Motorcycle Safety and Sales

Why is it, every motorcycle accessory salesman seems to think they are experts in motorcycle safety?

I'm not speaking about the motorcycle salesman in general, but specifically guys at the accessory counters.

First Experience

I really wished my motorcycle had cruise control. Now I’ve looked into adding cruise control, and there are these fancy vacuum kits that give you that option (but they are difficult to install and you have to do-it-yourself). The alternative is a throttle lock or palm rest. So while at the dealership I ask the guy about it. He says, “I wouldn’t dare put one of those on my bike. They are dangerous!” I ask why. He says “Well, they are just a friction lock on the throttle. You hit the brakes and the throttle is still on. It can ruin your engine, brakes, and possibly kill you because you don’t brake in time. Also if you set it on a flat and hit a hill, you’ll go -30 mph up the hill and +60 mph going down the hill.”

Ok ok ok! I get it. Bad idea right? Wait, there is the option of Brakeaway Cruise Control. This little bad boy disengages the throttle when you pull on the front brakes (and if you know anything about motorcycles you always use both brakes, never just one of them). I bring this up as a counter point and the salesman goes “Well…uh uh uh, uhm…I wouldn’t use that thing. How much is it?” I say $200. He says “Heheh, I wouldn’t buy it for that.” I say “What’s the alternative?” *dear in the headlight stare* -from the salesman

Honestly, what the hell? He is unable to offer me an option for a true cruise control install (remember do-it-yourself only and quite complicated). Or a $30 throttle lock that doesn’t disengage. Even if they would install the vacuum cruise control kit, it’d be $1000+. But a $200 alternative that solves the “danger” problem while giving my right-hand a break is beyond their realm of thinking. I saw the gears in his head just seize up.

Second experience

I will need to be able to take one of my daughters on the back of the motorcycle come school season. The alternative is I store my bike for the entire school year (which is not appealing to me…why buy one if you don’t ride it?). But my girls are little. So I did some research. What did I find?

Well for starters, the obvious points are very important. A child should have a DOT helmet (and no half-helm or open-face either…we’re talking full helmet protection). A jacket and gloves, some good shoes (no sandals). But is that enough?

One concern immediately apparent to me was a child’s ability to fall asleep easily pretty much anywhere. We go for a ride and they zonk out if the trip is more than 5 minutes. What happens if they zonk out on the back of a motorcycle and you hit a bump or heaven forbid have to deviate from a straight line and turn. *rolls eyes* The child would simply fall off. To make matters worse I know kids can’t focus on any thing for very long. They’ll get distracted and next thing you know they’ll slide off because they were too busy looking at the dog in the back of the truck next to them or the neat toy store that we are passing buy. How do we fix this problem in a car? Car seats and seat belts.

But strapping your child to the motorcycle is dangerous. In the event of an accident, it is not recommended that you remained firmly attached to your motorcycle. A motorcycle is heavy, hot, full of fuel, and can smash you. A rider who comes free from one in an accident slides along the pavement (which is where good leather comes in).

So I ran across this Child Riding Belt product. It gives the kid a place to hold onto, and straps them to the rider. It reminded me a lot of a mother kangaroo with a papoose (on your back). So after much searching we find a shop selling them in Grants, NM. We drive there (1 hour drive) and buy it. I return to Albuquerque and head to a local dealer to get my oldest girl a helmet. I’m telling the guy about it, and he looks at me with big guys and is like “No no no, I’d never use something like that. You can’t strap them to a motorcycle. Riders have to be free from them in the event of an accident.”

At this point, I probably had a look on my face that said “I so want to slap some sense into you, you silly idiot that you are.” I said, “They are strapped to me, not the bike.” He shakes his head vehemently, “I would never do that to a child on my motorcycle. They can just hold onto your belt loops.”

I don’t lose my temper with strangers often. When I do, a bit of my father comes into play. This guy wasn’t listening or thinking. He was regurgitating rancid half-thoughts that meant nothing to anyone but the zombie populace that define most consumers.

I said, “Sir, do you have children?”

He said, “No…” and looks at me with an infamous dear-in-the-headlight stare.

I said, “I thought not.” I continued, “Do you know what would happen to a child on a motorcycle passenger seat if they were there for a long ride?”

He said, “No” and now he looked like I was going to slap him.

I said, “They fall asleep. And if they don’t do that, they get distracted by the first brightly lit colored object in their view. They are more likely to fall off when I’m driving than any accident related injury.”

He just turned his head and stopped. I don’t know what is wrong with these people. They give advice on subjects they know nothing of. It’s like the couple that doesn’t have kids that decides to saddle up next to you at Church to give you parenting advice. Who the hell do they think they are? This guy doesn’t listen and doesn’t think.

Some people don’t think things through. They just spew forth things they were told that they never thought about. Really, if this guy was so insistent he’d refuse to sell me a child’s motorcycle helmet because he’d realize that them not getting on at all is the real safe answer.

Supporting Others' Rights

I remember having a talk with my Dad about flag burning. I was vehemently opposed to the idea and antagonistic to those who would burn it. I assumed my Dad (being a vietnam vet) would strongly agree with me. But he turned and looked at me and said "They can burn it if they want." He continued to say, "American soldiers have fought for freedom of religion and speech and died for it, and even though they burn the symbol of those freedoms, it is their right to do so."

That changed my entire lookout. It took years for me to realize the extent of this change. But when I see someone complaining and moaning about how another person (or group) is expressing their freedom of religion and freedom of speech (whether that be protesting or political), I am reminded of the way my Dad looked at me when we had this conversation. People have died for that right. If there is anyone we should be angry with over legal inequality, it is the government.