Motorbike realities

I wear all the gear... All my clothes are CE AA (at least) with all the armour including back protectors, even in the hottest weather. I've also coloured my headlamp yellow in order to make it more distinguishable when illuminated... I just think the arguement about wearing magical yellow clothing is designed to put the onus back onto bikers rather than making sure drivers actually pay attention.

As a longtime biker the fear is encouraging someone in to biking and then they have an accident. No one wants that guilt. I wouldn't count myself as a skillful biker, a lot of my friends are more capable and technical than me, even much safer. But they've been unlucky and been hit and I've been very lucky. I've just cursed myself haven't I?

If you've come off your bike and are unconscious in the middle of the road-anything at all that helps oncoming drivers to see you could save your life.

Can't trust any safety equipment to save you, but every bit helps

Did call to report this when it was safe to do so as this type of thing can cause a very messy accident for both cars and bikers

What camera set up so you have?

Great quality, and I forgot that point about unsteady loads in trailers.

I'm always watching out for them.

Nice one, what do you have it mounted on to? Is that on your helmet or a vest?

On the Helmet, the camera comes with all types of mounts, you just have to fiddle about with some of the anchor things that come with it and fashion it the best way you can, the 3m sticky is really strong but I maybe overkill the mount a bit, I also have it strapped through and under the lining of the helmet, and bit of wire that will hold the camera on to the lid in the event of my head hitting the ground as the cameras (no matter how strong the mount) will come off if your head does take a smack on the ground.

Also, don't drill or make holes in your helmet like some guy on youtube, think he screwed it in with screws! Great way to destroy the integrity of the helmet. (Not saying anyone would here but you know, some folk do mad things)

That one in the pics is a flip lid too. You'll never really get a complete perfectly flush mount in my experience, have had 3 helmets that all varied in style at the mouth/chin section, some round, oval-shaped, ridged. Just takes a bit of thinking how best to do it, some fit good on the top, some cameras work well at the side if they are the bullet shaped ones.

I tried at the side but felt the side of the helmet dragging a little at motorway speeds so at the front worked best.

The chances of it happening are the same most likely but the outcomes for the car driver versus the motorcyclist tend to be far less fatal etc..

You can only control what you do, at some point you will end up in a schamozel where another party is at fault. In a car you have a far better chance of a less worse outcome than on a bike.

Serious injuries for motorbike riders were trending upwards up until the COVID years almost every year for the three years previous years.

So yep, luck does come into it.

I have only started out on the motorbike in 2016. The first day I picked up my "new" to me bike I dropped it in our underground car park in work. Thankfully it was a naked bike and only the indicator housing was broken. I was grand. My mistake was that I misjudged the surface and therefore slipped away.

Once I was out with friends for the whole day. We were saying our goodbye's at the traffic lights and I didn't see the gravel when taking off. Slow speed spill. Pain in my wrist for a week and indicator broken off. This was on a half faired bike but there were crash protectors on it so no real damage.

The last accident I had was when I picked up my "new" to me fully faired bike. It was a nice sunny day and I was driving at slow speed (around 40 kph) through Templeogue village and didn't see an oil spill. Hit the brakes and off I went and the bike. Due to full protective gear I only had a sprained shoulder. The bike's fairing was damaged and indicator broken off.

To be honest with experience I could have avoided the first two incidents easily but I guess you learn from them. One thing I will say though no matter how warm it is make sure you have your full gear on. This protected me in the last accident from serious injuries.

Other then above I had no incidents.

Unfortunately I wasn't on the bike for over a year now as I had a skating accident where I hit the back of my head and I am still recovering. It will probably take a few months until I am fully confident to go back on a bike as my concentration is currently not 100%.

Anyway if you have your head screwed on and don't act the maggot then riding a motorbike is very enjoyable and safe.

My 2 cents...

Per km travelled motorcycles are safer than bicycles, but that doesn't stop the government demeaning the former and promoting the latter.

Passing on the left in the same lane, arsehole.

The free one has a zip too

Just on this, i ride but coming out of lidl one day in the car i had this incident. Its a T junction that goes downhill to RHS the way i was going, coming up that hill was a biker on a black bike, with black helmet and black gear on black tarmacadam. Looking down the hill, didn't see him and edged out, looked again and spotted him. I probably spooked him but all ended well. It was a nice sunny day too. So wearing ghostrider gear can hinder/hurt you, F9 has a good video on how are brains are programmed to look for wider vehicles too. Also dont forget that if you come off the bike at night and are lying on the road in the same gear that it wont end well when the next car comes on you.

OT i started biking when 36 5 years ago, loving it. Very much enjoy going for spins and sometimes the way home from work. I generally commute on the bike but its only 12m a day. Fell over/off when stopping on gravel, i was practically stopped but then the gravel got real deep.

I’ve nearly fallen asleep on the bike once. Very nearly. Easily enough done.