Last week I took my first trip back to the smokie mountians in about 8 yrs. For my part it was as great a trip as it has always been. What I havn't seen in past trips though is the hoard of crotch rocket riders in full race gear treating the place like it was thier own closed circut course. I'm not slammin all riders in this genre, hell I like to get on a sport bike and put it through it's paces occassonally. But when thier actions put the rest of us in harms way it definetly crosses the line. On a several trips up the switchbacks these riders would pass me by goin into blind turns. At first I couldn't care less, figuring that if they wanted to face unseen oncomming traffic that was thier problem. Then it occurred to me that if they do meet another bike or car head on while traveling in the wrong lane it could quickly be my problem as well as the innocent approaching vehicle. On one hairpin turn two riders came at me in my lane forcing me to the shoulder, I'm lucky there was one! Don't get me wrong, I come here to ride the hills hard also. But within the limits of reason , my FLH and the double yellows.

I also obseve the tradition of slowing down and enjoying the BRpkwy as a kind of serien reward after negotiating the more challenging roads. At it's posted 45mph you can take in every thing the BR has to offer with little concern for turn up ahead. It's predicablity let's you lose yourself a bit in the awsome surroundings.

The next morning down in Ashville I heard tell of a guy who paid the ultimate price for one of these a__holes stupidity. A few hours behind me, touring the BR on his FLST, he was killed meeting head on with a crotch rocket rider, knee pad to the pavement in his lane. Some justice was served by the fact that the a__hole bought it too.

 

Hi Brain,

You brought up one of my "Hot Buttons". I've often referred to those riders as Ricky Racers. I've had them pass me on the right on narrow switchbacks, often times missing us by only inches.

In my younger days, I tried to chase them down. We actually caught up with three of them back in the 70's on Ortega Highway in SoCal. The end result, while ugly, was most satisfying. Before the physical confrontation, one of them said, "Hey *******, we're entitled to the road the same as you are. We're just having fun, if you can’t handle it, keep off the road." The rest is history, but I did get an insight to that mind set.

They are still out there, wee see them almost every weekend in the mountains of Arizona. Once in while, one of them piles it up. Like you said, the problem is their riding habits have a great impact on us and other riders if we get caught up in their mess!

Boy, you got me going, hope this is not thought of as a "political" rant.

 

theyre a bunch of frickin idiots. we're gonna end up paying for theyre mistakes on our insurance

 

I was up riding the "Tail of the Dragon" a few weeks back, and the Speed Racers were driving up and down passing anyone in their way. They hit the bottom...back up they go, like on a time trial. I'll be the first to give them some room to pass. But your right, the scary part is what happens if they get hit...in front of you. I tried to think ahaead and road the Dragon on a Thursday each week, far less weekend traffic. What surprised me when I stopped at Deals Gap, is the age of the people riding the Rice Rockets. There are a lot more older folks riding them, more my age. Not the young kids I had expected. My .02

 

Regardless of age or type of bike, if you ride like this, on a road that is not closed and left for your exclusive use, you are selfish, and should have your lisence revoked. You wanna kill yourself, go for it, but don't orphan my kids while you do it.

There is a rice rocket club near Julian, CA that you join but running a hill (mountain) that is there within a certain time limit. No time is added for traffic. These guys go for it, and it's pretty scary stuff.

Mac

 

My wife and I stopped for gas while heading home and were planning on heading into town on AZ89 which has a series of niece twisties. Then I saw a bunch of rocketteers lounging about. They were headed up 89 also. I decided to go back to town through a different route to avoid any difficulties as we left the station before they did. A little way down the road, I remembered that I forgot to get my change at the station. So back we went. I got my change that the counter lady had set aside. The boys and girls of the racing bunch had left the scene so we decided to take the fun way home as they were now in front of us. Half way up the mountain there they were grouped around one of their number down in hairpin turn on the other side of the road. We stopped to see if they needed any assistance, but I guess they did not need any as we were ignored. Oh well *heavy sigh*

 

When we went to ride the dragon, we were advised to ride fairly close to the white line because of the squids. Turned out to be good advice as we met 2 in our lane in a left hander. No problem for us but was rather unerving to be in you r lane and having to dodge another bike. As with anything, the key to stopping this problem is aggressive law enforcement. I know many willnot share this view but when the cops ride the dragon, things slow down, when they slow, fewer wrecks. Fewer wrecks, more enjoyment for those of us who ride sanely. I'd have no problem if they closed the dragon some weekends and let those with a death wish ride as hard as they wanted to ride. failing that, just patrol the hell out of it. Speed limit on this road is plenty fast. I'm not a fuddy duddy but just want to enjoy the ride as well as others. I have nothing to prove nor a need for an adreneline rush more than is provided by riding SAFELY and in control, thereby not endangering myself or other riders.

Just my .02

BubbA

 

I've been riding for over 30 years and a few hundred thousand miles without ever going down or having an accident. The most terrifying moments I've had over that time have all had to do with being overtaken by guys on crotch rockets. I was riding at 70mph this summer on an urban freeway in heavy traffic, and had one of these idiots pass me in excess of 100mph IN MY LANE, nearly hitting mirrors. My brother-in-law, who has been riding longer than me, says he no longer rides any of the well-known curvies in Appalachia because the JRs have made it stressful and unsafe.

I had a chance to ride with one of the founders of HOG Europe a couple of years back. He took me out on a stretch of real nice curvy road near the German-Czech border on which motorcycles had been banned because of this craziness. He really wanted to show me the road, but said we needed to ride very slow and in 1st gear because if the German polezei caught us, our only hope was to plead ignorance (he was from Bavaria, and I of course was a dumb American) and hope that our riding very slowly would sway the cops to let us go with a warning. Apparently the cops could confiscate the bikes on the spot, and it costs a pile of money to get one back from them.

We're going to see this happening in the US if the JRs don't get some control of their behavior. As I've posted before, I think the time has come to put a substantial tax on these hyperspeed bikes when they're ridden on the highway. One way is to have the insurance companies zap them with punative premiums - as happened with the muscle cars in the 60s. Another is to hit them with a big registration fee for license plates. I wouldn't want the penalty to be applied to the price of the bike, because I'm all for the freedom to buy these bikes and run them on closed courses.

Nor do I want to put the penalty on all sportbikes. Just the ones that exceed some kind of performance limit (weight/hp ratio?).

Law enforcement isn't working so far. These guys just run away from the cops. A state cop here told me that when they clock a high speed biker on the freeway, they turn their lights on and hope the biker pulls over, but if the biker takes off, they just let them go.

Tough problem. But if the biker community doesn't solve it, the public will.

 

i hate hearing stories like this....i have never put a sport bike through its paces as they say, but it is sad to watch these guys flying up and down the highways. here in so fla, fri nights they own a stretch of rt 27. the cops dont even bother with them. it is almost like it is accepted. they let them race up and down this road and it is not a closed highway either. it sad to see anyone get killed riding a bike, but something has to be done about these inconsiderate SOB's

 

I like riding fast like the next guy. But I do it alone and never in a group that could endanger others. I used to have a jap bike (CBR1000F) and I used to send the needle into the mid 150's n a regular basis....and when I got comfortable doing it, I sold it. I knew that if I kept riding that way, I would take myself out, or worse than that....someone else.

I have learned to respect the machine for what it is....a strong machine that demands the respect. I don't ride like that anymore, and am very thankful that I am on an Ultra. It won't do speeds like that, and if the needs there to go fast, I twist the throttle and roll on. 80 is fast enough for me and I like the cruise control too....

Ride safe and ride long.



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