THE BIKER

I saw you, hug your purse closer to you in the grocery store line.
But, you didn't see me, put an extra $10.00 in the collection plate
last Sunday.

I saw you, pull your child closer when we passed each other on the
sidewalk.
But, you didn't see me, playing Santa at the local mall.

I saw you, change your mind about going into the restaurant.
But, you didn't see me, attending a meeting to raise more money for
the hurricane relief.

I saw you, roll up your window and shake your head when I rode by.
But, you didn't see me, riding behind you when you flicked your
cigarette butt out the car window.

I saw you, frown at me when I smiled at your children.
But, you didn't see me, when I took time off from work to run toys to
the homeless.

I saw you, stare at my long hair.
But, you didn't see me, and my friends cut ten inches off for Locks of
Love.

I saw you, roll your eyes at our leather jackets and gloves.
But, you didn't see me, and my brothers donate our old ones to those
that had none.

I saw you, look in fright at my tattoos.
But, you didn't see me, cry as my children were born and have their
name written over and in my
heart.

I saw you, change lanes while rushing off to go somewhere.
But, you didn't see me, going home to be with my family.

I saw you, complain about how loud and noisy our bikes can be.
But, you didn't see me, when you were changing the CD and drifted into
my lane.

I saw you, yelling at your kids in the ca r.
But, you didn't see me, pat my child's hands, knowing he was safe
behind me.

I saw you, reading the newspaper or map as you drove down the road.
But, you didn't see me, squeeze my wife's leg when she told me to take
the next turn.

I saw you, race down the road in the rain.
But, you didn't see me, get soaked to the skin so my son could have
the car to go on his date

I saw you, run the yellow light just to save a few minutes of time.
But, you didn't see me, trying to turn right.

I saw you, cut me off because you needed to be in the lane I was in.
But, you didn't see me, leave the road.

I saw you, waiting impatiently for my friends to pass.
But, you didn't see me. I wasn't there.

I saw you, go home to your family.
But, you didn't see me.

Because, I died that day you cut me off.

I was just a biker. A person with friends and a family.
But, you didn't see me.

That was awesome. I have some wonderful friends with bikes and they really are stigmatized without reason. Thanks.

I think people would be surprised to know who rides.

We don't make a big deal out of the things we do for others. We just do it.


oh! and I'm "stealing" that hagop

I don't know about this one:

I saw you, yelling at your kids in the ca r.
But, you didn't see me, pat my child's hands, knowing he was safe
behind me.

I've never looked at a biker funny, or complained about the noise, who does that, really old people?

Many people. Check out the fiasco that is going on in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Which currently holds one of the top 4 Motorcycle rallies in the United States. They get over 300,000 bikers in town during bike week and they no longer want this to continue. Myrtle Beach City Council reminds me a lot of Hagerstowns. They make silly decisions that make no sense. Here is an event that records show brings in approx. $300 million into the City one week a year in early May. A time when school is still in and not a popular time for vacations. The City Councils idea to raise the taxes to bring in an additional $3 million. This council also has not spent $1.00 in advertising or promoting the motorcycle rally that has been going on for over 60 years.

What don't you know about this one?
Both my kids had rode with us at one time or another. We put a seat belt in the side car for our son's carseat and he rode with us all the time. There was no yelling at them going on. Proper attire and age and extra footpegs at the correct height and the kids are fine.

Loud pipes save lives.
I have to check into the Myrtle Beach thing. When we were just down I noticed alot of "We still Love Bikers" sign at establishments. I got the idea that it is the sister "Black Bike Week" that is causing problems for the city. I could be wrong tho....just a vacation observation.

Ah Ha!! Check this tid-bit out...
http://www.myrtlebeachbikeweek.com/

A lot of business close during black bike week.
You are correct in thinking the Black Bike week is the problem. My son lives in MB. He told me that this years Black bike week was no different than last yeas. Nothing but trouble. This year a black biker shot and killed a parking attendent because he wouldn`t pay to park his bike. Last year one of the black bikers friends drove a car into a store because the store owner was closing and wouldn`t stay open to serve him. Black bikers are the problem.

So far as of this week the local council is still thinking of stopping both bike weeks. If the first week is still held the NAACP said they will file for discrimination.

hee hee, I was thinking the same thing. it's the total opposite of the safety issues of the Prius vs. blind pedestrians. <------ blind guy smiling because he hears your hog!

" Biker" Dude:

People starting up loud bikes startles me so much I think my hair might actually stand on end. I think for me it's the equivalent of having my heart shocked with a defibbrilator or whatever it's called.

We didn't realize we were catching the tail end of bike week at OC last summer. The whole city was rumbling. At least I knew to expect it though! Any other time it seems to sneak up on me and BLAM!!

Your late son?

yeppers!! Thats my boy!

Yes, and one day I too hope to join the ranks of the Loud Obnoxious Bikers. As soon as my wife gives me permission.

It meant exactly what it said. I don't think that having a kid strapped to the back of a bike is safe, no matter how tightly they are strapped in, no matter what clothes they are wearing, etc. That's my opinion. I seem to make you mad often for some reason

The biker reputation in general isn't totally undeserved.

Everyone is a victim today.

Are you driving the car in the poem Idiot???

No. I rode a bike for several years when I was younger and I've always been a courteous driver to bikers. From time to time I've even considered getting another one. I'm just saying...

Heres a biker getting his due
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3_8khGesf0
heh.

Hahahaha!!! That's hilarious!

What a beautiful smile on that handsome young man.

#1SON totalled his 4-week old, brand-new Buell a few weeks ago.

Last night he put $1K down on a new, Cross Bones Harley. Supposed to be delivered next week.

This, after losing one nephew a few weeks agon in a bike accident and having ANOTHER nephew get hit on 81 by a tractor-trailer @ 75 MPH and flying 350 feet thru the air on his way to the viewing. Police and ambulance crew said it was a miracle that he only had 2 scratches on his arm, and a bruised hip. He said as he was going thru the air he could feel his dead brother (who had died a few days earlier) carry him and set him down gently.

Even though just about everyone in the family rides, this new, heavier bike for my son really scares me. Guess now I'm "spooked".

The upside is that hubby is seriously considering selling his bagger and buying a trike.

And then there are incidents like those that make me second guess ever getting a bike. Just a lot on the line when you are two wheels I guess.

Motorcycle, Ford Expedition collide

http://www.herald-mail.com/?cmd=displaysto...amp;format=html

I passed by this right after it happened last night. the gentleman was moving, very slowly but moving. I was glad to see he went to the hospital, I hope it was nothing serious.

Too many sheep driving cages don't care much about anyone, until they meet up with the wrong sled, then its over.

There are a lot of great bikers out there, more friendly on average than the average cager, but some real slimeballs, too.

Some real he-men have to wear helmets so vulgar I have to re-direct my daughter's attention if we're near one. And don't get me started on the loud pipes. I think it's BS. They mainly serve the ego of the owner, nothing more. Try living next door to someone who owns one of these straight-piped Harleys and starts it up late night/early morning when most of the neighborhood is trying to sleep and then it ain't so fun. It is illegal, but for some reason cops look the other way to straight-piped bikes. More than once I wanted to "adjust" the pipes myself...

More and more bikers get killed because people driving vehicels don't pay attention.

From the articles I read, it's usually the cager's fault then it is the bikers fault.

Bikers are people too just like anyone else. Just because they perfer to ride a bike
don't make them any less of a person. They deserve as much respect on the road
as anyone else. So for the cagers, Pay Attention

Cagers are often at fault, for sure, and a bike never wins a fight with even a compact car. However, many bike accidents are also the fault of excessive speed on the bike, and with ever more powerful and faster bikes coming out these days it is easy for a rider to get in over his/her head quickly.

Finally, few bikers, at least in this area, wear more than a helmet for protection -- and for Harley riders it is often a "beanie" helmet that is not even DOT legal, just to appear to be legal. And in PA they often don't wear that. That might be "freedom", but IMO it is also stupid.

Thoughts from a Biker....
Car manufactory’s need only to protect the upper body and head in a crash. The arms, hands, legs and feet need not be and one can do without them, this fact can be found on-line. Tho during a roll the top of the car has no protection and will collapse, so the head is injured. With this understanding maybe the drivers should wear a helmet as well and to protect the head from flying objects left loose in most cars. Maybe even a full face lid.
It's just stupid not to protect oneself knowing the head can be injured during a crash, IMHO.

Very true..........bikers who won't wear helmets are idiots; yet..........the problem solves itself, because we need fewer idiots.

Don't be coy. You know very well that head injury during a crash is exponentially more likely to happen on a bike than in a car.

BTW -- I'm a biker, too.

A biker who knows...LOL...means nothing if that was ya point...S...
Or should we take in account head injury falling from the tub, a fall from a ladder, trippen over ones own big feet..
Your coy about a crash with a bike to that of a cage don't wash, BTDT, should be dead from a very bad cage crash with head and other problems still but never had a injury from riding a sled for over 45yrs. Maybe ya should read up on head trauma cause from full face lids and from those trying to remove the same without the know how after the crash.

Motorcycles are a Danger to Public?

http://forums.delphiforums.com/bikerthink/...ges/?msg=8738.1

What?

This made absolutely NO sense to me: "Your coy about a crash with a bike to that of a cage don't wash, BTDT, should be dead from a very bad cage crash with head and other problems still but never had a injury from riding a sled for over 45yrs. Maybe ya should read up on head trauma cause from full face lids and from those trying to remove the same without the know how after the crash."

I don't see how it is more dangerous to be in an accident in a car than on a bike. Let's not just talk about head damage, I'd like to keep my arms and legs. To me, cars seem more...STABLE. Also, your use of the word ya is annoying to me, just thought I'd throw that out there.

Anyway...My opinion is that there should not be a law that we have to wear seatbelts and there should not be a law that people have to wear helmets on bikes. It should be your choice, if you don't want to do it, oh well. It's not hurting me any.

Ya right, it should be a choice and in life but the Lib'ers have the count, Gov owns ya....

My girlfriend forbade her husband to get one. Years of pleading later, he has one and rides with younger, more rambunctious guys. One of the guys survived a match vs tractor trailer recently. I asked her if she was banning the bike again and she was like, "I'm hoping to learn to ride myself." I was like . Then after a minute I thought to myself, ok I might hang on the back of her, but not one of the guys doing wheelies n chit. No way that's scary.

I have a stereotype with guys and bikes. It's one thing to appreciate and RESPECT the attributes of a bike, but a lot of guys feel a lot of power sitting on one and can't help but ACT ON exhileration.

Besides, I burned a hole in my calf as a teenager on a Harley. How friggin' bow-legged do you have to be to dismount one those?

It's Crist-a-fa!

I take it you don't like helmet laws.

Not wearing a helmet on a bike is plain stupid, IMO, but I am also a person who values individual freedoms, and I don't want the government being overly restrictive on what I can and can't do. But bikers w/o helmets disproportionally get head injuries that cost taxpayers lotsa bucks paying for their health care. So both sides have a point. But I can't respect people who advocate actually riding w/o a helmet much more than I can respect someone who plays russian roulette or other "Jackass" type high risk games.

“head injuries that cost taxpayers lotsa bucks paying for their health care”


What!!!, I have insurance that covers my health very well, then again, all insurance companies are in business to make money not pay out, so if they can’t handle how they invest the money that they take from ya that’s their problem…And if one has no insurance to cover their own butts why should I pay for their own mistakes…Again the voters do this to themselves…

Wow I reread that one post again and, whew, I can't understand a word of it. I think the grammar police need to visit here. I don't mind grammar mistakes here and there, who cares, but when I can't make sense of your post, then it's bad. It's like a code or something. Woooooooooo

Anyway...

I agree Path, I too have health insurance, and cover my own deductables. Why should any of us have to pay for another idiots mistakes?

Because after your insurance runs out the taxpayers will have to foot the bills.

Don't get me wrong though I still think it should be your choice to wear a helmet or not just like seatbelts.

Personally the helmet law was one of the reasons I gave up riding, that and to many idiots on the road nowdays.

You know well that many bikers injured do not have coverage that will pay their bills, so the taxpayer pays. No one has the stomach to say, well, you rode without a helmet, you have no insurance, so we let you die.

Okay, Pathogen, we've beat this helhet thing around pretty good. Next gimme your defense for loud pipes.

This should be good, because I can't think of a good defense for loud pipes.

Loud pipes save lives. They are also annoying as hell.

Hubby's bike throws fire. When he cranks her up, every f'n window in my house shakes and I worry about the "good" wine glasses shimmying off the shelf.

The dogs bark.

The neighbors dogs bark.

I cover my ears and roll my eyes.

And then I thank God (and Harley) for those loud straight pipes because I KNOW that some sweet little old lady that really shouldn't be driving anymore because of her bad eyesight will NOT kill my husband because she HEARD those damn, loud pipes.

#1Son picked up his new Cross Bones yesterday. When I heard the roar coming around the corner I again thanked Harley for those damn, loud pipes.

LOUD PIPES SAVE LIVES and nothing and nobody will change my mind.

While that may be true my problem is, why are bikes allowed to have the loud pipes but if I were to run straight pipes on my old car I would get pulled over for it.

I do agree though, they are annoying as hell.

I don't know why cars = no, but bikes = yes.

Maybe location? PA vs. MD?

Why do bicycle riders need a helmet but not motorcycle riders in PA?

I got no answers for you, only more questions - and yours is a damn, OOPS, I meant, DARN good question.

I must say I am learning a lot in this thread. Makes want a bike now even more. Anyone care to sweet talk my wife for me?