Attitude

E.
The club has a strong ethos that "everyone rides at their own pace" and runs are set up to make this possible. Therefore we get riders on everything from Hayabusas to 250 trail bikes and it all works.

K.
The problem I find relating to safety is the machoism of the guys
and not the road conditions. When in a group we all feel we are wimps if we don't keep up and the lowest form of life if we don't have the gonads to keep up with the fastest guy. I'm 57 and still feel this way. Its what we
talk about when we stop. Look at how many of the last guys crash!
The way of overcoming the accident rate is to make us all feel that
slow, cautious, smooth, and above all considerate riding is verrrrry cool. When riding in groups and riding fast, each rider feels he has to show his wheel to the leader which says I am faster and better than you. If the leader falters in any way, be it over cooks a corner, brakes violently or looses traction, then the guy following will either cause an accident by hitting the leader or will panic and crash himself. We should promote that its notcool to ride without consideration to others. We should make the fast guy feel like a smoker in a butcher shop. Uncool and embarrassed! It will certainly take some time to get the message across but I sincerely believe that in years to come our grand children will experience the joys of motorcycling without the levels of danger that we experience today. Get rid of the macho in men's riding and you will reduce the accident rate.
As a group of friends we speak about the macho image and all the things we do to promote it. Like for instance when you have a good dice down some
winding road with some mates at speeds that would have you locked away for
years. At the end of the ride we all step off our bikes with accelerated
heart rates, sweaty hands and body and pretending like we ride this way
every time we are out on the bike. In reality we are all saying a prayer to
thank god that we have survived the ride with our reputations still intact.
If you do this type of riding year after year it becomes the norm and you
will ride fast and dangerous all the time even when completely alone. Like I said you have to correct the image.
What should be uncool about motorcycling:
Noisy bikes
Riding to close
Riding to fast
Dangerous overtaking
Hell you know them all anyway.
My problem is that I have a son who rides just like me and I know he is
going to have a big accident someday because he takes to many risks and
rides way to fast. Unfortunately because of my own machoism I can't do
anything about it except talk about it in our group whenever possible so
that he will think that his riding is un cool and will cause me and others a
lot of grief when ewe have to attend to his broken body at the accident
site.
I love my motor cycle and riding fast as it makes me feel exhilarated when I
can keep pace with the younger guys. Trouble is that the younger guys feel
deflated when they can't keep up and so extend themselves beyond their
ability and often crash.

M.
we all seem to know our capabilities, we know that others in our group are faster and better skilled at riding fast, and therefore we ride within our own comfort zones, but more importantly, we ride to suit the conditions, not our egos.

N.
My thoughts on why crashes occur when motorcyclists are out riding in a group formal or informal.
1. The testosterone factor:
1. People tend to push themselves to go harder to either impress the people behind, being overtaken or in front of them.
2. They lose sight of the reason they are out is to enjoy the ride and not to test the limits of their personal and motorcycles abilities.
2. The Keep up with the Group At All Costs Factor
1. Have there been any statistics on accidents of riders out in groups to see which of the riders it is that actually crashes. That is the first or the last in the group. The last rider is usually the least experienced and "slowest" who is getting a little out of the comfort zone to keep up.
2. My recollection of accidents is that it's most often the last in a line of riders that crashes. Sometimes you'd think because they're riding outside their limits to keep up, or any of the reasons in the next point.
3. The Nong Factor
1. They do not follow safe riding practice by riding line abreast rather than offset so that they don't get a chance to see ahead of the rider in front.
2. They tend to concentrate on the rear of the motorcycle ahead rather than ignoring (to some extent depending how close they are) the bike immediately ahead and looking further forward to prepare themselves for what's coming next.
3. They just don't think and continue to put themselves into positions of danger. Eventually the law of averages will catch up to you.
4. A case in point was on a recent Turismo which saw a crash on the GOR because one rider stopped around a blind sweeping corner and did a tippy toe U-Turn in front of the oncoming riders. Eventually one of them had to hit him. And yes of course a guy did. If he'd only travelled a further 100m up the road there wouldn't have been a problem.
5. Not enough riders have had a crash at speeds in excess of 100kmh. If they had they'd take a little more care and have more respect for their skin. Unfortunately of those that do experience this, too many of them either kill themselves or end up permanently disabled.
6. Not enough riders ride to the conditions
1. of the weather,
2. of the road,
3. of their Bike
4. of their own ability.
4. The Raging Factor
1. when a group goes out they sometimes might stay overnight at a pub. I've heard that bikers sometimes may party and drink a little too much (have you heard that too?). Maybe some of these bikers don't appreciate how much impact being a little off colour (too much drink or not enough sleep) has on their riding abilities when they hit the road the next day. Things like reaction times/concentration etc.