Goddamn Stunters!

[ÜberDoober]

I was unexpectedly called onsite to a customer over in Phoenix this morning and decided to take the bike in spite of the predicted 110º temps today.

I finished up my job and headed home. Passing through the middle of downtown Phoenix is this big stupid tunnel that the freeway goes through and the speed limit drops from 65 to 55. It is a total hangout for cops and I always putt through this area.

Anyway, just as I enter the tunnel, I catch a group of bikes doing about 80 in my mirrors. As I look over, the first few bikes in the group are doing stand up wheelies! :ack2:

At the exit of the tunnel, they all dropped it down to two wheels and slowed down. All nine of them then proceeded to move into my lane putting me right in the middle of their group. I was pissed.

They were all wearing helmets but most were just wearing some sort of armor/back protector and no shirts. One guy was in shorts with knee guards on and nearly all of the bikes I saw before they wheeled up the exit ramp had full cages.

WTF is wrong with people? Getting stuck in the middle of this pack of hooligans would have gotten me arrested if the cops were on their tails. No wonder people hate motorcycles.

:angry-004::angry-004::angry-004::angry-004:

[ÜberDoober]

Oh crap. I posted this story over at my local forum, http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g223/EKron/SWRlogo.gif and unleashed a torrent of shit on their board. (Sorry, Rob)

Don't know how long the thread will stay up but here's a link (http://www.southwestrides.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=10634&page=3).

It's pretty funny, really.

[ÜberDoober]

Oh well, the link is dead and the whole thing got deleted. It turned pretty ugly at the end but was fun while it lasted. I saved it all except for the last two posts. I'll read it again when I want a laugh. :)

I painted all stunters with a broad brush and shouldn't have. Let me specify that it was this particular group of assholes doing their little tricks in traffic that pissed me off. Stunting is cool and takes a lot of skill but not on the freeway.

[Cornbread Red]

I got hit with an "Infraction" over at SWR for bitching about those clods. Oh well.

I have the police stations of the entire West Valley on speed-dial now. These stunters are painting all of us, and the cops should be dealing with them. Every time I see one of these jerks, I'm dropping the dime.

There's several organized groups, who even fly colors. Woe be to 'em.

SWR is a good place, but the "Let's accept everyone" 'tude isn't a good thing in that case. This stunting on public roads crap needs ostrication of anyone just plain retarded enough to think their entitled to risk injury to other motorists, cause harassment of other bikers, raise insurance rates for anyone with a motorcycle, especially a sportbike, and cause more bike thieves to get into business stealing body parts to replace what these bums break when they biff.

I cover a lot of the West Valley every day in my job. I see anyone doing that crap now, and it's a call to the po-po.

Chip

[ÜberDoober]

Seriously, you got an infraction? Rob runs a good board but does tend to get rather anal at times. I'm sure he banned/deleted all the guys that signed up to rage in the thread but am a bit surprised he'd admonish any of the regulars. Your post must have gotten quickly deleted because I don't remember reading it nor did I get a copy of it. Dunno if you saw one of the last posts where one of these kiddies called me a stupid bitch?

I had a good comeback line but the thread was locked before I could get it in. I was gonna ask the guy if he would talk to his grandmother that way? :) I know better than to feed the trolls but was having a bit of fun with it.

Good on you for calling the cops on these punks. I'm all for them developing their skills but not on the street especially if it happens to be one I'm riding on.

[Cornbread Red]

My boo-boo came about a few months ago, same subject.. I stayed out of this one, don't want to mess up Mr. Roger's Neighborhood..

[Cornbread Red]

I posted my displeasure at seeing a bunch of stunting on Bullard St. in front of the Kawasaki dealer in Goodyear during a weekend sales thing. Pissed me off more to see the dealership staff all come outside to encourage these clowns.

That post brought out the stuntazzz. Same thing, -they don't like negative attention ~~AT ALL~~..

Rob, I know you'll probably be reading this, and I'm not going to flame you. I think you and the rest of the Kum-By-Ya, "We're all one big sameness of Motorcycle Community" believers need to look at the bigger picture.

This isn't 20 years ago. There's a huge amount of people riding now, and it's gonna get twice as many out here on two wheels in a few years. This bunch of irresponsible children are going to bring a lot of grief to everyone who rides.

Assholes exist in any group, and the dolts doing this street stunting thing are a direct threat to the rest of us. It's time to take away what these attention-starved immature horse's asses need most, and that's any kind of recognition. Meanwhile, there should be a write-in backlash to Speed Channel's endorsement of this with that Superbikers show.

I've done that, and written to Speed's advertisers, too.

Chip

[ÜberDoober]

Wow! I'm impressed!

I seriously doubt Rob takes the time or lowers himself down enough to read anything here but your Mr. Rogers and Kum-by-Ya comments are spot on and had me cracking up. Too funny but so true. His bump of the "No Drama" thread today and the "no bashing" policy just confirms his vision.

I will be the first to admit that just about everytime I ride, I manage to break the law at some point or another. If you've read any of my ride stories, I'm generally the slowest one in a group and around town, I could have a motor cop follow me all day without any trouble at all.

It is unusual, however, that I head out of town and not touch 100 with the speedo needle at least once. Heck, it only takes 4½ seconds! I don't consider my self a criminal but isn't this is almost the same attitude that these street stuntasses have so how am I any different? (For what it's worth, I've clocked Rob and Dean both at 100mph).

At least I've never done wheelies through central Phoenix in the middle of the day so that makes me better, right? (not for 25 years anyway) I would have been just as mad if it was a group that was "just" extreme speeding too even though of that I am guilty, but not in the city.

Good for you writing SPEED about their stupid Superbikes show. The guys do have some serious skills but the show promotes a lifestyle that gives some legitimacy to this street hooliganism and that's too bad.

The one kids attitude that the knee draggers have a holier than thou attitude may have some merit but generally, they don't play their games in public. These stunt boys are out the flaunt the law and show off and don't give a damn how bad is reflects on the mostly legal rider.

I'm not totally innocent but I try to present a respectible and non-threatening image to the general public to keep people happy and to keep Johnny Law off my back. This street stunting shit erases every trace of goodwill and good karma the normal motorcyclist has ever done because we all look alike to the eyes that are watching.

[Cornbread Red]

Have I done stupid shit on a bike? Yep, guilty. However, at some point, either someone points it out to you, or you just figure it out.. You're operating a vehicle weighing hundreds of pounds in an arena of many, many other drivers of all sorts of vehicles and all sorts of skill levels and more and/or less protection from a collision.

A bike colliding with most any small car will cause serious, life-threatening damage. Not just to the biker. I was an EMT and I've seen this too much. T-boning a cage will collapse the door, and most of them don't have airbags there.

I try like hell not to give in to the urge to speed. Kinda sucks, fun-wise, but necessary.

In that vein, I don't think I'll ever own a crotch rocket again. Waaaay too much HP for any practical public use, too much temptation.

Maturity comes with time, but Peer Pressure is going to rule ..For good or bad, when you're young.

Not to be preachy, but I learned from example when I took up motorcycling. The best examples were people who demonstrated common sense and those were the bikers I admired.

I have no problem with people doing stunts, jumping cars and shit, and racing. -Just do it away from innocent bystanders and the driving public. And don't impress these kiddos that it's some kind of cool "culture" to be a criminal and a fool on the streets.

Off my soapbox.
Chip