bikers

that's so true motoronin, the born again biker here in oz are pushing up insurance premiums at a rediculous rate, the govt's in their wisdom have privatised the licensing of motorcycles and the bike shops run their own schools and sell the bikes. bit like giving 10 year old kids the keys to the lolly shop, the poor buggers can hardly wobble around some cones but they're being sold R1's, hyabusa's etc with very limited experience, it used to be 3 years on a car license and you could have whatever you like bike wise, that was toned down a little a few months back here in queensland as the accident rate went through the roof, shame the govt wouldn't listen up front!
worst of all, a lot of the new riders had an accident, got paid out by their insurance company and then decided (or had it decided for them by the wife) that bikes are a bad idea and they move on to a new hobby leaving the rest of us to foot the increased costs in offering bike insurance!

paul.

The sad or frustrating part is, in so many words they told you that they need far more training and I would bet a dollar to a donut that they do not sign up for more. They probably passed their test through an MSF course and never even rode on the road before getting their certificates. The training in the States to procure a bike license is tantamount to putting a loaded gun in a, suicidal tendency, mental patient's hands. Think those guys would be caught dead in a KMart parking lot on a Sunday morning. There are an abundance of training courses available for the public and there are loads of self help litterature available at reasonable expence. Braggin about being a Nimrod is all they displayed, while thinking they were James Dean incarnate.
Oh well, hope it ends well.

I'm a '60 child, which means I was lucky enough to be able to ride a 250 two stroke in the UK on a provisional license when I was 17.

But we had an understanding. It wasn't the law, it was the accepted progression through the layers of motorcycle performance that we adhered to. Started out with a 50cc moped, then onto a 125 or maybe a 175. This was more to do with affordability - the 250's were out of reach financially for many of us. But you learned about road craft and getting the most out of your limited power. Then it was 250's and the test. Then people did make big jumps - sometimes straight onto a 750, (there were not a lot of 1000 about then). But there were many of us on 400's and 550's for years and years before we made it to the big power.

But my point is that there was a progression over years that imparted a lot about riding on the road, survival, understanding the relationship you have with your bike, the mechanics skills etc, etc.

This is a bit lacking now in my opinion.

We live in a culture of, "I want it now", and there is the ability to buy your way into an experience without really having earned the right to be there.

So, I agree with Ronin, great to see new bikers emerging - who ever they are - that enjoy this world. But I also think they need to adopt an attitude of respect for the time it will take them to accumulate the necessary skills to really deserve the title of BIKER.

I wonder if the government has a hand in insurance premiums? Since they're too chickenshit to restrict power/displacement they just crank up premiums to prevent every 18 year old from riding a new R1. In my experience cruisers crash WAY more than sportbikes. Why do we pay?

Motorcyclist; notice the knee position to the foot.

Biker: notice the toe to heel relation. Probably just left your Gramma's house