safe motorcycles LOL

[Glen]

... 16 people now have Ratliff on the ignore button.but who's counting

[Glen]

I was a witness to several MC crashes at El Mirage, Muroc, and Bonneville. two that stand out were Ron Cooks high speed get offs at 190 plus speeds. The 1st one at Muroc his boot was caught on a peg and he was drug several hundred feet before he got loose. Had he been wearing a chute I don't think he would have survived the crash. The 2nd one was at El Mirage at something around 200 mph well past the end of the traps. This was two weeks later and he was hurt with several broken bones and other injuries plus loosing over a year of work. I don't think the chute would have made any difference in either case. I have looked at the videos probably 50 times and still feel the chutes would not have changed any thing.

[Ratliff]

I was a witness to several MC crashes at El Mirage, Muroc, and Bonneville. two that stand out were Ron Cooks high speed get offs at 190 plus speeds. The 1st one at Muroc his boot was caught on a peg and he was drug several hundred feet before he got loose. Had he been wearing a chute I don't think he would have survived the crash. The 2nd one was at El Mirage at something around 200 mph well past the end of the traps. This was two weeks later and he was hurt with several broken bones and other injuries plus loosing over a year of work. I don't think the chute would have made any difference in either case. I have looked at the videos probably 50 times and still feel the chutes would not have changed any thing.

I think if premature chute deployments or drivers getting hung up in boats were common occurences, the drag boat racing associations would have banned personnel drag chutes instead of still requiring them on noncapsule boats.

I think there's an awful lot of unfounded speculation going on in this thread by people who've never met anyone who has worn a personnel drag chute in a land vehicle or seen a bike being ridden by someone wearing a personnel drag chute.

[Sumner]

I just started a new thread on Chutes or No Chutes.

http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,4255.0.html

Post any other ideas you have on that topic over there and let's get back to the intent of what Willie wanted this thread to be.

If you don't post them over there you stand the chance of having them deleted here or maybe moved.  Take you choice,

Sum

[isiahstites]

Glen I have watched those videos several times on TV and a few times on my CPU and have to agree with you that a chute may have potentially hurt him more in both crashes.

Ever since the topic of chutes came up I have tried to look at both angles and as of now in my opinion there are more cons than pros, I try to look at everything with an open mind.

Scott

[willieworld]

O K kids--i think the parachute idea is not a great idea --i thought it over after reading all of the posts and recalling my past exreriences with willie verses ground  and to tell the truth  i remember thinking after the initial impacts ( if i was still conscious ) that the worst was over --not one time did i wish i had a parachute--an one occasion i wished for a better pair of boots and one time i wished i had worn my gloves and on several occasions i prayed that before i stopped sliding i wouldnt hit something solid ---so i think we all are pretty much in agreement on that subject ---im thinking that rider protection and motorcycle safety are the 2 most important things--if you make your bike as safe as you can you will be less likely to have an upset (yes kaz its an upset not a crash ) ---but if you do then your helmet and your riding gear are the most important thing ---so lets start over and forget the parachute -- thanks everyone for posting -- isnt this cussin and discussin thing great   willie buchta

sumner that was perfect timing  thanks

[willieworld]

OK OK ill go first--well we have all seen the video of ron cook like a upset rider with his foot caught in the stirup --we should have learned something from that ---keep your leathers and boots in good shape --my boots are lace up and i have thought about getting the laces caught on the bike and my leathers were a little short on the bottom so it had them lenghtened to cover the top of my boots and cover the laces--one time my shoe lace got wound around my shifter on my road king i came to a stop i  always lean the bike to the left (break on right)stopped went to put my foot down left foot down wellllllllll you know the ending --nothing broken but did i feel stupid ( i had been riding for 30 years ) some times the problem is something you would never think of maybe we could post them all here   ---thanks everyone   willie buchta

[Super Kaz]

OK OK ill go first--well we have all seen the video of ron cook like a upset rider with his foot caught in the stirup --we should have learned something from that ---keep your leathers and boots in good shape --my boots are lace up and i have thought about getting the laces caught on the bike and my leathers were a little short on the bottom so it had them lenghtened to cover the top of my boots and cover the laces--one time my shoe lace got wound around my shifter on my road king i came to a stop i  always lean the bike to the left (break on right)stopped went to put my foot down left foot down wellllllllll you know the ending --nothing broken but did i feel stupid ( i had been riding for 30 years ) some times the problem is something you would never think of maybe we could post them all here   ---thanks everyone   willie buchta

Willie,
how about What Not to do being Towed Too and From the course on a Motorcycle !
I had a nice Upset there too .
Not as bruised up as Your Lovely,but I got the Salt Rash for Life reminder on my leg !
Those Dam Sidehacks are Dangerous .
Kaz............

[WildBro]

OK OK ill go first--well we have all seen the video of ron cook like a upset rider with his foot caught in the stirup --we should have learned something from that ---keep your leathers and boots in good shape --my boots are lace up and i have thought about getting the laces caught on the bike and my leathers were a little short on the bottom so it had them lenghtened to cover the top of my boots and cover the laces--one time my shoe lace got wound around my shifter on my road king i came to a stop i  always lean the bike to the left (break on right)stopped went to put my foot down left foot down wellllllllll you know the ending --nothing broken but did i feel stupid ( i had been riding for 30 years ) some times the problem is something you would never think of maybe we could post them all here   ---thanks everyone   willie buchta

Willie,  I am not sure what boots you are using but I am hoping they are just not lace up leather work boots.  I do not believe boots like that will give enough protection.  The safety rules we go by are only part of what we do to be safe.  The next step is to find the best gear we can for the money we are able to spend, and sometimes buying very good used stuff is the best answer.  As for boots, just because they will pass tech does not mean they will give us the protection we deserve.  Just like in a post a few back...the race grabbed his ankle...  there is a good chance that race would not have hurt his ankle as bad if he had better boots on (or for all I know, he had the correct boots on and they save him from picking his foot up off the track and hopping back to the pits with it.
I guess what I am getting at is look for a boot that protects not only from front to back motion, but side to side.  I have a good pair of sidi boots right now(you can see the side brace in the pic I posted back a few)  I am in the market to upgrade these to a better ankle protection system made by Dainese. Here are pics of the Dainese and a newer Sidi boot. 

[willieworld]

bro---the boots i wear are sold by harley davidson  they are like a lineman boot --they get me through tech and i know better --the first on the shopping list is a set of leathers for sheri --she borrowed a pair so far-- some of the postings have made me realize sheri and i could be better protected --my problem is i hate helmets-leathers and big clunkey boots  if they would let me i would ride in my tennies  cords  a t-shirt and no helmet   

kaz  yes sheri had a towing accident at el mirage when the subject comes up i will tell you all a story about it and some other accidents she has had          drive safe   willie buchta

[DahMurf]

new thoughts on recent postings...

Boots. My boots didn't come with the toe sliders on them that many race (road race) boots have. Somehow my right boot ended up with about a 1/4 inch deep gash straight in towards my pinky toe. I have no clue what would have caused it and I'm thankful it didn't get to my toe but that convinced me not to remove the toe sliders just for aerodynamics. They serve a purpose of protection even if we're not dragging a knee!

Ron Cooks get off/drag. My understanding (as pointed out by someone else that possibly was there?) is that he was stuck on a solid footpeg meaning one that doesn't fold up like most street bike footpegs. They are made to fold up for a reason. If you're putting on solid ones you need to think about the ramifications if you go down & have a body part in that area. (btw, if you go down it happens really fast so good luck thinking you won't let your body be in that area! )

I see we nixed the chute idea but with all this talk about initial impact injuries it's really got me thinking about the MC airbag garment. I mean honestly we've had some really good laughs watching the demo video and thinking of the pranks we'd play on one another on the street pulling the tether cord & watching someone's jacket fill up with air but now I wonder if there might not be a little validity in the idea for a race application if the garment wasn't too bulky. I guess I'll have to go out and search on it again with a new perspective.

Deb

[willieworld]

deb  footpegs are made to fold up not back so that you lean over far enough to drag the peg it wont dig in --even my road king has fold up footboards and i keep the bolts loose so if need be they wont have a problem folding up --you may have something with the airbag garmet -(-before everyone gets excited we are not talking rules here just options --thats where i stand)---deb do you have more info.   willie

i found this        http://www.webbikeworld.com/r3/motorcycle-air-bag/

[Peter Jack]

My concern with an inflatable garment is that it might give you an increased tendency to roll or tumble as it would keep your center of gravity higher from the ground and decrease your rolling resistance. I haven't had any lsr get-offs but I've definitely had a couple of involuntary landings with the motorcycle in its naturally stable position, its side.

Pete

[willieworld]

pete-------- go back to my last post there is a web site and a good article  willie

[Peter Jack]

Willie:

I definitely see some potential although I'm not sure I'm ready to jump on the bandwagon yet. With the way my mind works I d definitely be buying the CO2 cartriges in the cheaper packages of 24!!!

Pete