Ducati Monster Forum

So I'm sitting at my desk, pretending to work n stuff and a product vendor I know walks in, Jonathan.  He's one of the more intelligent ones and a nice guy to boot, so I give him a smile rather than the sneer that most of his kind gets.  ...And then I notice he's got a cast on his hand.  I like the guy, but I really don't care what happened to his hand and he didn't volunteer any info.  I imagined that he'd probably smashed it doing something "suburban" and it was probably embarrassing.  He's likely told the story at least 50 times by now, so I let him off the hook and didn't press the issue.   

My co-worker doesn't have nearly the tact or apathy that I do about his situation, and as soon as she gets him seated/trapped in the conference room she pesters him about his hand.  Turns out he's a motorcycle rider and he binned it over the weekend.  Big deal.  I assume he's just wadded his Harley or something.  I'm leaning in to hear the tale and from what I gather, he's a BMW rider who went out with a few buddies over the weekend for some sport-touring.  They had met up at a camp site and planned to do several hundred miles in the surrounding mountains.  This group has been riding for a while together with few problems.  Apparently one of the guys invited someone new to join them.  dum, dum, dummmmmm.....  [laugh]

And then the story gets interesting...turns out the new guy talked a good game, but he hasn't been riding long and he just picked up a big Beemer.  He's got almost no gear and less experience riding.  The gang gets up and heads out to ride.  Before lunch the new dude is exhausted and physically can't continue riding.  They're out in the middle of nowhere and not close to camp.  No one wants to turn around to take wussy-boy back, so they load him up on the back of another bike and continue on.  Later that afternoon they drop by his bike and let him ride it back to camp.  He's still exhausted, but he tries it and decides to "wick it up" to get home a little faster.  Bad move.  He launched the bike off the side of the road taking a turn too fast.  He's OK, but banged up a bit.  He's in jeans, light gloves, a leather jacket and a beanie helmet.  His bike is...dunno...couldn't hear....

Now I have to try to get this part directly from Jonathan, but I think he put the other guy on the back of his bike to get him back to camp.  At this point, I believe the passenger starts doing something goofy and makes the pilot lose control of his bike.  So they *both* crash!  They get up, dust themselves off and realize that they missed hitting a tree at 50 mph by inches.  :o  Pilot wants to kill passenger, but decides to pick up his bike first.  Jonathan tries and realizes his hand don't work no mo.  It's about twice the size of the other one in less than five minutes.   [cheeky]

The both of them have to ride on the back of two other guys' bikes to get back to camp.  Jonathan decides to get up the next morning and go get his bike--so with broken hand and all he gets shuttled out there on the back of another bike and rides his moto back home like that.  He was late for the meeting today because he had to get himself to the doctor.  He's got two fractures in his hand.  Ouch!

ouch.  was it his brake/throttle hand, or the useless hand?  I got lucky when I broke shit in my hand -- it was only my left. 

ouch! proof that tards are not brand specific.

It was his right hand. 

What to do with n00bs? :o  What a story! He's out for the Summer. That sucks.

I really like taking new people out and do often. But omg these recent stories are putting the fear into me.
I took an enthusiastic  passenger on a ride in the Alps once. She counter leaned me several times and almost sent us off 3,000foot cliffs in a panic that we were "leaning too much." I had to stop, get off and threaten her life if she moved again.
Maybe Duct tape should be standard equipment to bring with.  :P

Maybe a "no fat chicks" sticker on the back of your helmet?  :P

Or build a well on the back seat to keep her in place?

Isn't that what the underseat compartment on a scooter is for?

Only if it looks like a well. You need to brick up the inside for it to look proper.

I've since moved to an 848 which solves the afore mentioned problems for passengers with it's 3x5" seat.
If I can't wear her like a backpack, she ain't getting on.

Those of you who like quoting "it rubs the lotion on its skin" while lowering things into pits, or advertising personal philosophies can work it out your own way.  [cheeky]

Dealing with n00bs on rides however...  ?

A cop told me once, 'when most people see a crazy or drunk driver they tend to pass them to get away putting themselves in target position.
If you simply stay behind them you're safe. '

Then why do those accidents keep happening behind me?   :)

That rule only applies if the drunk driver can't outrun you [evil]