i_eat_staples

comparing it to cancer or heart disease is much too simple a comparison, and youre being disingenuous to yourself

ELEVENS

I've gone all summer on the same tank of gas as my RS4 is strickly a bad-weather car. Everytime I get into it, performance-wise the RS4 seems like a Yugo. There is no comparison. Just look at the numbers, the bike will do nearly 150mph in the quarter mile in umder 10 seconds and 0-60 in slightly over 2 seconds.

ELEVENS

I've noticed I haven't ridden my RS4 as much since I got my motos...

April

rush like nothing else. No car I have driven, even comes close to the effect of wacking open the throttle and hanging on for dear life while tears form in the outer corners of your eyes inside the helmet and you giggle like some demented comic book villain. Then there is the whole zen aspect of shifting your weight in corners, cherishing long smoother sweepers where you can really play with throttle and traction. Finally there is a sense of experiencing more of the journey because you are exposed to the elements for better or worse - warm breezes, cool drafts, etc.

On the other hand, you need to ride like nobody sees, you, and that maybe 50% of drivers out there actually resent you and have an anti-bike agenda. It's the only way to stay alive. I got off, never to ride again, when somebody cut across many lanes of traffic and forced me to make a stoppie that did me no damage and only light bike damage - but it was a warning I heeded.

I still look longingly at bikes but don't dare swing a leg over or I'll never go back to cars ;-)

sillyboy

beds occupied by motorcycle accident victims. half a dozen or so waiting for the families to make them organ donors and take them off the vent.....Most of the accidents were in seasoned riders, and ranged to everything from cars pulling out in front of them, to dogs running in front of them, hitting sand, getting caught in rain and of course the alcohol related accidents.

Don't kid yourself..and this is from someone who grew up riding dirtbikes, and rides a Ducati Monster S2R...Most of the accidents on a bike are completely out of the driver's control, and the fault of the envoronment or another driver...

Be free and ride, but have your will advance directive in order!!

sillyboy

almost pulled the cord on the 1098R, but figured it was just too stupid fast for me...will probably pick up the 1098S next summer...one of the sexiest bikes out there......

S4Pazz

Yup...."donorcycles" :-/

simonlok

There is no way you can possibly characterize motorcycles are being as safe as cars. In the worst case, you are about 35 times more likely to die on a motorcycle as opposed to driving a car. However, by taking very simple precautions such as wearing a helmet, being sober and taking the MSF class every 3 years, the risk drops to approximately 5 times more likely to die in a motorcycle as opposed to a car.

From a lifestyle perspective, there are two more reductions. I live in New York City and do not ride "rural roads with opposing traffic and no median." In addition, I would choose not to ride the motorcycle between the hours of midnight and 4 AM. This brings the multiplicative factor for my particular lifestyle to be 2.25 times more likely to die on a motorcycle than a car.

That is as far as I can go with hard data.

If we move into the realm of "engineering math" (aka "pseudo math" or in the extreme, "conjecture"), there are several potential ways to bring the 2.25 factor down. First, ride a motorcycle with ABS and electronic stability control. Second, practice "ATGATT" (all-the-gear, all-the-time). Third, wear a helmet that has a "Sharp" rating of 5. Fourth, you could take the MSF course annually instead of every 3 years. Fifth, replace your CE armor plates with things that can disappate 100 joules or more. The list goes on.

These things may not actually result in any improvement in my chances, but then again they might. By going with 100+ joule armor, Sharp level 5 helmets and high abrasion resistance rash guards, I would imagine that the severity of a potential non-fatal injury would be reduced.

Either way, the hard math number of 2.25 is something I can live with. I do lots of things that are probably way more than 2.25 times more likely to be fatal than driving a car such as heliboarding, kitesurfing, etc. In the end, the probability of death is 100%. I don't want to die an early and meaningless death, but I do want to enjoy myself a little bit too.

Vijay

I started my clinical rotations in medical school in 1991. Since then, the amount of mangled flesh I have seen as a result of motorcycle accidents is far greater than from auto accidents. No comparison here. Bikes are death machines compared to cars. Fun, yes, but at a high risk price tag. At the point in life I'm at with wife, kids, great career, the RS4 is as much risk as I want to take.

simonlok

For the longest time, I would not go near a motorcycle. Then I looked at the numbers. The numbers don't support the bad reputation. It's interesting how much perception and primary effect shape our viewpoints.