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Seriously, do get a motorcycle. Do your research first, watch crashes, learn to be safe, but get a motorcycle. You control your amount of risk, and good god is

Seriously, do get a motorcycle. Do your research first, watch crashes, learn to be safe, but get a motorcycle. You control your amount of risk, and good god is it excellent stress relief. Also cheaper than a skydiving habit.

dahart 2y ago
Hmmm I’m pretty sure my total expenditure for several years of jumping, with a parachute purchase, a USPA C license, and a few boogie trips, was less than the cost of my dirt bike. I agree on the stress relief part, but I’d say don’t understate the risks or think it’s super controllable in traffic. Motorcycling is the most dangerous form of road transport. Cars and their drivers take bikers out all time. I looked and can’t find it right now but I remember seeing an NTSB report a couple years back indicating a serious uptick recently in motorcycle accidents by middle aged men.
- kube-system 2y ago
  There's been an increase in motorcycling in the US over the past 20 years, and I think a decent amount of the newcomers have a disproportionate amount of respect compared to the capabilities of the machine they're buying.
  - dahart 2y ago
    Okay I can buy that and the IIHS report seems to back it up with “27% of the fatally injured motorcyclists in 2022 were younger than 30, compared with 80% in 1975.” https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/motorcycles-and-atvs#age-and-sex https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/motor... I think the stats I was thinking of might be the NHTSA crash stats, and they have a section on age correlations. If younger riders are getting safer, that would lead to higher percent of older riders having trouble. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813466.pdf https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...
    - Ekaros 2y ago
      Alternative that pops in my mind is that there is more older riders. That might be due to variance in disposable income. Or change in habits. I wonder how does this correlate with ownership. So is there more over 30 owners and by how much.
    - kube-system 2y ago
      I think that a lot of people of multiple age groups are driving (and riding) more aggressively than in the past. But also there’s culturally a subset of people who have adopted motorcycling with more of an interest in the aesthetics of motorcycling rather than the practice of it. The show-offs, macho tough guy wannabes. Were middle age accountants trying to act tough on a straight piped motorcycle in the 70?
- rpmisms 2y ago
  I paid two grand for my V-star. I'm phenomenally happy with it, and it's probably the best stress relief I've ever experienced.
  - dahart 2y ago
    That sounds like a great deal, and I did spend more than 2k jumping. Keep the rubber side down!
    - rpmisms 2y ago
      If you're a safety person like me, I cannot recommend a cruiser enough. It's relaxing, still fast enough to be fun, and having a nice lady passenger is one of the great joys in life.

dahart 2y ago

Hmmm I’m pretty sure my total expenditure for several years of jumping, with a parachute purchase, a USPA C license, and a few boogie trips, was less than the cost of my dirt bike. I agree on the stress relief part, but I’d say don’t understate the risks or think it’s super controllable in traffic. Motorcycling is the most dangerous form of road transport. Cars and their drivers take bikers out all time. I looked and can’t find it right now but I remember seeing an NTSB report a couple years back indicating a serious uptick recently in motorcycle accidents by middle aged men.

kube-system 2y ago
There's been an increase in motorcycling in the US over the past 20 years, and I think a decent amount of the newcomers have a disproportionate amount of respect compared to the capabilities of the machine they're buying.
- dahart 2y ago
  Okay I can buy that and the IIHS report seems to back it up with “27% of the fatally injured motorcyclists in 2022 were younger than 30, compared with 80% in 1975.” https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/motorcycles-and-atvs#age-and-sex https://www.iihs.org/topics/fatality-statistics/detail/motor... I think the stats I was thinking of might be the NHTSA crash stats, and they have a section on age correlations. If younger riders are getting safer, that would lead to higher percent of older riders having trouble. https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/813466.pdf https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/ViewPublication/...
  - Ekaros 2y ago
    Alternative that pops in my mind is that there is more older riders. That might be due to variance in disposable income. Or change in habits. I wonder how does this correlate with ownership. So is there more over 30 owners and by how much.
  - kube-system 2y ago
    I think that a lot of people of multiple age groups are driving (and riding) more aggressively than in the past. But also there’s culturally a subset of people who have adopted motorcycling with more of an interest in the aesthetics of motorcycling rather than the practice of it. The show-offs, macho tough guy wannabes. Were middle age accountants trying to act tough on a straight piped motorcycle in the 70?
rpmisms 2y ago
I paid two grand for my V-star. I'm phenomenally happy with it, and it's probably the best stress relief I've ever experienced.
- dahart 2y ago
  That sounds like a great deal, and I did spend more than 2k jumping. Keep the rubber side down!
  - rpmisms 2y ago
    If you're a safety person like me, I cannot recommend a cruiser enough. It's relaxing, still fast enough to be fun, and having a nice lady passenger is one of the great joys in life.