Hot head motorcyclists.

Ok I have to vent, bare with me.

For the past 5 years I've been taking this nice road up to my 2nd TaeKwon-Do school. It's a 30 minute drive through the Lancaster/Lebanon country side. Mostly farms and small homes. The road has a double yellow line all the way. I know this road like the back AND front of my hand. I know every pothole, bump, crack and dips are.

The past 2 years I've been seeing more and more crotch rockets (if that's what they are called anymore). Totally oblivous to the speed limits, passing chains of cars whenever there is an opening, tailgating people, etc...

I don't know about the rest of you guys but it freaking makes me mad that these idiots flick me the finger for slowing them down or getting in their way. Just last year I was pulling out into traffic and a blue motorcycle was waiting for traffic to clear so he could get in. He was about 5 cars behind me. I see him passing people illegally mind you. He gets up behind me and is tailing me so close I cannot even see his front wheel. Not sure if he wasn't paying attention but I started to slow down since I was catching up to a pick-up with a mobile home. I hear the guy behind me lock up his brakes and I see him flip off his bike and start skidding past me in the on-coming traffic lane. He knicked my car. I saw him get up and pulls his bike off the road. I didn't go back to see if he was ok, maybe I should have.

And just yesterday I'm going to my school and a guy pulls out on his red motorcycle. Flying through this little town at full throttle - had to been going at least 70mph in a 35mph. He's tailgating this Saab so close. Slowing down speeding up slowing down speeding up. I'm behind him and the jerk decides to go about 10 mph, in a 45mph just to slow me down and gives me the finger nodding his head at the same time. He moves over into the on-coming lane (thought he was going to pass the Saab cause that's what all these guys do), so I speed up a little. Nope he decides to cut back over not realizing I'm there now - my mirror is almost touching his handle bars. He finally backs off and gets behind me.

Ok trying to breath again :p I hope none of you guys act like this.

We saw one of those yesterday. I call them "Future Grease Spots." It has been my observation that I will see the same ones for a period of time, up to a couple months, then I don't ever see them again. You can draw your own conclusions from that.

CivicSiRacer wrote: He gets up behind me and is tailing me so close I cannot even see his front wheel. Not sure if he wasn't paying attention but I started to slow down since I was catching up to a pick-up with a mobile home. I hear the guy behind me lock up his brakes and I see him flip off his bike and start skidding past me in the on-coming traffic lane. He knicked my car. I saw him get up and pulls his bike off the road. I didn't go back to see if he was ok, maybe I should have, but he got what was coming to him.

That sounds suspiciously like "I brake-checked this guy on a motorcycle, he crashed, and I left the scene". This is usually called a felony and not something you should be telling people on the interwebs.

Guys like that are infuriating. But at least they aren't really a threat to you. Their massive jackasshattery can get them killed but probably only scratch your car.

Keep your bloodpressure down. They're shortening their life expectancy, no need to do the same to yourself.

Which is not to belittle your frustration, because I completely understand. Just pop some Bob Marley on the radio and enjoy the fact that you won't ever have emergency crews haul out the coca cola to hose you off the street.

Yeah, Walter, I wuz thinkin' that too. He shoulda stopped, if just to give the cop the true story of what happened.

more crotch rockets (if that's what they are called anymore).

The proper term is donorcycle.

I had a nice crotch rocket for a long time. It was an 04 Yamaha R6, and it was the closest thing I've ever had to a Ferarri. Lightning fast, handled like a dream, and more technology packed into 407 lbs than a fat nerd. Of course, I'm 35 and a long-time bike owner, so I rode it responsibly.

Its the RIDER that is the jerk. These young punk kids go out and spend all this money on a bike, put a broom on their helmet, and they think they're gods. When they pull that crap on me I just ignore them. I drive my car normally and if they end up dead in a ditch, it just proves Darwin's theory.

We all do it to some extent in our lives. I smoke and drink. That is the dumbest thing of all.

We call these 'people' squids. And remember, the only safe squid is on your plate:

Why are they called squids? I've heard the term plenty. But where/how did it originate?

While I was driving on an interstate highway, a group of crotch-rocket idiots rode by in the left lane. A few of them felt it was necessary to do wheelies while doing 70 mph.

It was all I could do to keep from doing a little swerve while they were riding by me. I knew it would have been wrong (and that's why I didn't do it), but it would have felt so good to see these dumba$$es skidding on their elbows down the highway.

There's a place for this stuff. On the interstate isn't one of them. I've driven my Miata inches off the back bumper of another car at 70 mph, around curves. On a race track. But never on a public road.

There is some disagreement about the origins of the term, but I like to think is has something to do with how they move in traffic: squirt forward, slow down, squirt forward, slow down. Squids also exhibit a near-inability to change directions in motion, requiring almost a full stop to turn, then accelerating rapidly away. Also acceptable terms: 'zip-splats' and 'soon-to-be-ex-motorcyclists.'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid_(motorcycle)

There are many warning signs of squidliness: a late-model sportbike piloted by a 20-something wearing shorts, a wife beater, flip flops and a full-face helmet perched atop the crown of the head is a sure sign of squid. More subtle signs pertain to the riding position. A well-camouflaged squid will wear the garb of a decent rider, but he can be spotted by his posture: straight arms and tense shoulders on the bars, arched back with the butt sticking out, and the arches of feet on the footpegs, instead of the balls, as is proper. And then there's the foot draggers, the guys who trail their feet about an inch above the ground upon take-off up to about 35mph.

Organ Donor is the appropriate term around here.

Salanis wrote: Why are they called squids? I've heard the term plenty. But where/how did it originate?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Squid_(motorcycle)

One of the best arguments against owning a motorbike...you'll have something in common with these shiny happy persons.

walterj wrote:

CivicSiRacer wrote: He gets up behind me and is tailing me so close I cannot even see his front wheel. Not sure if he wasn't paying attention but I started to slow down since I was catching up to a pick-up with a mobile home. I hear the guy behind me lock up his brakes and I see him flip off his bike and start skidding past me in the on-coming traffic lane. He knicked my car. I saw him get up and pulls his bike off the road. I didn't go back to see if he was ok, maybe I should have, but he got what was coming to him.

That sounds suspiciously like "I brake-checked this guy on a motorcycle, he crashed, and I left the scene". This is usually called a felony and not something you should be telling people on the interwebs.

I don't consider it brake checking since he indicates he was breaking because of the approaching pick-up/mobile home. Sounds more like the biker was tailgating so closely that he failed to look down the road beyond CivicSiRacer's rear bumper.

But I will agree, however, that admitting to being involved in an accident and leaving the scene is asking for trouble.

There's asswipes in every walk of life and every sport. I put sportbike squids in the same category as:

the Harley buttheads who think it's necessary to make every eardrum for a quarter mile bleed,

the ricer/muscle car jerks who think that flying by at double the speed of prevailing traffic shows how big their penis is,

the dirt bike idiots who don't understand the concept of 'Private Property- Do Not Trespass',

the boss who thinks that he/she can treat those below them any way they damn well like,

and I'm sure everyone out there can name a bunch more.

The best thing about the sportbike squids is they are an excellent source of eBay motorcycle shocks for Locosts.

Jensenman wrote: The best thing about the sportbike squids is they are an excellent source of eBay motorcycle shocks for Locosts.

And 1000cc engines that are good for 12,000 rpms that work well in [insert favorite toy here]

Too bad really, I've been riding for 34 years without incident or bad PR. These toucholes are giving cycing a bad rap. There's nothing you can do but vent.

BTW ayoung coworker of mine died last weekend. He's a squid. His buddy on the inside of a turn pushed to the outside putting Adam into the grile of an Escalade.

At least it was quick....

Dan, sorry to hear about your co worker.

I have seen some of the DVDs of some of these fools doing 100 MPH wheelies in traffic. I had one pass me on North Rhett Blvd. here in Chuck, doing about 90 on the rear wheel so close I could have reached out and touched him. I was driving the J-H with my daughter in the passenger side. Guess he saw the blonde hair and felt the need to prove his manhood. :-/

As a lifelong motorcyclist who knows the risks pretty well, I hate to think 'serves him right' when one of these idiots buys the farm, but man it's hard not to.

Dan,

I had an acquaintance die that way too. Riding side by side (which should never be done anyway), the inside rider pushed him outside, he hit gravel, bike slid out, flipped, hit him in the head and killed him (took 2-3 months to die, though). I don't think they were going that fast either. Alcohol was also likely involved.

Salanis wrote: Guys like that are infuriating. But at least they aren't really a threat to you. Their massive jackasshattery can get them killed but probably only scratch your car. Last year I read about an accident and saw a photograph where a motorcycle traveling at high speed hit and entered a small car through the passenger door and killed the passenger and driver as well as the rider. Something to think about.

katonk wrote:But I will agree, however, that admitting to being involved in an accident and leaving the scene is asking for trouble.

True and there's no going back to it now.

I still think about if I did the right thing or not, but this accident occurred in the middle of nowhere, with no witnesses (for my safety). I thought to myself if the guy went psycho (and you know he was because I've seen the same guy do numerous stupid things over the course of a couple months) on me I would be left for dead in the woods.

This does work both ways.

In the early '80s I had a 650 Yamaha that I often rode to my job at a Navy base. One morning some XXXXhead thought he needed to get to work 5 seconds sooner so he raced up in line, passed a few cars, and then jumped in front of me at the last possible second to enter the base ahead of me. To make matters worse, that morning it had drizzled and the road was coated with that light, thin film of rubber and oil that appears when it first starts raining. Before this a--hole jumped in front of me, I had a nice 1 1/2 car lengths between me and the car in front of me in case I needed the room for an unexpected stop. When the jerk jumped in front of me I barely missed ramming him. From the nasty look he gave me in his rear view mirror, the pinhead believed I was responsible for the near miss.

I usually leave the saddle bags on my bike just so as to not be associated with those guys. Full gear and luggage on a sportbike and even the police won't bother you.

I used to get angry about the sportbike guys ripping through traffic, now I follow HPDE rules...I give them point-bys.

squids are everywhere in panama city area... few weeks ago we saw a guy swerving in and out of traffic... token flops, shorts, tank... nothing unusual here... but the funny part was he had his lid on the back seat... not strapped down... no he was 1/2 turned around holding it down with one of his hands...

I am amazed at FL though... they recently made it so you HAVE to take a MSF class to get your M endorsment... yet if you have 10k of insurance you can cruise with no lid... (side note... i still don't understand why the class is $200+... was $20 in MI grr)

OP: what road is this? Thru Gretna or somewhere around there? I can't say I've encountered any (I drive through that area infrequently) but my passages are usually during the day when the squids are either in class or waiting for the teenage girls to skip school and hang out with them for a smoke.