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Old August 3rd, 2009, 02:27 PM   #13
billmi
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Name: Bill
Location: Palm Bay, FL
Join Date: Jul 2009

Motorcycle(s): 82 XV750, 99 DR200SE, 04 DR200SE, 08 DR200SE, 95 EX250

Posts: 71
My first bike as a 1980 DT-100 (actually my mothers but after she parked it under her car when "it lurched forward even though it was in neutral with the clutch in" I rode it through high school). I've no clue how many times I dumped that bike, riding it like a crazy teenager. I mastered things like breaking the tail light off on a curb while riding a wheelie across a curb down into a parking lot. I went off of it both low and high side at speeds from 0 to 40 mph - typically in jeans, a textile (non motorcycle, non armored) jacket and full face helmet, both on roads and in dirt.

My next bike was a 1982 XV750 that my wife and I bought when I was 21. The first year we were married that was our only vehicle, so it got a lot of miles from Central California up through the Sierras, Napa, the Bay Area, So Cal, the Central Coast and up as far as Ukiah. I dropped it once, at less than 5mph the back wheel slid out from under me (I stayed standing) while I was rolling it slowly across an ice patch. That bike was eventually sold, and in 1999 we bought a DR-200, which I've never dropped.

4 or 5 years ago, we got another XV750 (an 82) which is my primary vehicle now that my wife got her motorcycle endorsement and learned to ride the 200. I haven't dropped it either.

My Ninjette is still under reconstruction, so there's been no opportunities to drop it yet.

IMHO, I attribute riding without falls for the last 20 years to two things. One, riding like a maniac when I was young, and crashing a lot off road, and some on-road, getting the feel for what it's like to be on a bike that's both on the edge of losing control, and also losing control, to know that that feels like. When you know where the edge is, it's easier to keep a safer distance from it. And two, not having medical insurance for most of my adult life, and riding with all the more caution.
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