What Makes You Wanna Give Up?

blade1

blu3r0ri0n wrote: »

Had to have a minor surgery to fix a major issue recently, been off the bike for about 3 weeks now! I'm going absolutely nuts and I can't imagine giving it up, ever! Don't know how I'm going to get through the next week or two, if it wasn't for the mrs I would already be on the bike.

Every time I see one of you fcukers I cry a little inside with envy!

I know how you feel!
I'm half embarrassed to say this but a good few years ago,after making **** of my foot, I rode around with a cast on.
Even when the cast came off, I was on crutches for a year and used to strap them to the side of the bike before heading off..:o

seamusk84

I commute via bike and hate public transport so basically can never give up.
Still was almost taken out twice this week - some lad pulled out in front of me at a petrol station when I was tipping along at 80k and I had to take evasive action. Then on Thursday on the N4 some wan almost merged right on top of me.
Keep the eyes open everyone!

SeamusG97

blade1 wrote: »

I know how you feel!
I'm half embarrassed to say this but a good few years ago,after making **** of my foot, I rode around with a cast on.
Even when the cast came off, I was on crutches for a year and used to strap them to the side of the bike before heading off..:o

Reminded of a story from many years ago about a young bloke I knew who had his leg badly broken from a fall off his 125. A few weeks later he is riding pillion behind an (equally cautious and careful) friend with the full cast on - leaves a white chalk line on the tarmac around a bend as they cut in from overtaking a truck.

(May be exaggerating about the truck but reliably informed that he chalked a false road marking with his left heel at one point)

BrokenArrows

Considering selling the bike this winter.
Its a combination of reasons.

1. I'm going to start working from home. Currently im on the bike every day 365. Working from home + winter = the bike won't get used.

2. Because it won't get used and will be sitting idle on a London street every day its guaranteed to get robbed.

3. I'll save about £180 a month by not using it for commuting, fuel, insurance, servicing, tax.

4. Cash I'd have after selling.

5. I want to move into my own place so the above savings will help.

zubair

blu3r0ri0n wrote: »

Had to have a minor surgery to fix a major issue recently, been off the bike for about 3 weeks now! I'm going absolutely nuts and I can't imagine giving it up, ever! Don't know how I'm going to get through the next week or two, if it wasn't for the mrs I would already be on the bike.

Every time I see one of you fcukers I cry a little inside with envy!

Glad all is ok anyway blu. Let us know when you're back on the road and we'll get a spin in. Goodlad will have gone through 3 bikes by then.

goodlad

zubair wrote: »

Glad all is ok anyway blu. Let us know when you're back on the road and we'll get a spin in. Goodlad will have gone through 3 bikes by then.

One of them being yer missus :P

blu3r0ri0n

zubair wrote: »

Glad all is ok anyway blu. Let us know when you're back on the road and we'll get a spin in. Goodlad will have gone through 3 bikes by then.

cheers, been going on short spins the past two days grand, hoping to make the Sunday spin.

I can't wait till he gets one, he is constantly sending me links to bikes for sale! :P

whupdedo

But if everyone gave up biking , what would happen all the people waiting for organ donations ?



Only joking (kinda)

goodlad

blu3r0ri0n wrote: »

cheers, been going on short spins the past two days grand, hoping to make the Sunday spin.

I can't wait till he gets one, he is constantly sending me links to bikes for sale! :P

Well stop slacking and find me a bike

blu3r0ri0n

whupdedo wrote: »

But if everyone gave up biking , what would happen all the people waiting for organ donations ?



Only joking (kinda)

bladespin

whupdedo wrote: »

But if everyone gave up biking , what would happen all the people waiting for organ donations ?



Only joking (kinda)

There are plenty who choose the wrong place and time for a bad joke, I'm sure they'd fill the void.

whupdedo

bladespin wrote: »

There are plenty who choose the wrong place and time for a bad joke, I'm sure they'd fill the void.

I was joking if you can't joke at your own mortality you probably shouldn't be riding bikes

Max Headroom

whupdedo wrote: »

I was joking if you can't joke at your own mortality you probably shouldn't be riding bikes

Theres no room for that sort of humour on this forum...now go to your room and watch endless bike crashes on youtube.....:D

Cienciano

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Considering selling the bike this winter.
Its a combination of reasons.

1. I'm going to start working from home. Currently im on the bike every day 365. Working from home + winter = the bike won't get used.

2. Because it won't get used and will be sitting idle on a London street every day its guaranteed to get robbed.

3. I'll save about £180 a month by not using it for commuting, fuel, insurance, servicing, tax.

4. Cash I'd have after selling.

5. I want to move into my own place so the above savings will help.

Still worth having something for spins on nice days. Insurance is the only big expense. If you sell your commuter, get something nice, possibly a bit mental that you just take out on nice days.
Obviously depends on cash, but you can get something that will be great fun for a quick blast for cheap enough.
Old blade or something like this
http://www.donedeal.ie/motorbikes-for-sale/yamaha-yzf450/10374616?offset=3

Max Headroom

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Considering selling the bike this winter.
Its a combination of reasons.

1. I'm going to start working from home. Currently im on the bike every day 365. Working from home + winter = the bike won't get used.

2. Because it won't get used and will be sitting idle on a London street every day its guaranteed to get robbed.

3. I'll save about £180 a month by not using it for commuting, fuel, insurance, servicing, tax.

4. Cash I'd have after selling.

5. I want to move into my own place so the above savings will help.

Fufgin hell..almost 2200 of yer sterlings every year....i thought things were 'spensive over here....:eek:

antiskeptic

Seanie_H wrote: »

Lads, saw a bike get t boned 10metres in front of me today. I was in a car a few back and saw it all. Bike was lucky, I'd say was only accelerating on impact. A real eye opener for vulnerability as a biker.... Scared the **** outta me. Overriding instinct is to sell up and leave it but I know that's not right.

Question is, have you seen a bad bike impact in front of you?

A number. Chap on a scooter barrelling through a junction ahead of me. The sight of his runners (presumably untied, gangsta style) flying 30 ft into the air as he whiplashed over the bonnet of the car stayed with me. His helmet, untied presumably, ended up 20 ft up the road from where he lay. He wasn't too bad as it happened.

Carving round a curve in the road only to find a patch of gravel occupying the width of the road in front. Luck saw me run through the tracks cut through it by cars. Eye's immediately in the mirror for my mate who was following behind. He wasn't so lucky and he went straight across the road and luckily into and through a hedge - about 10 foot further up from a solid stone wall.

It was my own spills and near misses that stuck with me most however.

If you're sticking to biking then it wouldn't be a bad idea to do some advanced rider training. I'd gotten to the stage of quitting (which would have meant a new job), having a daily commute of 15 miles across Dublin each way, each day and the number of near misses (and any number of potential crashes that could have been had I only been a little further up the road - people u-turning out of stopped lines of traffic up ahead etc), though not frequent, were weighing heavily. I did some advanced training and it managed to equip me to deal better with the psychology, not to speak of improving roadcraft. You're moved, however, from riding as carefree, to riding as a defensive.

I quit eventually when motorcycling had become a pasttime rather than an essential and my first was on the way. I figured, advanced training / hundreds of thousands of miles experience or no, that I couldn't balance the pleasure* with the potential horrendous consequences for both me and my family.

*at this stage, riding had become mostly about hazard reduction (not elimination) management - I'd so much knowledge and experience built up that I could no longer see motorcycle riding as a wind-in-your-face, freedom-of-the-open-road gig. For motorcycling to be an exhilarating experience you've either got to be ignorant to the risks, or be knowledgeable of them but choose to suppress the knowledge since you can't really ride around thinking of what might be at every corner. I was probably lucky enough that I'd extracted just about all there could be to be extracted out of motorcycling to make the sacrifice a relatively small one. I mean, the risk of life changing/ending injuries for the sake of repeating pleasures I'd had plenty of before didn't really stack up by that stage.

Max Headroom

Each to his own excuse/reason for giving up, seen mates killer/injured/chairbound in front of me over the years...still wouldnt make me give up..It would make for an extremely boring world of robots if we all thought biking/horseriding/jumping off cliffs was "too dangerous"...

I'm still amazed at the age group of bikers that i see in Glendalough every sunday..real men or idiots...makes me smile...:)

antiskeptic

Max Headroom wrote: »

Each to his own excuse/reason for giving up, seen mates killer/injured/chairbound in front of me over the years...still wouldnt make me give up..It would make for an extremely boring world of robots if we all thought biking/horseriding/jumping off cliffs was "too dangerous"...

It's a relatively simple matter of cost/benefit analysis. If the benefit you obtain exceeds the (potential) costs then you've reason to continue. If not, not.

It isn't necessarily being boring to weigh up on one side of the equation (you might, for example, have others needs to consider in which case the boring life is actually a sacrificial one). Nor is it necessarily living-life-to-it's-max to weigh up on the other (you might be simply ignorant of the risks (as are many born-again-bikers/mid-life crisisee's), you might be making a selfish decision, you could have a death wish or, you might be so good on a bike that the risks aren't actually that great in your case in which case you're not being all that daredevilish in fact, etc., etc.)

Max Headroom

antiskeptic wrote: »

It's a relatively simple matter of cost/benefit analysis. If the benefit you obtain exceeds the (potential) costs then you've reason to continue. If not, not.

It isn't necessarily being boring to weigh up on one side of the equation (you might, for example, have others needs to consider in which case the boring life is actually a sacrificial one). Nor is it necessarily living-life-to-it's-max to weigh up on the other (you might be simply ignorant of the risks (as are many born-again-bikers/mid-life crisisee's), you might be making a selfish decision, you could have a death wish or, you might be so good on a bike that the risks aren't actually that great in your case in which case you're not being all that daredevilish in fact, etc., etc.)

I think all bikers have to be ignorant of the risks or they wouldnt ride bikes, nobody knows whats around the corner only that accident waiting to happen....i've lost as many mates to cancer/heart attack etc as i have bike mates...its life...you choose to use it the way that suits you, if you cant afford it for whatever reason thats just tough...many born agains find now that they DO have that disposable income/pension that allows them to ride again...

btw when i use the term "you" i'm generalising..dont take offence...;)

listermint

antiskeptic wrote: »

It's a relatively simple matter of cost/benefit analysis. If the benefit you obtain exceeds the (potential) costs then you've reason to continue. If not, not.

It isn't necessarily being boring to weigh up on one side of the equation (you might, for example, have others needs to consider in which case the boring life is actually a sacrificial one). Nor is it necessarily living-life-to-it's-max to weigh up on the other (you might be simply ignorant of the risks (as are many born-again-bikers/mid-life crisisee's), you might be making a selfish decision, you could have a death wish or, you might be so good on a bike that the risks aren't actually that great in your case in which case you're not being all that daredevilish in fact, etc., etc.)

I go out with herself on the back, we can travel and see things we would not see in a car. For someone to tell me i am surpressing the risks is complete rubbish tbh. I know the risks of biking, i go out because we can see and go places for little cost that you just dont get to see in a car (at all) We enjoy the wind in our face, we dont go whizzing all over the place.

You have your reasons for giving up, but please dont generalise by saying others are supressing or ignorant to what can happen on a bike.

I know people who dropped dead in their hall in their 50s. Fit people.

Ive i went around playing odds with every decision i make in life, i wouldnt be in my job now, i wouldnt have travelled the world and i probably wouldnt be getting married next year.

Best of luck with your decision however, your reasons are personal to you.

Style of bike is also a key element here tbh.

Max Headroom

I know guys who have had to give up biking and are now miserable and a bit bitter sods....Biking is a funny hobby , a lot of guys get married ,have kids but still persue their hobby/interests, whether it be biking,golf, fishing, diving, all can be expensive and some dangerous but for some reason it seems to be the one that guys are "forced" to give up.....is it a guilt thing.???.i dont know as i'm not a parent.

Not sure on the style of bike thing there listermint.....

Volovo

I am about to get back into biking I'm 23, had a bike on and off for the last 4 years. I'm getting to work via Dublin Bus these days and what makes me reluctant to get back on two wheels is the unbelievable complacency of drivers I see while looking out the bus window. I think I'd be accurate in saying, 3 in 5 drivers on the N11 every morning/evening are on their phone or doing makeup while driving at relatively high speeds. Today whilst in moving traffic, a guy was on facebook on an iPad and eating a sandwich at the same time driving.

I'm planning on buying a bike this week but when I see this every morning I start to ask myself why am I putting myself out in the middle of these complacent fools!? One of them will surely kill me someday

Max Headroom

Volovo wrote: »

One of them will surely kill me someday

What'll make you a better rider is the fact that you notice these things...its all about observation and predicting what might happen and being prepared....always think that theyre out to get you....an old guy pulled out in front of me yesterday, nice day, clear road and i was driving a fcuking white sprinter high roof van....
If i can offer one piece of advice its this...be extra careful aroung churches at mass time....lethal..

antiskeptic

Max Headroom wrote: »

I think all bikers have to be ignorant of the risks or they wouldnt ride bikes,

I wasn't ignorant. I'd too many miles up and too many close shaves / beyond close shaves to be ignorant. But still I rode. I rode (not always, but not infrequently) in a state of tension - because I knew I was engaged in an activity that required utter attention if I was to stave off the chances of a crash - in an activity where a crash, of any description, can unpack very badly.

There was a certain thrill involved in that tension, alongside the dread. The thrill of pitting myself against something where the stakes were very high. You wouldn't think a commute across Dublin would involve such but the setting of (what is not unlike) war is frequently mundane and unremarkable. I recall stepping off the bike after arriving at work on countless mornings, looking at those who'd spend unremarkable, stuck in traffic commutes to work, huddling against the rain for the few metres between car and office door. Whereas I felt exhilarated, alive.

I'd just diced with death. They hadn't. No surprise really.

It isn't ignorance. It's suppression of the truth about the risks involved in biking that enable you to continue. It's when what you know in your heart of hearts to be the case about biking gets set against insurmountable obstacles (such as a wife and a new kid, both of whom you want to be around for) that giving up becomes a consideration.

nobody knows whats around the corner only that accident waiting to happen....i've lost as many mates to cancer/heart attack etc as i have bike mates

It's about the added risk of biking, atop all the other reasons by which you can be laid low. Biking doesn't reduce your chance of a heart attack (the opposite might well be the case). The trouble is that the time it takes to reduce those risks right down (such as my own case involving many miles and lots of training) involves negotiating a long period of learning. During which your risk profile is high.

It's not that one shouldn't take up biking. It's to go in eye's open. You don't really see that in posts of folk considering taking it up. A trip down to Lidl to get their kit seems to the extent of consideration for the risk side of things.

btw when i use the term "you" i'm generalising..dont take offence...;)

None taken or meant.

antiskeptic

listermint wrote: »

For someone to tell me i am surpressing the risks is complete rubbish tbh. I know the risks of biking, i go out because we can see and go places for little cost that you just dont get to see in a car (at all) We enjoy the wind in our face, we dont go whizzing all over the place.

You have your reasons for giving up, but please dont generalise by saying others are supressing or ignorant to what can happen on a bike.

Let's look at (some of) the facts:

1. Unlike a car, there aren't really any safe bike crashes (although there are some which are certainly very much more likely to result in death or serious injury than others). The most innocuous 5mph spill can see you knocked over and have your head run over by a passing vehicle. A 30mph spill can see you with a crushed pelvis and permanent nerve damage whereas a car driver can reasonably expect to make it into work that same morning.

2. Bikes are inherently unstable and hard to see. They lend themselves to accidents that cars don't. A bit of gravel here, a tighter than expected bend there, greasy roads, a granite wall rounding the outside of the bend ... the list is literally endless when you run a comparison.

I've driven the same commute route across town that I rode for years on a bike and it's utterly mundane and without threat. Pedestrian even. On a bike I'd a mental map of every single risk-location and had a strategy (a strategy for God's sake) for dealing with all the usual suspects. The rest was down to luck. I lost count of the number of bits of broken bikes lying on the ground as I passed over, over the years - the results of those who through ignorance or something else rode with a lesser strategy or simply got unlucky.

3. The nature of a bike tends towards riders engaging in more risky behaviour than the average car driver. Cars are frequently forced into herd-like behaviour (e.g. the traffic doesn't allow you to speed, you don't speed), bikes give freedom to do what you like more or less whenever you like. And the bikers I've seen riding around avail, in the main, of that freedom.

You either suppress those truths and ride as if they don't exist (or exist to lesser degree). I remain to be convinced as to how you ride carefree when holding them full square before your face.

Or you are ignorant of them.

Or you set a different price than I do on personal well being and longevity. That's always possible

Ive i went around playing odds with every decision i make in life, i wouldnt be in my job now, i wouldnt have travelled the world and i probably wouldnt be getting married next year.

Some decisions require a more rigorous assessment of the pros and cons than others. You don't have to bring your life to a halt deciding on every little fiddle faddle

Surely, embarking on what can only be described as a risky pastime requires assessment.

zubair

antiskeptic

zubair wrote: »

Ride on.

gerrowadat

Ah here. I'm away to sell me bike and buy a goldy coloured micra.

BrokenArrows

Max Headroom wrote: »

Fufgin hell..almost 2200 of yer sterlings every year....i thought things were 'spensive over here....:eek:

Ya last bike got stolen 2 years ago and I live in London so insurance is a bit pricy.

prunudo

Some of you may have heard of the passing of Sandor Bitter during the week. A Hungarian road racer who would've been at the TT, ManxGp, Macau, Nw200 etc. He faced danger every time he left the startline, but he embraced it and lived life to the full. Some people would say he was mad, reckless, road racing is too dangerous, let's ban it, blah blah blah.
Well here's a thing, life is dangerous, nobody knows when your time is up. I encounter danger everyday of the week, I respect it, treat it with caution, but I'd rather do that than spend my life wrapped in cottonwood in front of a computer and live till 90 never actually having lived.

How did Sandor Bitter die you ask, he choked on food while he lay on his bed, RIP ride free