"7 myths about motorcycle safety"

[segesta]

1.Leathers: most MCist do not wear leathers and most who do, do not wear it for protection. They left out synthetic AGATT, reinforced at elbows, knees etc. which is far superior to leather.

MotoGP etc guys wear leather, with armor. Because they sometimes fall at 180 mph, I'll follow their lead on this. I don't agree that reinforced nylon is far superior to leather meant for motorcycling.

I do agree that good reinforced nylon, with armor, is better than a thin crappy Harley leather jacket on which the poor slob gay pirate spent $600.

[Guzzistajohn]

That's what we're talking about, John.  The bar for what's acceptable as "writing" has been buried so low that this guy got paid.   
[/quote

There's an easy solution, don't read the article.

[cruzziguzzi]

There's an easy solution, don't read the article.

That's a wonderfully trite and plithy response yet completely irrelevant as one must first read this drivelous nonsense before one knows it for the one-legged stool of "journalism" that it seems to purport to be.

Todd.

[rodekyll]

How are we supposed to know what not to read then, John?   


We can only appreciate good writing by suffering through the doggerel, and suffering through the doggerel entitles us to critique it.  If the author doesn't want a diaper full of reviews, he should consider the quality of his work.  The author who doesn't is showing contempt for his readers, and as a reader I don't need it.

I have a big box of books at the house.  Folks drop by and leave some, and some drop by and take some.  I read them out of the box.  Some I return to the box for others to read.  Some, like any Ludlum novel, I toss in the trash bin next to the book box -- it would embarrass me to pass it on.  Some writing just isn't worth the paper.  In the case of the mostly crap on the internet, it isn't worth the bandwidth.  But you can't know till you read it.

[Guzzistajohn]

I guess it just makes more sense to me to post something like "nice article" or "good read" why do we focus on the negative? I guess it's my conservative nature that make me a happier person 

[rodekyll]

Every time a sloppy writer gets paid for sloppy writing and nobody complains the bar gets buried even lower.  The people who don't see a problem with issuing these monkeys typewriters are the proof.

[Guzzistajohn]

Yes, and this is an excellent place to make a point. Maybe 1000 people will see it, and the author is not one of them.

[rodekyll]

*shrug*
I try to write well regardless of how many people are going to read it.  I have nothing but contempt for the author who phones it in if the audience isn't large enough for his ego to kick in.

The point needs to be made whenever the problem is noticed or we'll become numb to it.  Sensitizing 1000 people to bad writing is a good day.   

[HDGoose]

Let me know when you have read "Photographic task analysis". Technical publications are not suitable for all audiences.

[rodekyll]

"Dry" writing can also be good writing.  It's not all for entertainment.  Sometimes it's for informational accuracy and clarity.  But that's exactly where the line is getting blurred -- entertainment v information; entertainment v diplomacy; entertainment v news . . . reality v reality shows . .  .  Filling the space between ads with derivative and unsubstantiated statements is not journalism, and resistance to the trend is not necessarily futile.

I was a technical writer authoring, editing, and producing technical publications for a good part of the 80s.  Aside from my newspaper and periodicals work I've been on the publications staff of multinationals like FLOW SYSTEMS, U.S. COMPUTERS, and N.A. MORPHO SYSTEMS.  I'm most critical about procedure manuals, and I'm just as happy to point out a good one as a bad one.

But no, the writing didn't make me a snob.  Being a snob made me a writer.

I think I've said about all I care to about the subject of dismal literature.  Can we get back to the mythology now?

[Triple Jim]

He said it would have been a very bad accident if the guy had a quiet bike.  He has mentioned a number of times since that he is thankful for loud pipes and will never complain about them again.

This is a valid point.  When I put expansion chambers with fairly loud "silencers" on my H2 back in the '70s, it was obvious that cars quit changing lanes into me on the DC Beltway.  I commuted to school daily on that road, and it was a regular occurrence for drivers to not see me, and try to change lanes when I was next to them... until my bike got louder.

It doesn't do much or any good in other situations, but on a multi-lane highway, noise keeps lane changers away from you.

[SeanF]

The article is a bit facile, but there is a plethora of BS circulating in the motorcyclong world. I teach a gaggle of new riders about twice a month, and we spend some time during class talking about "wisdom" that new riders may have heard from well-intentioned, but ultimately clueless, experienced riders. "Lay 'er down", "Dont touch those front brakes", and "Loud pipes save lives" are quite common, and easily dissected & disproven with a little discernment, and sometimes basic physics.

[cruzziguzzi]

I guess it just makes more sense to me to post something like "nice article" or "good read" why do we focus on the negative? I guess it's my conservative nature that make me a happier person 

Yeah... Everybody gets a trophy.

How's that been working out for us?... I ask rhetorically.



Todd.

[ITSec]

It has been noted that the article was commissioned/written by an insurance company. Anything written to serve the goals of a party with a vested interest is not journalism - it isn't even reporting, it's an opinion piece. Nothing wrong with that, but just like an editorial by the newspaper's publisher, it has to be taken with a heavy dose of perspective.

The sorry state of current news reporting (there isn't much of anything one can call journalism) is a case of failure having many fathers. Some of it has to do with the media themselves, some of it with the failure of both schools and parents to teach critical thinking and the appreciation of it, and a large part relates to the dramatic and depressing cynicism that pervades society. When the only way to sell news is to be sensational or shallow, would-be journalists seek other careers and those that are left become USA Today, talk radio, and TMZ.

Some of what is listed in the article has some truth, and some is questionable - but there's a lot that depends on anecdotes and so-called common sense. Then again, there are many responses here that are based on anecdotes or specific personal experiences. Nothing wrong with that for an individual making choices based on their experience, but it's not defensible for public advocacy by an insurance company. They could have backed up their position with better research or evidence.

[kingoffleece]

Well said.

[Cool Runnings]

The article is a bit facile, but there is a plethora of BS circulating in the motorcyclong world. I teach a gaggle of new riders about twice a month, and we spend some time during class talking about "wisdom" that new riders may have heard from well-intentioned, but ultimately cluelss, experienced riders. "Lay 'er down", "Dont touch those front brakes", and "Loud pipes save lives" are quite common, and easily dissected & disproven with a little discerment, and sometimes basic physics.

Loud pipes DO save lives.

[SeanF]

Loud pipes DO save lives.

I can save people a bunch of money (and permanent hearing loss, and aggravated neighbors, and decreased situational awareness) with this simple statement:

As an alternative to buying and installing loud, life-saving pipes as a safety measure, consider avoiding riding in the blind spots of other highway users.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  I always thought that among Guzzisti (read cheap ) that wearing mis matched gloves was a point of pride.

[redrider90]

I can save people a bunch of money (and permanent hearing loss, and aggravated neighbors, and decreased situational awareness) with this simple statement:

As an alternative to buying and installing loud, life-saving pipes as a safety measure, consider avoiding riding in the blind spots of other highway users.

 
Hot damn.... some common sense. I can sit on my deck overlooking the Eno River a mere few hundred feet from me on a Sunday afternoon. I am surrounded by hundreds of acres of state park and then miles and miles of country. And on some days the sound of motorcycles with life saving straight pipes  kills the pure and golden sounds of the forest and river.  From miles away I can hear those pipes rapping away.