What would you do??

[zookey]

Say you go to your garage and start up the bike for a morning ride before work. You drive out your driveway (about 1/8 mile) and as you near the end you start to look for traffic on the highway you will be getting onto. You look to the north and see no traffic, you look to the south and you see a 350-400lb black bear coming at the side of your bike. Bear is about 10 feet away from you, he is not running at you as if to attack, just their meandering/lazy/blundering walk they do when they are not angry or scared and in no hurry.

Would you..... Twist the throttle and just get onto the highway and out of the path of the bear? OR Would you honk the horn to try to "scare" the bear away from you?

Well this is the delema my husband faced this morning. His decision??
Honk the pathetic horn on the bike, making the bear change his direction and lumbering back into the treeline. Then he (the husband) turns the bike around, returns to the house to put the cat back inside. He didn't think it was safe if the bear was close to the house again. As he left the second time, the bear was sitting in the middle of the driveway and my husband just drove his bike around the bear's backside. Sometimes I wonder about that man!

[Wildkat]

LOL
(well... it can be laughed at now... right?)


I was with him up until the part where he left the second time and rode around the bear. I think I might have opted for the car instead.

and if your husband's horn is anything like mine... the bear was probably too amused to attack.

[zookey]

Ya know....... I may understand now..... I think that his horn could have something to do with why the bear was sitting in the middle of the drive way ..... laughed so hard he could just not walk another step!

And yes the bear sat in the driveway for probably 1/2 an hour after the husband drove around him and left. Not sure what was so interesting out there.... (unless it was completely recuperation time needed after the laughing fit)

[tcoop]

I can't say I wouldn't have done the same thing... unles the bear looked hungry then I would have just sped off.(The cat could take care of it's self)

[madmax-im]

Thats pretty funny...If it had been me on the XJ that horn would have scared the heck outta everyone...Just installed a Nautilus dual air horn 139db loud..you can clearly hear it a good 1/2 mile...

[tv5150]

Maybe???

Maybe he sat in the middle of the driveway (as if he was thinking "CAN U C ME NOW???") when your husband went back to the house thinking IF he acted like a good bear the nice motorcycle rider would offer him a ride on that killer XS1100 he's been watching from a distance everytime your husband leaves in the AM...Who knows, maybe he comes from a long blood-line of bears that used to ride motorcycles in the "circus" and he just knew there was something he was missing in his life??? I know one thing, I'd sure keep the bike under lock and key, you never know???

[jimbyjimb]

Black bears are not particularly aggressive. I probably would have just continued on my way rather than honk the horn though. I don't think you're tempting fate by going past a black bear any more than you are riding a motorcycle.

Either way, glad he got to see something spectacular AND live! Aren't bears amazing animals?

[ViperRon]

In reality the bear was not scared so its used to people and that is a bad thing. Worse yet it just sat there more than likely the bear is hungy and has associated people with food. Might be a good idea to alert the athorities before you come into the kitchen some morning and have a guest. Some people feed the bears and they become almost tame and dependant.

The one time I encountered a bear on a bike she had cubs. They ran down a steep bank into the middle of this one lane dirt road infront of me. I had no where to go so after the cubs went up the bank and she stopped lunging at me I reved the throttle dumped the clutch spinning gravel and it startled her off. Bears are normally scared or agressive if treatened to be as tame as your bear is not a good thing as I do not think you want it as a pet.

I would never have pressed my horn as I think it would have sounded like something scared sounding a cry of fear.

[WMarshy]

Lol, I definitely would not have beeped my horn in fear it might think Im food! My horn at idle likely resembles "deer in distress" to which would put said bear in diner mode!

[CatatonicBug]

In reality the bear was not scared so its used to people and that is a bad thing. Worse yet it just sat there more than likely the bear is hungy and has associated people with food. Might be a good idea to alert the athorities before you come into the kitchen some morning and have a guest. Some people feed the bears and they become almost tame and dependant.

The one time I encountered a bear on a bike she had cubs. They ran down a steep bank into the middle of this one lane dirt road infront of me. I had no where to go so after the cubs went up the bank and she stopped lunging at me I reved the throttle dumped the clutch spinning gravel and it startled her off. Bears are normally scared or agressive if treatened to be as tame as your bear is not a good thing as I do not think you want it as a pet.

I would never have pressed my horn as I think it would have sounded like something scared sounding a cry of fear.

+1! If that thing is so comfortable around people that a bike zooming past it's butt doesn't scare it off, there is something wrong!

Makes me realize how much of a city mouse I am... People around me call animal control for raccoons and groundhogs. A bear sighting would make the nightly news for a week!

[zookey]

Yes, the bears here are fairly Human Accepting. This was probably a cub that was born 2-3 years ago out in the back forty. The authorities here won't act on a bear sighting unless it has killed livestock. Not sure I have to worry about them coming in the kitchen as our dog is not the brightest and enjoys chasing them out of the yard when they wander into the mowed portion. As long as they stay in the tall grass she is fine with them.

I was thinking the horn on his bike sounds like the cry of a young bear cub when it is stuck somewhere and calling for mommy. But this was either a male or a cubless female. May even have still been too young to have cubs, not sure.

I should clarify that my husband did not drive extreamly close to the bear... at that junction in the drive way it is wide enough to almost do a u-turn with an 18 wheeler so he gave the bear a wide birth. I can still see the tracks in the grass where he left the actual driveway to go around the bear. It was also kind of cool this morning so the bear was a bit slow/cold.

The bears we seem to host on the back forty have a well worn trail through the woods that they use often.... it comes out about 1/4 mile down the road (still part of our property) but today it followed the treeline up to the driveway.

I think it it were me, I would have just twisted the wrist and gotten out of there..... he could have stopped down the road and called me to tell me to get the cat into the house.

[zookey]

Thats pretty funny...If it had been me on the XJ that horn would have scared the heck outta everyone...Just installed a Nautilus dual air horn 139db loud..you can clearly hear it a good 1/2 mile...

I want one of those horns!! For all three bikes!!

[fredintoon]

Thats pretty funny...If it had been me on the XJ that horn would have scared the heck outta everyone...Just installed a Nautilus dual air horn 139db loud..you can clearly hear it a good 1/2 mile...

Hi Max,
well, I dunno about the Stebel Nautilus, what if the bear mistook it's sound for a mating call?
would you prefer to meet an angry bear or an amorous one?

[madmax-im]

Hi Max,
well, I dunno about the Stebel Nautilus, what if the bear mistook it's sound for a mating call?
would you prefer to meet an angry bear or an amorous one?

Fred... the freakin horn sounds like a freakin freight train...no bear or anyone else is that stoooopid to think its anything else...and did I say LOUD??? To thse really interested in a Stebel horn...be sure you have a dedicated wiring harness and inline relay. This horn draws alot of current and if you were foolish enough to jus hook it up using the stock wiring on the bike will find out real quick that those wires will fry right up...

[madmax-im]

I want one of those horns!! For all three bikes!!

They work but as I've said ...you really should have a dedicated wire harness and relay...I used a harness for a single horn from Eastern Beaver. They have always had the best quality product out there...I've just learned that they no longer produce the horn harness...not sure who else does.