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Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Riding Etiquette—Aren’t We All Biker Friendly??

Gosh, has it been half a month since I've posted??

Here's a doozy of a story for you!!

Sunday was a beautiful day and the snow and ice was more or less a memory—how can I resist the call of two wheels? Not me!!!

Around noon, I met some friends to ride—some I’ve never ridden with. What an experience it was. A few of my friends I’ve ridden with—the others—I had no clue. While I’m open to riding with new folks—I am not open to bad experiences.

I get down to the meet site and my friends and I get reacquainted and I introduce myself to the riders I have never met. We all have a jovial talk and just goof off. We talk about the destination and the expected route. After everyone is on the same page—we all mount up and fire up the motorcycles.

One of my girlfriends had left her ignition on which resulted in a dead battery. No worries, I hopped off my bike to help push start her bike. The other four riders sat on their bikes and stared. One even had the audacity to retort “solve your bike problems—get a Harley”!

Granted, one rider was unable to push even if she wanted to—she had an injury that disallowed running. However, the other three were quite able bodied and watch me push an 800 pound motorcycle and the rider.

I was pretty mad. After all, there is nothing more frustrating than to go to crank your bike and it doesn’t start. Fortunately for my friend, it was a dead battery—an easily solved problem…as long as there a hill to roll the bike down or someone to help push.

Did a bit of venting—a lot of good it did except make me feel better. I’m thinking if I ever see any of those so-called new friends on the side of the road, I’d pass them with a wave.

Of course, that’s not true—one of the unhelpful riders pulled over later due to a bug problem (no windshield) and we pulled over to make sure it wasn’t a serious problem. Thankfully, it wasn’t.

I guess you find out who the real bikers are and who are the rubs. I may not leave anyone behind, but I will think twice about riding with those thoughtless folks. Its one thing to good naturedly poke fun about another’s bike, but quite another to do it during mechanical issues. Of course, his shouldn’t have mechanical issues—his bike is only two months old!!

Keep the shiny side up!

~The Rainbow Wahine

6 comments:

Vinod said...

I thought usually, no matter what you ride, bikers are all looking out for one another. Every time I've pulled of to the road side while riding, a passing biker always checks with me by flashing the thumbs up sign and signal back that everything is ok. I guess not everyone thinks like that.

Anonymous said...

In my experience, ther are a lot of "harley-bigots" out there.

People that think the only true bike is a "HD".

If it has 2 (or 3wheels) and has an engine its probably a good bike.

Its a lot like the "biker-wave" You can tell what type of biker they are if they wave back or not. Same with stopping.

We all share the same passion, I don't see why it matters if one is made here or Japan?

Kathleen Jennette said...

These are the guys that will need help one day and no one will be around. Doesn't matter to me what you ride...like Gerry said: "We all share the same passion..." I was very thankful for my Asphalt Angel who rode a nice Goldwing on my trip down from S.F. Biker Betty is right... these guys are jerks!

KT Did said...

Christine, I am having trouble with the blogger and cannot get into my own blog... something about changing it to the beta. It has now been merged with another blog I know nothing of. Would you happen to have any insight on this. I might have to start all over as I am locked out of my own blog as of today. Thanks if you can.

Mustang said...

cheers for being a true biker and helping the other person...

the highway teaches everyone lessons and im sure that the person who sneered would learn his/her lesson too..


ride safe
D

Anonymous said...

I am a new rider, always rode on the back since I was a teen but now, at 50, I finally stood up and got my own. Its an older Honda, and its an automatic - my ex BF, who had been a die hard HD guy, once told some idiot that my bike has two wheels and a handlebar, does it matter dude ? Lol Bless his heart.

But I really get sick of people telling me "oh its easy to learn to shift" "oh the clutching is so easy to learn" - usually I wait for someone to say it - well last nite when some people asked me what kind of bike I had I said a Hondamatic and before they could open their mouths, I said yes I know you think its easy to shift and clutch and I am sure that it is, for YOU, but for me I dont want to mess with it - (ok so I used another word than "mess" with) lol

I LOVE my bike and it keeps up with the big dogs just fine. The ones that dont do the wave are the ones on the little 125 scooters most of the time - I cant recall a time I got a snub from a HD rider. And the people I ride with are all HD owners for the most part.