Basejumper.com - archive

Spring has come, wondering how many jumpers also ride motorcycles? Also, how many of us who jump and ride think that riding a sport bike is more dangerous than BASE? I think I have more control in the jumping environment than in traffic...

I have a K7 Suzuki GSX-R 750, you?

BASE 1184

I agree to a certain extent in that I can not directly control others driving habbits or techniques. Unless I am in a state that I can Open Carry my handgun on my hip. For some reason I seem to get a bunch more room that way

used to have a suzuki sv650s;
now have an 2003 Aprilia RSV 1000 MIlle

I would have to say that I think sprotbikes (on the street) are more dangerous than BASE.
That being said, I have a gsx-r750 and a track gsx-r750...

Riding a motorcycle on the busy streets of Florida
is definitely more dangerous than BASE jumping!!

Riding dirtbikes on the other hand I think is safer
than BASE and about the same risk as Skydiving.

My opinion is based on almost 30 years of riding
and 7+ years of jumping... me and many friends
have (or sadly had) lots of SKY &/or BASE jumps
with little or no serious injuries but most have
had some serious carnage from street bikes.

Last 3 street bikes I owned:
1980 Honda CX-500
1986 Suzuki GS-650
2001 Suzuki DR-400

Dirtbike I just sold to Avenfoto:
1991 Kawasaki KX-125

More dangerous in what way? How often we stub a toe? How often we bleed? How often we end up in the hospital? Broken bones? Death?

How do you measure it? Per second of participation? Per foot of travel? Per trip or jump?

You can't compare.

2005 R1.

I had a long post that in too many words said you really can't compare the 2.

2007 R6s
2004 CBR1000rr

What do you mean you can't compare? It's a simple, pretty generic question...

Be careful on that jixer Kerkko

I got a Kawasaki Killer 650 KLR650 Dual Sport, that I fucking love. I've had more close calls on it than in BASE, so I'd have to say street bikes are more dangerous than BASE, just because of all the other people that have the opportunity to take your life. I've been cut off by cops turning left while I was going straight and then they panic and stop right in front of me, I've been side swiped by mini vans, and the fucking bus drivers in downtown seattle are insane.

Dual Sport Bikes Rock!!

Oh I know, it's just too generic, that's all. The way I prefer to ride compared to the way I jump most of the time nowadays, I feel riding to be more dangerous than a BASE jump.

I've done some BASE jumps that were extremely dangerous to the point of almost no margin of error... and a roll of the dice. I've also done very simple base jumps where the risk of harm was very minimal.

Riding to the store around where I live... very little risk. Riding in the hills at pace, pretty high risk. Sharing lanes on 880 near Oakland... downright scary.

I would say for the Harley posers near here (no offense to harley riders, we just have an abundance of wild hawg riders) it's rather safe. They polish their bikes, ride it down main street, stop at a cafe or starbucks or some other meet place, then take the bike back home and polish it up again.

It's just my opinion that there are so many variables that it's tough to compare them.

Edit: To answer the question the way I think you mean it... Bikes are more dangerous.

Gotcha! Makes sense

I have a Briggs & Stratton mini-bike. Does that count ?

2008 Honda Transalp. Got it in September about and have over 14000 km on it already.
Awesome having a bike again!

And I've got about 30km on it riding bitch & carrying his rig

It was a pleasure... Get your ass back to Cape Town, I think I might be able to handle a PCA in about 4-5 weeks. Don't tell my therapist I said that.

...Which you paid me $ 10 000 000 000 for.

Back in 5-6 weeks; got a rig to lend if you're still around then.

Congrats Kege for a new toy :)
It would be lame to tell you "Be Carefull", I know you are... ;)

I just sold my 'bike' last Sunday. (If a baby-HD counts as one... )

/A

Well, I pulled a 'Wwarped' and got my backpack stolen out of my beetle in Woodstock (don't ask why or how)

I'm now at the mercy of the US consulate's ability to replace my passport, so I very well might be here when you get back

Dude that sucks, sorry!!

Do you have a photo-copy of
your passport on your person?

Always a good idea when traveling.

When I was in Vietnam I left my
passport in the hotel safe and just
carried the photo-copy on me.

 
Looks like quite a few jumpers also like to ride bikes. Not surprisingly, crotch rockets and dirt bikes/enduros seem to be the jumpers' choice, no Harley folks have yet come out of the closet... Lets keep it that way... Good for you Antti that you sold yours! hahahaa

Of course there are many ways to ride, some safer than others. What I meant with the original Q was that I think there are too many uncontrollable variables when riding the streets, and when combined with the power these bikes have, there's a lot of potential for things that can go wrong. As atleast Maggot and Dima Obod unfortunately found out, RIP.

In BASE there's also a lot that can happen and things can go bad very quickly, but you should be prepared for those and when for example weather conditions/nature of object/currency/other factors don't look favourable, should be able to call the jump off. I think risk management in BASE is somehow easier!

I don't know if that made any sense, but its good to see so many jumpers also ride!

BASE 1184

I have had some bar room chats with motorcycle
riders who really think I am nuts for skydiving.

I explain that in the sky there is a very limited
number of people, none of them are on their cell
phones or disciplining kids in the back seat, and
almost all of them are reasonably sober.

On city streets it is just the opposite!

I had several. One in my zip-thingie with the passport, another in my backpack, and the third in a folder with some other documents, which just so happened to be in my backpack all at once, and were there ONLY on the day it was stolen. Along with my camera, money, medication, keys to where I'm staying, and half a bottle of cheap wine. I practically sent Murphy a postcard with my picture on it

I had a student who is a Harley rider. She later rode her Harley back to Twin Falls from Nebraska.

Was she hot?

Because that's the real question here...

Woodstock is very dodgy. Were you buying crack?

Seriously, that sucks man!

I saw the sign and thought it was a big party, with live bands and booze!

I ride with this person sometimes and can pretty much guarantee he will blow you away on his Harley.

motomorbikes are rad.... but if you drive them like a madman you will die, or lose limbs....

i have been squashed in between 2 cars on a motorway at 90mph nothing happened.... you've got to laugh, i have also blown a ninja up, and slid past another car whilst on my ass, no injuries

But i have lost a couple of friends, and picked up the pieces....

now i have a 05 VFR 800 i drive it to the max which is faster then they go on the new shitty fast and furious film..

be carfeful

I used to head south on 99 every morning for work and the exit I needed was always backed up for about a half mile and it was a short green light, so I would drive down the right side of the exit passing everyone and then roll up to the light, saving me probably 15-20 minutes because of how many lights I would have had to wait for. The far left lane is the exit I take, so I would stay one lane right of the far left and then just veer left down the right side of the off ramp. One morning I realized that that far left lane didn't have to go down the off ramp, they could continue straight on 99, I realized this as I veered left to take the exit and smashed into the side of a minivan doing 65 mph. They immediately decided to take the exit. I lost my left foot peg, drove to the next exit and never saw them again.

Edit to add: I wasn't trying to avoid dealing with them, in reaction to what happened I moved back to the right and missed the exit.

I just re-read this and realized I sounded like a dumb ass and a dick, I was just a dumb ass

I had many close calls due to blue hairs
in Sarasota not looking and college girls
in Tallahassee not looking... eventually
a male Baptist church bus driver got me.

Also have lost several friends to bikes,
most of them also had some skydives.

And of course there is Maggot who had
6,000 SKY, 600 BASE, and was taken
by a motorcycle accident.

Quite sad, because bikes are awesome!
They use less metal, less gas, less oil,
less space, are faster, cooler, etc.


However, in Vietnam were the vast majority
of motorists are on 2 wheels there they are
quite safe... it is the dipshits texting, talking,
and just not paying attention while driving that
create most of the risk for us.

57,000 miles on a 2004 R1. There is a saying with riders that there are 2 types of riders - those that have layed their bike down and those that will lay their bike down. On the other hand most of the base jumpers i know have had at least one bad landing and several of those that still limp.
I guess I am undecided.

 
Well, maybe I should not have written anything here... As it happened that I totalled my bike on Sunday. Passenger and me are fine with some bruising and road rash (thanks to protective gear), but the bike hit the curb, then rail, split in two and bled all its fluids on the road. It was destroyed. Just took the remains to the insurance company, I hope they don't give me grief.

What happened? Cold tires, cold asphalt, passenger in the back, left turn, front brake lock, you know the rest. My mistake. A large scoop out of my luck bucket, we both stayed on the road and skid to a stop. Long live leather apparel and protective gear.

Ride safe and wear protection!

BASE 1184

Sorry to hear that man but
really glad you are okay!

love them bikes... too many close calls to enumerate... I fell in love with the Ducati bikes, and that's what I own: 2006 Ducati 749S... no tkts, and no accidents (yet)... emergency lane in US saved me many times from asshats driving and chatting on the phone... Sorry about your bike Kege... glad you and your passenger are OK...

The front brake is probably what got you. Bikes don't respond well to front brakes while cornering.

Braking in a corner does a couple of things:
-It wants to stand the bike up,
-It causes a weight transfer to the front of the bike which causes the front tire to be more heavily loaded,
-And more significantly, it diverts some of the front tires available grip away from cornering and into slowing the bike

The moment you lose traction on the front tire, you are in trouble.

There are a couple of very effective ways to make sure that never happens:
-Do all of your braking before you get to the corner
-Accelerate slightly through corners. And this doesn't mean a hard acceleration, just a very slow, progressive roll which keeps weight shifted over the rear tire
-Never, chop the throttle or go for the brakes until you can start standing the bike up. In certain circumstances, just a hard throttle chop while cornering can cause enough weight transfer to overload the front tire causing a skid and lowside.

There are some very good books on the subject, Total Control by Lee Parks being one of the best. If you are a rider, you should own it or at least read it. It has tons of good info on motorcycle dynamics and proper riding technique .

Proficient Motorcycling
and
Twist of the Wrist 2

Are both great books.

Braking properly into corners is called Trail Braking. All racers do it. It does not mean use the rear brake. In simple terms it is braking into the apex accelerate out. That's not a very good description but that's basically what it is. It's already on the brakes entering the corner.

It loads the suspension if done correctly.

I've been forced to brake into corners and in corners for that matter, many times on my CBR and have yet to lose the front end. Keep in mind that's generally me making a mistake but the grip is there unless the road conditions are questionable. and not terribly abrupt.

Bad conditions are pretty self explanatory: dirt, gravel, oil, anti freeze, young dumb ass drifters oiling the corners (drift all you want, but oiling the streets?), malicious neighbors pouring a line of oil across the road trying to make people crash ... (all that has happened in the hills in the surrounding area)

Anyway, I'm glad you're fine kege. I've been down hard many years ago and not quite so hard recently which I mentioned to you already.

Good luck with the insurance company.

Honda Spree 49cc. Fuckin Awesome, one buck to fill it up and tool around town for 2 weeks. 28mph top speed. And its fuckin scary in traffic.

Scooters and Big Girls... both
are fun but embarrassing to ride.

Speaking of scooters, I'd rock this (preferably in black). I found the picture in a posting a friend of mine made on a bike forum.

299? I am sure that's not allowed, isn't that dangerous?

Obviously he's on a closed course. (sly looking emoticon here)

Hartkor_Fakker, are you running stock gearing? That's ridiculously fast even though it's probably off by several kilometres. Good times.

299 kph!!!...Looking at your RPM's there's Still 3000 left to play with...

What are you.. some sort of pussy?

299 KPH = 185 MPH

= really fucking fast. and where he lives there are a lot of places with no speed limits, that pic might be on an autobahn.

The california autobahn?

I also thought that was a bit low since the clocks go up to 315

This Pic is made on a German Highway, around Munich. I was wearing a Parachute on my back and was just on my way home from the dropzone.

Hey dave do you remember the signs which say: "Go as fast as you can"

Good times.

If you see this sign in Germany with any number, it means "Go as fast as you can"

  my twin brother had a bike he used to let me ride. one day coming home from the dz my jumpsuit got caught in the rear sprocket/chain while shooting a toll at about 100 mph. my left leg jerked me back so hard it pulled my entire body to the left causing me to jerk the handle bars in the same direction. quickly, i way overcompensated to the right... then the left,then the right, and so on until i regained control.thought i was dead. lesson learned.... if you don't want to pay the tolls, wear tighter fitting clothes.

Last Saturday.... not my fault, a women hit me because she had a kind of blackout.

The bike was 3 weeks old.

You mean to say, "kind of had a black out?" more like a case of the dumbass... tell her to get off the cell phone, doing her makeup and eating all at the same time...

No!

Oh crap, so sorry about your crash. One needs to ride in traffic like a phantom, just imagine no one will see you and you'll be safer... We call them car drivers "wood-eyes". They are able to see just as well as someone with eyes made of wood!

On a positive side note, my insurance company paid me today. So going bike shopping on weekend.

BASE 1184

attached is a pic of the remains of my old bike.

Is that after you took some of it apart or the crash did all that?

My girl and I out in the Texas hill country. I usually take cars to BASE though, much much easier to drive injured!

CBR600F4

recently took a Sports bike rider course, It wasn't a track day but there was a good bit of life saving stuff in it... Highly suggested attendance

That's my friends trailer and on it is what he collected from the side of the road. The bike hit the guard rail, we skid on the road. As I said we were really lucky, my bucket is pretty much empty.

I asked the insurance inspector if I could keep the slip-on exhaust (which was about the only thing intact), but he said everything that was on it is theirs now, as they sell the wrecks on and everything is worth money. I could have switched the original pipe back on before I went to show it, but did not see the risk/benefit ratio appealing... They aren't really that expensive.

BASE 1184

Yes, I have a bike. It is a Honda CB250 Nighthawk that I kit up for adventure rides from Houston down into Mexico. It's a very simple bike and I can fix almost anything on it myself. I am planning a ride to the Panama Canal in 2010.

I am a new member here and just signed up. I will post an intro later.

Z

Do you know the Guys calles Finish Bomber?

Pretty cool gang

 
Yes I know them. It's not like a club though, but you need to ride a certain way to call yourself a "bomber".. There's bomber gathering every month, which is mostly riding in packs, trying to evade the cops and find a quiet strip of street where skills are displayed (called bombing). Mostly its a handful of really skilled riders showing off, and sometimes even a few hundred other riders watching them. It started about ten years ago, but has probably reached a limit in Finland, since the law likes to hunt down them bombers.. Luckily (kind of) we have winters here so the law forgets bikes even exist for a few months!

A few riders publish a magazine (plus website): http://www.bombermagazine.com/...mber_english.php.htm

a few clips:
B#1 movie trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EO6jwKWfRlM

Plan Bee, a show team:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lh8UvvjC50

How did you hear about them?

#1184

I am on a short scene on the Ghostrider 3 movie. (Bonus sequence) and there is a cool movie about a Bomber Weekend. Pretty nice guys and a great Party the way I like it. And, I met some Guys on a Hillclimbing Race in Austria (Rachau if you know that one)

NICE. very nice.

Had crusty CBR 600F3, trying to save money for 929 now. I absolutely love driving fast and beating the living shit out of my bike, its a addiction.
http://www.youtube.com/...feature=channel_page
Bomber weekend is the shit, hopefully I will go this year

Why is it always about sports bikes?

Why not a nice chopper? Why does it always have to be about insane speed and not relaxation?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJS8j9YYB9w

I will get some fast chopper when Im 50 years old and gonna be to fat to fitt on a sportbike

I have a K7 GSX-R 770 and a "05 KLR 650 Enduro
KLR is used for all base. Easy to hide and makes everything accessable, gas is chep too.

GSXR will eat my lunch way faster than any base jump. Depends on how your riding it but when I being stupid sportbike are way more dangerous than jumping. My 2cents.

loud, overpriced, underperforming piece of shit. why not buy a vespa??? shhhhh
shhhhhh

I thought americans love that kind of motorcars/cycles

You seem to know a lot about base and motorcycles. Which tires should I put on mine? I like twisties and like to ride fairly quick. Since i wont be riding on the track, I don't need track tires.

What should I use and what size for a good combination of grip and longevity?

Michelin Pilot Road 2's!

Awesome tyre for grip and longevity balance

 
Cool, I need to see that some time!

On a side note, I took my new gixxer to the track for the first time last weekend. Holy crap it was fun! 3 days of hard riding, learning lines and how to really shift weight and so on... good stuff. Even got rid of my "knee slider virginity" on the last day...

BASE 1184

I agree, my favorite tires

They're great and all, but Sangi hasn't approved them yet. Screw it, this time I'll go with the BT 016. Road2's don't come in a 190/55/17 :(

K7 GSXR 750

I agree with most of you here on this subject. Like BASE you can make it as dangerous as you want. Seeing you have no control over the drivers that you share the road with. I have been pinned in between two vehicles in bumper to bumper traffic, not fun. Plus these things are so stupid fast! I now ride on the track a lot more than I do on the street.