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MC vs Bicycle

That's a lot more than riding wide on a turn (he was still in his lane so this might actually be a decent choice in safe circumstances). The video shows someone who had his "head down" and was looking only a few feet in front of his bike.
Really poor riding skills to say the least- this type of rider will injure himself or others eventually...he needs to quit or get a bunch of lessons..
 
Looks to me like he saw the bicycles, panicked, stomped on the rear brake which stood the bike up and took him right where he was looking (target fixation). His hand does not appear to touch the front brake until perhaps the last instant. He needed more training and experience before riding on that particular road and with that amount of traffic. Glad no one was seriously injured.
 
Absolutely no reason for the cycle rider to do that other than lousy skills. His speed was WELL within that turn radius. His lane placement entering the turn was his first mistake, he took an early apex which started the bike running wide to the exit. Then he did nothing to correct/change his path through the turn. Even with his lack of choice of an apex, because I am assuming he "let" the bike decide the line for him, all he would have to do is press a bit harder on the left hand grip, maintain throttle and he EASILY would have made that turn with room to spare.

I feel for the cyclists, being rammed by an unknowing, unskilled, unprepared motorcyclist obviously riding beyond his meager ability. Luckily the bicyclist was able to walk away. I do know that a Merlin bicycle is quite expensive and that wil cost the cycle rider's insurance.

I see a LOT of mistakes on the cycle rider:
1. Poor setup for the turn
2. Poor, or no, actual selection of a turn apex to control his path pf travel
3. NO adjustment to his path of travel once in the turn
4. Probably no looking through the turn before the entry
5. Target fixation on the bicyclists
6. HELL! He could even had chosen to ride to the right of the bicyclists onto the dirt

I place ALL the fault for this crash on the cycle rider. Not though, his full leathers, full face helmet, gloves, boots. He spent the bucks to "look the part", but obviously spent nothing on riding training.

There are many youtube cycle crashes on that particular turn. MOST all are the fault of the rider not taking the proper wide entry to the turn with a late apex.
 
The main reason I never ride my bicycle on the highways! I have abundant bicycle riding trails along the senic Wisconsin river by my house so I rarely have to travel roads(just to walk it across a road to and from trails).There is never enough protection while on a bicycle when you tangle with a motorcycle squid or cager.
 
We give Driver's and Motorcyclist's licenses to just about anybody with a valid check in this country.

The second best part of this video is at about 2:42.
 
When I looked at the video it was clear he never saw the bicycles, he was too intent on what was going on to the left where all the people where standing. A case of target fixation.
 
There is also a video from the motorcycle behind him. There were numerous other bicycles he had passed on the road so those would not have been a surprise. As said his speed isn't that great. He sees them, focuses on them, stands the bike up a bit and targets fixes on them. That turn is relatively sharp so from the point he sees them to impact, if he had tried to stop, he could have as well.

All that said, I have had something totally unexpected happen and it required emergency action as a slow bike crossed from left to right across a track just after I had been waved through to accelerate and continue on. The slow bike thought the coach waved him over with the wave to be to pass through. So from immediate full throttle to full front brake. I had a bike all but stopped on my right with the slow bike moving across from left to right. As I slowed I suddenly focused on the rear tire of his bike as I was braking very very hard. If I had moved my focus just 1 foot to the side I would have created sufficient room. As it turned out, he crossed by my front tire with a very very small separation between us. Target Fixation, It will surprise us all when it does happen, and chances are it will at some point.

NCS
 
Guess it's like the old adage, "there are two types of bikers, those who have not target fixated and those that will." Or was that .... oh never mind.
 
I don't think this particular turn is really all that tight. I have ridden much tighter turns rigth here in Wisconsin. But, that turn I bet freaks riders out because at the turn entry in his direction there is a guard rail and a sharp drop off, minimal shoulder if any at all. Yet the proper entry for this type of turn is to either ride slow enough to follow the actual turn radius, or go deep into the turn straight and apply a late apex-left near the right edge of the road. That would result in a position much nearer the centerline on the turn exit, For his entry speed he could easily have applied a late apex and not been anywhere near the lean limit of the bike.

He also should have easily seen those bikes at the entry of the turn. That in itself would be a clue for me to slow way down at the turn entry, not just because of the turn itself. But it's possible the bike riders would have wandered into the lane as he came through.
 
I tried to estimate speed here. Moving the video ahead by bike lengths I figured there are about 10 bike lengths from the time he jerked and started standing it up to impact. That is about 2 seconds as well. Figuring 6 ft for the bike that works about to about 20 mph avg over those 2 seconds. It appears he really wasn't slowing that much (no front end dive at all). So lets be generous and say he was going between 25 and 30 and couldn't figure how to avoid 2 feet of the lane in front of him.

NCS
 
what is really sad (other than these guys getting hurt) is the bicyclist vs. motorcyclist "us-against-them" running commentary on the youtube page. The motorcyclist wasn't hot-shoeing in peloton with other motorcycles, his knee wasn't planted on the asphalt going around the curve. ...

Regardless of skill level this was an accident, pure and simple.
 
Depends on what you mean by "accident," Lew.

If you mean the occurrence was unintended, then yes, I agree. The motorcyclists certainly wasn't out there to hurt people.

But the word "accident" is sometimes used to support the idea that there's no legal responsibility (read: liability) for the action. That shouldn't be the case here. For all the reasons that have been presented, the cycle rider did not accomplish what a prudent and reasonably competent rider should have done: avoiding a collision with the bicyclists, who were proceeding legally in clear view.

OK. Back to retirement now.
 
what is really sad (other than these guys getting hurt) is the bicyclist vs. motorcyclist "us-against-them" running commentary on the youtube page. The motorcyclist wasn't hot-shoeing in peloton with other motorcycles, his knee wasn't planted on the asphalt going around the curve. ...

Regardless of skill level this was an accident, pure and simple.

Not an accident, a collision. Among other things I am a bicyclist and get really tired of motorists causing death or crippling injury in totally preventable and avoidable crashes. It is uncommon for motorists to suffer more than a fine for killing a cyclist (or a pedestrian!) if it is an "accident" or if they claim "I didn't see him". Persons using the roads engage in a social compact to operate their vehicles in a safe and responsible manner. As motorcyclists know, this does not necessarily mean going the speed limit. It does mean paying attention, driving (riding) within one's skill level and not engaging in distracting behaviors or being drunk. When a motorist does makes the choice to violate these "rules of the road" and they cause death or injury, they should be held accountable. Hitting a bicyclist or a motorcyclist with a car should be considered assault with a deadly weapon. It is just not right to wave it off and say "it is just stuff that happens." Motorcyclists and bicyclists are both vulnerable road users, so it should not be an us vs them scenario.
 
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Not an accident, a collision. Among other things I am a bicyclist and get really tired of motorists causing death or crippling injury in totally preventable and avoidable crashes. It is uncommon for motorists to suffer more than a fine for killing a cyclist if it is an "accident" or if they claim "I didn't see him". Motorcyclists and bicyclists are both vulnerable road users, so it should not be an us vs them scenario.

It doesn't help when bicyclist get the same right of way as MV. In Iowa, they are allowed to ride anywhere in the road that a MC or car does and to add to it, many times bicyclists will ride abreast in a lane doing 25 at best in a 55. It's stupid and many times they will not get over if traffic builds behind them. The thing is, they pay no registration fees or gas tax, so I don't know why this is so other than RAGBRAI.
 
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