Motorcyclists are a different breed, and that's especially so with anyone willing to throw a leg over a two wheeler in sanctioned competition. Need proof? Check out the video we've pasted below.
The best motorcycling advice anyone ever gave me was simple: ride like everyone is out to kill you. This sort of hyper-paranoia is great for keeping both bike and rider in one piece, but it can also easily tint your view of the rest of humanity. When an absent-minded teen wanders into your lane or elderly driver calmly ignores a stop sign right in front of you, the instances serve as proof of everyone's murderous intentions. It's as if a tiny
Josh Wainwright became a living testimony for the value helmets during the British Superstock 600 recently. The rider put his bike down on the 11th lap just ahead of Johnny Bradshaw. With nowhere to go and no time to get there, Bradshaw literally drove over Wainwright's head with his motorcycle, catapulting both riders down the track.
There's just no getting around the fact that, despite technological advances and a host of regulations aimed at improving safety, organized racing is a dangerous occupation. We saw it last year with the deaths of Dan Wheldon and Marco Simoncelli – pushing the limits on either two or four wheels is sometimes life threatening.
If you ever find yourself needing to talk someone out of purchasing a motorcycle, we suggest turning their eyes toward the interminable mire that is YouTube. For every clip of an amazing stunt or beautiful ride through the country, there's 15 videos of motorcycle riders on the raw end of a collision with another vehicle.
We have serious respect for the individuals employed in the world's various stunt shows. It takes hours of practice, meticulous choreography and massive amounts of skill to be able to manipulate vehicles in concert, and the specter of immediate death is waiting just off screen should you miss your cue. Take the stunt show at the Beto Carrero World theme park in Brazil, for example. The action centers on two dueling Zach Bowman
If you're a follower of the right-foot-down school of highway consumption, you've probably seen what happens when drivers spot speed traps. They slam on their brakes, traffic bows up and inattentive drivers go careening toward the rear of your vehicle. That principle applies globally.
Humans working together can do amazing things. An example of this was recently caught on video, when bystanders at the scene of fiery accident came together to save a life. In Logan, Utah, a 21-year-old motorcycle rider collided with a BMW. The resulting accident created a flame-filled scenario of danger, with the young biker lying trapped under the front of the heavy sedan.
As much as we hate to admit it, there's a reason ER staffs call motorcyclists "organ donors." Bikers and knee-draggers have a lot more to watch out for out on the open road... and a lot more at stake if they don't. That often comes down to cars, trucks, pedestrians and even roadside obstacles. But once in a while, that imminent danger is another motorcyclist.
The Two-Bike Tango – Click above to watch video after the jump
Matthew Dieckmann, president of Santa Rosa-based Electric Race Bikes and known by friends and neighbors as the "local electric motorcycle entrepreneur," was involved in a fatal crash in Santa Rosa, CA late Monday morning. Dieckmann was piloting an electric motorcycle near the Coddington Mall when he collided with a Toyota Prius. Though the Prius driver suffered no injuries, 29-year-old Dieckmann did not survive the crash.
Moto2 crash at Jerez – Click above to watch the video after the break
In a preliminary report, the Governors Highway Safety Association recently indicated a 10% drop in motorcycle related fatalities around the U.S. in 2009. This decline marks the first such improvement in over a decade as deaths have been on the rise consistently from 1997 onward.
Raffaele de Rosa's amazing save - Click above to watch the video after the jump
Click above to view video
BMW has been known to come up with some interesting motorcycle designs, such as the Telelever, Duolever and Paralever suspension configurations. The above image, taken from a recent patent application, proves that the fertile engineering minds at BMW haven't stopped trying to improve the basic two-wheels-and-an-engine ethos of the mo
