It can happen to anyone.

[cad600]

One of the IT guys at my office was throne from his two week old Ducati 1098 this weekend. He lost it in a corner and hit something when he came off of it. As of now, he is getting better but they had to put him in a drug induced coma and he is still in intensive care. If he lives, he'll be paralized from the waist down. Makes one reevaluate some times. Everyone out there be carefull please.

[sweekster]

That just sucks. Hope he pulls through enough though. Prayers go out him and his family. Ride Safe guys.

[M in KC]

Bad deal man. Godspeed to your friend. On a somewhat related note checkout this weeks highlight secition on http://www.killboy.com for some others misfortunes. Sux for them as well but they all walked away initially.

[megaloxana]

Wow that blows a big one

[tommyj27]

That sucks. Best wishes to him and his family.

[95FZR600]

He should of been on an FZR. Prayers sent out. 0:)

[cad600]

Thanks guys. I'm glad people are thinking of him. Kind of wierd as he was definatly not a noob rider. As far as anyone could tell me, he wasn't avoiding anyone or anything. Just lost it in a corner. I've seen some bad motorcycle wrecks in person before, but this one actually freaked me out a little because I know him. It is also wierd because it makes me more thankfull that I didn't incure more injurries when I went down. I still get flash backs to the Buick Rendezvous bumper that I got real upclose and personal with in between patches of blue sky and black asphault.

[cad600]

OK, now I need to vent about this. Found out some new info today. Now first off I really am concerned for the guy I work with. I hope he is lucky and makes a full recovery. They were able to opperate on his leg and arm today so that is good news I guess. He is stable enough to go through surgery. But I found out this morning that he is a new rider. He had bought one of the new 250 Ninja's to learn on. But he couln't leave the 1098 he also bought in the garage. Sometimes people that do crap like that....... He had less than 400 mle on each bike. What idiot goes out on a brand new $14k motorcycle that puts 155hp to the ground as their (in reality) first bike. Now I know that this could have happened if he was on the 250 as well but please but come on. Not to mention the damn dealership that sold it to him. People ask me that all the time. They say why did you buy that thing. When I explain that I didn't want to take a chance on wrecking a brand new R6 they look at me with the "why would you go and wreck a new bike" look. Freakin morrans.

I tell ya, this country needs to do something about this kind of crap. Theres no market or demand for the smaller bikes which is why none of them are here except for the 250 Ninja. Mainly because if you have a license and the money they say why not. UK has it right. They restrict each bike until you can pass the rider skills test. They should do that here. Maybe we wouldn't have so many people who don't know how to ride out on the road. Or at least less people on a 400lbs gas powered bullet.

Remember, it is not a mater of "if" but "when".

Sorry guys, had to get that out.

[megaloxana]

So this guy bought a 250 and a 1000 at the same time?? wow.

anyway, I've been riding for over 3 years which I know is not anything compared to some of you guys but I don't think I'll ever get anything over a 750. I have enough common sense to know that my 145lb skinny ass don't need anything that powerful. It seems people care more about impressing others rather than their safety. Perhaps he thought that he would be made fun of for riding a 250 and needed to tell people he had a 1000 too.

[bweight]

I have to agree with you Cad. I got my first bike back when I was 18 and it was a Honda CM450E. Not a sportbike at all, but still was fun nonetheless.. Now, fast forward 12 years later and I'm riding an 89 FZR 400.. I don't need, nor want anything bigger/faster. 1 because I've already crashed hard enough, been out of work for a year because of it, and I've got 1 daughter and another child on the way (just found out 2 weeks ago).. So I don't necessarily need to die right now.. There's been 4 motorcycle deaths this "season" already and 3 of them coming in the last 2 weeks around here.. The risk is high.

Now, I'm not by any means a top rider, but I am VERY cautious since getting back on the bike a few weeks ago. I don't take stupid chances, and I especially don't stay close to cars anymore.. I'm fully geared up no matter the temperature and always assuming that something *could* happen just around the corner. I don't ride like a granny, but I also don't ride like an idiot. I just ride.. I've got friends of mine who can take the pain for driving like idiots. One of my buddies has a ZX6R and will rip by my house to his place (about a 1/4 mile away) on the rear wheel snapping through the gears.. And all it's gonna take is one lil mistake from him or another driver on the road and that's all she wrote.

I think it would be a smart move for any developed country to come up with some sort of license / cc restriction on bikes, hell, why not on cars as well.. There's too many people who can't drive that have somehow passed their license tests and with the amount of people around here now getting bikes to offset the price of gas, it's only going to get worse...

The one *beef* I have with our graduated license system here in Ontario is the M1 (first stage of motorcycle licensing) restrictions.. The fact that I cannot drive a half hour before sunset and can't drive until a half hour after sunrise.. It makes absolutely no sense. How is someone supposed to ride for the first 90 days (after that you can do the first road test for the M2 stage) strictly during the day, then be allowed to ride at night with no experience (I have experience because I did hold the proper stage of license way back when) ? However, if you have your "G1" which is the car license, you just can't drive between midnight and 6:00am, granted you need to have a licensed driver in your vehicle with a min. of 4 years at all times in with you for 18 months, but still.. it's ridiculous..

[cad600]

I'm actually thinking more about restricting the size of engine or power of the engine. I know the UK puts restrictors on the air intake that basically makes it so the engine can't produce more than about 33hp. You have to be able to pass the next level of test to remove it and get a full hp the engine is capable of. It is not this ways anymore, but in Japan it use to be that you had to get a special license to ride a motorcycle bigger than 400cc. That is one reason why they developed 125, 250, and 400 bikes for so long. Hell, even Ducati sold the Monster 400 and a 400 SuperSport for a while in Japan. It just seams that with so many people going to motorcycles and mopeds for transportation due to gas prices that license restrictions or required training might be a good thing. Bad part is that some people going to these don't realize you need a special license to be legal.