Well that's pretty much the status quo as far as sport bike responses go, lol. Bikes are a dangerous hobby to be sure. I seem to be addicted to all of the dangerous hobbies though (parachuting, motorcycling, cliff diving... why can't I just like golf?).
I guess motorcycling is somewhat like being a smoker... my dads been smoking since he was 14, he's now almost 70 and has never been diagnosed with cancer or emphisema. I smoked the two years I was in the Air Force then quit and was diagnosed with two forms of cancer 14 years later. So, it's a roll of the dice I suppose.
Same with those who take up the two wheeled sport... some young men throw a leg over a crotch rocket or other type bike and wind up dead, paralysed, or with some number of broken bones in their body within the year. I've been riding sportbikes for 20 years now. Have racked up more than a quarter million miles on them (my current ZX-10R has just under 50,000 miles on her, I bought her new in 05). And I've only been in one major accident thus far. My gear saved me from anything more than sore muscles in that incident, but I'm aware gear doesn't save you from everything.
I'm also well aware I could get killed driving out of my driveway like my uncle did on his (cruiser). You can get killed on a bike just as easily going 2 mph as you can at 150 mph. But I'm with you guys, I can't stand those idiots who ride wheelies or like a general madman through town, traffic, around kids, etc... I hear about motorcycle accidents every summer. And every summer someone asks me, "hey did you hear so-and-so died on their motorcycle the other day? You should sell yours".
That's never made sense to me. I've known 5 times as many people who've died in car accidents than in motorcycle accidents, but I don't tell people to sell their cars after someone I know dies in a car accident.
To which the anti-motorcycle crowd always tells me, "yeah but cars have a much safer record than motorcycles, there is a much higher death rate on motorcycles than in cars, so why would you knowingly choose to drive something with a higher accident/death rate"? Well I must say that's a pretty good argument, why would anyone knowing choose to drive something with a higher accident/death rate anyhow? I mean, you'd have to be nuts right!!!
Yup, that's why we should all sell our vehicles and go back to horse back riding. There is a HUGE Amish community around here that does all of their travel by horse back or horse carriage. And the accident/death rate of driving in a car compared to horse back riding is 1000 times higher! So I always let those of the opinion that only a crazy person would knowingly choose a method of transportation that's more dangerous than another option know that they'd be much safer on a horse than in their car. But, strangely enough... not one of them has sold their car for a horse? Hmmmm... oh well.
Lol, that's not aimed towards anyone here mind you, just thought I'd share my humorous experiences I've had over the past 20 years. My dad was big into bikes when he was younger, but turned in his two wheels for a set of golf clubs because that became his bigger passion. But he always told me that when you choose to ride a motorcycle, you're going to catch hell from the rest of society. And of course just like most advice handed down from father to son, he was dead on!
I always used to think that one day I would give up motorcycles for something safer like golf or canasta. But after my cancer experience when I was 35 years old I realized that life truly is short, and you might as well enjoy it while you can. So motorcycles aren't going anywhere for now.
