What is a squid?

[jgcable]

These are all examples of SQUID to me...... let me preface this by stating that I live in Connecticut which does NOT have a mandatory helmet law.


Riding a moped or scooter around town in traffic with absolutely no protective gear on at all. Not even a bicycle helmet (which is slightly better than nothing). I can't tell you how many times I will see 2 young people cruising 30mph on the public roads with shorts, flip flops and t-shirts on.



Riding an 800lb cruiser with a t-shirt on and no helmet with your wife or girlfriend on the back in shorts and flip flops.



Riding a 450lb sport bike while weaving in and out of traffic at speeds well in excess of 115mph on the highway with a full leather race suit and a full face helmet. There is no helmet or leather gear that's gonna save you at those speeds.


Riding a sport bike in town at speeds well in excess of 100mph with shorts and sneakers on BUT with a full face helmet.

A very good friend of mine was killed 2 years ago on his cruiser. Here is the story..
He just got the bike. A brand new Harley Davidson Blackline. He had ridden years prior but just got back into biking when his kids got older. He bought a really nice DOT half helmet for both him and his girlfriend (one of my wife's best friends) and they always wore them. Well.. when you are in Connecticut and you ride a Harley and you have a helmet on you are probably less than 2% of the riding community. Its very easy to get sucked into not wearing your helmet. Your head doesn't sweat, your significant others hair doesn't get ruined and having that wind in your hair is outstanding so most people... 98% of them.. who start off wearing a helmet eventually stop. Well.. my friend and his girlfriend decided to stop. Its their right per Connecticut law. The 1st day they decided they were no longer wearing helmets (dead of summer about 90 degrees out) they got cut off by a cager at an intersection. The driver didn't even see them. My friend tried to stop and dumped the bike and highsided. He landed directly on his head. 5 skull fractures but he was alive until he got to the hospital. He had a heart attack do to the massive head trauma. My wife's friend had bumps and bruises and a few broken ribs. The doctors in the hospital said if he had been wearing any kind of helmet he would have walked away from it. Instead.. we buried him.
Here is the MESSED UP THING... for a solid year his girlfriend told everybody she saw on a bike to please wear their helmets A year later we had a bike cruise tribute to him. They estimated about 75 bikes there. Out of those 75 bikes you could easily pick out my wife and me. We were the ONLY ones wearing helmets.

Regarding who wears helmets and who doesn't in Connecticut...

95% of the scooter/moped riders don't.
80% of sport bike riders do.
60% of the metric cruiser riders do
99% of the Harley cruiser riders don't.

[capt_bugaloo]

That's a sad story.

I'm not in favor of the government telling people what to do, but for something called "common sense" it sure doesn't seem very common.

[jgcable]

Originally Posted by capt_bugaloo

That's a sad story.

I'm not in favor of the government telling people to do, but for something called "common sense" it sure doesn't seem very common.

Me either but one thing has always perplexed me in regards to MC riding and safety laws..

Why is it that in CT and the rest of the country its mandatory to wear a seat belt when driving or riding in a car but you don't need a helmet when riding a motorcycle especially considering that most motorcycle accidents result in injuries and most car accidents don't. That doesn't seem to make sense to me.

[sonny4472]

Our scooter riders here have to wear helmets. MOST of the ones I see are actually at least wearing long sleeves.
A squid to me is the guy with no protective gear on a sport bike, especially the stunters.
Here's another story for the collection:

In '98 I was riding in the twisties (very mild ones) on my '94 Katana 600. I was behind a Harley Fatboy riding two up. Husband and wife in shorts and tank tops. I kept my distance behind them so I wouldn't push them in the corners. I noticed the guy kept pushing his bike harder and harder, so I backed off to where I could barely see them.
Eventually, they took a corner and disappeared. When I got there the lady was lying in the middle of the road, bloody road rash and the guy had a broken arm. The guy was actually looking for his bike which was in a ditch nearby. I told him to worry about his lady and I would get his bike. I pushed it up to a nearby house where people were trying to help. (Damn that bike was heavy.)
Soooooo, when this was all going on about 5 Harley riders in a group passed by us, slowed down a bit to gawk, then carried on without stopping to help.
In my opinion, I had experienced the epitome of "squidness".

[alex.s]

Hello...

My name is alex... i wear full gear ATT.

and I am a squid.

[nickjpass]

I'm an octopus

[adouglas]

I'm in CT also (Trumbull) and fully ATGATT. Leather jacket always with Level 2 armor, leather pants mostly, but always pants, and always armored.

I'm right there with you, with the exception of the 30 mph scooter/moped thing. That's bicycle speeds (I don't mean average speeds, I mean commonly seen speeds). Surely you wouldn't call a bicyclist who isn't wearing full body armor a squid?

I've crashed my bicycle going about 25-30 mph. Yeah, road rash, taunting by wife... and that sucks... but armoring up on a bicycle? Nah. Helmet, you bet.

In our area I rarely see sport bike riders without a helmet. Helmet, jacket and gloves are common, usually coupled with jeans and either sneakers or low boots. Full ATGATT is quite rare.

Most common Harley gear is a leather jacket, jeans, boots, sunglasses and no helmet.

Most common touring gear is open-face helmet and nylon jacket.

To your subject, to me "squid" isn't about gear. It's about attitude. Triple-digit speeds in traffic? Aggressively weaving in and out of traffic? Wheelies? Burnouts? Bike-night posing? Squid.

Gear can indicate the attitude. Chromed-out sportbikes. Stupid-loud exhausts. Extended swingarms. Spike windshield bolts. LEDs. And of course, the ever-lovin' helmet mohawk.

Shredding the speed limit with nobody around? Not smart, generally, but not squid. Connecticut has a lot of really great back roads with ridiculously low speed limits -- like 25 mph on roads where twice that is routine for everybody but senior citizens and school buses.

Triple-digits on the highway... again, it really depends on circumstances. Nobody around? Well....

Let's just say that on a powerful sport bike, elevated speeds are surprisingly easy to attain without even realizing it. I've got a SpeedoDRD on my bike because its speedometer is even more hopelessly optimistic than the Ninjette's. I do have it calibrated correctly and check it often. One of its functions is capture of max speed. Just for grins I called it up last winter and was, to put it mildly, surprised at the result.

So yeah. I broke the ton and I'm the farthest thing from a squid that you can imagine.

[Panda]

Originally Posted by adouglas

So yeah. I broke the ton and I'm the farthest thing from a squid that you can imagine.

well you do have a gixxer....

[adouglas]

Dan! Where you been, man? We need to ride together this year.

Hitting the track in July (woot!)

[jgcable]

Originally Posted by sonny4472

Our scooter riders here have to wear helmets. MOST of the ones I see are actually at least wearing long sleeves.
A squid to me is the guy with no protective gear on a sport bike, especially the stunters.
Here's another story for the collection:

In '98 I was riding in the twisties (very mild ones) on my '94 Katana 600. I was behind a Harley Fatboy riding two up. Husband and wife in shorts and tank tops. I kept my distance behind them so I wouldn't push them in the corners. I noticed the guy kept pushing his bike harder and harder, so I backed off to where I could barely see them.
Eventually, they took a corner and disappeared. When I got there the lady was lying in the middle of the road, bloody road rash and the guy had a broken arm. The guy was actually looking for his bike which was in a ditch nearby. I told him to worry about his lady and I would get his bike. I pushed it up to a nearby house where people were trying to help. (Damn that bike was heavy.)
Soooooo, when this was all going on about 5 Harley riders in a group passed by us, slowed down a bit to gawk, then carried on without stopping to help.
In my opinion, I had experienced the epitome of "squidness".

That's unfortunately a pretty common occurrence. Many of the HD guys that I ride with are compelled to either pass or stay ahead of anything else on 2 wheels that's not a Harley Davidson. Many times they are pushing their skills and their bikes to the limit just to stay ahead of a bike that could BLOW them away at the slightest flick of the wrist. One time we were passed on the highway by a group of sport bike riders and 3 of the guys ran flat out to catch them and try to pass them. One time a group of Goldwing riders passed our group. There were about 10 of us on Harley's in the fast lane doing about 88mph and these Goldwing riders who were in the slow lane passed us like we were standing still. 2 of our guys tried to catch them... to no avail. Rule of thumb.. NEVER try to hang with Goldwings on the highway.

[jgcable]

Originally Posted by adouglas

I'm in CT also (Trumbull) and fully ATGATT. Leather jacket always with Level 2 armor, leather pants mostly, but always pants, and always armored.

I'm right there with you, with the exception of the 30 mph scooter/moped thing. That's bicycle speeds (I don't mean average speeds, I mean commonly seen speeds). Surely you wouldn't call a bicyclist who isn't wearing full body armor a squid?

I've crashed my bicycle going about 25-30 mph. Yeah, road rash, taunting by wife... and that sucks... but armoring up on a bicycle? Nah. Helmet, you bet.

In our area I rarely see sport bike riders without a helmet. Helmet, jacket and gloves are common, usually coupled with jeans and either sneakers or low boots. Full ATGATT is quite rare.

Most common Harley gear is a leather jacket, jeans, boots, sunglasses and no helmet.

Most common touring gear is open-face helmet and nylon jacket.

To your subject, to me "squid" isn't about gear. It's about attitude. Triple-digit speeds in traffic? Aggressively weaving in and out of traffic? Wheelies? Burnouts? Bike-night posing? Squid.

Gear can indicate the attitude. Chromed-out sportbikes. Stupid-loud exhausts. Extended swingarms. Spike windshield bolts. LEDs. And of course, the ever-lovin' helmet mohawk.

Shredding the speed limit with nobody around? Not smart, generally, but not squid. Connecticut has a lot of really great back roads with ridiculously low speed limits -- like 25 mph on roads where twice that is routine for everybody but senior citizens and school buses.

Triple-digits on the highway... again, it really depends on circumstances. Nobody around? Well....

Let's just say that on a powerful sport bike, elevated speeds are surprisingly easy to attain without even realizing it. I've got a SpeedoDRD on my bike because its speedometer is even more hopelessly optimistic than the Ninjette's. I do have it calibrated correctly and check it often. One of its functions is capture of max speed. Just for grins I called it up last winter and was, to put it mildly, surprised at the result.

So yeah. I broke the ton and I'm the farthest thing from a squid that you can imagine.

I agree with everything you said except for the Harley riders gear. I agree that in the spring and fall you will see leather jackets, jeans, boots and gloves but in the summer when its 90 its basically t shirts and jeans and if they have a girl on the back she is usually in shorts and flop flops. The one thing in common with any season.. NO HELMETS.
I also agree with how easy it is to go fast. I owned a Valkyrie for a while and that bike would fool you into thinking I was going 75 when I was actually going 95.

[Skullz]

The term squid to me is a derogatory term used for people that don't fit into someone else's ideal or compliance and sling it around as if it is gospel, squid can mean many different things to many different people.

[sonny4472]

Hey JG, our resident Harley voice
I don't dislike Harleys at all (I also own a Buell.) but there seems to be a lot of un earned bravado in the Harley community. It seems a lot of the Harley owners I know have only and will only ride a Harley, so they develop a completely different mindset and set of riding skills.

One more quick story about the other squids:
Saturday night, 2002, a guy takes his GSXR 1000 to the local "strip" (industrial park) to show off his stunting skills. 100+ mph wheelie around a sweeper and runs into the back of a parked Chevy S10. Kills him on the spot, fire and all.
I knew they guy, never got along with him well, he was always promoting reckless riding, sans safety gear no less. He told me once that one of his favorite games was to hit peoples kill switches while racing them.
Oh, and the witness cover ups were insane, "he was only doing 35, riding normal".

Sad.

[Bigballsofpaint]

I will say most of your squid items are pretty much the same as mine and what andy said. Someone doing 115 with full leathers on? Not a squid until you put weaving through traffic in there.

I also think that our insurance premiums should have a discount for wearing a helmet. If you say you wear a helmet and have an accident without one, your SOL.

[InvisiBill]

I've heard that squid comes from "squirrelly kid". I think everyone has their own idea of what it means (Everyone driving slower than me is an idiot, and everyone driving faster is a maniac.), but I think in general it comes down to "clueness n00b" stuff. Doing dangerous stuff in traffic, not wearing simple protective gear, poor riding skills, etc.

Originally Posted by jgcable

Me either but one thing has always perplexed me in regards to MC riding and safety laws..

Why is it that in CT and the rest of the country its mandatory to wear a seat belt when driving or riding in a car but you don't need a helmet when riding a motorcycle especially considering that most motorcycle accidents result in injuries and most car accidents don't. That doesn't seem to make sense to me.

The one big difference between seat belts and helmets is that seat belts are significantly more helpful in keeping you in the driver's seat and in control of your multi-ton vehicle. While I'm sure there are a few cases of a helmet keeping someone in control of their bike, it's mostly for protection after you crash, and a bike without its rider is probably less likely to cause tremendous damage than a car without its driver. Picture an SUV driver getting bounced out of their seat vs. a rider bounced off his bike. A bike can keep going for a bit and contain quite a bit of energy (especially if speeding), but it's also a fairly small, low-mass vehicle that can tip over and stop completely. A driverless three-ton SUV won't tip over and can go through a house.

That's the only argument I've seen that goes against my thoughts that seat belts should be optional too. As long as you're not impacting me, I don't really care what harm you inflict upon yourself. Hopefully you have the brain cells to consider the consequences of your actions, and take simple steps to protect yourself. If you don't care enough about yourself and those around you to protect yourself from harm, then I feel you should be free to make that choice.

[Sirref]

I agree with the sentiment that being a squid is more about attitude than gear. However you can more easily spot a squid through lack of gear. I consider not wearing a helmet to be dumb as hell but people do it. Not wearing a jacket/gloves/boots/pants are also dumb not not as dumb. The only thing that my jacket has done for me is prevent a lot of road rash, it has not inherently saved my life just some quality of life. I would never want to crash without wearing a jacket. My gloves have saved me from likely losing my pinky (the reinforced knuckles stick out a bit and the pinky one was worn far enough to where I'd have lost the knuckle without it.

Regardless, I am a squid because I ride like an idiot consistently. I don't consider flying when no one is around to be squidish. Riding aggressively with other vehicles nearby, pulling questionable passes, and passing cars like they're standing still (yes it's possible on a 250/300) is what makes me a squid. I will never ride without a helmet though.

[ekonkjack]

As I read statistics about survivability during accidents while wearing a helmet, I wonder how many of those helmets were real helmets. I know plenty of people that never wear a helmet and some that wear the little piss pot half helmets and those are a far cry from a full or modular helmet. I used to use a half helmet until I met someone that showed me his full helmet with scrapes running from the chin to the top above his left temple. A cage moved into his lane and took out his front wheel at less than 40mph. A half would have been next to useless when going down facefirst. Remember, facial fractures ARE skull fractures.

[adouglas]

Originally Posted by Sirref

Riding aggressively with other vehicles nearby, pulling questionable passes, and passing cars like they're standing still (yes it's possible on a 250/300) is what makes me a squid.

Son, that BS is gonna catch up with you one of these days and give you a whuppin'.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by adouglas

Son, that BS is gonna catch up with you one of these days and give you a whuppin'.

That's why I'm trying to take it to the track, because it's been trying to catch up with me.

I guarantee it already would have (in terms of injury at minimum) if I were riding a 600 since I wouldn't be limited by top speed anymore. I can take every corner on my way to work flat out if there isn't any traffic. The fact that I know that is a problem.

[crazymadbastard]

Ever see a real dead squid- as in calimare? just sits there all limp and lifeless.

[CC Cowboy]

Squid is anyone who rides over their head and threatens the lives of themselves or others. It has nothing to do with gear.

When I was a kid Milford used to have a cop that stood in a can directing traffic by the old library, now the Chamber Of Commerce. Do they still used that can? It was actually pretty cool.

[fishdip]

Originally Posted by jgcable

Me either but one thing has always perplexed me in regards to MC riding and safety laws..

Why is it that in CT and the rest of the country its mandatory to wear a seat belt when driving or riding in a car but you don't need a helmet when riding a motorcycle especially considering that most motorcycle accidents result in injuries and most car accidents don't. That doesn't seem to make sense to me.

Because un like most ppl driving a car who are sheep. Motorcycle riders stand up for there rights and fight back on laws regarding them.

[Sirref]

Originally Posted by fishdip

Because un like most ppl driving a car who are sheep. Motorcycle riders stand up for there rights and fight back on laws regarding them.

My local cops accept a MC helmet as a good enough substitute for a seatbelt

I didn't have a seatbelt for a little while lol

[Whiskey]

Originally Posted by adouglas

I'm in CT also (Trumbull) and fully ATGATT. Leather jacket always with Level 2 armor, leather pants mostly, but always pants, and always armored.

I'm right there with you, with the exception of the 30 mph scooter/moped thing. That's bicycle speeds (I don't mean average speeds, I mean commonly seen speeds). Surely you wouldn't call a bicyclist who isn't wearing full body armor a squid?

I've crashed my bicycle going about 25-30 mph. Yeah, road rash, taunting by wife... and that sucks... but armoring up on a bicycle? Nah. Helmet, you bet.

In our area I rarely see sport bike riders without a helmet. Helmet, jacket and gloves are common, usually coupled with jeans and either sneakers or low boots. Full ATGATT is quite rare.

Most common Harley gear is a leather jacket, jeans, boots, sunglasses and no helmet.

Most common touring gear is open-face helmet and nylon jacket.

To your subject, to me "squid" isn't about gear. It's about attitude. Triple-digit speeds in traffic? Aggressively weaving in and out of traffic? Wheelies? Burnouts? Bike-night posing? Squid.

Gear can indicate the attitude. Chromed-out sportbikes. Stupid-loud exhausts. Extended swingarms. Spike windshield bolts. LEDs. And of course, the ever-lovin' helmet mohawk.

Shredding the speed limit with nobody around? Not smart, generally, but not squid. Connecticut has a lot of really great back roads with ridiculously low speed limits -- like 25 mph on roads where twice that is routine for everybody but senior citizens and school buses.

Triple-digits on the highway... again, it really depends on circumstances. Nobody around? Well....

Let's just say that on a powerful sport bike, elevated speeds are surprisingly easy to attain without even realizing it. I've got a SpeedoDRD on my bike because its speedometer is even more hopelessly optimistic than the Ninjette's. I do have it calibrated correctly and check it often. One of its functions is capture of max speed. Just for grins I called it up last winter and was, to put it mildly, surprised at the result.

So yeah. I broke the ton and I'm the farthest thing from a squid that you can imagine.

Ask Guy Martin... 112.94 mph on a bicycle

[Rogue]

I consider the wobbly idiot who rides a GSXR around my town wearing shorts with his girlfriend on the back in a bikini and flip flops a squid. Well, squid is the nice thing I call him, everything else would just convert to ***s if I actually typed them.

[adouglas]

Originally Posted by CC Cowboy

Squid is anyone who rides over their head and threatens the lives of themselves or others. It has nothing to do with gear.

When I was a kid Milford used to have a cop that stood in a can directing traffic by the old library, now the Chamber Of Commerce. Do they still used that can? It was actually pretty cool.

Geez, sparky, you're older 'n me!

[CC Cowboy]

Originally Posted by adouglas

Geez, sparky, you're older 'n me!

Nice try Captain Oblivious, I read that in the Milford history book.

[N-m]

Originally Posted by alex.s

Hello...

My name is alex... i wear full gear ATT.

and I am a squid.

Hello, Alex.

I am a sexual TYrannasauras.

[rasta]

I'm either MTGATT or ATMATT

[alex.s]

sexual tyrannosaurus? does that mean the thing that hangs out in front is really small and puny?

[adouglas]

Originally Posted by rasta

I'm either MTGATT or ATMATT

All the... wait, what?

[alex.s]

manhood.

[Whiskey]

Originally Posted by alex.s

sexual tyrannosaurus? does that mean the thing that hangs out in front is really small and puny?

Or a long time dead...

[corksil]

Someone who doesn't have respect for the machine they ride that has the power to kill them instantly.

[rasta]

Originally Posted by adouglas

All the... wait, what?

Oops. ATGMTT

[Desmoluci]

To us, a squid was someone who looked and talked like they were fast, but were in fact Turtle Boys.

[Vad18]

Well I sometimes ride without my jacket because it can be heavy and hot, during the warm days. But if I will be going on the freeway or highway, I always have my jacket on. Helmet and gloves are on all the time. Usually don't put on the jacket when I go gas up or w-e..

oh.. and this is a squid,

see how they are all dead?

[CC Cowboy]

Originally Posted by Vad18

Well I sometimes ride without my jacket because it can be heavy and hot, during the warm days. But if I will be going on the freeway or highway, I always have my jacket on. Helmet and gloves are on all the time. Usually don't put on the jacket when I go gas up or w-e..

oh.. and this is a squid,

see how they are all dead?

I like the family picture. Which one is you?

[Rogue]

Originally Posted by Vad18

Well I sometimes ride without my jacket because it can be heavy and hot, during the warm days. But if I will be going on the freeway or highway, I always have my jacket on. Helmet and gloves are on all the time. Usually don't put on the jacket when I go gas up or w-e..

Because you're far more likely to get hit by some Starbucks sipping Prius driver on the highway than on a local street, oh wait...

[Joshua763]

I always thought it was someone whom rode like a idiot to show off or just to ride wild because you can. Even in full gear people can be squids.