Modern Vespa

Will buff right out?

Heh, how I wish…(Maybe Nietsche would be on the list for a Cybertruck?)

If only real life was that simple

I'm shocked at the ones who jumped on Bill Dog. He brings his humanity into the conversation and you dump on that. Wow! Instead you choose to encourage the OP to get back on the horse. The OP has had many situations that has put him at severe risk. Bill is right. The OP needs to reevaluate riding on two wheels.

If the next time the OP is severely crippled or worst, I really want to hear from those enablers who argued Bill posts and explain to forum how you feel that you encouraged the OP fate.

The issue here, TB, is that (1) well-intentioned or otherwise, I feel Bill was insinuating that my riding skills are at best subpar, if not woefully inadequate, while (2) disregarding my accident history on two wheels sans engine, which is at least as colorful, if not moreso. And I won't touch on the incidents in cars where I was merely a passenger.

Bottom-line: there's a whiff of It's Your Fault. I don't hate Bill for it, but I'm finding it really hard to understand his take. All I'm saying is that, based on my experience, any form of two-wheeled riding carries risks. And I've carefully assessed the risk factor for all of them. Sitting on my hands at home, at least for now (except for the healing-up bit), isn't an option.

But can we agree travelling at high speeds through the night after riding all day, chasing self imposed deadlines for bragging rights is perhaps more risky than just riding to the shops?

Well…sure! (Not-so-fun-fact: both my worst crashes were with me traveling <30mph. The other vehicle[s] was traveling faster.)

Ahhhhhh. Now we can see what you're doing wrong. The faster you go the less time you spend on the scooter, logically that reduces the probability of having a crash.
And of course a moving target is harder to hit.

Ooh, I'd like to believe that...

Gosh. This sounds more like Bill's riding style. I suppose that was on purpose.

I just don't understand why this thread is continuing like this.

It's amateriat's decision. 'nuff said.

Amateriat,

Good to see your multiple replies. Proves you are already on the mend. Keep on going.

Chris from CLE

Since he isn't able to defend himself let me tell you OUR take. No one is questioning your skills, it's a question of risk assessment. As someone who has been riding for sixty-one years I have seen it a lot.

Let me paint an example of an incident that occurred this past Spring to me.

I was traveling to a motorcycle event on a busy road when I spotted a car pulling out of a side road ahead to my left. As he stopped I could see that a telephone pole between him and me prevented him from seeing me coming. Now, of course, I had the Right of Way but if he didn't see me that wouldn't stop him from pulling out into me. The road shoulder was extremely narrow at that point leaving me with no way out if he did pull out so an impact would have been inevitable. Also my Nighthawk has drum brakes and stopping quickly is questionable on any occasion.

So I slowed down. He, of course, jumped out onto the road about where I would have been if I hadn't slowed down. We all motored happily down the road. I saw the telephone pole between us, determined the possibility of an accident and gave up my Right of Way to prevent a collision.

Now I have been riding since the Kennedy Administration, grew up around dozens of skilled motorcyclists, my Father among them, and have been schooled in the hazards of riding.

To quote my Dad's message to new riders, "There's a car out there with your name on it. Your job is to make him miss."

And if this treatise makes me a bad guy, so be it. Street riding is as much about risk assessment as acquiring skills.

And to answer a question. In 1973 I acquired my street license after 11 years of dirt racing. Knock on wood I have never been down on a motorcycle. Well, okay, once when I dropped it on black ice disguised as a puddle. I then turned around for home and took the car. I think that was about 1989.

Sometimes I really can't believe the level of victim blaming shithousery!

The OP gets wiped out by a jeep doing a left across him and the best advice 'we' can give him is 'maybe time to hang up your helmet'

some of our 'riding experts' need to give their head a serious wobble!

Admirable record, but irrelevant to the issue of repeatedly telling someone to stop riding.

I don't know what Mr. Dog said to be ejected. Doubtless it was witty. Apparently it was considered unfit for the conversation, so the appropriate person executed the removal.

My recollection is that the good William has been ejected a few times. Should one offer our great experience and tell HIM that he shouldn't write anymore?

And if you say you only wish someone well, that doesn't mean deprecatory comments regarding someone else's choices or skills will be welcome.

This is a pastime that has a bit more danger to it than some others. We all decide what's right for us, and we can decide for ourselves.

Somehow, you feel that it was an exceptionally brilliant move to "slow down" when you sensed that a car would pull in front of you.

I guess you are unaware that the exact situation happens on many rides for the rest of us.

We slow down too.

I am certain that Amateriat has been confronted with the same situation many times and "slowed down" too.

It is also reasonable to say that if a Jeep left turned in front of you with no indication it was coming, and so close that there was no way to avoid it, that you may be in the hospital with a broken leg and two wrists too.

I may consider driving my Miata instead of scooting after several accidents, but that is my choice.

It is also the choice of Amateriat to choose as he pleases.

Bill

The one factor the "hang it up" people are forgetting is the environment he's riding in. He's riding from northern New Jersey into NYC where everyone is out to get him. You couldn't pay me enough to ride there. The only worse place might be Boston. Maybe Kyev.

If he gave up his scooter, what would he do for entertainment? Night landings on an aircraft carrier?

Pretty sure we're all over 18 here.
But I do believe in his own way BD cares

Me neither. I can't even imagine that as being fun. I avoid traffic as much as possible and that's impossible to do in the NYC metro area.

For those of us who like it, riding in New York City can be a lot of fun. I look forward to it every single day, both for pleasure and for transportation. I find myself outside of the city most weekends and have as much fun riding there as I have in the big apple/mango.

True about that traffic though and you could hit that at any time of the day. I don't mind, but I really don't like being in a car in these situations.

I hear you. Please don't mistake my tone. City traffic isn't for me. I know some folks love it. Good for them.

My wife and I were in NYC for a wedding a year or so ago. We were in a cab southbound on 7th avenue in wall-to-wall traffic. It was cold too. A guy in a topcoat riding a 300 was next to us for a while and he seemed calm and content to be there. I would have been shitting bricks!

To each his own.

I think I gave up the fighter-pilot fantasy after a hot five minutes when I was ten years old.

But you've brought up something interesting: the "greater New York area" (roughly-speaking, the Five Boroughs, Westchester County, southern Connecticut, and northern New Jersey) is a little nuts to navigate, regardless of how many wheels you're rolling on. And while some situations are hairier than others, and which I try to avoid (#1 with a Bullet: truck/local lanes of the New Jersey Turnpike at night. There's your Vespisti equivalent of a night carrier landing, I think I can confirm), none of this is for the faint-hearted.The good news is that not only does nearly everyone on the 'Pike or GSP acknowledge my presence, more often than not, they give me fairly wide berth, especially from behind. Once over the bridge (or through the tunnel) and in Gotham it's pretty much everyone-for-themselves, which is where my 40+ years of peddling the pavement for fun and transport comes in: you can't be much of a New Yorker if you consider "right-of-way" as a given, and it pretty much doesn't matter whether The Other Guy's observation of your presence is visually compromised (their car's pillar, dirty windshield, the Fresh Direct truck double-parked at the corner), one has to assume that this person very well could just decide to ignore the Stop sign or light and just get on with it. And we haven't even touched on e-bikes and clueless cyclists…so many of them now. All this has helped sharpen my senses for what most people might do in a careless moment, allowing me to avoid catastrophe more times Than I can get into here. Spidey-sense is a cool thing to have, but even Mr. Parker hisself would confess it ain't 100%.

I hear you too. No worries. 😀

I did spend my younger years living in small towns and I have a love and understanding of both kind of places.

Either you're doing better, or that took an entire afternoon to write out.
I'm fond of your long-form posts, please keep them coming.

I think there a lot of cars out there with your name on it. Your example shows experience well learned and applied. But sometimes, there is no way out as in Amateriat's case.

Try riding in Miami some time.

My favorite quote along these lines comes from a photojournalist covering Beirut in the mid-to-late 1970s: "It's not the bullet with your name on it you have to worry about; it's the one marked 'To Whom It May Concern.'" It's obviously taking longer, but I'm going faster than a few days ago. More energy, too.

Good to hear. Keep on keeping on.

lol, why are you directing your misery at me? Go check the message you quoted. I said he should consider it, not whether or not he should stop.

I even shared the story of my partner's own crashes and persistence to ride.

Please chill out and take a moment to read what you're quoting before jumping to your own conclusions.

Did they give you steroids from the broken hip or something? I don't know about you, but I always consider whether or not I should be riding before every single ride... if it's a day where I seem to be getting mad at people on the internet for no reason, that's a day I try to stay on the not-riding side of that consideration. Tranquilo, Max, everything's gonna be okay bud. Gotta relax a little! That's exactly it. First you consider, then you decide.

Good quote. Glad your sense of humor is intact.

I got your pm.
Adri unfortunately I only actually read the titles of your previous post. Thanks for calling me out on it. You have every reason to do so. It was more of a knee-jerk reaction than anything else. It was irrational of me to quote you without having read your whole post when you're only trying to help. And you did it in a very non threatening diplomatic matter. Completely mea culpa

In my humble opinion personally I think it's too soon to be having a conversation of whether or not ride. The OP will have so many challenges ahead of him. Honestly I think that is really going to be a personal opinion regardless of what other people will have to say. This thread is the blueprint of what's to come. People are people in a forum or in real life. Holding on to sympathetic and empathetic friends will help you in your recovery. Just like someone said before this is when you really find out who your true friends are.

All good, ride safe!

Won't that always be a personal opinion/decision? i think some in this discussion are forgetting that each of us makes their own decisions, and those decisions may well be different even when presented with exactly the same information. We can share our own experiences, but we really can't tell someone else what that means to them.

Quite. All evangelists can take a running jump...

I 'wasted' a goodly portion of the last hour getting to this point.....so my .02:

I'm 79 years old, started riding a Cushman Highlander at 14. Have had over 40 motorcycles/scooters since. I currently ride a Spyder F3 and a 2020 GTS 300 HPE.

In 2005, I was riding back from lunch with a friend in the Hill Country of Texas. We were following a pickup with a big dog in the back and my friend (on our communicators) said "Get around him." (We had both had big dogs jump out of trucks in front of us). As I passed the truck, I realized that there was a small car in front of the truck and it was slowing rapidly. I thought it was slowing to let me by but no, it was turning left. The left front caught my 2004 BMW LT just in front of my right leg/foot. I was traveling about 55 at the time and rolled and flopped for a long ways before coming to a stop about 20' from my bike. As I lay there doing a check of my extremities, I looked over at the bike and thought "I wonder how bad it is." It never crossed my mind that I was done riding. I ended up a week in the hospital with a crushed left hand and multiple minor stuff. And the LT was a total with only 3900 miles. I replace it with another LT at my wife's insistence!

Oh, this was not my first trip to the emergency room nor would it be my last. Last year I rode my F3 to Alaska from NM and this year I'm taking the GTS to OKC from NM. No one, even my wife of 57 years has suggested I quit riding!

The moral of my story? I'll quit riding when I'm ready not when someone says I should.

Amateriat would you mind sharing with us how your transition to being back home is. I mean of course you are doing occupational therapy and physical therapy. But there are things that you might have to do at home.

In my case when I couldn't bear weight on my right leg for 3 months a few physical changes had to be done. I have no steps so getting through the front door is not a problem because I live on the first floor. Occupational and physical therapy help me remove the bathroom door because my walker was too white for it. They also gave me a chair for the shower and they removed the sliding doors and installed a temporary plastic shower curtain. I had a riser on my 🚽 to make it easier to do my business.

warms best regards!

As things stand now (ahem), I'm looking at roughly a bit under six weeks of rehab, although it's an open question of how long I'll be where I am now and how much of that time might be spent at home. The next stage involves a second (presumably final) surgical procedure involving a bone graft from my right (mostly-unmolested) leg. There will, of course, be necessary rehab after this, but it shouldn't be quite so long. One positive factor is that both wrists should out of their casts by then; right now, dealing with a walker is a bit of a challenge without help. (Of course, the fact that I am dealing with a walker less than two weeks post-crash is quite a thing to me.)

Speaking of PT: Today was kind of a biggie: pivoted out of bed, changed out of hospital gown to my regular sleep/lounge-wear for the first time, hopping on the walker to high-back wheelchair, rolled out to hallway (first time since i got here), get back on walker to hop forward ten "steps", drop back into wheelchair and wheeled bak to my room, sit for another hour, then back to bed. And this suddenly reminded me of a song, with a music video so appropriate it hurts when I laugh…

Good luck on your rehabiliation and recovery. I've watched my wife recovering from her recent spinal reconstruction and it's a frustrating road if your expectations get ahead of what your body can do.

Regarding the walker. Kim needed one that had wheels for using outside. I went to the medical devices place and it was full of walkers that screamed, "Old, decrepit codger." You know the ones. Parked in the corner was one that was bright red and looked like Cannondale had made it. Super cool. She loves her walker. Doesn't make you feel old.

It's the Vespa of walkers!