A quick question....?

[andy230]

Bear with me, this is a (very non scientific) statistical analysis of TC forum used/club members/ whatever.  I plan to calculate how often we, as a whole, come off, and if thumper riders are less accident prone than your "average" motorcyclist.

When I first came to london, a bike-riding mate reckoned, of his 15 years in london, it was one "off" a year.  Not fast wipeouts, or bone-breaking disasters (tho these will also be included), but pride denting, lever bending mishaps.

By an "off" we shall use the definition of a position where you had to pick your bike up off the deck.  For me, most recently this was 3 weeks ago, when I tried to pull away with the disk lock on...  D'Oh!

So!  Please reply if you are at all interested...!

1)    How many miles (very roughly) do you ride a year?

And question 2:

Do you ride on average equal to or more than one day in two... ie 180 or so days a year.

For me: 

1) About 10,000 miles (very roughly, but I think thats from memory what the 2 MOT certificates claim)

2) yes, at least one day in 2

lets see where this thread goes (if anywhere!)

a

[SRXer]

I dont know about that but in 4 years I had quite a few more than one 'off' a year and 2 major ish 'offs'

But all my small 'offs' were due to being young and unexperianced combined with feeling invincible.

which is now gone.

And my 1st big 'off' was because I was being a pratt.

[guest18]

Hmmm,
In a "normal" year (unlike this one) at least 10,000 miles a year and def more than 180 days.

Since I've had the MZ (erm... four or five years is it?) I've been blown over in a gale once at a standstill (most incredible wind I've felt in my life yet... and I *have* experienced an atlantic storm  ) and fallen over in a petrol station because I hadn't put the sidestand down properly 
the other customers were looking very disturbed as I was pi**ing myself laughing at how funny/stupid I must have looked, no pain, no damage 

[andy230]

so far: (n=3)

about 100,000 miles between the 3 of us, and 11 offs (counting up, I've had 6 offs, 3 major, 3 minor in 4 years).  Approx i every 10,000 miles- the rule is holding up from this preliminary study!

More data please!   

a

[Andy M]

From 1993 to June 2008, I was averaging 8000 miles a year with a total of 1 minor off (also wind on an MZ), 2 very minor car vs bike collisions (one drew blood but no paint, the other cost the car idiot a mirror) where I stayed upright and probably half a dozen related to road surface where no other traffic was in sight (of which only one was on a public highway).

Average: 7000 a year, 1 minor incident every 2 years on public roads.

Since June, no longer a commuter, I've ridden less than 2000 miles 

Andy

[andy230]

Hi Andy

I am (for the purposes of this not very scientific) study counting offs as on road or off.  Tho not racing.  ie.  Carparks, driveways, gardens all count (2 of my 6 offs are not on road)

So in your case: 120,000 miles (15 years x 8000 miles), 9 offs, give or take:

n=4

220,000 miles; 20 offs

Its still one off per 10,000 miles (approx...!)

This "one a year" anecdote from my old mate is holding up.

More data please!!      Bruce?  Jethro?  Chairs?!  You must be able to skew the figures in a positive fashion!!

a

[guest7]

Last ten years, I suppose about 7,000 - 8,000 miles a year, riding at least five days a week.

Erm... I can't remember any accidents in that time as such. I did tap a car bumper with my sidecar mudguard in heavy traffic last year.

I think I had an off in 2000 in the car park of Membury services on the M4, rode in at 6.30am, turned into the car park and slid straight off. They hadn't bothered gritting despite all the staff telling me afterwards that they'd been warned about the icy conditions. I got a little payout from that one.

Other people might be able to jog my memory about this, have I had any excursions that I've forgotten?

GC

p.s. it's slightly awkward timing for this thread for us South Wales boys, Jethro attended the inquest today into his friend Helen's accident.

[squirrelciv]

Currently averaging 10-11,000 a year and riding near enough every day. Apart from my much laughed at double 'off' at the annual rally 4-5 years ago I've only been separated from the bike whilst riding twice. Once on my Fizzy aged 16 (trying to spark the pedal) and once in the snow 3 years ago.

Not bad odds

[Steve Lake]

difficult one for me....started riding in 1959....and for 5 years rode a bike most days, averaging about 9k a year....then for 4 years i had no bike.....the following 10 years saw a variety of brit iron and an average of approx 5k a year...then 10 bikeless years....followed by my thumper years to date at approx 6k a year.....i'm not doing the sums....but 1 life threatening off......2 with minor scrapes (track days!).....4 with only damaged ego and bent footpegs, still here and loving it :-)

[guest7]

Last ten years, I suppose about 7,000 - 8,000 miles a year, riding at least five days a week.

There are about another 15 years before that in which the accident rate was much higher. Having two serious accidents in 11 days in 1996 didn't help my averages 

GC

[andy230]

it's slightly awkward timing for this thread for us South Wales boys, Jethro attended the inquest today into his friend Helen's accident.

Ah.  Poor timing indeed, not a pleasant experience.

I am also concious of the idea (even discussing it) is tantanamount to tempting fate.  I'm not particularly supersticious, but you always say hello to the fairies, if you see what I mean?

So, to this point (with GC, Pats and SteveL's info)

475, 000 miles regular(ish) riding

32 offs?

About 1 tumble of undetermined outcome per 15k miles ridden.  Not taking into account GC's terrible 11 days...!

Not exactly going to be published in "Nature" this, is it?!

a

[Andy M]

Not exactly going to be published in "Nature" this, is it?!

a

Gets even better when you try to decide what's on off and what isn't. Dropped off the stand on it's own: not counted. Dropped after you couldn't stop it rolling off the stand: counted. Flipped up the side stand jusy as you turned your back on it:

Better still, try what the accident statistics people do: Serious & Minor. Minor: Broken indicator. Major: Broken arm. How about a knackered fairing you ride home held together with duck tape?

Glad I don't get involved with this sort of study anymore, although looking back we had some good arguments. Is a brake failure due to the pins siezing less serious than one where they just drop off because it's noisier?

Andy

[Mart]

1)    How many miles (very roughly) do you ride a year?

Most of the miles I ride are ridden very roughly. when not riding roughly I seem to spend a lot of time asking strangers to help me pick the bike up.

Mart