Motorcycles are not as dangerous as people think. What they are is unforgiving of mistakes.
My opinion is that the crash and fatality statistics are heavily inflated by the fact that risky people are drawn to motorcycles, and the evidence backs me up on that somewhat. Studies like the Hurt Report and subsequent NHTSA studies on fatal crashes show some absolutely baffling things, like over 20% of all fatal crashes involving unlicensed riders and almost 40% involving alcohol consumption in some way. Hell, in a shocking amount of US states, helmets are not required and every time I’m in one of those states I see people riding around on the interstate without any head protection. Absolutely terrifying and an incredibly stupid thing to do. I never ride without a full-face helmet personally.
There are plenty of ways to mitigate risk but most of the riders who die in crashes don’t do them.
Must be something pretty modern with fuel injection!
I was very heavily generalizing; there are so many different kinds of motorcycles and they vary so widely in fuel efficiency that it’s really hard to average. Here in the US, the average new motorcycle sold is a 700-pound monster with an engine larger than 100 cubic inches of displacement. (Again, generalizing a bit, but Harley-Davidsons still make up over 4 out of every 10 new motorcycles sold here.) Harley-Davidson’s largest model, the Electra Glide Ultra Classic, gets less than 40 MPG and weighs well over 800 pounds.
My understanding is that the motorcycle/rider combination in most cases has a very poor coefficient of drag and that’s the largest issue at highway speeds.
Depends strongly on the motorcycle, however, as there are so many different kinds with varying amounts of bodywork. Some are absurdly efficient, like the Honda Grom, which routinely achieves over 100MPG.
This feels a lot like the high school attitude of “I don’t need a coat it’s just some rain!” And then you spend all day just mildly damp and it sucks ass
Motorcycle emissions standards are incredibly lax by today's standards when compared to cars. That Prius just might be releasing less toxic substances than your motorcycle - while being able to cart around more people and stuff.
This is very true, even newer bikes that have more modern emissions are still generally exempt from the same standards as any car.
That being said if you have a high traffic commute it would still be faster for you to use a bike as well as better for everyone else in traffic so pros and cons.
Fortnine has a video that touches on the emissions/trying to be green and riding a motorcycle. The fact is most bikes not made within the last 10 years (and some that are) are carbureted and have little if any emissions control. Sure that Yamaha vstar250 might get 80mpg but that has more to do with having a smaller engine than a lawnmower than it does any modern engineering.
E-motorcycles really are best of both worlds. Small, mobile, and more energy efficient. Plus high torque means it feels powerful. They were available on market several years ago - I remember seeing a Wired piece on one.
They’re very cool but the problem is aero. To build an ev-bike that’s fast enough to be a motorcycle you run into a lot of drag. Ebikes that still go pretty fast but still technically are a bicycle fit this gap nicely.
Another issue is price though. To do my current commute via electric motorcycle id probably need to buy the HD Live Wire Del Mar, which if I remember correctly is about 17k. Do you know what else was 17k? My electric Fiat 500e which is what I generally use to do my commute. On the other end of the scale is pricing for ebikes which isn’t that bad and does start around the 500-800 but can easily get into the tens of thousands of dollars for some very high end options.
While I see there’s a lot of people here that disagree with me on motorcycles being just fine for commuting, it’s important to recognize that not every task needs a car. Motorcycles are not the cleanest way to get around but they do overall have less impact. Sure you can off-road in a Cadillac Escalade, but how much will that tear the trail up compared to my 450lb klr650? You might be able to fit 6 months groceries in the back but you also need to park in the back to find a spot. Sure you can haul 8 people but how often is it just 1?
That Prius, just by being manufactured, had an incredibly toxic environmental impact that it would take a motorcycle hundreds of thousands of miles to equal. Lithium battery manufacture is hell on the environment.
Oil processing is definitely bad for the environment, but think for a moment about the scales. Just in raw materials, ignoring the massive impact of battery manufacture alone, the average motorcycle weighs less than 600 pounds. The Prius weighs about six times that. That means six times the amount of shipping, forming, refining, finishing, et cetera…
The Prius still has an internal combustion engine that burns gasoline, and requires a significant amount of rare-earth minerals for the construction of its catalytic converter. Most motorcycles now have catalytic converters, but they are smaller and thus the environment suffers less damage per vehicle.
I agree that a Prius will burn cleaner while running than probably any motorcycle – but the total amount of damage done just by being built has to be a whole lot more than almost any motorcycle and it can’t be close.
Jesus lotta “motorcycles are a deathtrap” in here.
Hi, I’ve been riding for 10 years on all different kinds of machines through many lengths of commute/fun. allow me to be abrupt motorcycles cost more than a Prius to own. The tires don’t last as long, the maintenance is more frequent, obviously the gear you absolutely should be wearing is expensive but hey if none of that bothers you please continue to enjoy riding.
It’s not very active but there’s a motorcycle community here on lemmy, please join us ;)
I agree with that as well. I ride a cruiser and I wear a full face helmet, jacket, boots or shoes covering the ankles, and at least thick denim pants. Sometimes I think about getting a 3/4 helmet but I don’t think I could bring myself to do it.
When I was real hardcore riding everyday I wore waterproof jacket, pants, and boots. Now I just don’t ride in the rain at all if I can help it.
As one on an extended hiatus due to getting hit by an SUV and high-siding, I recommend only using a full face or highly rated modular with a good lock. I have a face because of my HJC modular and am not confident in anything without a chinbar.
I’ve often wondered why people gravitate so much to quarter and even half helmets for this reason. They do protect your head better than nothing but also expose your face (in the case of a quarter helmet) to the ground.
I suspect that, for some, it is the misconcption that the visor limits field of view in a meaningful way. Might have been the case 40-50 years ago but seems a rarity with modern helmets.
Ah yeah. I forget about that set of bikers often as I only associated with the ADV folks who are all about ATGATT. Really weird to me to think that people actually want to be PPE luddites and miss the chance to wear a modern suit of armor, without being out of place or violating the laws of some municipalities.
Yeah I never understood it myself. I once had a run in with one of those “hard ass types” while on a little virago 250 and they proceeded to lecture me on the ways of the roads…which was entirely just giving them right of way always no matter what. He was annoyed at me for passing him on a 250…in traffic.
It is really strange seeing that rhetoric here too especially with the “fuck cars” group. A lot of countries other than the US have way more riders and less of the squid culture going on because its more of just the norm over there. Also to compliment your picture heres one of me camping with the bike:
Yes! Its not really an offroad bike by any means but it can take the occasional gravel road to the campsite as well as any bike. The panniers are a god send The CP3 engine is wonderful on the road and betrays the “grandpa bike” stature. It wasn’t my first choice as I was looking to get a Ninja 1000sx or GSXS 1000 GT but im really glad I landed on this.
I actually met someone with a ninja 1000sx and they love that thing. For a while I had a concours 1000 that I adored but that has since turned into an indefinite project bike :(
I rode one and definitely fell in love with it its just none were available anywhere plus all the fairings just get in the way of maintenance 😂 Imo Sport Touring or Adv bikes are the way to go if you want a daily all season rider. They hit this perfect trifecta of Utility, performance, and comfort. Though I really wish I could find something like a Trail Tail that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to get that last bit of utility
I’ve been on plenty of shiny new full fairing machines and they always remind me of just how easy it is to work on my KLR. I really like that in 15 or so minutes I could probably have the bike down to whatever part I need and probably also fix it without resorting to a shop.
Yeah, priuses are really low maintenance for the most part, it’s nice. And motorcycles aren’t necessarily the death traps people are making out here, higher risk yes but if you’re a defensive, aware driver and not a squid it’s really not bad. Motorcycles don’t tend to attract defensive drivers though.
I can haul about the same amount of groceries on my bike/partner’s scoot as our car…which tbf is a fiat 500 but nonetheless I can easily get a weeks groceries on a bike.
Love the down votes lol, you may disagree with me but facts are facts.
It just isn’t, I can quickly and easily park my bike in basically any spot. If I know I’m not buying a lot I’ll just bring a backpack and put my groceries in there as I checkout and if not I probably brought the scooter which has the same trunk as a small car.
I don’t have to fuss about in traffic, look for a spot, or try to turn my car around in my tiny neighborhood. (Not the fiat…I do own one of those oversized American cars that’s literally 18.5 ft long because it was cheap)
But hey maybe I’m just dead wrong, give a bicycle a try. (If possible I recognize not many north American places are bicycle friendly) try getting some groceries on a bicycle. You might actually enjoy the benefits, yes it’ll be tough the first time and likely even the fifth…but you might come to enjoy it.
If I’m already out, the hassle isn’t bad at all to get 1-2 days of groceries with the bike, excluding liquid or paper goods. But since I gear up fully, that’s the real hassle. I do my 20-min work commute on the bike about 1/3 the time though and that’s perfectly fine because half the gearing is done on the clock
It is not. I have a sport touring bike with large panniers. They carry enough where I rarely use a backpack for my shopping trips they also detach with a simple key turn and have handles so they act like luggage which means i can carry all the groceries in in one simple trip without doing the stacking thing.
I do often carry all my groceries and still have room for a full size first aid kit on my bike. Panniers are a game changer and I dont even need a backpack 90% of the time
I live life to the fullest by driving my family around in the backseat of my Prius, and not being skinned alive by road rash. You live life to the fullest by praying there isn’t sand on the next exit ramp.
Yeah, I changed to automatic registration after voters voted yes to voting. Now you have to explicitly state you don’t want to be registered if you don’t, and any drivers license or ID related paperwork automatically registers you or updates your registration as needed.
Weirdly, passing a bunch of voter equity legislation initiated by the voters shortly resulted in a change in legislative makeup that better represented voters, and is weirdly more in favor of voting rights.
Crazy how that works.
Speaking from experience, the former is extremely likely. Given the increase in sociopathic driving, I’ll not be riding on slabs again anytime soon. I really don’t want to get hit by another truck.
Every motorcycle driver I’ve ever encountered was a shitty driver. They all do dangerous shit for no reason beyond their thrills and act like complete dicks on the road.
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