Do you have some facts to back that statement up?

Yeah, my wife always followed, never led a ride out.

Have you ever thought that was just your wife?

I never used to ride in groups, always found it too restrictive.

Nah, she's too competitive to make a decision not to overtake without female physical restrictors being a factor

No group riding for me either, out as a pair or on my own.

Flipping a bike without dumping the clutch is a pretty difficult thing to do, especially with the smoothness of the newer models.

I disagree. It will allow you more road time at lesser speeds but the 33bhp bikes can still break speed limits. This would be likened to a person driving a 1.0L VW Polo for 3 years before graduating to your Zonda as a next step.

The only thing that limits risk on a supersport bike is the riders wrist/mental control.

One thing i'm confident in saying is that anybody, no matter what age, who jumps straight onto a 130hp+ supersport bike with no experience will poo their pants and learn to respect the power pretty soon after opening the throttle for the first time. The crashers (in my experience) are those who have held the license long enough to build false confidence.

Most (if not all) of my acquaintances who have crashed through their own doing have been experienced riders.

I think all riders should spend at least one day on a race track to understand the limits of their bike. I would hazard a guess that over 90% of riders do not know the limits of their bike and when in a pickle underestimate their ability to rectify the situation (approaching a corner too quickly in their mind and panicking when in fact the bike will turn)


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Most motorcycle crashes (where ther's only the biker him/herself involvded) will occur because of inattention, object fixation (riding into the object you are looking at, but want to avoid), not riding with respect to road conditions.

OTOH Most accidents happen TO bikers, because of the cagers inattention etc.

Kinda similar to bicyclists really, and they only have shanks pony, not even one horsepower!

I have found more horsepower more helpful than not in tricky situations.

I think training is the key, not horsepower restrictions.

'Mother' is usually a female...

You can't 'train' the average 18yr old's gung ho/I'm-indestructable/watch-me-on-my-fast=Jap-bike attitude. You have to hope they'll be sensible.

It's not a crazy idea, but IMO they don't because, as a proportion of new license holders, a great deal more bikers are injured or killed than car drivers.

Duh! I'm agreeing with you hence the thumbs up

DO you have statistics to back that up? I'd be interested.

No, but I did say 'IMO'

Maybe in CA but not in the UK, the majority of riders over here spend the evenings and weekends using the bike properly by getting to know it on proper twisty roads. One downside, yes you get to know how the bike handles on the limit but you leave little room for error. I personally am a believer in the graduated learner route, I went from 125, 250, 400 then 600's, the advantage is on the 125's and 250's your pushing the limits at lower speeds, when you get to 600's (im talking sport's bikes here) things happen a lot quicker. You can still have a serious accident at any speed but there is less reaction time at the speeds you get out of the bigger sports bikes for 'self-induced accidents'

That you did.

Regarding new licence holders, i would suggest that the younger people in this position would be more likely to have an incident in a car than a motorbike. The reason being that when you're in a box of metal with four wheels and your mates, your confidence levels can rise above your ability pretty quickly.

Those new to supersports bikes soon realise their limitations during their initial phase. It's only after they become comfortable that, IMO, their confidence levels surpass their abilities. That and the fact that they don't realise the bikes capabilities.

So in short, i would suggest the more "experienced" supersport riders are at a higher risk of incident than a newbie.

I may be incorrect as i don't have stats but it's based on many years of road riding and racing at british supersport level. I have the "experienced" level scars to prove some of it



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Perhaps you're right. But you can't legislate to protect a mature rider on a big bike but you can to minimise the risks to young riders as they start their riding career.