[Ronin R1]

But in a way in which they will listen to you?



Here is the Saga...

A few months ago a kid stopped by my house while I was working on a bike. He was driving a car but he soon tells me that he just got back from Iraq and spent his money on an 01 G1K. I ask him how long he has been riding, he says "just a few months, this is my first bike." I proceed to tell him that he should sell his bike and get something he can learn on like a ninja 250 sitting nearby. Of course he is adamant that he will be careful and that he respects the bike... blah... blah... blah...

So this kid (now known as Steve the Newb) is not going to sell his bike, in fact he just got it back from a shop where they were installing a yosh system and EMS to increase the hp.
"Fine," I tell him. "But if you ever decide that you want to hit the twisties, don't go by yourself. Let me know and I'll go with you."
A few weeks later he gives me a call and says he wants to ride Ortega. OK, I was planning a ride that weekend so I have him come along with me and another forum member. I briefed him at the start of the ride where to meet if he got behind and to take it nice and easy. Well Jay and I were waiting at the bottom of the east side for a while, we decided to maybe check the Lookout and see if he had mistakenly stopped there, when an ambulance screams by and another rider tells us that someone on a gixxer ate it on the mountain. Well we come to find Steve and his gixxer lying on the side of the road, the CHP wouldnt let us stop but long story short... he fractured his knee and the bike needs some work to get it running again. I called my wife to bring the trailer up the mountain and we ended up with the Gix in our driveway. We are waiting on parts to fix it, and that is how we met Steve the Newb's dad. They came by to see the bike and I come to find out that his dad was trying to talk him into a Hyabusa to begin with! Well, Steve's dad has less experience than Steve at this point and I just found out today that he went out and bought an 04 R1:scared . Steve says his dad hasn't ridden the bike much yet because "he doesn't feel confident" on it yet.
So am I dealing with a couple of loonies here or what? Maybe they are inherantly suicidal:dunno kinda like a family of lemmings. I just wish there was a way of getting it though to them that they are on a path to destruction.

(But hopefully he will let me ride the 04 before he wrecks it! <-does that make me a bad person:riding ?)

Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[Sicko]

Yeh, I got one. Have you ever wrecked? I thought so!

 

[djetch]

There's just no getting it through to some people.......Oh wait i'm one of them! HAHAHAHAHA

Had been on a 250 dual-sport four times and I bought and started riding my R1. That was a year ago. (Kids: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME!) I'm the exception.

That kid needs to have an intervention. We should just secretly switch his bike with a 250. Hahahha

 

[Eyespy]

You offered and gave your sound, and unsolicited advice. It was ignored. Nature will take its course. That's about it.

 

[R1Budha]

i got some advice.
Ask him if you can get a life insurance policy on him.
It's better odds than playing the lottery.......

 

[Sicko]

Yeh, I agree, Intervention is the obvious answer. Bikes anonymous. Hi My name is Sicko. I have this problem. I'm outa control on my bike! I am powerless and need help. Please Mr Highway patrolman give me speeding tickets so I can pay higher insurance rates, loose my license and be cured of my need for speed! "Before I crash!" :scared

 

[oREVwa]

Well, you already warned them, so now all you can really do is sit back and wait for them to wreck them, get too scared to ride anymore, then sell the bikes to you super-cheap.

It's just a matter of time.:crash

 

[rydfree]

But in a way in which they will listen to you?

Simply tell him about this forum .
Maybe he'll find this thread .:cryin

 

[Solidus]

About the only thing you can do is politely request dibs on parts so that you can have a spares bin ready when you get your own 04'. Seriously I was just thinking of this today at the gym. A deputy who works out there saw me ride away with one of the trainers one day and today he asked me if I knew that the guy had no endorsement and his license was suspended 5 times. I told him I did'nt know and he told me that he arrested dude yesterday for dwls, no endorsement, 65 in a 35, did a burnout beside his car , endo'd at the traffic light and then the coup de grace was when he flipped his lights on he did a short wheelie. He was gonna give the guy a break because he knew him from the gym until dude asked him " Why you f*@kin with me? You don't have anything else to do?". At that point I could see no reason for the deputy not to lock him up. I told him , that there's a limit to the amount of stupid that anyone can take. This guy was on a Gixxer 6 with no plastics because he was doing an endo a few weeks back and did it into the back of a car at a light. He just learned how to ride and he learned how to do standups on it before he learned how to apply the front brakes with any amount of skill. Damn shame.

 

[railr1]

Ron,

You had him come along with you and your friend. You knew he was a newbie...

When we ride as a group someone always has another memeber of the group in sight in case someone goes down. They ward off oncoming traffic and such....espec on the twisties...A car can come around a turn and run over a fallen rider.....

Sorry, this may not be the suggestion you were looking for....

 

[NYR1]

Adpot-a-squid (newb)season is upon us already



Ken

 

[Raze]

Ronin,

It's obvious that motorcycles represent more than just 2 wheeled vehicles to the illustrious son-father combo. I would try to see what the father can relate to and go from there. Don't forget that non-riders don't have the same eyes and mind-set we do. To them a bike is a bike and the only differences lay in the way the different models look. I would try to explain the differences in power and models through cars (ferrari vs. civic) or anything else the father can relate to. If all else fails a nice compilation of motorcycle death/crash pics on a CD should set him right.. some people only understand when they see the tough reality out of their heads. Keep us posted.

 

[RedRider0151]

The worst part is the kid should know how to ride at least a little bit...if he is in the military then he absolutely HAS to attend the Motorcycle Foundation Safety Course...which is a really good class by the way. So he should have some basic skills anyhow. Do them both a favor and take them on a nice slow treck around the mountain sometime. I mean lets face it, it doesnt matter if he is on a 250 or a R1...when he is on the mountain and enters a corner too hot and panics, this is what is gonna happen. Its not like he looped it, or lost the back end powering out of a turn. He just needs to learn self control is all and how to pick the best line through a corner. I mean seriously, a new 600 nowadays has as much power as a 1000 from 10 years ago...so are wesaying 10 years ago it was ok to learn on a 1000 cc bike?? I dont think it matters what bike we buy for our first bike, if it has plastic on it, then its way too much power, and no one wants to buy a Honda Rebel for thier first bike. (Even though my first street bike was a suzuki 1 cylinder that would get smoked by a rebel!! ) Now the dad...why he bought a bike he is totally afraid of is beyond me...sounds like Mid-Life Crisis kicking into overdrive to me.

 

[martinc]

Cant do anything,they just dont want to be seen on a beginner"s bike...both of them.
Same mentality.

My advice it to say nothing,to forget about them,to sever all ties to them because sooner than later,you"ll have to cope with sad news.

Sad but true...

 

[modest one]

Honestly.. you can't change the I.Q. of a turnip... You should rest soundly at night, because you did your best... you warned him, and he choses STILL to not listen. "You can lead a horse to water.. but you can't make him drink"
The only "thing" I dissaprove of on your part.. is your poor judgement on leading or being in front of him where, and when he crashed.

Now don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that it's your fault.. believe me.. its far from it.. BUT.. You went out with a guy that you KNOW he has not the skill, or the experience to handle a machine as ferocious, and unforgiving as the Gixxer one thou... so.. IN MY OPINION... YOU should have been his "guide" and watched him in your mirror.. at a speed that HE was capable of riding at safely. We ride as a rule, only as fast as the guy behind us CAN DO SAFELY.. WHEN he's a NEWB... We show him the ropes.. and try our best to not get too far ahead whn we know that he MAY try to keep up..

H3LL.. I did that exact same thing.. and in trying to keep up.. I hit the ditch at 50 mph, and that little lesson that"It's better to come in "Last", then to not come in at all" Cost me.. $8000.00 and a trip to the emergency ward witha broken collar bone as I flew off into the side of a mountain on my TLR.
So.. not your fault.. but again, we "lead" very tenatively with a newb... Try to anyway. I know you told him.. it's just unfortuante all around...

Some ppl are just proof, that inbreeding still exists...:fact

 

[railr1]

Ron,

The guy must think an awful lot about you to seek you out like he did....Great to see you helpout with fix of bike....Guy prob cant adjust chain much less fix the rest of the damage...

Dont shut him out yet...because you made the decision to get invovled already and believe it or not he prob needs you now....

Dont preach to him or his dad, just lead by example for awhile and see what he picks up....

Remember, you represent all of us here in the R1 family...

 

[railr1]

Honestly.. you can't change the I.Q. of a turnip... You should rest soundly at night, because you did your best... you warned him, and he choses STILL to not listen. "You can lead a horse to water.. but you can't make him drink"
The only "thing" I dissaprove of on your part.. is your poor judgement on leading or being in front of him where, and when he crashed.

Now don't get me wrong... I'm not saying that it's your fault.. believe me.. its far from it.. BUT.. You went out with a guy that you KNOW he has not the skill, or the experience to handle a machine as ferocious, and unforgiving as the Gixxer one thou... so.. IN MY OPINION... YOU should have been his "guide" and watched him in your mirror.. at a speed that HE was capable of riding at safely. We ride as a rule, only as fast as the guy behind us CAN DO SAFELY.. WHEN he's a NEWB... We show him the ropes.. and try our best to not get too far ahead whn we know that he MAY try to keep up..

H3LL.. I did that exact same thing.. and in trying to keep up.. I hit the ditch at 50 mph, and that little lesson that"It's better to come in "Last", then to not come in at all" Cost me.. $8000.00 and a trip to the emergency ward witha broken collar bone as I flew off into the side of a mountain on my TLR.
So.. not your fault.. but again, we "lead" very tenatively with a newb... Try to anyway. I know you told him.. it's just unfortuante all around...

Some ppl are just proof, that inbreeding still exists...:fact

Yammie,

nicely written,

I just wanted to add that we need to keep any rider in the group (regardless of skill level) in someones view.

 

[R1Gman]

Have them talk to people on this forum that have crashed. I'm sure that there are hundreds that can give them nightmare accounts of the results of riding. Missing months of work and having pain for the rest of your life isn't very fun. Bigger, faster bikes usually mean bigger, faster crashes, resulting in bigger hospital bills. BTW I am riding again, with a new view of the road and hazards that come with it....especially a-holes that are in cars and don't see you. Inexperience isn't always the problem, but experience can get you out of alot of those problems.

 

[quickshifterGTS]

R1Gman..couldnt have said it better myself!

 

[Ronin R1]

I don't want to make excuses, yes hindsight is 20/20. But he was determined to ride with or without me, I was just keeping an eye on him so to speak. For a kid I had known maybe a grand total of 1 1/2 hours at that point I think I met any moral obligation by not only warning him in the first place, but also checking on him at the crash site, having my wife check on him at the hospital, helping him get his bike back to the base, fixing his bike for him for a lot less than a shop would cost. And I'm still trying to convince him to sell his Gixxer and buy something smaller, but I think his Dad keeps egging him on.

I know how to conduct group rides, and I've done my time as the Sweeper Man. But, although it is hard to tell from the little I have written, this wasn't the case here.

The point is what to do about this father and son dynamic duo? I've talked to the father a few times, but he doesn't seem to be all there. I told him Steve needs a smaller bike, but he just says he should have got the Busa.

Oh, well. I've been wanting a track only bike, now the question is should it be the G1K or the R1?:sneaky