Callus, Selfish or Stupid?

I haven't been active here for a while. I have several bikes and have owned a couple XJs currently an 82 Maxim 750.

I'm a Father, Husband and Son. I recently became a Grandfather. I've been to war and taken to court. I've been beaten and done some beating in my short life. I am also an avid shooter, gun enthusiast and holster manufacturer, as such I'm active on several shooting/gun forums.

One such forum is noted for being populated by hardcore soldiers and "operators". I recently read a thread there by a guy who sold his bike because he witnessed an accident involving a friend on a bike and a Lincoln Continental. His friend survived but he recounted all the stupid things he'd done on his "sport bikes" and how lucky he was to be alive.

It was the following comments that really got me thinking. Every one of them told him that he had made the right decision and was a better man for giving up riding.

I almost puked.

These are supposedly tried and true soldiers. Men who faced danger daily. All I could think while reading the thread was "What a bunch of pussies!"

I'd sooner die than give up riding or shooting.

My next thought was "Am I being selfish?"

I don't think so. That's just who I am. I taught my kids to be honest and stand up for what they believe and I cannot think that they would respect me if I took any other stance.

If I don't die of old age in my bed, peacefully I'll die on a bike or fighting for my beliefs.

So, the question stands. Am I callus, selfish or stupid?

</rant>

 

How old are you?

 

I think the guy choosing not to ride is doing exactly what your expressing in the quote.It's just not the choice you would make.

If they are not enjoying the ride anymore for whatever reason,then they are probably right not to ride.Or buy a Harley.
If you worry about what's going to happen to you the whole time you lose focus and end up concentrating on the things your worried about,not the very real idiot who doesn't see you or the patch of diesel on the corner or that just plain bad luck that we all know can happen.
As a husband and father I have occasionally wondered whether continuing to ride just makes me selfish? A question that I still haven't answered to my satisfaction.
But in the end we all make our own decisions about our own lives and what you do in yours is not my problem unless or until it affects me or mine.
Live and let live mate, his life,his choices personally I wonder why people ask the opinion of what are effectively strangers about decisions they need to make for themselves or their own lives.

 

There is a certain amount of risk in everything we do. A number of people are injured and killed every year when they slip in the shower. Most people consider the benefits of hygiene to outweigh the risks of getting injured.

Motorcycles also pose a risk of injury or death, much more so than showering. You still need to weigh the benefits against the risks just like you do getting into the shower or undertaking ANY other activity.

Results will vary, it's a highly personal calculation.

I didn't get an interest in riding until after my children were grown. Personally, I don't think I'd ride if I had dependent children. Other people see it differently.

 

I rode for 17 years and hung up the helmet when my kids were 4 and 2, put a helmet on again 6 years ago when the youngest was 18 and driving. Am thoroughly enjoying being on two wheels again.

Buy the ticket take the ride, or don't.

 

adrian1,
I'm 47

I wasn't commenting on his decision to quit riding. That is a choice he made and it's not my place to second guess him as an individual. My consternation comes from the amount of supposed "Danger Rangers" who chimed in that riding was stupid and too dangerous for a sane human being.

I did take a break from riding when the kids where young but it was because of a lack of free time and extra cash. I was working several jobs to make ends meet and pretty much exhausted all the time.

I do have to admit that my seemingly over the top reaction to this may have been in part due to 2 rather tall schooners of Imperial Red Ale that I had enjoyed while perusing the forums last night. I still feel the same way this morning but I'm not quite as disgusted by the responses as I was.

 

Well, that Imperial Red Ale is 7.2% ....

 

It actually finished fermenting at 9.5% ABV

 

it's personal choice, and a risky choice at that (like was stated above). When in your mind, the risk outweighs the reward... it's time to hang it up, and that's OK.

 

As you have stated the decision to ride or not is a personal one. It would seem that your reaction is to the comments about riding in general. Apparently these are men you esteem to be hard nosed and not afraid of anything and they are not willing to give up their rights for anyone, yet they are saying that a sane person would not ride a bike. You obviously admire or at least respect these men as a group. They have or at least are willing to put their life on the line for what is right. In your mind riding is freedom, something you enjoy regardless of the risk. To some of them it is an unnecessary risk. I think you have taken their comments to be an attack on your freedoms or greatly damages your view of this group of men. Just remember people who don't ride don't get it. Let their comments roll off your back unless they are trying to pass legislation to ban bikes (or take away your freedom).

Personally I will continue to ride until I become a danger to others. I had a conversation with my kids a few months back, telling them if I ever became too dangerous in any vehicle, to take steps to remove my license. Hopefully that won't happen until I'm 90 or so (Which is still another 40 years).

As far as you question... maybe just a little (very little) selfish (only because you question someone else's opinion when it was different from your own) or maybe just disappointed. But when it comes down to what is best for your family and country you are willing to sacrifice and to stand up for what you believe. We have the freedom to choose to ride. They have the freedom to question and to have a difference of opinion as long as they don't infringe on our freedoms.

 

tcoop,

I really think you just hit the nail square on the head.

These are people who I respect in the shooting sports and firearms world. They are(some of them at least) heroes in my eyes and I have just had my biased vision of them dosed with reality and it sucked.

 

Personally, I can see why you got upset. There's a lot of bike haters out there. Some of these people call bikes "donor cycles", but don't think twice about driving their car while talking on a cell phone.
It's no different than all the A-Holes that think everyone should give up their gun rights when some nutjob goes on a shooting spree.

 

No answers here, just some rambling thoughts.

I can sure understand someone hanging it up. I rode for a bunch of years after my 25 year old brother taught me to ride at 18. Several years later he died on his bike. I rode a little more, but slower, less often, and in constant fear of every car and of subjecting my parents to a second round of some of the worst suffering I think I have witnessed. A year or so like that and I hung it up for almost 20 years. I honestly don't know what changed, but I bought a bike again about 5 years ago. And then another for the dirt. And I love it.

Hanging it up, and getting back on, are my evolving calculations of risk tolerance that I would never impose on another. Safety does not exist. Only a range of odds. They make their call, you make yours.

Nobody ever called my brother callous, selfish or stupid. He was none of those. He lived fast, large and full. I wish he was still here, but I wouldn't for a second have tried to make him live any differently. (Cuz if I did, he would have kicked my ass.)

"You're either livin' fast or dieing slow" - Robert Earl Keene

 

is there a link to this post in question?

 

Like the song says, "You do your thing, I'll do mine." My nephew does skydiving. I can't see jumping out of a perfectly good plane. Some of my friends rode bulls. I can't see getting on 2000 pounds of pissed off hamburger who's only intent is to stomp on your face. But that's what they enjoyed.
After my accident, my aunt said " I don't know you can ride that thing after it almost killed you." It wasn't the bike that almost killed me, it was the 7-pointer that ran across the road. Riding is in my blood and I'll do it as long as I can.
Am I callous? Maybe. Selfish? Definitely. Stupid? I was born that way.
One more song lyric: "I'll take years off my life before I'll take life off my years."

P.S. Turned 57 yesterday. Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.

 

http://www.m4carbine.net/showthread.php ... ront-of-me


After looking back at the thread again I find that it is just as one sided as I first read it but not quite as condemning as I took at first read.

You can't comment on this sub forum until you reach a specific post count and not being a post whore, it'll be quite a while before I reach that count. It's probably a good thing that I could not comment on this last night!

 

You'd never find a thread like that on a motorcycle forum. Most of those guys have nothing vested in biking. However, if you switched it around and said "I'm getting rid of my guns because a neighbor kid accidentally shot his friend", you'd see the equivalent conversation we have here.

 

consider the source there
he's on his 4th sportbike and is always having close calls....there's a pattern here.
he CASUALLY passes people at 100mph.....it's not hard to do but you damm well know your going real fast.
surrounded by wheelie idiots.......idiots tend to flock together.
a 4 lane divided highway? ........ you don't make left turns on divided highways
that's why they call them divided.
"Another friend chased her down and blocked her car and tried getting her out of the car".........why, was he going to beat her up?
"The cops actually showed up for this before the accident".........this guy is confused.
" (Who, thankfully, isn't in terrible shape.)".....t-boned at legal 4 lane speeds..........yea, right
he took his bike back and they gave him a pretty good offer.........if anyone believes that, they're a fool.
"having people literally not give a shit about me".......i've got news for him.
" Looking back, I've had so many close calls I should have stopped years ago."..........or maybe he should have grown up and learned how to ride.

this guy plays with guns? doesn't make me feel safe at all

 

We all live in the center of our own universe and feel we make the best choices for ourselves. I started riding at the age of 14. I put the bikes away at age 27 when I had kids. My children are adults now and I'm back riding. That was the right choice for me. I have family members that think I'm crazy for owning motorcycles and other things I do, I feel they are missing out on a lot of life; to each his own. I have a good friend who's wife made him sell his bike because she was scared every time he took it out but she would drive drunk, figure that. There are no absolutes when it comes to sceurity and safety, just shades of grey. Personally I feel one shouldn't trade freedom for security so long as you are being responsible to the ones that depend on you. On a paralell note I feel it is a terrible trade to trade liberty for security.
Life is short ...live it. Life is short ...preserve it.

 

some really fascinating different outlooks on life and personal motive making in this thread.

 

My son has been riding on the back of my bike with me since he was 7 or 8. Now he's 14. He's been riding on the sleds with me since he was 4. Wife has been riding with me since she got over being mad at me for getting a bike in the first place.......13 years ago. It only took her a year or so to get over that--------

Dave

 

This is a great topic! YES you are right to be irritated by the zealous support of basically a stranger's decision to give up bikes - more so, by ahem real men. More than anything, you have a right to an opinion as much as anybody else - that is not in itself, callous.

I like action films, and realize that those dudes are a bunch of soft actors off screen. The Rock, Governator, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, are all having lavender baths and camomile tea somewhere, and I can't help but equate the gentlemen you mentioned to them. Appear tough when needed.

Kilted - you said it.
I own and use firearms, and am very safe, but a gun - even in perfect condition - can malfunction and cause injury or worse. Bad ammo, a hunting accident, or a careless, drunk shooting buddy - all hazards.

At least the point of the bike, as a tool, is not to make holes or kill :wink:

And there are helmets, kevlar clothing, safety training courses, bikes with smaller engines, self-control, not passing cars at 100 mph, etc. - lots of ways to reduce the chances of injury.

What about the fathers (or mothers) that don't ride a bike, but drink - sometimes a little much, don't eat well, have unprotected sex? These things can also cause a person to live a shorter life, so that they aren't around for their kids to a ripe old age.

Waking up is a risk.

Live a little for sh*t's sake.

If my only point in life is to be alive for my children, then what do they take with them into adulthood? My father existed and took up space, and i am proud. :roll:

 

A little thread drift here(my thread, right?)

My Son is out at MMI in Phoenix right now (Yamaha factory course) and got to ride a GSXR750 on the Dyno today. He called and asked if he could trade the Seca in on a sport bike. It took me about 10 seconds to get him to admit that that was a truly stupid idea. All I did was ask him if he thought he could ride a Gixxer back here from AZ.

BTW the stock GSXR750 turned 125Hp on the dyno. His instructor has a Hayabusa that he claims turns 300Hp!

 

If I'm too old to keep a bike up on 2 wheels, it's time for a sidecar