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So sportbike riders wear more gear......


Tonik

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...know how to use their brakes better, do track days to practice, don't go on poker runs that are bar hops.....yet they are dying at a rate 2 to 4 times faster than the cruiser guys.

 

"These bikes made up less than 10 percent of registered motorcycles in 2005 but accounted for over 25 percent of rider deaths"

 

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/popularity-of-high-performance-motorcycles-helps-push-rider-deaths-to-near-record-high

 

 

Slow down guys, please.

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i always was looking for such a break down. till now i was assuming cruisers will be more crashes and deaths just by scanning the crash news reported here. Man, thats an eye opener :(

Edited by NinjaDoc
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i always was looking for such a break down. till now i was assuming cruisers will be more crashes and deaths just by scanning the crash news reported here. Man, thats an eye opener :(

 

I always felt the death rate was higher, but what shocked me is if you add sport and supersport together you get about the same number of total deaths despite over 3 times as many cruisers on the road.

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Great dataset. I'm actually kind of blown away by that Supersport death rate.

1 out of 500 Supersport riders dies Every-Year. And it is probably worse than that because the denominator is bike registrations (as opposed to people regularly riding.)

1 in 500 chance of death per year is just insanely high... I can't think of a comparably risky mainstream activity.

Bottom line is if you can't devote the time to acquiring skills and habits that make you an order of magnitude safer than the average rider, best to find a new hobby.

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...know how to use their brakes better, do track days to practice, don't go on poker runs that are bar hops.....yet they are dying at a rate 2 to 4 times faster than the cruiser guys.

 

"These bikes made up less than 10 percent of registered motorcycles in 2005 but accounted for over 25 percent of rider deaths"

 

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/popularity-of-high-performance-motorcycles-helps-push-rider-deaths-to-near-record-high

 

 

Slow down guys, please.

 

What I take from this is, it's harder to die waddling around in parade formation with your other fat Wild Hogs.

 

On a srs note, even a cursory thought into this should be obvious that a lot of sport bikes are owned by 18-25 year old risk takers, and are often ridden well beyond safe limits and skill. The deaths I would wager are over-represented by younger males with little to know training, and very little experience. Once you get past those years, you wise up, get serious about your bikes, and become a more proficient motorcyclist. Deaths become rarer.

 

Break these numbers down by age, and miles ridden, and you'll see a massive divide start to appear as the riders age. Of the guys over 40 I've known who have had life-threatening or serious accidents on bikes, the majority have been cruiser riders who were essentially rookies or fair-weather riders.

 

In any case, I'd rather die of speed with a decent skillset than from a left-turner having lived my entire motorcycle life timidly riding around dressed like an extra from the Police Academy "Blue Oyster" scene.

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Don't take all this at face value, the Ohio state highway patrol has a study more recent and their data is exactly the opposite. Bike over 1200cc and age 40 and over was by far the worst group. Don't get me wrong, speed kills, but the statistics and the buzz words sounded like the beginning of legislation to ban sport bikes.

I will find the study link for the state of Ohio.

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Don't take all this at face value, the Ohio state highway patrol has a study more recent and their data is exactly the opposite. Bike over 1200cc and age 40 and over was by far the worst group. Don't get me wrong, speed kills, but the statistics and the buzz words sounded like the beginning of legislation to ban sport bikes.

I will find the study link for the state of Ohio.

Is that because 1. Upper middle class males buying 800# bikes and not knowing how to ride or 2. The bike night crowd that drinks multiple adult beverages then rides away ?

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Is that because 1. Upper middle class males buying 800# bikes and not knowing how to ride or 2. The bike night crowd that drinks multiple adult beverages then rides away ?

I have met two OR groups at bike nights. They were all sport bikes, all drinking.

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I remember when I first looked for my first bike. I was ready to buy a brand new supersport. I called my insurance company and they wanted some ungodly amount of money. They said a rider under the age of 24 on a supersport has a 70% chance of totaling the bike in the first 6 months. Also i see people who own cruisers with with 1200 miles after 6 years of "Riding", so there's alot less chance of crashing if it's in the garage. It's as broad as it is long. Bikes crash, we just have to prepare/protect ourselves for the worst.

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I have met two OR groups at bike nights. They were all sport bikes, all drinking.

 

Polaris QS&L is the total opposite, there is so much leather and chaps being worn while drinking at the outside bar it is just insane.

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...know how to use their brakes better, do track days to practice, don't go on poker runs that are bar hops.....yet they are dying at a rate 2 to 4 times faster than the cruiser guys.

 

"These bikes made up less than 10 percent of registered motorcycles in 2005 but accounted for over 25 percent of rider deaths"

 

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/news/desktopnews/popularity-of-high-performance-motorcycles-helps-push-rider-deaths-to-near-record-high

 

 

Slow down guys, please.

Where did you get the Idea that sportbike riders know how to use their brakes better & do track days. I would bet that the vast majority of sportbike riders (I mean owners) don't know how to use the brakes better or do track days. When riding ignorance is coupled with machines that have a horsepower to weight ratio that is double to quadruple that of most cruisers it's a dangerous combination. Everybody likes to twist that right grip.

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Don't take all this at face value, the Ohio state highway patrol has a study more recent and their data is exactly the opposite. Bike over 1200cc and age 40 and over was by far the worst group. Don't get me wrong, speed kills, but the statistics and the buzz words sounded like the beginning of legislation to ban sport bikes.

I will find the study link for the state of Ohio.

Exactly. That's what I saw a couple of years back when I looked. Majority were >1200cc. Check the raw data, Ohio and Fed.

 

I think the point is... that time frame saw a rapid increase in ownership of motorcycles of all kinds. Many of those were first time riders. The days of buying a smaller but capable motorcycle to learn on are gone. Except in Britain and Japan and some US military bases where it's mandatory to put in time on smaller bikes to learn first.

 

edit: lol... the same gov data said that if you rode sober, wore a helmet, and had medical insurance, your odds of crash, injury, or fatality dropped dramatically low. Statistics... whachyagonnado...

Edited by ReconRat
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I was one of them. I wasn't drinking. I was ribbed for taking a census job, but wasn't drinking.

 

Might be the old man memory....that was a while ago...but wasn't it like ACORN or some liberal political action group and we gave you crap for that?

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Another statistic source that differs, the NHTSA shows data for the same time frame, based on vehicle miles driven. Still an increase, but shows 44%. Not 100%.

 

edit: on the other hand, it shows nearly doubled for the time frame 1995 to 2005.

 

edit: here's the NHTSA summary, edited to be brief (I put in the bold):

 

  • An increase in the number of registered motorcycles.
  • An increase in motorcycle ownership in the 40 and above age group.
  • An increased number of motorcycle rider fatalities involve a motorcycle with a larger engine size.
  • An increased number of motorcycle rider fatalities in the 40 and above age group on rural roadways.
  • Undivided roadways accounted for a majority of motorcycle rider fatalities.
  • Speeding under the age of 30.
  • blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .08 g/dL or higher continue to be a major problem.
  • Helmet use among fatally injured motorcycle riders has remained constant
  • About two-thirds (66%) of the fatally injured motorcycles riders in States without universal helmet laws in 2004 were not wearing helmets compared to 15 percent in States with universal helmet laws.
  • Among all riders, motorcycle operator fatalities under the age of 20 had larger percentages of improperly licensed riders.

Draw you own conclusions. Most will be correct. Lots of possibilities.

Edited by ReconRat
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When trying to find some more recent data, I stumbled across this article. As mentioned above, I was surprised to find 56% of fatalities were in the age group above 40. 

On a good note, the overall motorcycle fatalities each year appear to be decreasing. 

 

http://www.iii.org/issue-update/motorcycle-crashes

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