Fallen Rider

[Toynut]

Way back in the good old eighties in the Don Johnson (Miami Vice) era, I used to go to Florida fairly regularly to go scuba diving with a friend of mine.

I had some Michigan friends in the boat repair/ insurance work business who built them up to 3-4 locations.

If you remember the time period, it seemed that every young bachelor/ newly divorced man pictured himself as needing an offshore boat to attract semi-naked women.

My friends told me that it was common practice for the boat dealer salesmen to convince these aspiring Don Johnson wannabees that they could easily handle these +30 foot long, +90mph penile extensions.

Unfortunately, they would generally let them test drive them in the calm intercoastal waterways, which were generally as smooth as glass, and then give them generous 20-30 year financing packages back at the dealership to seal the deal.

The REAL moment of truth came when these testosterone-filled idiots took these boats out on the REAL ocean to open them up! :bigeyes:

My buddies told me of all of the insurance/salvage work they got when these clowns stuffed these boats into a real wave at high speed or rolled them near the surf lines as they cruised the beaches. Many of these sometimes fatal events occured on their first voyage!

I live in Michigan, the Great Lakes state, and we had the same stories here fairly regularly. I'm sure guys are killing themselves on their +90 mph bass boats down south, or in their big block jet boats in the western states.

The moral of the story is that you can't count on every commissioned salesman to look out for YOUR best interests. While I'm not pro government-meddling in most of people's activities, I do think that some sort of mandatory graduated licensing programs (i.e. motorcycle licensing in England) would be beneficial, in certain cases.

Remember, some of these 10 ton missle pilots take out innocent boaters as well!

At least some special licensing is involved before people drive off with those 40 foot long motorhomes.. But then, I digress.... :blink:

 

[sparky3008]

Bush comment Priceless.

Anyway from what I get out of the article at the speed this young man was going it really wouldn't have mattered what bike he was on I don't think. Plus, it really surprises me that someone coming from dirt would make this type of mistake unless he was lying.

I rode on the street for years with only self training and riding dirt bikes. When I purchased our home my wife demanded I get a motorcycle license. I decided to take the MSF in maryland and was very informative. Of course it was all in a parking lot but was very in depth. It taught and stressed going through the gears, down shifting and braking at the same time with both brakes and coming to a stop in first with one foot down. It taught how to bring the bike up straight in a turn before applying the brakes. It spent a lot of time teaching how to swerve the bike to simulate dodging a car/bus. Of course the normal going in and out of cones and coming to an emergency stop to simulate the bike not going out from under you if the bike is up right and straight. All in all a very good basic beginner course but exactly that a skills beginner.

The instructors tried to get people to sign up for an advanced course that would take people out on the street to teach real world tactics and many signed up. The course was not yet approved by the state and 5 years later I have yet to receive a call so I guess it never was. Seems to me this advanced course would be something very worth wild...

 

[BobbyBlue]

My heart goes out to his family and friends, It seems such a senseless loss.

One thing I would like to interject however, Except for the seconds of the actual crash, he probably was having one of the best days of his life and died on top of the world. Please do not take my comment as flippant, I meant no disrespect and I'm sure the dealer/salesman are sad also, but I would hope my family and friends ( all 2 of them ) would know that I actually hope to be taken out while on one of my bikes and the FJR would be my pick ! Again though I wish his family comfort and compassion in their loss.

Bobby

 

[MCRIDER007]

Except for the seconds of the actual crash, he probably was having one of the best days of his life and died on top of the world.

Bobby, I think your statement is 100 percent accurate and I really debated whether that was something that I should have told his parents since I was one of the last people he talked to. I decided that it wasn't necessary after reading the words they wrote for his obituarity. If buying a motorcycle could make me as happy as it made him, I would probably buy a new one every month until I was broke.