds are bailing out Fanny Mae & Freddie Mac? And I (a tax payer) am going to end up paying for all these stupid F****'s that shouldn't have even been givin a mortgage in the first place??? Now that's what's F'd up!

[Bamper]

A while back my dad got a flier for these jackets that blow up.
http://www.motoair.com/
Don't know how much it would help but they give you neck support.

[trbig]

I'd do a head check to switch lanes and mine would go off..

lol.

Tod

[mstic2000]

hmmmm............I wonder if they will come up with one for the ol posterior? I think that would be a seller...

[mro]

ALL the uninsured motorists either on 2 or 4 wheels that don't necessarily even end up in a hospital. Same thing with the health care system. What you are paying for there are the uninsured who run to the ER every time they stub their toe and shouldn't even be there in the first place.

Read where they think that an average across the states is 20% driving without insurance, higher in states like CA., lower in some others. Can think of about 20,000,000 that if they went home would just about solve car and medical non insurance problems.


mro

[Toolmaker Tim]

I am sorry to anyone that I offended with my ventilator crack. It was a stupid thing to say. I have a nephew who has been on one since birth. I also have two cousins who have had severe brain injuries in accidents. Sometime I let my jackrabbit mouth run ahead of my turtle brain. Maybe I need my ventilator diconnected.
Tim

[LoHo]

Quote: "He says riding without a helmet is perfectly sane, if you take a head blow you are going to be seriously injured anyway, so why bother. "

Oh! Oh! I know that one! Because a head blow to your head causes more damage than a head blow to your helmet. Sure, if you hit a semi at 100mph, you are meat, helmet or not. The helmet keeps that 25mph lowside on the sandy turn just a pisser, not a fatal or hospital-worthy accident.

[fredintoon]

Another plus for a helmet (a full-face, that is) is that your next-of-kin can identify you more easily after a fatal collision.

[Jerry]

Well, opinions are just that....

I happen to like the linked brakes on my XJ; I use the rear brake pedal for around 90 percent of my braking. Nothing against Todd's variation; it is a matter preference. While the front brakes provide the majority of your braking power, the rear does have its uses.

Webbikeworld.com has a lot of motorcycle crash statistics; here is one excerpt:

"With 50 percent of motorcyclist fatalities occurring while the vehicle was negotiating a
curve, it is imperative that this information be conveyed to operator education, and
training programs. This is especially important because most fatalities in single vehicle
motorcycle crashes occur:

• On rural roadways;
• With high alcohol use among operators;
• With speeding;
• Off roadway;
• On undivided roadways; and
• During the night. "

(http://www.webbikeworld.com/Motorcyc...ty/809-360.pdf)

I also take exception the the idea that most accidents happen at over 25 mph; another source is quoted as:
"15. The median pre-crash speed was 29.8 mph, and the median crash speed was 21.5 mph, and the one-in-a-thousand crash speed is approximately 86 mph."

(http://www.motorcycle-accidents.com/pages/stats.html)

Both sites have in-depth statistical analysis of fatal motorcycle accidents for those interested in the numbers.