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Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

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Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#181

Post by geddy »

spacemark wrote: post #163
michaelt wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't lean into corners, can't split lanes, can't exceed 80mph, can't do wheelies, can't make it fall over, and can't go over the handlebars in a crash, I strongly suspect this will have better safety statistics than a motorcycle.

This is the comment of someone that knows very little about motorcycles. Half the things you mention are not negatives, but positives.

Every time motorcycles come up in any topic ever, you can tell within the first three words of a post if the author has even the faintest idea of how to ride. It's very frustrating when people who don't even drive try to tell me how the laws should be to "make me safer", despite the fact that virtually all of the danger while riding a motorcycle responsibly stems from the fact that damn near everyone driving a car in 2020 is staring at their phone more often than not.

My father-in-law hates that I ride a street bike, and he frequently texts and drives. I'm like, you are directly creating the scenario for me which you are warning me about. The complete lack of realization of this makes my eyes bleed.

Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#182

Post by nsl73 »

m-ee wrote: post #97
globular-toast wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd rather not have a motorcycle. I'd rather not have to suit up in special clothing to try and reduce the chances of injury from accidents which, from talking to motorcycle riding friends, seem to be strangely more common than accidents in cars. It shouldn't be a mystery why motorcycle accidents are more common. A superbike like a Yamaha R1 is capable of 0-100mph in less than 6 seconds, all in first gear. Ownershi…

I ride, and know a lot of people who do, and the amount of injuries from road debris or cars turning left without looking dwarf the crashes from just going too fast. This might be regional though, most places don’t have Bay Area traffic.

In the United States most motorcycle accidents involving more than one vehicle the motorcycle is not at fault. It’s really common for a car driver to not use a blinker, or not see a motorcycle and cause an accident with a motorcyclist.

Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#183

Post by NullPrefix »

geddy wrote: post #180
NullPrefix wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, but showing off aholes perform them a lot, so we need to ban those moves.

I've ridden a motorcycle for years, seen countless riders, and yet never once have I seen a single person ride down the highway at 300mph with the front wheel at 12 o'clock like (apparently) everyone else in the world. People really seem to hate motorcyclists because "oh I saw one time on Facebook in some video where a guy wheelied his bike" blah blah blah. All those events are, are anecdotes. Bikes a) take up less s…

My post was pure sarcasm

Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#184

Post by ajauntyshark »

nsl73 wrote: post #39

I’d rather have a motorcycle. Motorcycles are faster, cheaper, can carry about the same amount of cargo, and 100 miles on a charge is enough to give me range anxiety. I’d rather have a car. I often need to carry passengers, carry large or heavy things, and a new economy car is in the same ballpark price. Who is this really for? I don’t see many people buying this as their only personal transportation if it only trave…

> Who is this really for? People who commute a reasonable distance to jobs by themselves.

Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#185

Post by lstodd »

nsl73 wrote: post #182
m-ee wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ride, and know a lot of people who do, and the amount of injuries from road debris or cars turning left without looking dwarf the crashes from just going too fast. This might be regional though, most places don’t have Bay Area traffic.

In the United States most motorcycle accidents involving more than one vehicle the motorcycle is not at fault. It’s really common for a car driver to not use a blinker, or not see a motorcycle and cause an accident with a motorcyclist.

Same thing everywhere else. Cars not signalling, suddenly opening doors into traffic, idiots jumping out of bushes etc etc.

The distant second place is road condition - surprise potholes, open manholes, spits of concrete, pools of lubricant and cooling fluid after previous crashes is also nice.

And only then comes something that can be remotely called reckless riding.

Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#187

Post by s_gourichon »

This reminds me of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinclair_C5

> The Sinclair C5 is a small one-person battery electric velomobile, technically an "electrically assisted pedal cycle".[1] It was the culmination of Sir Clive Sinclair's long-running interest in electric vehicles. Although widely described as an "electric car", Sinclair characterised it as a "vehicle, not a car".[2]

Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#188

Post by vladvasiliu »

philjohn wrote: post #121
ofrzeta wrote: post #33

There's also the Renault Twizy that is readily available and significantly cheaper (starting at 7000 Euro). Actually even the regular electric car by Seat (Mii) is much cheaper than the Electrameccanica.

My all-time favourite car review was of the Renault Twizzy ... all because of the line "And when it starts raining the canopy keeps you mostly dry"

I've actually never been in one nor read a review, but this confirms what I thought: it doesn't protect you from the elements.

So the question I asked myself is why would anyone buy this instead of a motorcycle? I guess some may argue that it's safer, what with it having four wheels instead of two, but that's about it.

You still need some sort of gear if you don't want to end up wet, you still need some sort of gear in the winter if you don't want to freeze.

I also wonder what the summer situation looks like. As it's not closed, it most likely has no air conditioning, but it's enclosed enough to get much less wind than on a motorcycle (which is still unpleasant in a congested city).

It's big enough that you can't filter in places where it's allowed, you have to park it like a regular car, which in France means paid and limited street parking, or far away and expensive underground parking. Motorcycles can park on the sidewalks for free (at least for the moment).

Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#189

Post by Talanes »

izacus wrote: post #65
Talanes wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Show me a train that can show up at my grandmother's door and drop her at the doctor's.

Swiss somehow manage to use trains in massive numbers even if grandmothers need car assistance occasionally. You don't need to poison the atmosphere every day with a car on your commute just because your grandmother might need a pick her up for her doctors checkup (having a medical facility come to pick someone up is not an uncommon service either). Why do some of you think that finding a wierd edge case is enough to…

"Why do some of you think that finding a wierd edge case is enough to invalidate a whole infrastructure?"

Last year I was nearly going broke spending money on Ubers when my then girlfriend's kidney's failed. She wasn't considered immobile enough to qualify for the transport to and from Dialysis, but would be drained enough that walking to and navigating public transit home after would be impossible for her. So this is not just weird edge case for me, this scenario was a constant part of my life.

Re: Not quite a car, not quite a motorcycle: a vehicle built for one

#190

Post by LilBytes »

fest wrote: post #79
LilBytes wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, motorcycles don't 'tip' but low siding and high siding on roads or on a track. Either from debris or inexperience is not to be trifled with. But in +100,000km of total riding time I've had very few injuries, just scrapes and bruises because I'm always wearing boots, helmet and gloves as a minimum. I've high sided on a track twice (too fast into a corner, lost traction, immediately got traction back and flew me…

My anecdata in ~ 50,000km riding time on a motorcycle: a frontal crash I could do nothing about (oncoming car made a left turn, didn't see me). Luckily it happened in a city and I was in full leather tracksuit. I got through with a few bruises and ruptured spleen (which thankfully healed on it's own and I now have two of them).

I'm lucky I've not had any vehicular crashes on my motorbike. Though I've been cleaned up by a car on my (analogue) bicycle. Came away relatively unscathed.

Am I reading your comment right? Your spleen ruptured, healed it's self, now you have two of them?

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