Passes & Canyons Blog

There’s no good reason not to wear eye protection.

Old pictures of motorcyclists from, say, 50 years ago can be pretty amazing if you pay attention to the details. It’s not that most of the riders are not wearing helmets, though they’re not. It’s that in most cases they’re also not wearing eye protection. Of course, laws back then didn’t require either.

Here’s an example. Some time ago I got a copy of McQueen’s Machines: The Cars and Bikes of a Hollywood Icon. Flipping through it there are a variety of pictures of Steve McQueen on motorcycles and, in several of them he’s blasting along with no helmet or glasses. It is interesting to note, however, that in shots where he is racing he always wears goggles and a helmet. So it’s not like people back then didn’t understand the protection these things offered.

Nearly every state now has a motorcycle helmet law in one form or another, some requiring all riders to wear them, many only having restrictions on those under 18. These laws are a volatile topic year after year and are likely to remain so for a long time to come. At one extreme are non-riders who want to force all riders to wear helmets, and at the other end are riders who consider it insane to ride without a helmet but who adamantly oppose government mandates on the issue. And there’s a wide spectrum of positions in between the two.

What goes undebated, however, is the fact that requirements for riders and passengers on motorcycles to have some sort of eye protection are widely mandated now as well. Glasses or goggles, per se, are not specifically required; a number of states demand eye protection on your face only if you do not have a windshield. Alaska is more specific: your windshield must reach at least 15 inches above your handlebars. Alabama, California, and others don’t require anything. Indiana only requires eye protection for riders under 18.

It’s a non-issue. Why? Because people by and large are not stupid. I’ve been riding for more than 30 years and I’ve gone down on my bike once. I didn’t always wear a helmet, although now I always do. I was that day but it didn’t matter, my head never touched the ground or anything else.

On the other hand, I cannot count the number of bugs that have died on my visor or on the lenses of my glasses. And then there are the bits of grit and sand and tiny pebbles that my eye protection has deflected. I know that many years ago, just like Steve McQueen, I used to ride without glasses or any kind of eye protection. I find it hard to believe now.

What I also find kind of hard to believe is the number of states that have no requirements or only require a windshield. Both my bikes have windshields and trust me, they don’t block all the airborne debris. I don’t care what the law is, or what state I’m in, I’m not going riding without eye protection.

And I think that’s why it’s a non-issue. I know that in my experience, and I suspect in yours, too, if you go to a state that has no requirements for eye protection, you’ll nevertheless be hard put to spot anyone who doesn’t have it. It would just be stupid not to.

Wow, what a concept: People are not stupid.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you have ever had to borrow a helmet for your date.

A rider heading up Independence Pass.

I believe this will be the last post about this Colorado MOST 2018 report on motorcycle crashes. The only tables left that I haven’t discussed have to do with what parts of the road riders were on when they crashed and what the conditions were.

With 1,247 crashes counted, the number one location was essentially anywhere except at an intersection. The table lists it as “Non-intersection.” Were they going straight, was the road curvy? No way to know. But then number two was “At intersection,” with 688 crashes counted. The lesson here should be obvious: be extra careful when you’re approaching an intersection.

Number three is “Intersection related” but it’s not obvious what that implies. There were 278 of those.

“Driveway access related” is next, with 127. So yeah, be alert at driveways, too. Heck, be alert all the time. It’s your skin we’re talking about here.

The remaining tallies are “Ramp” with 85; “Roudabout” with 24; “Alley related” with 15; and “Unknown” with 6.

And then we come to road condition. Here the preponderance is overwhelming: “Dry” with 2,341 crashes tallied. “Wet” is in second place with just 83. So OK, it seems that road condition not anywhere near the factor I would have expected it to be. That’s why you study data.

Barely one crash in 100 involved “Foreign matter.” To be specific, 24. “Wet w/visible icy road treatment” tallied only 5.

The rest were “Icy” with 3; “Snowy” with 2; “Muddy” with 1; “Slushy” with 1; and “Unknown” with 10.

Not a lot of surprises there. Not too many of us get out on our bikes when the roads are icy, snowy, muddy, or slushy. If we did I’m sure those numbers would be a lot higher.

Just to wrap up, here are some overall stats that the report broke out.

Motorcyclist Fatalities
• 103 motorcyclists were killed in motorcycle crashes in 2018, 94 were male and nine were female. Ninety-nine were motorcycle operators and four were motorcycle passengers.
• Motorcyclist fatalities represented 16.3% of Colorado’s total traffic fatalities (103 of 632).
• The number of motorcyclist fatalities remained the same in 2018 compared to 2017.
• 77 motorcycle operators involved in fatal crashes were determined to be “at fault.”
• 39 of the fatal motorcycle crashes involved only the motorcycle and no other vehicle.
• In 2018, 54 motorcycle operators killed in a fatal crash tested positive for alcohol or drugs. Fourteen of the motorcycle operators tested positive alcohol (BAC >=0.08) only, 28 operators tested positive for drugs only, and 12 motorcycle operators tested positive for both alcohol and drugs.
• 54 motorcycle operators killed were not wearing a helmet.

If you’re reading this you weren’t one of these folks. Please don’t be one of them next year, either.

Biker Quote for Today

Sometimes the road you travel doesn’t lead to the destination you had hoped for. But if you can look back on it and still smile, then it was worth it.

Bikes coming down from Squaw Pass.

The roads are clear and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were all really nice days. So I rode my motorcycles on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Friday was a little cool but I wore all my winter gear and was perfectly warm. I did run into one problem, and that was with my heated gloves. These are battery powered and while one came on immediately when I hit the button, the other did not. So I got to see how much it mattered on this particular day. Not much. The gloves themselves are very good and warm even when they’re not turned on.

Later I plugged them both in to charge and once I knew both were fully charged I tried again. The one that didn’t work before didn’t work again. Dang! What’s wrong? But I kept pressing the button, holding it, not holding it, and finally it did come on. Not sure what to make of this. I’ll have to see what happens next time.

I didn’t see any other bikes out on Friday and was not surprised. Definitely saw other bikes on Saturday and Sunday. If you weren’t out you should have been.

Saturday was decidedly warmer so while I wore all the rest of the warm gear I did not wear the heated gloves and did not need them. In fact, there were times when I was almost too warm. What a great day in December to ride.

At one point I was on the Concours and I noticed that my front brake was a bit squishy. The bike was stopping OK but it just didn’t feel right. If I pumped it, it would firm up and that’s generally an indication you have a problem. I checked the sight gauge and sure enough, the fluid level was low. Now the question is, is there a leak in the brakeline somewhere? I would just fill it but all I’ve ever heard, and it states it plainly in the shop manual, says do not mix different brake fluids. If you have to add more and don’t know what kind/brand is in there, drain it all and replace it all with one consistent fluid. So I guess I have something to add to my to-do list.

Sunday was a bit cooler but I wore less warm gear and was still perfectly comfortable. I didn’t go for any long rides, just was out running some errands. And just like clockwork, I encountered my Sunday problem. It was no big deal but I noticed one of the zip ties keeping my bag attached to the rear of my sissy bar backrest on the CB750 had broken and the bag was hanging half loose. I have extra zip ties; I fixed it.

So yeah, maintenance. Entropy is a universal law. Everything breaks down eventually. Every fix is a temporary fix but temporary works.

Biker Quote for Today

The older I get the more I understand how important it is to live a life most people don’t understand.

MOST Program annual report

Now we come to what I consider a particularly interesting portion of the 2018 report on motorcycle crashes put together by the Colorado Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program. I’m talking helmet usage and rider legality, i.e., having motorcycle accreditation on your driver’s license.

Unlike the other tables in this report, where they list the top 10 items, there are only 7 choices here. There are 2,470 crashes counted.

“Helmet properly used” was ticked off for 1,223, or 49.5% of all motorcycle operators, and 66.7% for all riders trained through MOST. “No helmet” comes second at 882, for 35.7% of all riders and 18.0% of MOST-trained riders. So far rider training is looking pretty good, although we again have the unanswerable question of, did they get the training before or after the crash?

Number three on the list (109) is “not applicable.” These 177 are explained as “(Cars/Trucks).” Which seems odd. If these were people in cars and trucks, why were they included in this listing of motorcyclists? Then, with 54, is “Helmet improperly used.” Gosh guys, if you’re going to bother wearing a helmet maybe you should at least strap it on properly.

Then there is “Available, not used” at 20 and then “Bicycle helmet” at 5. Really? You think a bicycle helmet is going to do much good in a motorcycle crash? Heck, I don’t see how bicycle helmets do much good even in bicycle crashes. They sure haven’t helped my sister-in-law in the two crashes she has had on her bicycle.

That’s the list. What we are told elsewhere in the report is that there were 103 fatalities in 2018 and of them, 54, or 52%, were not wearing helmets. Which means 48% were wearing helmets, which, as always, gives the lie to those who seem to think the answer to motorcycle fatalities is to make everyone wear a helmet. Helmets help but it’s going to take more than just helmets.

Then we come to licensing. Out of 2,470 riders, there were 1,393 total listed as “Endorsement required & complied with.” For MOST-trained riders it was 64.0%. Again, that’s looking good for training though it also is particularly muddy regarding training before or after the crash.

A total of 563 riders had no endorsement, and then we have 371 with “Endorsement required & not complied with.” I’m really not at all sure what that is supposed to mean. How does that differ from no endorsement?

Then there are 51 listed as “Endorsement required & compliance unknown” and another 92 with “Unknown.”

I don’t know about you but I tend to suspect that riders who have MC endorsements are more likely to be safe riders. At the very least it presents a certainty that you have at least a minimum of ability to control the machine. No it doesn’t say a thing about the ability to maneuver a tight curve at a high speed but at least it’s a start. That’s where further rider training is a good thing. I’ve taken five rider training courses and done one track day and I can tell you pretty confidently that I’m a better rider than my friends who have done none of these.

Biker Quote for Today

You know you’re a biker if you can identify bugs by taste.

Checking out the new Victory motorcycles in Greenville, SC, in 2011.

I got confused and made an assumption but then finally got it all straightened out. Denver’s long-running Motorcycle Show and Swap (now called the Colorado Motorcycle Expo) will be held as usual at the Stock Show grounds, on February 1 and 2. However, for the first time this year we will also have the Progressive International Motorcycle Show going on at the Colorado Convention Center on January 17-19. Golly, golly.

At ABATE meetings we had the usual “are we going to do a booth at the show and swap/expo this year” discussions. In the course of those discussions it was mentioned that the expo had new ownership. This is new, new ownership because there were new owners who took over just about five years ago.

So when I heard that we were going to be hosting the Progressive International Motorcycle Show–at the convention center, no less–I assumed the ownership change meant the expo had been subsumed into this big deal event. But then I started seeing promos for the expo. Huh? I did some searching and found out we’re getting both. Oh my gosh.

I have to tell you, I’m a lot more interested in the Progressive show than I am in the expo. For one thing, the expo is held at the Stock Show grounds and that is highly inconvenient. It’s an out-of-the-way place and about the only way to get there is to drive/ride. And then you have to pay to park. Getting to the convention center, for me at least, will mean getting on the light rail.

But more than that, the Progressive show has a lot more to offer. Back when I was writing for Examiner.com I made a special trip to Greenville, South Carolina, to attend a Progressive show. (It didn’t hurt that my parents lived in South Carolina, near Greenville, so I visited them and stayed at their place.)

The show was impressive. They had new bikes from all the manufacturers, gear from all the gear companies, a lot of demos and special events, and all in all was a very good event. And I’ve wondered for years why they didn’t have one of these here, but figured that they figured it was hard to compete when there is already an established event (the expo). Well, anyone who has been paying attention knows the expo has been having its troubles the last few years so perhaps Progressive decided it had an opening.

I guess I’ll be going to both. I’ll probably spend some time working the ABATE booth at the expo and I’ll definitely go downtown for the Progressive show. So much more convenient than flying to South Carolina!

Biker Quote for Today

It must have been that wild-eyed, silver-tongued schemer
A girl like Jody don’t think for herself.
Him and that Harley and his damn Jalapeno
Smokin’ that stuff’ll make you hurt yourself. — Bonnie Raitt

Riding like this is much more fun that crashing.

The next table in the 2018 report from the Colorado Motorcycle Operator Safety Program (MOST) addresses the movements of the riders who were found to be at fault in their crashes. This is an interesting one.

What were the huge majority of riders doing when they crashed? Going straight. Out of 1,297 riders counted in the top ten categories, fully 845 of them were going straight. Wow. I’d really like to know just what was going on that all these folks crashed going straight. I mean, I can understand if in going straight they were also running a red light, but I doubt that was the case with even very many of these 845.

The number two on this list, at just 96, was slowing. Once again these raw statistics seem to raise more questions than they answer. Were these folks slowing because they saw danger ahead? Were they just not paying attention because they were stopping, so what is there to watch out for? And if they were slowing because they saw danger ahead, were they really at fault, unless they were moving at excessive speed and otherwise would have been able to stop safely? Is it just assumed that in a single-vehicle crash that the driver/rider was at fault?

We have to get to number three on the list to get to what I think most of us would have assumed was a much higher item: turning left. This only totaled 75 crashes. This one at least doesn’t make you wonder what the heck was going on; we all know the screw-ups that can happen in left turns.

The rest of the list runs out as follows: Spun out of control–69; Making right turn–61; Changing lanes–49; Passing–36; Avoiding object in the road–31; Weaving–24; Making U-turn–11.

I would really have expected changing lanes, passing, and avoiding objects in the road to be higher on this list. It goes to show that data beats guessing most every time.

And by the way, the breakdown of all riders vs. MOST-trained riders is also of interest. Among those going straight, the figures were 60% of all riders but 68.8% of MOST-trained riders. In the other nine categories, in five cases the all-riders group had higher percentages and in four the MOST-trained riders had higher percentages. Most out of whack was avoiding objects in the road. The all-riders percentage was 2.2%; MOST-trained hit 5.2%. I mean, sheesh, you’d really think the trained riders would be better at avoiding stuff. Or were these riders who took the training after they crashed?

Biker Quote for Today

Squid: A textbook “squid” in MC instructor lingo was typically male, 16-20 years old, sport bike, insufficient safety gear, who rode/rides like an idiot, pulls power wheelies in heavily pedestrian traveled areas to showoff, angering non-riders and riders alike. The type of idiot that you see being a bonehead as they scream by your favorite summer outdoor patio where you face palm and shake your head.