Modern Buddy

I was being followed way to close by a car for several miles and when the road turned into a 4 lane I thought he would just go ahead, he didn't. I increased my speed to try to distance myself but no he matched me, then I slowed down and again he didn't change lanes, just followed at about 10 feet. My turn was coming up soon so I waited, then increased my speed quickly to gain a little distance turned on my signal and made a F1 lean to make the turn. Then it happened, I bottomed out my center stand on the pavement. Nothing to drastic happened but my rear did kick out a little (I don't know how but I saved it LOL). It scared the "bleep" out of me. Now I'm going to think about my center stand every time I make a turn. I don't use it much so I might take it off.

Darn, here I was thinking this was going to be a car rolled into ditch story. Glad your safe, and this is sort of weird because we were talking about a similar incident at work this morning.

...I would leave it on. I don't use mine when I'm around my scooter, like at a local ice cream stand or getting suited up in the driveway, but anywhere else where it may be subjected to dumb passersby having a look-see when I'm not within jumping-to-save-it-from-falling distance, you can get your boopins that it's on that center stand.

I've bottomed my stand out a couple times on my 170 too, you just have to teach yourself to avoid it the best you can.... and remain calm. Also, check the springs and make sure they're all good now, a saggy stand is easier to hit than a tight one, and mine was a little squishy right from the factory.

See, you were playing the cager's game, instead of your own -- never a good idea.

Next time, slow down, wave your left hand below you, as if to give a manual "stop" signal, but swinging it back and forth perpendicular to your direction of travel. If they don't back off, slow down and pull off at the next place safe to do so, and let them pass.

Above all else, don't display any negativity. Just let them pass, and then get back on the road safely. Life's too short, and we can't win road rage battles with cars, so no need to try.
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With a max speed of 40mph, I get tailgaters... not a lot, but it's no surprise when it happens. If they don't pass me pretty promptly, I start looking right away for a place to pull over or turn, to get out of their way. On the other hand, I don't care if I make them slow down a little more in order to make the turn; they'd have to do the same thing if I were making the turn in a car or on a hawg in front of them, and I'm about to become not-their-problem.

As for the problem of the center-stand scraping, the simpler solution is what my doctor tells me to do about my back hurting when I lift heavy objects: Don't do that.

jprestonian wrote:See, you were playing the cager's game, instead of your own -- never a good idea.

Next time, slow down, wave your left hand below you, as if to give a manual "stop" signal, but swinging it back and forth perpendicular to your direction of travel. If they don't back off, slow down and pull off at the next place safe to do so, and let them pass.

Above all else, don't display any negativity. Just let them pass, and then get back on the road safely. Life's too short, and we can't win road rage battles with cars, so no need to try.
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I'd do this before removing the center stand. It's pretty hard to scrape it (I've done it to and it freaked me out as well!) under regular riding conditions.

Most of all, glad you're alright from the experience!

you can get your boopins that it's on that center stand

What...your...WHAT?!?

Glad you're okay. Ten feet is way too close. What is the deal with some people???

jprestonian wrote:See, you were playing the cager's game, instead of your own -- never a good idea.

+1. Never let someone else control your ride.

pugbuddy wrote:

you can get your boopins that it's on that center stand

What...your...WHAT?!?

Your ass. You can bet your ass.
My grandmother was wholeheartedly against any sort of cursing, so she came up with all sorts of fun words to use instead. "Boopins" seems to have stuck as a word for me, now that she's gone, since I had been hearing it for 20-ish years. It doesn't translate well in type I guess but I try not to swear on forums... so "boopins" it is.

glad you're fine.

Have had similar experiences before, never any fun. I have yet to hit the center stand but I park in a rocky/dirty spot, so even though they were both pristine when I got them, the center stands for both scoots are sure to be rust-coated within the year.

when people get close I slow down. speeding up seems to make them go "oh no, that scoot can't out do me!". I give them a wave to pass. if they don't, I SHOOT THEM IN THE FACE. Just kidding, I try to turn off and let them pass too.

Riding on two wheels has made me a much better driver on 4.

AWinn6889 wrote:Your ass. You can bet your ass.
My grandmother was wholeheartedly against any sort of cursing, so she came up with all sorts of fun words to use instead. "Boopins" seems to have stuck as a word for me, now that she's gone, since I had been hearing it for 20-ish years. It doesn't translate well in type I guess but I try not to swear on forums... so "boopins" it is.

My mom says that, so I knew exactly what you meant. My mom grew up in Alabama - maybe it's a southern thing?

2wheelNsanity wrote: Now I'm going to think about my center stand every time I make a turn. I don't use it much so I might take it off.

Don't remove your center stand. You should be using it when you park, almost exclusively, otherwise, your scooter will, at some point, wind up tipping over. If you really want to improve the clearance, try doing the center stand mod viewtopic.php?t=14380d.

+1 on keep your center stand. If anything, remove the kickstand so that you never use that!

+1 on pulling over and letting them pass. No sense in taking on a car. They will win if they want to

Glad you're ok!

i had this happen to me in a car in the middle of nowhere @ like 2am.
F'er turned out to be a cop. He pulled me over for speeding, when i was just trying to get some space from him.

Don't let someone behind you push you!

If i'm riding into the wind and i see a line of cars behind me, i just pull over and let the group pass, then resume. Last thing i want is some idiot in a hurry trying to pass me and two other cars and causing an accident. Almost happened a couple of months ago, chick in a Pontiac almost hit a deer, as she was passing the two cars behind me and me.

shouldn't this be in the M4M forums??

SYMbionic Duo wrote:Don't let someone behind you push you!

If i'm riding into the wind and i see a line of cars behind me, i just pull over and let the group pass, then resume. Last thing i want is some idiot in a hurry trying to pass me and two other cars and causing an accident. Almost happened a couple of months ago, chick in a Pontiac almost hit a deer, as she was passing the two cars behind me and me.

Okay, I'm gonna start this in another thread, too, 'cause I want everyone's opinion on this.

I offered to lead a ride a couple of weekends ago, via our local "club" web site. I mentioned that it was an "advanced ride," and asked that ONLY 125cc+ bikes show up. Of course in our group, we don't care what make or style of bike it is -- we only ask that it be safe, legal and expected to be serviceable enough to complete the ride (shizznat happens, of course). So yeah, your Harley is welcome to ride with our Buddys, Kymcos, Vespas, what have you.

One of our guys showed up on a 50cc scooter that he admitted, before we left, could only do 40MPH.

There were sections of our ride posted at 55MPH, which means 65MPH+ cagers.

Should I have been the Bad Guy, and refused to lead the ride?
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I saw this link on the Genuine facebook site ScootSafely.com The author of the blog has some good safety tips for turns, stops and helping you to be seen. http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A ... SW8Rr6uuwn.

jprestonian wrote:I offered to lead a ride a couple of weekends ago, via our local "club" web site. I mentioned that it was an "advanced ride," and asked that ONLY 125cc+ bikes show up. Of course in our group, we don't care what make or style of bike it is -- we only ask that it be safe, legal and expected to be serviceable enough to complete the ride (shizznat happens, of course). So yeah, your Harley is welcome to ride with our Buddys, Kymcos, Vespas, what have you.

One of our guys showed up on a 50cc scooter that he admitted, before we left, could only do 40MPH.

There were sections of our ride posted at 55MPH, which means 65MPH+ cagers.

Should I have been the Bad Guy, and refused to lead the ride?
.

What would you do if someone showed up with an unserviceable scoot? This sounds like an occasion to say "you can't do this ride on that bike" rather than canceling it. And if he insists on following anyways... well, if he can't keep up, he can't keep up.

jprestonian wrote:See, you were playing the cager's game, instead of your own -- never a good idea.

Next time, slow down, wave your left hand below you, as if to give a manual "stop" signal, but swinging it back and forth perpendicular to your direction of travel. If they don't back off, slow down and pull off at the next place safe to do so, and let them pass.

Above all else, don't display any negativity. Just let them pass, and then get back on the road safely. Life's too short, and we can't win road rage battles with cars, so no need to try.
.

Yeah, if possible I'd make a turn when possible or stop to let the car pass. However, there are situations on country roads when you can't really stop because it's a two-lane road with no shoulder and it's a long stretch before a turn in the road appears.

What would one do in a situation like that, I wonder. Would pulling to the rightmost side of the road and stop be safer, I wonder. Not sure...

teabow1 wrote:Yeah, if possible I'd make a turn when possible or stop to let the car pass. However, there are situations on country roads when you can't really stop because it's a two-lane road with no shoulder and it's a long stretch before a turn in the road appears.

What would one do in a situation like that, I wonder. Would pulling to the rightmost side of the road and stop be safer, I wonder. Not sure...

You could wait for a break in incoming traffic, turn on your hazard lights, pull as far to the right as safe, and ease off the throttle. With luck he'll blow past you (without hitting you) and you'll be rid of him.

I was on a rural two lane road, posted 35 mph, just cruising and enjoying viewing the cattle munching on the turf to my right, when a jackwagon youngster on his green rice rocket blew by me on my RIGHT doing a good 65-70 mph; he came out of nowhere, and spooked me. He couldn't have been less than a foot away from me when he passed. Guess I picked the wrong day not to install the .50 cal machine gun to my handlebars...

LOL, I agree all scoots need to come with 50 cal. guns mounted in the dead lights (it would make the term "deadlight" actaully mean something). JK