[kingkang204]

I first started riding when I was 17, my parents bought me a ninja 250r as a birthday / early graduation present. At first I was extremely cautious, abiding by the speed limit and never letting myself get too comfortable. But, as time went on I became comfortable, and I started to take on more risk. After a year of riding, we got another bike, so that both my brother and I could both ride, an R6. He and I started to push the limits, and before we knew it we both had gotten in some trouble. During that time, I never really fully thought through the consequences of our actions.

I left for college that summer and did not bring a bike with me. This was the first time I had spent a good amount of time away from riding, but when summer came again I was ready to ride. All of last summer I used the ninja to commute back and forth to school with no problem. However, at summers end I sold the ninja so that I could buy another bike this upcoming summer. Recently, I saw a youtube video, and it was composed of crash videos from an outside perspective (I.E. a cars dash cam), and the results were brutal. It made me think, beyond the immediate effects of a crash, what price do we pay in the long run?

I have no data to support my intuition (I didn’t look for any), but my assumption would be that motorcycle accidents end with more fatalities or debilitating injuries. So I was curious, how do you all rationalize the (potential for) additional risk of riding? What are you willing to sacrifice? Future Pain? Mobility? A Limb? Your Life?