Larry Grodsky: Dead.

Major Bummer. As much as I have always loved motorcycles, I don't ride much anymore.

Dale

 

Ride on the track... its much safer... and more fun.

 

Same goes for me, thought about buying a new bike but a hot Ferrari is funner, you are not covered with bugs and road grime when you get somewhere, plus you don't have ulcers wondering if some idiot on a cell phone has seen you or is going to run you over.

 

Gave up the "donorcycle" in 1997. As much as I love them, I just can't justify the risk.

I once believed if you rode smart, you could stay safe. But I got clipped when a lady ran a redlight,... on the shoulder,... next to a stopped police car (No I'm not joking!). A friend in texas barely missed an armadillo on one of our rides.

They're fun, but they're dangerous...

 

People have been know to hit deer on a race track though...

 

Please tell me you didn't actually use the word "FUNNER". Not incorrect usage of words but just that word. It gets under my skin for some reason. Sorry for the rant. Back to our regularly scheduled programming.



Sorry to hear about this. I have thought about giving it up but I love riding the 748. Soon it will be track only however.

 

I started riding motorcycles when I was 14. Just like the rest of my buddies, I got a restricted drivers license, a paper route, and brought a Honda 90 on time. Getting up at 4:30 am. Folding papers. Telling lies. Doing donuts on the lawns of those who stiffed us. Good times.

Fast forward to about 1999/2000. I had just washed my 1970 Triumph Bonneville and was going about the block to dry it off. I saw the "female dog" in a Suburban on the cell at a stop sign on my right. Sure enuff, the idiot pulls out right in front of me. Because I saw it coming, I was able to drive to the right and miss her back bumper by inches. The bad news is that she never saw me. The good news is that she kept on going. If she had stopped, I would have been doing a Mighty Mouse over her land barge.

About 30 seconds later, the adrenaline hits, and I have to pull over with the shakes. I'm getting way too old for this stuff, sez I.

This incident is what later led me to Ferrairs. Because I decided that four wheels are better than two (anybody remember Animal Farm?), I switched my passion to sports cars. Like all roads leading to Rome (sic), I, of course, end up falling in love with Ferraris. The Prancing Ponies come as close as it gets to the real thing, i.e., motorcycles.

But Grodsky, damn. If it can happen to him, it can more than happen to the rest of us. Damn, damn, damn. I hate this dying crap.

Dale

 

agreed. armadillos are fun, but dangerous!

 

sure, and frogs sometimes fall from the sky.... but its not something to worry about.

We have a deer flag at Sears Point. one of my race partners hit a coyete at Sears.

there is danger in everything.


Not so sure anyone can show miles riden vs. miles driven are more fatal.


Riding a motorcycle in and of itself is not dangerous. There are a few very simple things you can do to keep yerself out of danger:

Dont Drink and Ride - more than half of ALL motorcycle accidents (regardless of fault) involve alcohol.

Wear your Gear - Full faced Helmet, propper riding gear.

Get some instruction - MSF courses, Track Days with instruction. alot of accidents can be avoided by knowing your bikes and your own abilities and limitations.

Dont ride like and arse - Dragging a knee is for the track. Riding over yer head will put daisies over your head.



calling motorcycles "murdercycles" is silly and uninformed.


remember, someone was likely killed in your town on their way to work today... driving a minivan.



having said that... the track is much safer, and much more fun for motorcycle riding.

 

Dale, Me to except I woke up at 3:30 and had a honda passport with 70cc. I can still smell the ink.

I thought I was a good driver (sport bikes and such) last year I took out one of my friends too big for me Harleys, and did the stupidest thing and laid it down. Thank heaven for the crash bars.

I am done. I am not going to ride again.

 

Me too. No one incident, just enough little things. I don't know how people ride in the suburbs. I felt safer riding in Manhattan.

Once my oldest was born my wife asked (nicely!) if I would consider something with the metal on the outside. So I did.

 

I'm thinking of giving up bikes, too. I am also giving up everything else that is even remotely dangerous.
In order to live life to it's fullest, I am going to stay in the house, and just watch TV or surf the net.
(PLEASE don't tell me that radiation from these devises is dangerous, or I will just have to sit on the couch and stare at the wall)

 

It is a fact if you stare at the tv to long you will go blind.

Just like it is a fact that if you stare at a stripper to long you will go broke.

 

A friend sent me this picture this morning. Swedish motorcyclist going 155mph hits Volkswagen broadside at an intersection. Rider and two occupants of the car dead at the scene. Used as a display at the Stockholm Motorcycle Fair by the Swedish Police and Road Safety Department.

I sold my Moto Guzzi and gave up riding more than 10 years ago.

RIP to Mr. Grodsky.
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

I broke my back in a motorcycle accident on June 3rd 2000...now I ride on four wheels...wheelchair (T-5). I grew up racing and learned the hard way...S*** happens!


Now I need my F-car!


RK

 

I fully respect your choice to give up riding, but I don't see what this picture has to do with it. Unless of course you typically rode your Guzzi at 155mph on public roads. Not likely, considering it was a Guzzi... ;-)

Seriously, what is the significant bit of information in the crash pictured - the type of vehicle the driver was operating, or the fact he was going 155mph on a public road? I've seen this picture on numerous occasions, often in threads talking about how dangerous bikes are, when in fact everyone would be just as dead had the guy been in a Ferrari going the same speed in the same place at the same time.

The point of the display is to get people to think about the dangers of riding fast on the street, not to give up bikes because they are dangerous.

The vehicle Mr. Grodsky was operating figured significantly into the tragic result of his crash, there's no denying that. But the vehicle in the photo was of secondary importance to the operator's stupidity. Let's not confuse things here...

To be honest, if Mr. Grodsky had been a friend of mine I'd be pissed a thread announcing his death was illustrated with the aftermath of some idiot's need for speed.

My condolences to Mr. Grodsky's family.

 

Fair enough, I apologize.

 

I know nothing of motorcycles. But here's my tally:

1 high school buddy has a permanently disabled arm since 1972 as a result of a motorcycle wreck.

1 uncle and his son both walked with limps from motorcycle wrecks

1 friend with broken leg from motorcycle wreck

1 co-worker broke his leg in a motorcycle wreck decades ago

1 person killed in my hometown about 2 years ago during gigantic motorcycle rally. Hit by car.

1 friend who owns an Indian keeps it parked most of the time. Has pretty much given up on riding because, in his words, those crazy women on their cell phones not paying attention to the road.

Probably more if I think about it.

 

The problem here is that Larry Grodsky was one of the (if not the) biggest proponent of motorcycle safety. Very sad.

Dale

 

Lawrence Grodsky, a nationally known motorcycle safety expert and author who taught thousands of riders to handle themselves on the roads, died Saturday on his bike in Fort Stockton, Texas, after being hit by a deer.

He was 55, and had been on his way from a safety conference in California to Pittsburgh for his mother's 85th birthday, said his sister, Marcia Grodsky.
...

"Just a few weeks ago he said to me, 'That's how I'm going to go, it's going to be a deer.' He could deal with all the idiot drivers, but at night when a deer jumps in your path, that's it and he knew that."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06101/681096-122.stm

 

I've seen more deer by the roadside within the past 5 years than in the previous 20 years. I even saw one grazing under a tree in the middle of the day right beside the interstate. I saw one walking through a friend's neighborhood at night between the houses. They're everywhere.

 

I have noticed deer get blind at night from car headlights, several times in northern Nevada driving at night I have seen huge deer 3ft away on the shoulder of the road just walk right in front of my vehicle, even old big bucks that you think would know better, a blast from the horn is the only thing that works to stop them.

Driving at night in an area that has many deer on a bike is not what I would call safe from a safety expert.

 

That looks like a moose in the windshield?